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INSERT FOLDOUT HERE

THE

HISTORY

OF

SILK, COTTON, LINEN, WOOL,

AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES ;

INCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON

SPIJ^NING, DYEING AND WEAVING.

ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THE

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS, THEIR SOCIAL STATE
AND ATTAINMENTS IN THE DOMESTIC ARTS

WITH APPENDICES

ON PLINY's natural history ; ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE
OF LINEN AND COTTON PAPER ; ON FELTING, NETTING, &C.

DEDCCEn VROM ^

COPIOUS AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES.

ILLUSTRATED BY STEEL ENGRAVINGS.

NEW YORK:

C. M. SAXTON, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER.

NEW LONDON, CONN., E. R. FELLOWS.

1853.

TO THE

PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES,

THIS VOLUBIE

IS RESPECTFULLY

INSCRIBED.

. 45805

PREFACE.

History, until a recent period, was mainly a record of gi-
gantic crimes and their consequent miseries. The dazzling
glow of its narrations lighted never the path of the peaceful
Husbandman, as his noiseless, incessant exertions transformed
the howling wilderness into a blooming and fruitful garden, but
gleamed and danced on the armor of the Warrior as he rode
forth to devastate and destroy. One year of his labors sufficed
to undo what the former had patiently achieved through cen-
turies ; and the campaign was duly chronicled while the labors
it blighted were left to oblivion. The written annals of a na-
tion trace vividly the course of its corruption and downfall, but
are silent or meagre with regard to the ultimate causes of its
growth and eminence. The long periods of peace and prosper-
ity in which the Useful Arts were elaborated or perfected are
passed over with the bare remark that they afford Uttle of in-
terest to the reader, when in fact their true history, could it now
be written, would prove of the deepest and most substantial
value. The world might well afford to lose all record of a hun-
dred ancient battles or sieges if it could thereby regain the
knowledge of one lost art, and even the Pyramids bequeathed
to us by Egypt in her glory would be well exchanged for a few
of her humble workshops and manufactories, as they stood in
the days of the Pharaohs. Of the true history of mankind
only a few chapters have yet been written, and now, when the
deficiencies of that we have are beginning to be realized, we find
that the materials for supplying them have in good part perish-
ed in the lapse of time, or been trampled recklessly beneath the
hoof of the war-horse.

In the following pages, an effort has been made to restore a
portion of this history, so far as the meagre and careless traces

VI PREFACE.

scattered through the Literature of Antiquity will allow. — Of
the many beneficent achievements of inventive genius, those
which more immediately minister to tlie personal convenience
and comfort of mankind seem to assert a natural pre-eminence.
Among the first under this head may be classed the invention
of Weaving, with its collateral branches of tSpinning, Netting,
Sewing, Felting, and Dyeing. An account of the origin and
progress of this family of domestic arts can hardly fail to inter-
est the intelligent reader, while it would seem to have a special
claim on the attention of those engaged in the prosecution or
improvement of these arts. This work is intended to subserve
the ends here indicated. In the present age, when the re-
sources of Science and of Intellect have so largely pressed into
the service of Mechanical Invention, especially with reference to
the production of fabrics from fibrous substances, it is somewhat
remarkable that no methodical treatise on this topic has been
offered to the public, and that the topic itself seems to have al-
most eluded the investigations of the learned. With the ex-
ception of Mr. Yates's erudite production, " Textrinum Anti-
quorum,'^ we possess no competent work on the subject ; and
valuable as is this production for its authority and profound re-
search, it is yet, for various reasons, of comparative inutility to
the general reader.

That a topic of such interest deserved elucidation will not be
denied when it is remembered that, apart from the question of
the direct influence these important arts have ever exerted upon
the civilization and social condition of communities, in various
ages of the world, there are other and scarcely inferior consider-
ations to the student, involved in their bearing upon the true
understanding of history, sacred and profane. To supply,
therefore, an important desideratum in classical archaeology, by
thus seeking the better to illustrate the true social state of the
ancients, thereby affording a commentary on their commerce
and progress in domestic arts, is one of the leading objects con-
templated by the present work. In addition to this, our better
acquaintance with the actual condition of these arts in early
times will tend, in many instances, to confirm the historic ac-
curacy and elucidate the idiom of many portions of Holy Writ..

