372 



PUTTING THE WORMS ON STRAW. Chap. XVIII. 



tliey seem to grow with such luxuriance as they 

 do further to the east about Hoo-chow and Nan- * 

 tsin. Large quantities of rice and other grains 

 now take the place of the mulberry. In the moun- 

 tains to the west considerable quantities of tea are 

 produced, and fine bamboos which are sent down 

 to the low country are made into paper. A moun- 

 tain called Tein-muh-shan, celebrated amongst the 

 Chinese for its height and for its temples, lies to 

 the west of this, and further west still is the great 

 green-tea country of Hwuy-chow, which I examined 

 during my former visit to China. 



On my way up from Hoo-chow-foo to Mei-che, 

 and about the 23rd of June, I observed that many 

 of the worms had ceased to feed and were com- 

 mencing to spin. The first indication of this 

 change is made apparent to the natives by the 

 bodies of the little animals becoming more clear 

 and almost transparent. When this change takes 

 place, they are picked, one by one, out of the 

 sieves, and placed upon bundles of straw to form 

 their cocoons. These bundles of straw, which are 

 each about two feet in length, are bound firmly 

 in the middle ; the two ends are cut straight and 

 then spread out like a broom, and into these ends 

 the worms are laid, when they immediately fix 

 themselves and begin to spin. During this pro- 

 cess I observed the under side of the framework 

 on which the bundles of straw were placed sur- 

 rounded with cotton cloth to prevent the cold 

 draught from getting to the worms. In some 



