342 



PEODUCERS OF RAW SILK. 



Chap. XVI. 



when the money was paid the people went off in 

 high spirits, apparently well satisfied with the 

 sales they had effected. 



From the ohservations which I made at this 

 time on the farms and markets in this the great 

 silk country of China, it appears that, however 

 large in the aggreg-ate the production of silk may 

 be in the country, this quantity is produced not by 

 large farmers or extensive manufactures, but by 

 millions of cottagers, each of whom own and culti- 

 vate a few roods or acres of land only. Like bees 

 in a hive each contributes his portion to swell the 

 general store. And so it is with almost every 

 production in the celestial empire. Our favourite 

 beverage, tea, is produced just in the same way. 

 When the silk has thus been bought in small sam- 

 ples from the original producers, it is then the 

 business of the native inspectors and merchants to 

 sort it and arrange it into bales of similar quality 

 for home consumption or for exportation. 



ISTan-tsin is not a walled city, and politically it 

 is a place of small importance. But it is a place 

 of great wealth and size, extending for miles on 

 each side of the canal, and far back into the 

 country. I believe there is a larger trade in silk 

 done here than even in the city of Hoo-chow-foo 

 itself. The people generally seemed to have 

 plenty of work, and judging from their clean, 

 healthy, and contented appearance, they are well 

 paid for their labour. 



During my walk in the town I was surrounded 