PREFACE. Vll

How many of the grandest discoveries in the scientific world
owe their existence to accident ! and how many more of the
boasted creations of human skill have proved to be but restora-
tions of lost or forgotten arts ! How much also is still being
revealed to us by the monumental records of the old world,
\vii03e occult glyphs, till recently, defied the most persevering
efforts of the learned for their solution !

To be told that the Egyptians, four thousand years ago,
were cunning artificers in many of the pursuits which consti-
tute lucrative branches of our modern industry, might surprise
some readers : yet we learn from undoubted authorities that
such they were. They also were acquainted with the fabrica-
tion of crapes, transparent tissues, cotton, silk, and paper, as
well as the art of preparing colors which still continue to defy
the corrosions of defacing time.

If the spider may be regarded as the earliest practical
weaver upon record — the generic name Textorice, supplying
the root from which is clearly derived the English terms, texture
and textile, as applied to woven fabrics, of whatever materials
they may be composed — the wasp may claim the honor of
having been the first paper-manufacturer, for he presents us
with a most undoubted specimen of clear white pasteboard, of
so smooth a surface as to admit of being written upon with
ease and legibility. Would the superlative wisdom of man but
deign, with microscopic gaze, to study the ingenious move-
ments of the insect tribe more minutely, it would not be easy
to estimate how much might thereby be achieved for human
science, philosophy, and even morals !

For those who love to add to their fund of general knowledge,
especially in the department of natural history, the author
trusts that much valuable and interesting information will be
found comprised in those pages of this work which delineate
the habits of the Silk- Worm, the Sheep, the Goat, the Camel,
the Beaver, &c. ; while another department, being devoted to
the history of the Pastoral Life of the Ancients, will naturally
enlist the sympathies of such as take a deeper interest in the
records of ages and nations long since passed away. From a
mass of heterogeneous, though highly valuable materials, it has

VIU PREFACE.

been the design of the author to select, aiTange, and conserve
all that was apposite to his subject and of intrinsic value.
Thus has he endeavored to render the piles of antiquity, to
adopt the words of a recent writer, well compacted — a process
which has been begun in our times, and with such eminent suc-
cess that even the men of the present age may live to see many
of the thousand and one folios of the ancients handed over
without a sigh to the trunk-maker.

The ample domains of Learning are fast being submitted to
fresh irrigation and renewed culture, — the exclusiveness of the
cloister has given place to an unrestricted distribution of the in-
tellectual wealth of all times. What civilization has accom-
pUshed in the physical is also being achieved in the mental
world. The sterile and inaccessible wilderness is transformed
into the well-tilled garden, abounding in luxurious fruits and
fragrant flowers. It is the golden age of knowledge — its Para-
dise Regained. The ponderous works of the olden time have
been displaced by the condensing process of modern litera-
ture ; yielding us their spirit and essence, without the heavy,
obscuring folds of their former verbal drapery. We want
real and substantial knowledge ; but we are a labor-saving and
a time-economizing people, — it must therefore be obtained by
the most compendious processes. Except those with whom
learning is the business of hfe, we are too generally ignorant
of the mighty mysteries which Nature has heaped around our
path ; ignorant, too, of many of the discoveries of science and
philosophy, in ancient as well as modern times. To meet the
exigencies of our day, a judgment in the selection and con-
densation of works designed for popular use is demanded — a fa-
cility like that of the alchymist, extracting from the crude ores
of antiquity the fine gold of true knowledge.

