The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-03-14
NUMBER IL.
THE ORIGIN OF SILK.
kome Staple Facts About tho Ingenult
of the heather Chlnee.

some staple Facts ABOUT tho ingenuity
of the heather Chinec.
II we put any trust in tradition, says
an English journal, there is legend
that Tchin, the eldest son of Japhct,
father of the Asiatic race, taught his
children the art of preparing silk, rs
well as the arts of painting and sculp-
ture. BE this as it may, it is certain
that about three thousand years before
the Christian era a Chinese book, the
''Ghou-King," described silken cords
which were stretched upon musical
instrument invented by the Emperor
Fo-Hi. One of his successors, Ching
Nong, reputed inventor of the plow,
explained to his contemporaries what
beautiful stuffs could be obtained by
the cultivation of the mulberry tree,
and about the year b. G. 2600 an EN-
press, to whom grateful posterity ass
signed place in celestial constella-
ton, perfected the art of unrayeling
the cocoon and weaving. From that
time silk culture had its principal seat
near the northern portion of the Yel-
low River, in the Province of Chan
Tong. There was produced silk for
the royal household. Yellow was the,
chosen color for the Emperor, En-
press 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, s'Li-
XII" the ceremonies performed at the
harvest are carefully described. EVEN
Al. u lat.
the leaves of the mulberry with her
own dainty fingers, and watched over
the rearing of the busy toilers of the
cocoon. For long time this individ-
ual industry remained the exclusive
property of the Chinese Empire, but
about the third century before the
Christian era military expedition
from China bore the results of
its civilization to the startled occi-
dent. Silk became known in Persia
and India, and was ut last brought to-
Europe. The soldiers of Crassus, b. G.
SO, saw silken standards among tho
Parthians, and II few years later an im-
mense velarium of silk protected tho
spectators in the Roman circus from tho
raYseof the sun. From this time tho
Romans were always provided with thu
beautiful textures which were the adj
miration of their legends. Yet silk was
still the privileged possession of the
rlch and in the time OF Aurelian, who
flourished in the third century, was
worth about forty times its present
value. The enormous price, when con-
sidered with the fact that there was
at that time no commerce between
Rome andathe Orient, goes far toward
explaining the great boarding of treas
ure and icwelry, which has since that
time gone on in India. There is II dis
pute between tradition and history as
TO the period when the genuine cocoon
was brought from China to Europe.
How was the vigilance of CelestialS
thwarted, since expectation of the slid
worm from the Flowery Kingdom was
forbidden under the severest penaltiesp
One account states that in A. ID. BOZ,
monks sent to Kotham by Justnian,
succeeded in bearing away their booty
concealed in stalks of bamboo. Tho
! legend says that once upon q time,
when Kotham did not yet possess tho
precious bombyx, the King of one Of
the provinces sought and obtained u
daughter of the Chinese Emperor in
marriage. Before quitting her native
land she hid seeds of the mulberry and
slkworms' eggs in her hair, where il
would escape the vigilance of the cus-
toms officers on the frontier. When
she reached her new home she planted
seeds of the mulberry in order that suit
able nourishment might be provided in
the leaf for the worms.-Dycr and CAT
! leo Printer