239 



has since been cultivated to a great extent, are spoken of as consisting 

 of black and red silks, with silk fringes (see translation of the Shoo- 

 king, p. 101). 



The next Classic in which we find any reference to the silkworm 

 is the Chow-le, or Account of the Ceremonies of the Chow dynasty, 

 where it is said that "the officer who adjusted the price of horses 

 forbad the people to rear a second breed of silkworms in one season," 

 because, in accordance with the views of astrologers, the horse be- 

 longed to the same constellation with the silkworms, and they were 

 therefore considered of the same origin. Conceiving that two things 

 of like nature could not prosper at the same time, the Chinese forbad 

 the rearing of the second breed of silkworms, lest it should be of some 

 disadvantage to the horses. However absurd this notion, it shows, 

 at the least, that the rearing of silkworms was a common practice 

 at that period. 



After this we meet with frequent references to this subject in the 

 Le-ke Book of Ceremonies. This book was written partly in the 

 Tsin dynasty (b.c. 204) and partly in the Han dynasty (b.c. 135), 

 and gives an account of the ceremonies observed by the Chinese in 

 very early antiquity. In the 6th section of this work, entitled Yue- 

 ling, we meet with the following directions : — 



" In the first month of spring, orders were issued to the forester 

 not to cut down the mulberry-trees ; and when the cooing doves 

 were observed fluttering with their wings, and the crested jays alight- 

 ing upon the mulberry-trees, people were to prepare the trays and 

 frames, &c., for the purpose of rearing the silkworms. 



" In the spring season, when the empress and her ladies had fasted, 

 they proceeded to the east, and personally engaged in picking the 

 mulberry leaves ; on this occasion the married and single ladies were 

 forbidden to wear their ornaments, and the usual employments of fe- 

 males were lessened, in order to encourage attention to the silkworms. 

 When the rearing of the silkworms was completed, the cocoons were 

 divided (for reeling), and the silk weighed (for weaving), each person 

 being rewarded according to her labour, in order to provide dresses 

 for the celestial and ancestorial sacrifices : in all this none dared 

 indulge in indolence." 



From another passage of the same section we learn that in " the 

 last month of summer the order was given to the female officers to 

 dye the silk of various colours, in order to weave chequered sarcenets, 

 comprising black and white, black and green, green and red, with 

 red and white checks ! All which was to be done according to the • 

 ancient rule, without the least variation ; the black, yellow, azure, 

 and red tints were all to be correct and good, without the least fault ; 

 in order to provide dresses for the celestial and ancestorial sacrifices, 

 and standards for distinguishing the high and low degrees." 



In the 24th section of the same book, on sacrificial rites, we 

 read, that " in ancient times the emperor and his princes had a public 

 mulberry-garden, and a silkworm establishment, erected near some 

 river. On the morning of the first day of the third month of spring, 

 the sovereign, wearing a leather cap and a plain garment, ascertained 



