cially known as "mohair." Smyrna
is an important market for it, and England is the chief buyer. The
Angora goat has been introduced into South Africa and California, where
it is successfully grown. From the former country there is a large
export of mohair.

Cashmere wool is a fine, downy undercovering, obtained by combing the
fleece of a goat native to the Kashmir Valley in India. A single animal
yields scarcely more than an ounce or two, and the best product is worth
about its weight in gold. It is used in the manufacture of the famous
Cashmere shawls, which are sold at prices varying from five hundred to
five thousand dollars. They are made in Persia and India.

Llama and alpaca wool are fine textile obtained from animals of the
camel kind native to South America. The wool is either black or brown in
color. A considerable part is used for native-made articles, such as
saddle-blankets, etc., but much of it is exported to England.

Most of the "camel's hair" of commerce was originally worn by goats,
being called by its commercial name because of a similarity in texture
to that of the camel's hair. The camel of Turkestan, however, furnishes
a silky textile that is much used. The brown wool often found in Hamadan
rugs is natural camel's hair, and a considerable amount mixed with
sheep's wool is used in certain textiles. The camel's hair of China is
made into artists' brushes.

=Silk.=--The silk of commerce is the fibre spun by the larvae or
caterpillars of a moth, _Bombyx mori_, as they enter the chrysalis stage
of existence. The silk-growing industry includes the care and feeding of
the insect in all its stages. The leaves of the white mulberry-tree
(_morus alba_) are the natural food of the insect, and silk-growing
cannot be carried on in regions where this tree does not thrive. Not all
areas that produce the mulberry-tree, however, will also grow the
silk-worm; the latter cannot exist in regions having very cold winters,
and therefore the industry is restricted by climate.

The moth, shortly after emerging from the chrysalis stage, lays from two
or three hundred to seven hundred eggs. These are "hardy"--that is, they
will remain fertile for a long time if kept in a cool, dry place;
moisture will cause them to putrify, and heat to germinate. If well
protected, they may be transported for distances.

In rearing the silk-worm, as soon as the latter is hatched, it is placed
on mulberry-leaves, and for five weeks it d