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It may be mentioned, in further proof of the opinion already given, that the silk manufactures of Cos were not supplied from silk-worms in that island, that we have the express authority of Theophanes and Zonaras, that, before silk-worms were brought to Constantinople, in the reign of Justinian, no person in that city knew that silk was produced by a worm.
Do you see above the meadows on that lowest slope which undulates around the higher hills of Jarvis two or three hundred houses roofed with "noever," a sort of thatch made of birch-bark, frail houses, long and low, looking like silk-worms on a mulberry-leaf tossed hither by the winds?
In the cities there are excellent artificers in gold, silk, and embroidery; and the country abounds with silk-worms, wheat, barley, millet, and other kinds of grain, with plenty of fruits and wine; and though wine is forbidden by the Mahometan law, they have a gloss to correct or corrupt the text, saying, that when boiled, it changes its taste and name, and may be then drank.
At the distance of seven feet were two short sticks driven into the ground, connected by a bar, over which was stretched the woof of silk to be woven. On this simple apparatus the most beautiful and rich patterns are worked. Silk-worms abound in some of the provinces, and a very large amount might be produced and form an important article of trade.
Jared Eliot, on Field Husbandry, & c., 1761, is devoted principally to recommendations of the culture of mulberry trees for the raising of silk-worms.
"Come on, Tom, I want to let the rabbits out for a run after I've given these mulberry leaves to the silk-worms." The children had planned to have tea in Weedon Woods that afternoon, but before dinner-time the sky became so cloudy and angry-looking that their mother feared a storm, and said that it would be wiser to put off their picnic until another day.
And then, you ask, will these breeders of silk-worms, these manufacturers of silks and hats, lose their work? Precisely: it will even be proved to them that it is for their interest that they should, since they will be able to buy the same products for less than it costs them to manufacture them. Such is competition.
He is of the locust kind, an inch and a half long, and wonderfully light in proportion; though no small feeder, I should imagine, by the total destruction his noisy tribe make amongst the leaves, which are now wholly stript by them of all their verdure, the fibres only being left; and I observed yesterday evening, as we returned from airing, another strange deprivation practised on the mulberry leaves round the city, which being all forcibly torn away for the use of the silk-worms, make an odd fort of artificial winter near the town walls; and remind one of the wretched geese in Lincolnshire, plucked once a year for their feathers by their truly unfeeling proprietors.
This country produces ginger, galuigal, spike, and many spices; and the inhabitants are idolaters. Proceeding seven days journey westwards, we pass through many cities, and towns, and fine fields, and gardens, and everywhere there are plantations of mulberries for feeding silk-worms, and abundance of wild beasts and fowls.
The Greek prince entertained with hospitable regard the ambassadors of a remote and powerful monarch: the sight of silk-worms and looms disappointed the hopes of the Sogdoites; the emperor renounced, or seemed to renounce, the fugitive Avars, but he accepted the alliance of the Turks; and the ratification of the treaty was carried by a Roman minister to the foot of Mount Altai.
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