The Asiatic method of rearing the worm is totally different from that of Europe, and, according to the account given to me, much more profitable in its results, as well as simple in its process. The insect has a natural dislike to being handled, which is inevitable where it is fed day by day, and the withered leaves of the previous morning cleared away; the discomfort produced by the touch rendering the worm lethargic, and retarding its growth. The Asiatics never approach it with the hand: when it is hatched, the floor of the apartment is covered with layers of mulberry branches to about three or four inches in depth; and upon these the insects are laid, and suffered to feed undisturbed until their first sleep, when they are covered by a fresh supply of boughs similar to the first, through which they eat their way, and upon which they subsist until their next change. This operation is repeated four times, always at the period when the worm casts its skin; and on the first appearance of an inclination to spin, boughs of oak, of about four feet in length, stripped of their lower leaves, and planted, if I may so express it, in close ranks in the bed of mulberry branches, form a pigmy forest in which the insects establish themselves, and wherein they produce their silk. Every crevice of the apartment is carefully stopped to prevent the admission of air, and a fire of charcoal ashes is kept up constantly throughout the day and night. Whether the mode of feeding operates on the colour of the silk, I could not ascertain, though it struck me that the experiment would be worth trying; but meanwhile it appears to be certain that it greatly increases its quantity, and diminishes the labour of the feeders. There is scarcely a house in the neighbourhood of Broussa which does not contain several apartments filled with silk worms, whose produce is disposed of to the spinners, of whom there are a considerable number in the city; and the far-spreading mulberry woods assume in the height of summer the appearance of stretches of locust-blighted landscape, every tree being left a branchless trunk without a sign of foliage. CHAPTER VII. The Cadi’s Wife—Singular Custom—Haïsè Hanoum—The Odalique—The Cadi—Noisy Enjoyment—Lying in State—Cachemires—Costume—Unbounded Hospitality of the Wealthy Turks—The Dancing Girl—Saïryn Hanoum—Contrast. The wife of the Cadi of Tzèkerghè having given birth to her first-born son, I received an invitation to visit her the same evening, which I accepted, although not without some surprise; and, on expressing my astonishment at her subjecting herself to the intrusion of guests at such a period, I learnt that it is universally the custom, among the wives of the wealthy Turks, to receive company during seven days after the birth of the first son, until midnight; on which occasion they display the most valuable portions of their _trousseau_.