30 



to them. I was told these girls were the descendants of 

 Huguenot refugees, escaped probably from Provence to the 

 Italian side of the Alps at the Revocation of the Edict of 

 Nantes, and that they still retained their patois and their 

 folk lore ; they worked hard for the few months of cocoon 

 reeling, from five in the morning until eight at night, for 

 a franc a day; after work dancing and singing for the 

 hoar before bed time in the most joyous way. Apartments 

 are provided for them at the factory, and when the reeling 

 season is over they separate and return to their Alpine 

 villages, to wait for the next season's work. 



The operation of unwinding the silk from the cocoon is 

 as follows : — A number of cocoons are immersed in an iron 

 pan, in water nearly boiling, with a little alkali to soften 

 them. A semi-rotating brush is placed over them, which 

 quickly catches the exterior fibres of each cocoon, and the 

 more readily enables the reeler to find the windable thread. 

 They are then taken out and transferred to the reeler, who 

 sits leaning over an iron pan of about 12 inches in diameter 

 in which she has a few cocoons in hot water, the found ends 

 of several being in one hand. Four or six cocoons, as the 

 case may be, are being simultaneously reeled into a single 

 thread by the reel at her back, which draws off over her 

 head the cocoon threads while the cocoons are dancing 

 and turning in the water. When a thread breaks, or 

 the cocoon is reeled, another is quickly presented from 

 the lot in the other hand, the manipulation being one of 

 great dexterity. Several years are required to attain pro- 

 ficiency, and it is not until the fifth to the seventh year 

 that a reeler is entrusted with the most delicate reeling ; 

 the keeping of the size of the thread regular and free from 

 rough places being the most important care. 



It is this branch of the manufacture that in Tusser silk 

 is so defectively treated in India. The native mode of 

 reeling the thread of silk from the cocoon is by the imple- 

 ments represented in Plate LVI. ; this shows how rudely the 

 manipulation is managed as compared to the more finished 

 reeling appliance of the Italians. In some instances the 

 silk is reeled from the cocoon round the naked knee-cap of 

 the reeler. 



I took some of my wild cocoons, and, with much diffi- 

 culty and patience, after several trials, succeeded in softening 

 them by the aid of long-continued boiling in water, to 

 which were added soap, potash, and glycerine. When soft 

 enough, one of the most skilled girls was told off to reel 

 them for me, and, after ridding the cocoons of the outer 