The plan of tliis work naturally divides itself into four de-
partments. The first division is devoted to the consideration of
iSilk, its early history and cultivation in China and various
other parts of the world ; illustrated by copious citations from
ancient writers : From among whom to instance Homer, we
learn that embroidery and tapestry were prominent arts with
the Thebansj that poet deriving many of his pictures of domestic

PREFACE. jx

life from the paintings which have been found to ornament their
palaces. Thus it is evident that some of the proudest attain-
ments of art in our own day date their origin from a period co-
eval at least with the Iliad. Again we find that the use of the
distaff and spindle, referred to in the Sacred Scriptures, was al-
most as well understood in Egypt as it now is in India ; while
the factory system, so far from being a modern invention, was
in full operation, and conducted under patrician influence, some
three thousand years ago. The Arabians also, even so far back
as five centuries subsequent to the deluge, were, it is stated on
credible authority, skilled in fabricating silken textures ; while,
at a period scarcely less remote, we possess irrefragable testi-
mony in favor of their knowledge of paper made from cotton
rags. The inhabitants of Phoenicia and Tyre were, it appears,
the first acquainted with the process of dyeing : the Tyrian
purple, so often noticed by writers, being of so gorgeous a hue
as to baffle description. The Persians were also prodigal in
their indulgence in vestments of gold, embroidery and silk: the
memorable army of Darius aflbrding an instance of sumptuous
magnificence in this respect. An example might also be given
of the extravagance of the Romans in the third century, in the
fact of a pound of silk being estimated literally by its weight
in gold. The nuptial robes of Maria, wife of Honorius, which
were discovered in her coffin at Rome in 1544, on being burnt,
yielded 36 pounds of pure gold ! In the work here presented,
much interesting as well as valuable information is given under
this section, respecting the cultivation and manufacture of Silk
in China, Greece and other countries.

The second division of the work, comprising the history of the
Sheep, Goat, Camel, and Beaver, it is hoped will also be
%und curious and valuable. The ancient history of the Cof-
ton manufacture follows — a topic that has enlisted the pens of
many writers, though their essays, with two or three exceptions,
merit Httle notice. The subsequent pages embody many new
and important facts, connected with its early history and proo--
ress, derived from sources inaccessible to the general reader.
The fourth and last division, embracing the history of the Litien
manufacture, includes notices oi Hemp, Flax, Asbestos, (fcc.

B

PREFACE.

This department again affords a fruitful theme for the curious,
and one that will be deemed, perhaps, not the least attractive
of the volume. Completing the design of the work, will be
found the Appendices, comprising rare and valuable extracts,
deriv^ed from unquestionable authorities.

Of the Ten Illustrations herewith presented, five are en-
tirely original. It is hoped that these, at least, will be deemed
worthy the attention of the scholar as well as of the general
reader, and that their value will not be hmited by their utihty
as elucidations of the text. Among these, especial notice is re-
quested to the engraving of the Chinese Loom, a reduced fac-
simile, copied by permission from a magnificent Chinese produc-
tion, recently obtained from the Celestial Empire, and now in
the possession of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in
this city. Another, equally worthy of notice, represents an
Egyptian weaving factory, with the processes of Spinning and
Winding ; also a reduced fac-simile, copied from Champollion^s
great w'ork on Egypt. The Spider, magnified \7\i\\ his web,
and the Indian Loom, it is presumed, will not fail to attract at-
tention.

Throughout the entire work, the most diligent care has been
used in the collation of the numerous authorities cited, as well
as a rigid regard paid to their veracity. As a work so elaborate
in its character would necessarily have to depend, to a consider-
able extent, for its facts and illustrations, upon the labors of
previous writers, the author deems no apology necessary in thus
publicly and gratefully avowing his indebtedness to the several
authors cited in order at the foot of his pages ; but he would
especially mention the eminent name of Mr. Yates, to the fruits
of whose labors the present production owes much of its novel-
ty, attractiveness, and intrinsic value.

New York, Oct. 1st, 1845.

COINTENTS.

PART FIRST.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF SILK.

CHAPTER I.

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING.

