April i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
859 
WILD SILKS. 
(Handbook of the collection illustrative of the Wild 
Silks of India in the Indian section of the South Ken- 
sington Museum, by Thomas Wardle, London : Her Ma- 
jesty's Stationery Office.) 
The author of the work before us is well known as 
an eminent sills dyor and painter, and has been engaged 
for years in the study of tho so-called "wild silks" of 
India with a view to thoir utilisation. Tho term wild 
Bilks is commonly applied to all kinds of silk other than 
that produce. 1 by Bombyx mori. Hitherto theso silks have 
not been cultivated. Tho small and uncertain supplies 
which have found then way into commerce arc derived 
from cocoons collected at hazard in tho forests, but no 
organised and systematic attempts havo been made to 
form plantations of the various food trees and to. rear 
tho insects in a state of domestication. Thero can be 
no doubt that to do so, to attend to tho propor collec- 
tion of tho cocoons, and to make use of improved 
HHWhiaery for reeling the silk, and for carding and spin- 
ning that from imperfect cocoons, would prove a remu- 
nerative undertaking, and, like tho introduction of the 
cinchona and the tea culture into India, would add to 
tho resources of that country and of tho Empire at 
large. To give encouragement to so desirable an under- 
taking ought to be tho task of the Indian Government. 
Mr. Wardle meantime has greatly improved and deve- 
loped tho methods of dyeing and printing theso silks. 
From trials which he has had made in Italy it has been 
found possible to convert tho Tusser raw silk into tram 
and organzine of very groat liueuess. It appears that 
this silk, the product of Anthercca mylitta or papliia 
ami Borne allied species, differs from common silk in its 
behaviour with reagents. A neutral solution of zinc 
chloride, gently heated, dissolves common silk instantly, 
but only acts slowly upon tho Tusser. In a cold solu- 
tion common silk dissolves in three days, whilst immer- 
sion for a fortnight produces no effect upon tho Tusser. 
With ammoniacal solution of copper oxido a similar dif- 
ferenco of action is observed. Hcnco we may well infer, 
as is actually tho case, that the wild silk must bo the 
imnv difficult to dye. Tho great difficulty as far as 
Euaer Bilk is concerned lies in tho bleaching process. 
Being naturally of a darker colour than common silk, 
and incapablo of bleaching by means of sulphurous acid 
—a deoxidising agent — oxidisers were tried. M. Tcssio 
dn Motay proposed potassium permanganate, which ccrt- 
iiinl v removed tho brown colour, but unfortunately in- 
jured the texture of tho silk. With barium peroxide he 
was perfectly successful. This reagent is, however, as 
yet too costly for very general use. Tho author refers 
to a met bod not yet fully developed, of presenting nas- 
cent oxygen to tho silk from a liquid instead of from 
a solid. Ho mentions also that Major Coussmaker has 
■Weeded in obtaining perfectly white Tusser silk by 
urn. lit'\ mil,' the conditions under which tho worm spins 
its cocoon. If his method is practicable upon a com- 
mercial scale, the necessity for bleaching would be super- 
Bed. As tho colours most adapted for dyeing Tusser 
Bilk, the author mentions lac, satllower, indigo, tho leaves 
I of thtjllttnthu* smbticit, the calyces of / li. .<in:<i<t jmpiiliwu, 
and tue [lowers of BuUa frondosa of Hursinghar, and of 
QidreUi toona. Kria silk lias loss affinity for dyo wares 
' thou has common silk, and takes up a greater quantity 
I of tinctorial matter. Tho author, however, has BUOCeede I 
in producing on it a variety of shades which leaves 
nothing to bo desired. 
Tho work is enriched with illustrations of several of 
the most important silk-yielding insects in their different 
stages of growth, of their food plants, and of the maohin 
cry for reeling cocoons. Mr. Wardle has deserved well 
of Ihitish commerce and industry for his prolonged in- 
vesications.— Vlumical Newt. 
on tho east, 
boundaries of 
tho mouth of 
This rives a 1 
" THE NEW CEYLON " : — NOETH BORNEO. 
The now Ceylon: being a sketch of British Borneo, or Sabah. 
From official and other exclusive sources of information. 
Written and compiled bj Joseph Hatton. London: Chap- 
The territorial area of Sabah, or British North Bor- 
neo, is comprised in tho extreme northern apex of that 
island, from a point in the centro of Kimanis Bay above 
Labuan on the west coast to the mouth of the Sibuco 
llowing the northern and eastern 
to Gura Peak, the line thence to 
iibuco being as yet undetermined, 
i length, roughly speaking, of 210 
miles, (which, curiously enough, is also the greatest 
breadth of the territory), and an irregular seaboard of 
over 500 miles. The entire island is some 289,000 square 
miles in extent — a space nearly equal to that occupied 
by Great Britain and France together. Briefly summing 
up its present divisions, it may he noted that Bruni, 
the small residuum of Borneo proper left to its Sultan, 
follows on the west coast south of Sabah (having the 
little British island possession of Labuan near its north- 
ern limit), and is itself followed by the much larger 
native kingdom of Sarawak (not British, as is often 
imagined, because it is ruled over by an Englishman, 
which reaches to Datu Head, nearly the most western 
point of tho island. The extension inland of these two 
kingdoms is bounded by the longitudinal range of mount- 
ains ; and all the rest is claimed by the Dutch — at least, 
as far north on the east coast as the mouth of tho 
Attas, just above 3° North lat. This leaves a debatable 
slip — Tidong — between the Dutch territory and British 
North Borneo, presumably belonging to the Sultan of 
Sulu, but with possible claims on the part of the Sultan 
of Bruni, and which will probably be appropriated by 
tho Dutch. 
If it were important that so insignificant a place as 
Labuan should bo in our hands as a coaling station, 
in spite of its very limited anchorage, there can be no 
two opinions as to the value of this new territory, with 
its numerous and fmo harbours, situated as it is on the 
fair way to so many British colonies. Of five of these — 
in Arabong and Gaya bays, and at Sandakan and Kudat— 
maps with soundings are given in Mr. Hatton's book, 
which has also (amongst other illustrations) a good gen- 
eral map of Borneo, by Stanford, scale fifty statute 
miles to tho inch. The new British territory will soon 
he tho best-explored portion of the island, as, in addition 
to tho results of tho journeys of Mr. Pryer and Capt. 
Witti abovo mentioned, there will bo those of a skilled 
naval officer, now on the way to triangulate tho country 
Tho details given in tho diaries wo have printed suffi- 
ciently indicato tho existence of various so irees of wealth 
in Sabah : we believe, indeed, it is already the opinion 
not bo found, any 
" in whom a linger- 
thusiosts ; but gutta 
ucts of tropical for- 
t, &0., to say nothing 
a for the increase of 
w. In tho develops 
of li country many 
the Burplus wealth 
ing belief still exists with si 
pcrcha, indiarabber, and otb 
osts, sago, rico, spices, BUgai 
of pearl lishories, afford ami 
capital; and theso arc exis 
ment of the rich natural roi 
openings will doubtless oca 
and enorgy of our countrymen ; and we may congratulate 
ourselves on the acquisition of such a fresh field. Mr. 
Hatton quotes and indor cs Mr. Walla.' s commend- 
ation of colonial management in .lava, an I suggests tho 
importation of Chinese labour. On the former point, 
wo beliovo, Micro is much to bo said />cr run/in by 
those who havo looked bcueath tho surface; and wo 
I regret that tho Association seems driven to introduce 
what Mr. Hatton terms "a Chinese colony," as wo 
, Observe that Sir Walter Midhurrt, formerly Her M.ije.-ty a 
