10 THE SILK GODDESS 



in the most ancient times, as it may have been and most probably was 

 introduced therein from the eastern provinces by the Chinese as they 

 did in Shansi. 



19. Marco-Polo (12 65-1 289) mentions repeatedly abundance of silk in 

 Shansi and Shensi, whereas now there is next to no silk grown in 

 these districts. 44 In the highly interesting Reports on Silk drawn by the 

 officials of the Chinese Imperial customs, hardly any reference is made 

 to silk of these provinces. The change of climate which has been spoken 

 of Shensi in and southern Shansi by geologists 45 may have caused this re- 

 sult. A commercial change may have come to the same. The climate of the 

 two aforesaid provinces apparently, was not at any time favourable to the 

 spread of silk worms unless specially reared and this may be the simple 

 explanation of the divergence in the statements. 



20. The Ritual of the Tchou dynasty has a special book, 

 the 33rd, concerning the officers in charge of the different regions of 

 the dominion, and in which the various products of the nine-provinces are 

 enumerated. It is the counter part at a later date of the statements on 

 the same subject which we have found in the Yu Kung. The information 

 therein confirms the facts elicited, from our unsophisticated resume of 

 the older document, on the limited area of silk culture in ancient times. 

 Of the nine provinces, two only were producing the precious textile. 

 \ r u-t cho u corresponding to the same province than that of the same 

 name in the Yil Kung i.e. roughly to Honan, continued to produce silk 

 and also lacquer, and hemp, with the addition of bamboo. Ping tchou 46 

 corresponding to N. Shansi and previously included in Ki tchou pro- 

 duced linen and silk 47 . And this is all 48 . The culture of silk in the 

 hands of the native tribes mentioned in the Yu Kung are out of reck- 

 oning in that work. 



21. The Szetchuen province has been for long a silk producing land 

 as shown by the history of the country 49 written about the Christian era 

 by Yang-Hiung the philologist 50 who was himself a native from there. 

 One of the early kings is called the s i 1 k-w orms rearer 51 and there- 

 fore might be looked upon as having introduced them in his country. 

 He had easily obtained some from the Chinese. This king seems to 

 have lived some [five hundred years before the Christian era. The V 

 geography of the Han period 52 mentions a Tsan ling or Silkworm's 

 range in the Shuh Kiun, which shows that silk culture had became 

 prosperous. The silence of the Yu hung showing the absence of silk pro- 

 ducts in the Liang tchou combined with the information to be derived 