Whether Silk is mentioned in the Old Testament— Earliest Clothing— Coats of
Skin, Tunic, Simla— Progress of Invention— Chinese chronology relative to the
Culture of Silk— Exaggerated statements— Opinions of Mailla, Le Sage, M.
Lavoisnd, Rev. J. Robinson, Dr. A. Clarke, Rev. W. Hales, D.D., Mairan,
Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William Jones— Noah supposed to be the first empe-
ror of China— Extracts from Chinese publications— Silk Manufactures of the
Island of Cos— Described by Aristotle— Testimony of Varro- Spinning and
Weaving in Egypt— Great ingenuity of Bezaleel and Aholiab m the production
of Figured Textures for the Jewish Tabernacle— Skill of the Sidonian women
in the Manufacture of Ornamental Textures— Testimony of Homer— Great
antiquity of the DistafT and Spindle— The prophet Ezekiel's account of the
Broidered Stuffs, etc. of the Egyptians— Beautiful eulogy on an industrious
woman— Helen the Spartan, her superior skill in the art of Embroidery— Golden
DistafF presented her by the Egyptian queen Alcandra— Spinning a domestic
occupation in Miletus— Theocritus's complimentary verses to Theuginis on her
industry and virtue— Taste of the Roman and Grecian ladies in the decoration
of their Spinning Implements— Ovid's testimony to the skill of Arachne in
Spinning and Weaving— Method of Spinning with the Distaff— Described by
Homer and Catullus— Use of Silk in Arabia 500 years after the flood— For-
ster's testimony

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED TO THE 4tH CENTURY.

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING— HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED
IN THESE ARTS.

Testimony of the Latin poets of the Augustan age— Tibuliua-Propertius- Virgil
—Horace— Ovid— Dyonisius Perigetes— Strabo. Mention of silk by authors in

XU CONTENTS.

the first century — Seneca the Philosopher — Seneca the Tragedian — Lucan —
Pliny — ^Josephus — Saint John — Silius Italicus — Statins — Plutarch — Juvenal —
Martial — Pausanias — Galen — Clemens Alexandrinus — Caution to Christian
converts against the use of silk in dress. Mention of silk by authors in the
second century — Tertullian — Apuleius — Ulpian — Julius Pollux — Justin. Men-
tion of silk by authors in the third centur}' — .iElius Lampidius — Vopiscus —
Trebellius Pollio — Cyprian — Solinus — Ammianus — Marcellinus — Use of silk by
the Roman emperors — Extraordinary beauty of the textures — Use of water to
detach silk from the trees — Invectives of these authors against extravagance in
dress — The Seres described as a happy people — Their mode of traffic, etc. —
(Macpherson's opinion of the Chinese.) — City of Dioscurias, its vast conunerce
in former times. — (Colonel Syke's account of the Kolissura silk-worm — Dr.
Roxburgh's description of the Tusseh silk -worm.) .... 22

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH

CENTURY.

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED

IN THESE ARTS.

Fourth Century — Curious account of silk found in the Edict of Diocletian — Ex-
travagance of the Consul Furius Placidus — Transparent silk shifts — Ausonius
describes silk as the produce of trees — Quintus Aur Symmachus, and Claudian's
testimony of silk and golden textures — Their extraordinary beauty — Pisander's
description — Periplus Maris ErythrEei — Dido of Sidon. Mention of silk in the
laws of Manu — Rufus Festus Avinus — Silk shawls — Marciannus Capella — In-
scription by M. N. Proculus, silk manufacturer — Extraordinary spiders' webs —
Bombyces compared to spiders — Wild silk-worms of Tsouen — Kien and Tiao-
Kien — M. Bertin's account — Further remarks on wild silk-worms. Chriitiau
authors of the fourth centurj' — Amobius — Gregorius Nazienzenus — Basil — Il-
lustration of the doctrine of the resurrection — Ambrose — Georgius Pisida —
Macarius — Jerome — Chrysostom — Heliodorus — Salmasius — Extraordinary
beauty of the silk and golden textures described by these authors — Their invec-
tives against Christians wearing silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors in
the fifth century — Pridentius — Palladius — Theodosian Code — Appolinaris Si-
donius — Alcimus Avitus. Sixth centiuy — Boethius. (Manufactures of Tyro
and Sidon — Purple — Its great durability — Incredible value of purple stuffs
found in the treasurj' of the King of Persia) 41

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED FROM THE INTRO-
DUCTION OF SILK-WORMS INTO EUROPE, A.D. 530, TO THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY.

