The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-11-07
The ORIGIN of SILK.

III we put any trust IN tradition, says
an English journal, there is legend that
Tchin, the eldest son of Japhet, father of
the Asatic race, taught his children the
art of preparing silk, as we'll as the arts
of painting and sculpture. Be this as it
may, it is certain that about 5000 years
before the Christian era Chinese book,
the "Ghou King" described silken cords
which were stretched upon a musical in
strument invented by the emperor Fo- Hi.
One of his successors, Ching Nong, re-
puted inventor of the pillow, explained to
his contemporaries what beautiful stuffs
could be obtained by the cultivation of
the mulberry tree, and about the year B.
q. 2600 an empress, to whom a grateful
posterty assigned place in celestial
constellation, perfected the art of unrav-
cling the cocoon and weaving. From
that time silk culture had its principal
seat near the northern portion of.the Eel
low river, in the province of Chan-Tong.
There was produced silk for the royal
household. Yellow was the chosen color
for the emperor, empress and prince
imperial, violet for the other wives of
the emperor, blue for distinguished
officers, red for those less conspicuous
and black for every one else. In the
book of rites, "Li-Ki," the ceremonies
performed at the harvest are carefully
described. Even the empress did not
disdain to gather the leaves of the null
berry with her own dainty fingers, and
watched over the busy tollers of the
cocoon. For a long time this invaluable
industry remained the exclusive property
of the Chinese empire, but about the
third century, before the Christian era.
a military expedition from China bore
the results of its civilization to the
startled occident. Silk became known
in Persia and India, and was at last
brought to Europe. The soldiers of
Crassus, b. c. Sc. saw silk standards
among the Parthians, and few years
later In immense velarium of silk pro-
tected the spectators in the Roman dr.
Gus from the rays of the sun. From
this time the Romans were always pro
vided the beautiful textures which were
the admiration of their legends. Yet silk
was still the privileged possession
of the rich and in the time of Aurc-
liam, who fourished in the third cen
fury, was worth about forty times its
present value. The enormous price,
when considered with the fact that there
was at that time no commerce between
Rome and the Orient, goes far toward
explaining the great boarding of treasure
and jewclry which has since that time
gone on in India. There is q dispute be-
tween tradition and history as to the
period when the genuine cocoon was
brought from China to Europe. How
was the vigilance of the Celestials
thwarted, since expectation of the silk
worm from the Flowery kingdom was
forbidden under the severest penaltiesl
One account states that in A. D., 5j2,
monks, sent to Kothan by Justinian,
succeeded in bearing away their booty
concealed in stalks of bamboo. The le-
gend says that once upon time, when
Kothan did not yet possess the
precious bombyX, the king of one of the
provinces sought and obtained a daugh-
ter of the Chinese emperor in marriage.
Before quitting her native land she hid
the seeds of the mulberry and silkworms'
eggs in her hair, where it would escape
the vigilance of the custom officers on the
frontier. When she reached her new
home she planted seeds of the mulberry
in order that suitable nourshment might
be provided in the leaf for the worms. -
| Dyer d1ld Calico Printer.