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Satiety, remark on, by Porphyry, 159
Scenes in India, 185

Seasons, on the signs of, in rural pur-
suits, 6

Secret Treasure, 32

Seeds, Dwight on the diffusion of,
112

Seneca, remark by, 240.
September, month of, 72

Anniversaries in, 72, 80, 96,
104, 112, 120

Shark, slaughter of, by an Indian, 186
Shepherd, extract from, 91

Sherlock, remark by, 7

Ship, some account of a, 34

Sidney, Sir Philip, remark by, 155
Silk, the history and culture of, 1
Silver, 26

Singular Custom of Swedish Peasantry,
173

Sinners, comparison of, with idle swim-
mers. 71

118

on the imaginary prosperity of,

Slow but sure Justice; Fuller, 183
Sobriety and Economy, advantages
of, 152

Society, on the Provisions made for its
Progress, 63

on the Savage stage of, and
its causes, 102

Society, the Savage state of, confirms

Scripture history, 206
Solomon, Proverb of, verified by Sir
Matthew Hale, 151

Solomon's Temple, account of, 122
South, Dr. selections from, 91, 151, 155,
218, 227

Southey, selections from, 136, 142, 155,
157, 190, 192, 208, 222, 236
Southern Cross, Constellation of, 139
Southwell, Robert, lines by, 118
Spanish Armada, account of, 92
St. Bernard, remark by, 171

Statues, National; James II., 136
Strasburg, the great Clock at, 156,
Strength, Chinese feat of, 160
Sunday Schools, 55

Suttee, Indian, described, 195

Swartz, the Missionary, Hyder Ali's
opinion of, 118

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Windham, Mr., his reverence for the

sacred Name, 71

Wit, ancient Greek, 55
Wogan, remark by, 139
Woodcroft House, Northamptonshire,
description of, 19

Woodpecker, the Great Black, 200
Word in Season, 110
Wotton, Sir Henry, Biographical notica
of, 159

Writing, Svmbolical, 12]

Agra, the Taje Mahal, or Palace Tomb
at, 73

Alban, St., the Abbey of, 2241
Alligator and Dead Elephant, 185,
Antwerp Cathedral, 169
Atlantic Ocean, Map of, 176
Augustine's, St., Abbey Gate, Canter-
bury, 228

Bethesda, the Pool of, 128
Bisou, or Bonassus, 172
Bisons, Herd of, crossing a River, 179
Bison, Indian mode of destroying, 173
Botallack Copper-mine, Cornwall, 177
Buttermere, Vale of, Chapel and School-

house in, 184

Cadenham Oak, Hampshire, 240
Candleberry Myrtle, Fruit and Flowers
of, 136

Castle, ancient, 28

Catapulta and moveable Tower, 28
Chameleon, 72

Coliseum at Rome, 97

Condor Vulture, 77

Conway Castle and Bridge, 17

Coral Islands in the Pacific Ocean,
220

Coral Insects, 221'

Croyland Abbey, the remains of, 149

Diagram, illustrative of the Tides, 80
Dover, View of, 153:
Dulwich College, 76

Durer, Albert, Portrait of, 225
Dusky Wolf, 253

Emu, or Cassowary, 49
Esquimaux, Group of, 216

of Hotham Inlet, 256
Grave, 256

Exeter Cathedral, 201

Paré, the Island of, 105
Flamingo, 152

Frigate under full sail, 37

INDEX TO THE ENGRAVINGS.