A. D. 530. — Introduction of silk-worms into Europe — Mode by which it was
effected — The Serinda of Procopius the same with the modern Khotan — The

CONTENTS. Xlll

fiilk-worra never bred in Sir-hind — Silk shawls of Tyre and Berytus — Tyran-
nical conduct of Justinian — Ruin of the silk manufactures — Oppressive conduct
of Peter Barsames — Menander Protector — Surprise of Maniak the Sogdian am-
bassador— Conduct of Chosroes, king of Persia — Union of the Chinese and Per-
sians against the Turks — The Turks in self-defence seek an alliance with the
Romans — Mortification of the Turkish ambassador — Reception of the Byzan-
tme ambassador by Disabul, king of the Sogdiani— Display of silk textures —
Paul the Silentiary's account of silk — Isidorus Hispalensis. Mention of silk by
authors in the seventh century — Dorotheus, Archimandrite of Palestine — In-
troduction of silk-worms into Chubdan, or Khotan — Theophylactus Simocatta
— Silk manufactures of Turfan — Silk known in England in this century —
First worn by Ethelbert, king of Kent — Use of by the French kings — Aldhel-
mns's beautiful description of the silk-worm — Simile between weaving and vir-
tue. Silk in the eighth century — Bede. In the tenth century — Use of silk by
the English, Welsh, and Scotch kings. Twelfth century — Theodorus Prodro-
mus — Figured shawls of the Seres — Ingulphus describes vestments of silk in-
terwoven with eagles and flowers of gold — Great value of silk about this time —
Silk manufactures of Sicily — Its introduction into Spain. Fourteenth century
— Nicholas Tegrini — Extension of the Silk manufacture through Europe, illus-
trated by etymology — Extraordinary beauty of silk and golden textures used in
the decoration of churches in the middle ages — Silk rarely mentioned in tho
ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth centuries 66

CHAPTER V.

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.
HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED IN THIS MANUFACTURE.

Manufacture of golden textures in the time of Moses — Homer — Golden tunics of
the Lydians — Their use by the Indians and Arabians — Extraordinary display
of scarlet robes, purple, striped with silver, golden textures, &c., by Darius,
king of Persia — Purple and scarlet cloths interwoven with gold — Tunics and
shawls variegated with gold — Purple garments with borders of gold — Golden
chlamys — Attalus, king of Pergamus, not the inventor of gold thread — Bostick
— Golden robe worn by Agrippina — Caligula and Heliogabalus — Sheets inter-
woven with gold used at the obsequies of Nero — Babylonian shawls intermixed
with gold — Silk shawls interwoven with gold — Figured cloths of gold and Ty-
rean purple — Use of gold in the manufacture of shawls by the Greeks —
4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000) paid by the Emperor Nero for a Baby-
lonish coverlet — Portrait of Constantius II. — Magnificence of Babylonian car-
pets, mantles, &c. — Median sindones 84

CHAPTER VI.

SILVEE TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS.
EXTREME BEAUTY OF THESE MANUFACTURES.

Magnificent dress worn by Herod Agrippa, mentioned in Acts xii. 21 — Josephus's
account of this dress, and dreadful death of Herod — Discovery of ancient Piece-

XIV CONTENTS.

goods — Beautiful manuscript of Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, who lived in
the ninth centurj- — Extraordinarj^ beauty of Indian, Chinese, Egj^ptian, and
other manufactured goods preserved in this manuscript — Eg^'ptian arts — Wise
regulations of the Egyptians in relation to the arts — Late discoveries in Egypt
by the Prussian hierologist, Dr. Lepsius — Cloth of glass ... 93

CHAPTER VII.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WOKM, ETC.

