376 CATALOGUE OF 



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 Tue- 

 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 alighting 

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

 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 females 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 checkered 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 by 

 lot the chief of his three queens, with the most honourable amongst 

 his concubines, and caused them to attend to the rearing of the silk- 

 worms in the above-named establishment. They then brought the 



