53 



Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, dated 

 Shillong, the 20th September 1879 :— 



" At present about 54,000 lbs. of Eria silk in the raw- 

 state, unreeled, can be obtained annually from the 

 districts of Kamrup, Darrang Nowgong, and Lakhimpur, and 

 about 30,000 lbs. from the Jaintia Hills. In the districts 

 of Goalpara and Sibsagar the production of silk is carried 

 on to a very limited extent, chiefly for home consumption. 

 In Cachar it is not an article of trade, but the silk is worked 

 up by the hill tribes in almost every village of the North 

 Cachar Hills for their own use. The Deputy Commissioner 

 of Sylhet reports that he cannot learn of any of this silk 

 being produced in his district. But here, as well as 

 throughout the whole of this province, the necessary food 

 for the Eria silkworm grows in profuse abundance, and 

 there seems no reason to doubt that, if the people of this 

 province could be induced to turn their attention to the 

 production of this silk, an almost unlimited supply could 

 be obtained." 



The " Times Weekly Edition/' of July 2nd 1880, makes 

 the following statement : — - 



"An attempt is being made to establish a silk-producing 

 industry in the Dehra Doon district, in the North- West 

 Provinces, and inGurdaspore district, in the Punjab. The 

 experiments are under the management of Mr. Lepper, 

 agent for Messrs. Lister and Co. of Bradford. Mr. Lepper 

 has offered handsome prizes to the ryots growing the best 

 mulberry and castor-oil plant (this latter, no doubt, for 

 Eria sericulture plantations), and producing the best 

 out-turn of silk. There seems to be good reason to hope 

 that the experiment may succeed, and a new and prosperous 

 industry be set on foot in Upper India." 



CHAPTER IX. 



Dyeing of Eria Silk. 



The dyeing of Eria silk much resembles the dyeing 

 of Tusser. Whether owing to the flatness of its fibre, or to 

 the nature of its sericine, it is far behind mulberry silk in 

 its natural affinity for dyestuffs. Heat and the media of 

 mineral salts, however, are the principal agents in bringino- 

 the fibre into a dye-receiving subjection. The specimen 

 skeins of dyed Eria silk, Nos. GO and 61 in the Collection, 

 are favourable examples of what I have been able to effect 

 in dyeing this silk. The dyeing baths have to be much 



