851 
child while on a trip to Sz-chwan Province. He was one of 
five boys all sold, by the parents to furnish funds for 
opium and gambling, but he was the last one sold - perhaps 
because unsound. But what interested me was the errand 
that took him a thousand miles or more from home. 
"He was peddling Chang-hiong kieri, a sort of cloth 
made from cocoons spun by the wild silk worm, the manufac- 
ture of which is the most ancient Industry of this region. 
Chang-hiong is the ancient name of this city, which has 
been famed for many centuries as the place where alone 
this fabric is made. It is a sort of khaki color and very 
strong and little affected by exposure to moisture. It is 
regarded as the best thing for shrouds and supposed to 
last until bodies wrapped in it mold to dust. Of late 
years, and especially since the establishment of the re- 
public, it has become less popular and hard to sell . 
"The eggs are obtained from the Province of -Honan (the 
cradle of the Hokkas, as you will see in my 'Origin and 
Migrations of the Hokkas'} and the worms feed on a variety 
of trees. The worms are larger, healthier, and spin larg- 
er cocoons than the domestic variety. 
"Since the cloth declined in value quite a trade has 
sprung up in the - cocoons , which are bought by agents of 
Japanese firms and shipped to that country, usually in 
June and July. 
"It occurs to me that this material may be adapted to 
some specialized use by its peculiar ' qualities.. It cbmes 
In pieces 8 or 9 yards long and about 15 inches wide, 
selling at present for about $7 Mex. The cocoons are 
boiled and sold partly by weight and partly by number. 
They might be worth something in U. S. A. 
"The business has of late years been carried on main- 
ly by one family or clan. The cocoons are furnished and 
weavers are paid for making the cloth. Peddlers went in 
every direction with the cloth and penetrated to distant 
provinces . 
"This city was the center of the human hair industry 
so prosperous six or eight years ago, and this family went 
into it largely, collecting hair in a radius of a thousand 
miles. That business was overdone, though fortunes were 
made for a while, and this trade in cloth was neglected, 
and I had supposed was about defunct. 
"I will look into this further, if you think it worth 
while. I understand some hundreds of pieces are still 
made every year, or can be if the cocoons are not other- 
wise disposed of . " 
