70 Remarks on the Sequel to the [Jan. 



describe it as an article that was obtained from the flowers, leaves, or 

 the bark of trees. Pliny distinguishes between silk, muga, and cotton. 

 The first which he calls bombycina, he mentions as the produce of the 

 insect bombyx, which he refers to Assyria ; the second, or sericum, he 

 describes as a downy or woolly substance which the Seres combed from 

 the leaves of trees, which, he remarks, were different from the wool- 

 bearing trees of Tylos in the Persian gulf, by which he means cotton 

 trees. The latter are mentioned as differing from the trees in the coun- 

 try of the Seres in this respect that they produce down or wool, not on 

 their leaves, but in a fruit, which is described as of the shape of a 

 gourd, and of the size of a quince, and which, when ripe, opens and 

 and displays within balls of down or wool, of which fine and costly 

 cloths are made. This substance was the produce of trees called Gos- 

 sampinae in the lesser isle of Tylos. (Pliny, Lib. xii. Chap. x. and xi.) 



The word «p'o" in the Sequel, which Dr. Vincent has rendered raw 

 silk, is used to designate the woolly substance, which the Seres combed 

 from the leaves of trees. It might be supposed to be derived from eria, 

 the name of one kind of indigenous silk of Assam, which Mr. Hugon 

 states was formerly exported to Lassa, but it is evident from other an- 

 cient authors who make use of this term, that this is not its origin, and 

 that it is merely the word €p">v y lana, which is employed to express a 

 woolly or downy substance which was procured from trees, and that it is 

 applicable, therefore, to cotton, or to the Muga and other silks of Assam 

 supposed to have been carded from the leaves, bark, or flowers of trees. 

 This word in the passage '"Sot epiw xp ai/T ^ v *»"«> in Dionysius Periege- 

 tes, is rendered by Salmasius the wool not of cattle but of trees. Pul- 

 lux mentions &^ov epiov and Theophrastus epuxpopa SevSpa — terms which 

 may be considered as referring either to cotton or the indigenous silks 

 of Assam. Sericum, or the indigenous silk of Assam, though generally 

 regarded by the ancients as the product of trees, is nevertheless men- 

 tioned by Pausanias as being produced by an insect. 



The term Metaxa (H-eral-a) which was subsequently applied to Seri- 

 cum, appears to be a compound of the words muga and tassar, which 

 are indiscriminately applied about Dacca to the muga silk of Assam or 

 moongatassar, as it is frequently called. Raw-silk is mentioned under 

 the name of Metaxa by Procopius, Suidas, Theophanes, and in the 

 Digest. It was an article of import into Tyre and Baretus, where it was 