Glass, various operations in the Manu-
facture of, 132, 133, 134.
Hanarourou, Port of, 103
Hats, representations of, 20, 21, 100,
101

Hecla and Griper secured for the Win-
ter, 213

Hedge-hog, or Urchin, 208
Heidelberg, the Castle of, 140
the Tun of, 140

Henry the Seventh, Tomb of, 89
Henry the Fifth, armour of the time
of, 113

Heraldic Colours, &c. Illustrations of,
61

Holy Sepulchre, interior of the church
of, 128

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Ship, a Line-of-Battle, section of, 33'
and Merchant
Brig, 36
Ships sailing through the Ice, 212
Silk Worms, the feeding of, 1
clearing the cocoons of, 1
-method of winding from the co-
coons, 4

Chinese mode of weaving, 4'
Silver Mine, South American, 24
Snow Village, 209

Spanish Galleon and Galley, 92
Stoke Church, 96

Strasburg, curious Clock at, 157
Strength, Chinese feat of, 160
Symbolic Writing, Characters used in,
13, 14

Thursday October Christian, Portrait
of, 205
Tides, Diagram illustrative of the
Moon's influence on, 22

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Torture, Spanish instruments of, 93
Tower of London, View of, 81

the White, View of, 84
Chapel of St. Joha
the Evangelist, interior of, 84
Bowyer's, interior of, 85

the Bloody, Gateway to, 89
the Traitors' Gate to, 88
Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire, 60
Upchurch, Kent, the Church of, 09
ancient Vessels found
at, 29
Warkworth Castle, 241

Hermitage in, 948
Warping Mill, 189
Weaving, representation of instruments
used in, 188, 189, 190
Whitby Light-house and Pier, 25
Winter Travelling on the Great Slave
Lake, 249

Woodcroft House, Northamptonshire, 11
Woodpecker, the Great Black, 200

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UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

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THE culture and manufacture of Silk, appears originally to have been confined to the Empire of China, and even at the present time, no country produces this useful material in such large quantities, or of so fine a description. When silk was first brought into Europe, so little was known of its origin, that the most absurd tales were told respecting it; by some it was said to be a kind of fleece, which adhered to the branches of trees; by others, the bark of the tree itself, and by another party, the production of a flower. VOL. III.

The scarcity and consequent value of silk, when it was first introduced at Rome, may be estimated by the fact, that more than two hundred years after that time, the Emperor Aurelian refused his Empress a garment of this material, on account of its immense price, twelve ounces of gold being the charge for one pound of Silk. It was not till the year 552, that the eggs of the insect, by which the silk is produced, were brought into Europe. Two monks employed as missionaries, had succeeded in penetrating into the Chinese Empire, and having obtained &

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thorough knowledge of the whole process of rearing the silk-worm, and manufacturing the silk, they on their return, repaired to Constantinople, and gave an account of their enterprise to the Emperor Justinian. Induced by the offer of a great reward, they once more returned to China, and succeeded, after many efforts, in eluding the vigilance of that suspicious people, and bringing to Constantinople a number of the eggs of the silk-worm, concealed in the head of a walking-cane; these were hatched by the heat of a hot-bed, and being afterwards carefully fed and attended to, the experiment, which had cost these enterprising men so much toil, was perfectly successful, and the cultivation of the silk-worm became very general over the whole of Greece. In the year 1146, we still find the management of these useful creatures, and the manufacture of their spoils, in Europe, confined to the Greek Empire.

In 947, Roger, the first King of Sicily, invaded Greece, and having sacked the cities of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, led into captivity a considerable number of silk-weavers, whom he forcibly settled at Palermo, obliging them to instruct his subjects in the art, and in twenty years, the Sicilian silks are said to have attained great excellence, from the variety of patterns in which they were wrought. The manufacture of this important article, gradually spread through the whole of Italy and Spain, but it was not until the beginning of the sixteenth century, in the reign of Francis the First, that it was introduced into France. In 1554, while its manufacture was yet but little known in England, a curious law was passed by the tyrannical Mary, for the purpose of assisting the consumption of home productions, by which it was enacted, " that whoever shall wear silk, in or upon his or her hat, bonnet, or girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or spur-leather, shall be imprisoned during three months, and forfeit ten pounds," making, however, a few exceptions in favour of persons of distinction. The manufacture of stockings from silk, appears about this time to have been making some progress, although, in this country at least, they were considered a peculiar rarity, for that luxurious and expensive Prince, Henry the Eighth, was obliged to wear cloth hose, except when, by great chance, he was able to obtain from Spain, a pair of silk stockings for gala days.

