J837.J Remarks o?i the Silks of Assam. 23 



gal, it must have been kept up purposely by the despotic rulers of 

 the countrv, after mulberry cultivators were introduced, to ensure the 

 use of the silk being confined to themselves and their courtiers — a 

 selfishness which may be observed in many of their rules and pro- 

 hibitions : this alone would have been a bar to the extension of the 

 cultivation of the mulberry in Assam, were there not already greater 

 facilities of obtaining silk from the mooga and eria worms. No 

 mention is made of silk in the returns of the Hydra chowkey, I do 

 not think half a maund of it altogether is exported in any shape — 

 the price of it is eight or ten rupees a seer, but it is not readily procur- 

 able. Mr. Scott, a few years ago, introduced from Rungpoor, reelers, 

 reels and plants of the morus alba, and established a factory at 

 Darang, with a view to extend the culture of mulberry silk, and im- 

 prove the reeling of the mooga. Several causes rendered the expe- 

 riment abortive, the want of European superintendence and Mr. 

 Scott's untimely death being the principal ones*. 



Eria silk. — The eria worm and moth differ from the mulberry 

 worm and moth in every respect, as will be better understood by the 

 accompanying drawings and insects : like it, however, it goes through 

 four different moultiugs, but its sickness in doing it lasts only 

 twenty-four hours ; the last stage takes eight days, the others four. 

 The duration of its life varies according to seasons : in summer it is 

 shorter, and the produce both greater and better ; at this season, 

 from its birth to the time it begins its cocoon, twenty to twenty-four 

 days expire, in fifteen more the moth comes forth, the eggs are laid 

 in three days, and in five they are hatched, making the total duration 

 of a breed forty-three to forty-seven days : in winter it is nearly two 

 months ; the number of breeds in the year are reckoned at seven. 



This worm is, like the mulberry worm, reared entirely within doors : 

 it is fed principally on the hera or palma-christi leaves, it eats the 

 mulberry leaf also but is said to prefer the former; when the palma- 

 christi leaves fail, they are also fed on those of several other trees 

 known in this part of Assam by the following names : — 



1. Kossool. 



2. Hindoo gass. 



3. Meekeerdal. 



* From the opinions given by several merchants of Calcutta on samples of 

 Assam mulberry silk, reeled on Italian reels from worms properly fed and at- 

 tended to, I am led to believe this province exceedingly favorable to the produc- 

 tion of very superior silk. — The samples sent down would have fetched the highest 

 prices in the Calcutta market, and they were got up under the unfavorable cir- 

 cumstances of a rude experiment. — F. Jenkins. 



