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by lot the chief of his three queens, with the most honourable 

 amongst his concubines, and caused them to attend to the rearing 

 of the silkworms in the above-named establishment. They then 

 brought the eggs of the worms and washed them in the river above 

 alluded to, after which they picked the mulberry leaves in the public 

 garden, and aired and dried them, in order to feed the worms. 



" When the season was over, the royal concubines, having com- 

 pleted the business of rearing the silkworms, brought the cocoons to 

 show them to the prince, when he presented the cocoons again to his 

 consort ; whereupon his consort said, ' This is the material of which 

 your highness' s robes are to be formed.' Having said which, she 

 covered herself with her robe, and received the cocoons. On this 

 occasion the ladies of the court were honoured with the present of a 

 sheep. This was the mode in which the presentation of the cocoons 

 was anciently conducted." 



Hawae-nan-tsze in the Silkworm Classic, says, that " Se-ling-she, 

 the principal queen of Hwang-te (b.c. 2640), was the first to rear 

 silkworms ; and the Hwang-te was induced to invent robes and gar- 

 ments from this circumstance. Afterwards, when Yu regulated the 

 waters (b.c. 2200), mention is made in his work on the tribute, of 

 the land adapted for the mulberry- tree having been supplied with 

 ' silkworms,' from which time the advantage thereof gradually in- 

 creased. In the Yue-ling section of the Le-ke, it is said that in the 

 last month of spring, the trays and frames, with the square and round 

 baskets, were to be got in readiness for the rearing of the worms, 

 &c. It appears, on examination, that the queens and wives of the 

 nobles, through successive generations, personally attended to 'the 

 rearing of the silkworms ; how much more, then, ought the wives of 

 the common people to busy themselves in the same ! All this alludes 

 to what was done in the Chow dynasty, b.c. 1000. It is recorded 

 of Wan-te, of the former Han dynasty (b.c. 150), that he com- 

 manded his empress personally to attend to the picking of the mul- 

 berry leaves in order to prepare the sacrificial garments. King-te 

 (b.c. 130) enjoined the same thing on his queen, that she might 

 be an example to the empire. In the time of Yuen-te (b.c. 20) the 

 empress- dowager Wang visited the silkworm establishment, leading 

 on the empress and the different ladies of the court, to gather mul- 

 berry-leaves. In the time of Ming-te (a.d. 70) the empress with 

 the ladies of the princes attended to the rearing of the silkworms. 

 During the Wei dynasty, in the reign of Wan-te (a.d. 250), the 

 empress attended to the silkworms at the northern border, according 

 to the regulations of the Chow dynasty. During the Tsin dynasty, 

 in the reign of Woo-te (a.d. 280), the silkworm palace was built, 

 and the empress personally attended to the business of rearing the 

 silkworms, as had been the practice during the two preceding 

 djmasties. During the Sling dynasty, in the reign of Heaou-woo 

 (a.d. 460), the silkworm monastery was built, and the empress 

 personally gathered the mulberry- leaves, as had been the practice in 

 the preceding dynasty. 



" In the northern Tse dynasty (a.d. 490) a silkworm palace was 