The Broad-Silk manufacture in England, had its origin in the following occurrence. In the year 1585, the Duke of Parma, governor of the Netherlands, then in the possession of Spain, having taken the city of Antwerp, where a large and flourishing manufactory existed, consigned it during three days, to unchecked plunder and destruction: the ruin of this noble city was a death-blow to the commerce of Flanders, and its flourishing manufactures were dispersed over different countries. A large portion of the manufacturers and merchants, employed in the silk trade, took refuge in England, where they ultimately settled, and taught the art they had imported. For many years, however, foreign goods were preferred to those of English make, but still improvements were constantly and steadily taking place, and, at the present time, the fabrics of this country are fully equal, if not superior to those of any other nation.

A curious occurrence, showing the perfection to which the English fabric has arrived, took place in 1824. A French manufacturer came over to England, and settled in London; a feeling of jealousy seems to have arisen against him, and it was broadly hinted that his manufactory was merely a cloak for the purpose of smuggling French silks. An inquiry

was instituted, and his premises searcned, when thirty-seven pieces of goods were seized, and condemned as foreign; and it was only after producing the individuals by whom they had actually been made, that he was able to remove the impression that they had been smuggled.

In 1685, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the persecution of the protestants in France, compelled many merchants, manufacturers and workmen to take refuge in England. Of these, a large number who had been employed in the silk manufacture resorted to Spitalfields, and at the present time, descendants of these emigrants may be found on the spot, engaged in the same employment. About the end of the sixteenth century, the Rev. William Lea, of St. John's College, Cambridge, invented a machine for the purpose of knitting stockings, by which the work was so much improved that vast quantities were exported, and their being of English manufacture was considered, in foreign countries, as a recommendation of their good qualities. About the same time, Henry the Fourth of France was making great exertions to extend the cultivation and manufacture of silk in his empire. To attain this end, he offered every facility to enterprising men, and, as an extraordinary inducement, proffered patents of nobility to such large manufacturers as should support their establishments successfully for the period of twelve years. He also extended the cultivation of the worm over the whole of France; but, probably on account of the climate, was obliged to abandon his plans in all but the more southern departments.

The success of the French king caused, at the time, many attempts to breed the worms to be made in England, but they all appear to have been unsuccessful, and the same result attended experiments made in our American colonies. In the year 1825, a company was formed, entitled 'the British, Irish, and Colonial Silk Company;' about eighty acres of ground were purchased near Michelstown, in the county of Cork, and the whole were planted with white mulberry-trees. The rearing of the worms was confided to an experienced foreigner, Count Dandolo, but, from some reason or other, the undertaking was abandoned. The cause of such repeated failures is not thoroughly understood; the severity of the climate has been assigned as a reason, but silk has been successfully produced in some parts of Prussia, and the climate of Pekin, in China, is colder than that of Scotland. But whatever success might attend an experiment of the sort, it is clear that, in a mercantile point of view, the project would never succeed, on account of the number of hands that would be required, and the higher rate of wages. In several parts of the East Indies, the silk-worm has been introduced, as might have been expected, with complete success; and, in Bengal alone, the factories find employment for upwards of two hundred thousand persons.

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE WORM.

