twist afterwards if separated from the plant; but when the seeds ripen, even before the capsule bursts, the cylindrical tubes collapse in the middle, and assume the form already described. This form and character the fibres retain ever after, and in that respect undergo no change through the operations of spinning, weaving, bleaching, printing, and dyeing, nor in all the subsequent domestic operations of washing, &c. till the stuff is worn to rags. The elementary fibres of flax are also transparent tubes, cylindrical, and articulated, or jointed like a cane. This latter structure is only observable by the aid of an excellent instrument."* Brought to the test of microscopical examination, the samples of Egyptian cloth collected from very various quarters, and taken not only from human mummies, but also from those of embalmed birds and beasts, prove, without an exception, to be linen; not a single fibre of cotton having been detected in any of them.

Though the linen thus obtained, is for the most part very coarse, yet specimens are not wanting which justify the reputation of Ancient Egypt for "fine linen." The beauty of the texture of a mummy-cloth given to Mr. Thompson by Mr. Belzoni was very striking. "It was free from gum, or resin, or impregnation of any kind, and had evidently been originally white. It was close and firm, yet very elastic. The yarn of both warp and woof was remarkably even, and well spun. The thread of the warp was double, consisting of two fine threads twisted together. The woof was single. The warp

* Thompson, "On the Mummy-cloth of Egypt."

contained ninety threads in an inch; the woof or weft only forty-four. The fineness of these materials, estimated after the manner of cotton-yarn, was about thirty hanks in the pound."

Of some other specimens, which this gentleman saw at the British Museum, he observes, "My first impression on seeing these cloths, was that the finest kinds were muslin, and of Indian manufacture . but this suspicion of their being cotton was soon removed by the microscope of Mr. Bauer, which shewed that they were all, without exception, linen. Some were thin and transparent, and of very delicate texture. The finest appeared to be made of yarns of near 100 hanks in the pound, with 140 threads in the inch in the warp, and about 64 in the woof. A specimen of muslin in the museum of the East India House, the finest production of the Dacca loom, has only 100 threads in an inch in the warp, and 84 in the woof; but the surprising fineness of the yarns, which, though spun by hand is not less than 250 hanks in the pound, gives to this fabric its unrivalled tenuity and lightness."

But even these yield in fineness to specimens mentioned by Sir J. G. Wilkinson, one of which had 152 threads in the warp, and 71 in the woof to each inch, while another displayed the astonishing number of 540 (or 270 double threads) in the warp, and 110 in the woof per inch; the texture of which may be imagined by a comparison of it with our cambric, which has about 160 threads per inch in the warp, and 140 in the woof.

"Another very remarkable circumstance in this

specimen is, that it is covered with small figures and hieroglyphics, so finely drawn that here and there the lines are with difficulty followed by the eye; and as there is no appearance of the ink having run in any part of the cloth, it is evident they had previously prepared it for this purpose."

The remarkable disproportion in the texture of the warp and woof, sometimes amounting to four threads to one, is found in all Egyptian cloth, and was a peculiarity of their manufacture: in European and Indian textiles, on the contrary, the proportions are nearly equal.

The growing and plucking of the flax-crop, and the various processes of its preparation, are frequently represented on the monuments.

In a

bas-relief in the grot

toes of Eilethyias, the

PREPARING FLAX.

flax is recognised by its height (which does not

* Wilk. iii. 126.

rise above the hips of the workmen), by the green colour of the stalk, and by the form and colour of the grain, which is round and yellow. Four men and a woman are employed in plucking it up, another man binds it in sheaves, using his foot to press the sheaf tight, and a third carries it to one whose business it is to get out the grain. This man is standing under the shade of a tree, and has a kind of comb, with spaces between the teeth wide enough to let the stalk pass, but not the seed-head. The stock of the comb rests on the ground, the teeth being raised by a support beneath, and the man keeps the whole steady with his foot. He takes a handful of flax, and turning the heads downwards, fixes the stalks between the teeth, and draws it towards him. As the grain cannot pass through the teeth, it is separated, while the stalk is not at all injured.*

The above engraving represents the steeping of the stalks in hot water, and some after processes which are thus described by Pliny. "The stalks of flax being plunged into water exposed to the heat of the sun, are kept there, immersed by means of heavy weights, until the loosening of the rind indicates that the maceration is sufficient. They are then taken out, dried in the sun, and afterwards beaten with wooden mallets on a block of stone. After being made into yarn, it is polished by striking it repeatedly on a stone, moistening it with water; and even when it is woven, the cloth is subjected to another beating with mallets, as

* Costaz, Memoire, Vol. v. and pl. 68.

it is found that flax improves the more it is beaten."*

As we read that, for the service of the Tabernacle,

All the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair. Exod. xxxv. 25-26.

so we find that in Egypt this work was assigned to females. From the accompanying engraving we see

that a twirling motion was given to the spindle by rolling it along the thigh, in the manner of the modern Arab women. The yarn which was to be spun was contained in a vessel, perhaps filled with a kind of size. Two spindles are managed at the same time by each spinner.

The yarn which the Hebrew women spun was