Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/179

 The other chief means of livelihood and main source of in- come is the cultivation of the silkworm, for which Gilan is noted. Sericulture is one of the most important industries in Persia for the export trade.^ The mulberry tree, on which the worms feed, flourishes in Gilan ; and the bombyces, after having been gathered on the leaves, are placed under high thatched sheds, to whose raised floor we climbed on a rough ladder to behold a writhing mass crawling to devour the tender shoots or pre- paring to wind their shrouding sheet of the cocoon from which the rich silk is spun. All the region through which we were traveling was busy with silk dealers, French, Armenian, Greek, and other European buyers, who come to Gilan during the cocoon season and purchase for transport abroad. Even a small town like Kuchik Isfahan, 'Little Isfahan,' through which we had just passed, finds trade lively when this time comes, and the latest quotations in cocoon prices are discussed in the small bazar with an interest parallel to that in the West- ern markets.

The heavy rains had turned the ' road ' into the usual slough that one becomes familiar with in Persia, and the horses floun- dered through deep mire. The absence of camels all the way was noticeable, if not surprising, since donkeys and mules can plow more successfully, though belly-deep, through such tracts. Shortly before noon came the difficult transfer across the Safid Rud, or * White River,' the largest stream in Persia, whose current was swollen far beyond measure between the flatlands of Rashtabad and the little village of Kisum on the opposite side. Horses, baggage, and all were placed on board a crude boat, whose leaky planks and primitive oars of board looked ill-qualified to battle with the swift tide. The whirlpool eddies carried us far down the stream, but we reached the shore with- out accident and rode up the steep banks that were tottering in places where the torrent had swept away their edge.

1 See the comprehensive work, with Rabino, U Industrie sericicole enPersCy valuable statistics, by Lafont and pp. 1-156, Montpellier, 1910.

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