150 RAW- SILK, 



(K.) ablutions or oil their bodies, but remain clad in 

 ^es°idenT^ their dirty clothes. Fish, turmeric, garlic, onions? 

 Soonamooky. gnulF, and tobacco, are prohibited, though they 

 smoke outside their houses.* Surely the proscribed 

 have the best of it ! To crown the whole conjura- 

 tion, as a charm against evil spirits, an old shoe 

 with a bundle of thorns is hung upon the cheek 

 (lattice-screen) at the door of the breeding-house. 



No. 12. 



Letter from the Resident at Soonamoohy to the 

 Secretary to the Board of Trade, with enclosure. 



Sir: 



Letter from With reference to my address of the 2d instant, 



Resident at ^ ' 



Soonamooky, J requcst you will be so o^ood as to lay before the 



2 April 1833. , 



Board of Trade the annexed copy of a letter of the 

 21st ultimo from Dr. Lush, Superintendent of the 

 Botanic Garden at Poona, which has now reached 

 me, accompanied by a small tin case of mulberry- 

 cuttings, and the leaves therein specified. I have 

 only at present to add, that these specimens appear 



in 



* In Italy and France the breeders are particular in keeping 

 their hands and clothes free from the taint of tobacco, snuff, 

 garlic, onions, and oils, as being all dangerous poisons to the 

 worm, precautions which the wily Hindoo perverts to myste- 

 rious prohibitions, and the exclusion of others not initiated in 

 - the sanctity of his rites. 



