1837.] 



Remarks on the Silks of Assam. 



37 



and it may be considered a curiosity even if it be tbe produce of a 

 mulberry worm, for the question arises on what was the worm fed ? — if 

 on the F. religiosa, it is, I believe, a discovery, that the silk worm 

 would feed on the leaf of any tree but the mulberry ; if the worm is 

 distinct from the Bombyx mori it is a still greater curiosity. 



Mr. Hugon has been unable to determine whether the worm now 

 alluded to, is the same as the deo mooga mentioned within : he is in- 

 clined to think not from the color of the cocoons and the slight obser- 

 vations he was able to make on the latter ; but from both feeding on 

 the leaves of two trees so nearly allied, I should suppose it likely that 

 the worms were identical. It would be a discovery of some import- 

 ance to find worms affording any tolerable silk that fed on these 

 species of Ficus which are so abundant here. — F. Jenkins. 



List of the Cloths made in Assam of Mooga and Eria Silks. 











Price 



of 



Cost of 











Names of 



Size in 



Weight. 



Thread. 



Weaving 



Toti 



, 





Cloth. 



Cubits. 























Remarks. 



Seer. 



Chk. 



6 

 



R. 



A. 



P. 



R. A. 



P. 



R. 



A. 



P. 



Mooga. 

 Soorias, .... 

 Ditto 



7 by 1§ 

 16 ,, 2 







1 



1 



5 



14 

 











3 

 8 











2 

 5 



1 

 8 











| Dhoties. 



Mekla, .... 



5 „ 1* 







4 



] 



4 







2 







1 



6 







Petticoats. 





12 „ li 







8 



2 



8 







4 







•2 



12 







Scarfs. 



Gaursha, . . 



8 ,, 1 







2 







10 







J 











11 







Worn as turbans or 



Joonta Bor 

























round the waist. 



Cappor, .. 



12 „ 2$ 



1 







2 











6 







2 



6 







Made of the floss and 



Eria. 

























worn in winter. 



Bor Cappor, 



16 by 3 



1 



S 



3 











8 







3 



8 







Worn in winter and 

 used as a blanket, al- 



Meklas, .... 

 Gaursha, . . 



5 „ 2 



10 „ 1| 



8, ,, 2 





 

 



6 



8 

 4 





 1 







12 







8 





 

 



2 

 2 

 2 





 









 1 

 



14 



2 



10 





 







so made into coats. 



1 Used only by the 

 poorer class. 



Memorandum upon the specimens of Silk, and Silkworm from Assam, 



by W. Prinsep, Esq. 



The mooga or tussur cocoons, are very fine, particularly those fed 

 from the soom and the sohaloo trees which are superior to the pro- 

 duce of the jungles about Bankoora. 



The thread from these worms, is quite equal to that which is used 

 in the best China tussur cloths. 



The specimens of cloth wove from these threads, are not equal, 

 however, either to the Bengal tussur cloth, nor to the China cloth of the 

 same description. 



The eria cocoon, thread, and cloth are all new to us : I have never 

 seen them in Bengal, except now and then a few pieces of the cloth 