SILK is the production of a species of Moth, called the Phalana mori or Mulberry moth, and its original locality, as we have already stated, appears to have been China or Persia. The changes that butterflies or moths undergo, having already been described at page 212 of Vol. II., it will be needless to repeat them. The substance which the animal spins to protect itself when in the Pupa state, is the silk, which, before it is dyed or bleached, is of a bright yellow colour more or less inclining to orange. The Silk-worm is not the only creature that produces

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substances of this description, for many other kinds | exposed to heat sufficiently powerful to destroy the of butterflies and moths do the same; a kind of life of the pupa. This is generally accomplished by silk has also been manufactured from the webs of placing the vessels in an oven, heated to about the spiders, and as they require less attention than the same degree as that of a baker after his loaves are Silk-worms, the plan might have answered, had it drawn; here they are suffered to remain for about an not been for the ravenous appetites of the little hour, they are then withdrawn, but the blanket that spinners, who, when brought together in any quantity covers them, is not removed for the space of five or very speedily devour each other. Certain shell-fish six hours. also produce a kind of silky thread; as, for instance, the muscle, but more particularly the pinna, a large kind of shell-fish found in the Mediterranean and other seas.

The time that elapses while the silk-worm is undergoing its changes, varies according to the warmth of the weather, and the quantity of nourishment with which it is supplied; the Chinese, who are very particular on this head, take the greatest pains to supply the little creature with food, as on this they say depends the quantity of silk which the worm will produce. They calculate that the same number of insects, which would, if they had attained their full size, in from twenty-three to twenty-five days, produce twenty-five ounces of silk, would only yield twenty ounces if their growth occupied twenty-eight days, and only ten ounces if forty days. During the first twenty-four hours of the creature's existence, the patient Chinese feeds the objects of his care fortyeight times, or once every half hour, and during the second day and night thirty times, and so on, reducing the number of meals as the worms grow older; the care bestowed on their culture, and the numerous precautions taken to preserve them clean and warm, are curiously expressed in the following extract from an old Chinese work on the subject.

"The place where their habitation is built must be retired, free from noisome smells, cattle and all

noises; a noisome smell, or the least fright, make great impressions upon so tender a breed; even the

barking of dogs and the crowing of cocks are capable of putting them in disorder, when they are newly

hatched.

"For the purpose of paying them every attention, an affectionate mother is provided for the worms, who is careful to supply their wants; she is called Isan-mon, mother of the worms. She takes possession of the chamber, but not till she has washed herself and put on clean clothes, which have not the least ill smell; she must not have eaten any thing immediately before, or have handled any wild succory, the smell of which is very prejudicial to these tender creatures; she must be clothed in a plain habit, without any lining, that she may be more sensible of the warmth of the place, and accordingly increase or lessen the fire, but she must carefully avoid making a smoke or raising a dust, which would be very offensive to these tender creatures, which must be carefully humoured before the first time of casting their slough. Every day is to them a year, and has in a manner the four seasons; the morning is the spring, the middle of the day the summer, the evening the autumn, and the night the winter."

While it remains in the state of a caterpillar, the Silk-worm changes its coat four times, and previous to each moult refuses its food, and appears in a very sickly condition. As soon as its nest or cocoon is finished, and it has changed into the pupa-state, the cocoons are carefully removed from the place where the animal had formed them; and after those which it is intended to keep, that they may perfect their changes and lay eggs for the ensuing year, are removed, the remainder are placed in large vessels, each covered with a thick blanket; they are then

The first process in preparing the silk, is winding it off the cocoons: for this purpose, after the rough outsides are removed, several handfuls at a time are thrown into a vessel containing water, and placed over a gentle fire, the water is then allowed to be heated to nearly the boiling point; a short stunted brush formed of heath or any other shrub of that description, is now gently moved about among the cocoons, and on withdrawing it from the water, the ends of the silk are found to have adhered to it in several places; the winder then gathers together with her fingers, as many ends as she intends the first description of thread to consist of, and hands them to an assistant, whose office it is to turn the reel as soon as the silk is laid upon it; the principal workwoman, in the mean time, continually adds to the thread the ends of fresh cocoons, as soon as the first are exhausted.

