28 Remarks on tke Silks of Assam. [Jan. 



spontaneously. After three or four years when the land getting 

 poorer requires more tillage and the use of the plough, these tribes 

 who only use the kar, or hoe, remove to new forests and leave behind 

 them plantations of these trees, which they have used during the 

 short period they have remained. To them, the ryuts of the more settled 

 parts resort in the spring to rear up worms : the silk of the Son- 

 halloo-fed worm is considered inferior to the preceding — more I be- 

 lieve from its darker color than any other cause. 



There are generally five breeds of mooga worms in the year, they 

 are named after the months at which they generally occur. 



1 . Jarooa, in January and February. 



2. Jeytooa, in May and June. 



3. Aharooa, in June and July. 



4. Bhodia, in August and September. 



5. Khotia, in October and November. 



The first and last are the best crops as to quality and quantity. Nos. 

 3 and 4 yield so little and so inferior a silk, that they may be said to 

 be merely for the purpose of continuing the breed. Were the Assa- 

 mese acquainted with the process of retarding the hatching of the 

 eggs as is practised in China, in regard to the mulberry silk-worm, 

 they would, I think, find it more advantageous to have only three or 

 four crops. 



The same rule is followed in the selection of cocoons to breed from 

 as in the Eria. They are put in a closed basket suspended from the 

 roof : the moths as they come forth having room to move about, after 

 a day the females (known only by their larger body) are taken out 

 and tied to small wisps of thatching grass, taken always from over the 

 hearth — its darkened color being thought more acceptable to the 

 moth. If out of a batch there should be but few males, the wisps with 

 the females tied to them are exposed outside at night : the males 

 thrown away in the neighbourhood find their way to them : these 

 wisps are hung on a string tied across the house to keep them from 

 the lizards and rats. The eggs laid during the first three days (about 

 250) are the only ones thought worth the keeping : those laid on the 

 two or three subsequent days are said to produce weak worms. The 

 wisps are taken out morning and evening, and exposed to the side 

 where the sun is shining : ten days after the laying of the eggs, a few 

 of them are hatched : the wisps are then hung up to the tree, the 

 young worms finding their way to the leaves — care must be taken 

 that the ants have been destroyed, their bite proving fatal to the 

 worm in its early stages. To effect this they rub the trunk of the 

 tree with molasses and tie to it fish and dead toads. When large 