The silk, when reeled off in this manner, is called singles, and is used in weaving to form the weft, that is, the thread that crosses the cloth from side to side. Another description of silk threads, are called trams, and these consist of two or three singles twisted together; but the strongest and most valuable sort is the organzine, which is formed by placing skeins of singles upon a reel, and as they are wound off, they Two or three of these are then taken, and the whole are, by the assistance of machinery, strongly twisted. again twisted together to form a stronger thread; this thread is the organzine, and is used for the warp or length of the cloth,

ing, and the throwsters form a very important branch The process of making organzine, is called throw

of the thrown silk used in England came from of the silk business. Before the year 1719, the whole abroad, but at that time Sir Thomas Lombe and his brother erected a large mill at Derby for the pur pose of forming organzine, and obtained an exfourteen years; at the expiration of that term, they clusive patent for its manufacture, for the term of applied for a renewal of their patent, but it was refused by Parliament, and the trade has since then formed of the extent to which the silk manufacture Some idea may be been open to competition. is carried on at present in England, by the fact that and ninety three thousand, five hundred and sevenno less a quantity than four million, six hundred teen pounds of raw silk were imported for home consumption, in the year ending January 1831. The substance on which this valuable caterpillar feeds, is the leaf of the Mulberry Tree; and Providence as if to ensure the continuance of this useful species, has so ordained it, that no other insect will partake of the same food; thus ensuring a certain supply for the little spinster.

The engravings which illustrate this article are copied from original Chinese drawings: the first shows the apartment in which the worms are fed, and the manner in which the little trays containing them are arranged. In the second, the cocoons being completed by the insect, are being cleared of dirt and dead leaves, before they are removed from the frames on which they had spun. The third represents the

winding off the silk into singles, but the windster | a Chinese silk-loom, is shown; the figure seated above, appears for the moment to have left her post for the among the machinery, appears to assist the labour by purpose of blowing the fire. In the fourth engraving, means of her weight.

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NARRATIVE OF A SAILOR LEFT ON AN ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

EARLY in the year 1825, the subject of this narrative was, at the age of seventeen, placed on board a ship employed in the South Sea Fishery. The ship being in the latitude of the Gallapagos, a group of islands situated about two hundred miles west of Peru, she directed her course towards them for the purpose of obtaining wood and water. Here they found an American brig which had arrived there, a day or two previous, with the same intention. They came to an anchor fronting a sandy beach of no very great extent, with high hills, and lofty woods terminating the prospect; the inland parts at a little distance seemed impracticable from the great thickness of the forests. A number of hands were despatched on shore in the long-boat, but not meeting with so desirable a place for watering as they expected, some of the men entered the woods in search of the "Quick freshes," while others proceeded along shore to find one less objectionable. Of the former party was young Lord, who, separating from the rest, entered unconsciously into the thickest part of the country. Having wandered on in this wild labyrinth for nearly two hours, without finding water, or being able to knock down any of the large birds which he chased from among the wild furze

and thickets, he began to think of returning. Being perfectly satisfied in his own mind that he was proceeding in the direction for the ship, he pursued the path he had chosen; evening, however, began to wrap the forest in a deeper gloom, and only just sufficient light remained to show him that he had arrived at a place clothed with some fine trees, beyond which the woods grew so thick as to render them impassable. The fact now first flashed upon him, that he had proceeded in all probability some miles into the interior, and he cheerfully made up his mind to pass the night in the woods, not doubting that on the morrow, he should readily find his way back to the vessel. In this comfortable hope, after having fortified himself with a draught of water from a spring, he ascended one of the trees; and here, notwithstanding the loud screaming of the nightbird, and the continued whoopings of innumerable owls, "making night hideous," worn out by fatigue and watching, he slept till morning.

It may be imagined that at the first glimpse of daybreak, he was not a little anxious to get out of the wood, for he now began to suffer severely from want of food. For some hours he wandered about in the intricacies of this wild and uninhabited spot, supported in the hope that his toils were near their termination. Often did he listen in breathless attention to catch the sound of any signal-gun to guide his

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