Preliminary observations — The silk-worm — Various changes of the silk-worm
— Its superiority above other worms — Beautiful verses on the May-fly, illustra-
tive of the shortness of human life — Transformations of the silk-worm — Its
small desire of locomotion — First sickness of the worm — Manner of casting its
Exuviae — Sometimes cannot be fully accomplished — Consequent death of the
insect — Second, third, and fourth sickness of the worm — Its disgust for food —
Material of which silk is formed — Mode of its secretion — Manner of unwinding
the filaments — Floss-silk — Cocoon — Its imperviousness to moisture — Effect of
the filaments breaking during the formation of the cocoon — Mr. Robinet's curi-
ous calculation on the movements made by a silk-worm in the formation of a
cocoon — Cowper's beautiful lines on the silk-worm — Periods in which its vari-
ous progressions are effected in different climates — Effects of sudden transitions
from heat to cold — The worm's appetite sharpened by increased temperature —
Shortens its existence — ^Various experiments in artificial heating — Modes of ar-
tificial heating — Singular estimate of Count Dandolo — Astonishing increase of
the worm — Its brief existence in the moth state — Formation of silk — The silken
filament fonned in the worm before its expulsion — Erroneous opinions enter-
tained by writers on this subject — The silk-worm's Will ... 98

CHAPTER VIII.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-
WORMS, ETC.

Great antiquity of the silk -manufacture in China — Time and mode of pruning the
Mulberry-tree — Not allowed to exceed a certain height — Mode of planting —
Situation of rearing-rooms, and their construction — Effect of noise on the silk-
worm— Precautions observed in preserving cleanlirtess — Isan-mon, mother of
the worms — Manner of feeding — Space allotted to the worms — Destruction of
the Chrysalides — Great skill of the Chinese in weaving — American writers on the
Mulberry-tree — Silk-worms sometimes reared on trees — (M. Marteloy's ex-
periments in 1764, in rearing silk-worms on trees in France) — Produce inferior
to that of worms reared in houses — Mode of delaying the hatching of the eggs
— Method of hatching — Necessity for preventing damp — Number of meals —
Mode of stimulating the appetite of the worms — Effect of this upon the quan-
tity of silk produced — Darkness injurious to the silk-worm — Its effect on the
Mulberry -leaves — Mode of preparing the cocoons for the reeling process — Wild

CONTENTS. XV

silk-worms of India — Mode of hatching, &c. — (Observations on the cultivation
of silk by Dr. Stebbins — Dr. Bowring's admirable illustration of the mutual de-
pendence of the arts upon each other.) . . . • 119

CHAPTER IX.

THE SPIDER.
ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE SILKEN FILAMENTS FROM SPIDERS.

Structures of spiders — Spiders not properly insects, and why — Apparatus for spin-
ning— Extraordinary number of spinnerules — Great number of filaments com-
posing one thread — Reaumur and Leeuwenhoeck's laughable estimates — At-
tachment of the thread against a wall or stick — Shooting of the lines of spiders
— 1. Opinions of Redi, Swammerdam, and Kirby — 2. Lister, Kirby, and White
— 3. La Pluche and Bingley — 4. D'Isjonval, Murray, and Bowman — 5. Ex-
periments of Mr. Blackwall — His account of the ascent of gossamer — 6. Ex-
periments by Rennie — Thread supposed to go off double — Subsequent experi-
ments— Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders — Elastic satin nest of a spider — Eve-
lyn's account of hunting spiders — Labyrinthic spider's nest — Erroneous account
of the House Spider — Geometric Spiders — attempts to procure silken filaments
from Spiders' bags — Experiments of M. Bon — Silken material — Manner of its
preparations — M. Bon's enthusiasm — His spider establishment — Spider-silk not
poisonous — Its usefulness in healing wounds — Investigation of M. Bon's estab-
lishment by M. Reaumm: — His objections — Swift's satire against speculators
and projectors — Ewbank's interesting observations on the ingenuity of spiders —
Mason-spiders — Ingenious door with a hinge — Nest from the West Indies with
spring hinge— Raft-building Spider— Diving Water-Spider— Rev. Mr. Kirby's
beautiful description of it — Observations of M. Clerck — Cleanlmess of Spiders —
Structure of their claws — Fanciful account of them patting their webs — Pro-
ceedings of a spider in a steamboat — Addison — His suggestions on the compila-
tion of a " History of Insects" . . 138

CHAPTER X.

FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA.

The Pinna — Description of— Delicacy of its threads — Reaumur's observations —
Mode of forming the filament or thread — Power of continually producing new
threads — Experiments to ascertain this fact — The Pinna and its Cancer
Friend — Nature of their alliance — Beautiful phenomenon — Aristotle and Pliny's
account — The Greek poet Oppianus's lines on the Pinna, and its Cancer friend
— Manner of procuring the Pinna — Poll's description — Specimens of the Pinna
in the British Museum— Pearls found in the Pinna— Pliny and Atheneeus's ac-
count— Manner of preparing the fibres of the Pinna for weaving — Scarceness
of this material— No proof that the ancients were acquainted with the art
of knitting— TertuUiau the first ancient writer who makes mention of the
manufacture of cloth from the fibres of the Pinna— Procopius mentions a

XVI CONTENTS.

chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna, and a silken tunic adorned with sprigs
or featliers of gold — Boots of red leather worn only by Emperors — Golden fleece
of the Pinna — St. Basil's account — Fibres of the Pinna not manufactured into
cloth at Tarentum in ancient times, but m India — Diving for the Pinna at Col-
chi — Arrian's account 174

CHAPTER XI.

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE-APPLE.

Fibres of the Pine Apple — Facility of dyeing — Manner of preparing the fibres for
weaving — Easy cultivation of the plant — Thrives where no other plant will
live — Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke's patent process of manufacturing cloth from
the fibres of this plant — Its comparative want of strength — Silken material pro-
cured from the Papyfera — Spun and woven into cloth — Cloth of this description
manufactured generally by the Otaheiteans, and other inhabitants of the South
Sea Islands — Great strength (supposed) of ropes made from the fibres of the
aloe — Exaggerated statements 185

CHAPTER Xn.

MALLOWS.

CULTIVATION AND USE OF THE MALLOW AMONG THE ANCIENTS. TESTIMONY

OF LATIN, GREEK, AND ATTIC WRITERS.

The earliest mention of Mallows is to be found in Job xxx. 4. — Varieties of the
Mallow — Cultivation and use of the Mallow — Testimony of ancient authors —
Papias and Isidore's mention of Mallow cloth — Mallow cloth common in the
days of Charlemagne — Mallow shawls — Mallow cloths mentioned in the Peri-
plus as exported from India to Barygaza (Baroch) — Calidasa the Indian dram-
atist, who lived in the first century B. C. — His testimony — Wallich's (the In-
dian botanist) account — Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Sacontala
of Calidasa — Valcalas, or Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Ramayana,
a noted poem of ancient India — Sheets made from trees — Ctesia's testimony
— Strabo's account — Testimony of Statius Ccecilius and Plautus, who lived 169
B. C. and 184 B. C. — Plautus's laughable enumeration of the analogy of ti'ades
— Boauty of garments of Amorgos mentioned by Eupolis — Clearchus's testi-
mony— Plato mentions linen shifts — Amorgine garments first manufactured at
Athens in the time of Aristophanes .191

CHAPTER Xm.

SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM.

CLOTH MANUFACTURED FROM BROOM BARK, NETTLE, AND BULBOUS PLANT.

TESTIMONY OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS.

Authority for Spanish Broom — Stipa Tenacissima — Cloth made from Broom-
bark — Albania — Italy — France — Mode of preparing tlie fibre for weaving —

CONTENTS. Xvii

Pliny's account of Spartum — Bulbous plant — Its fibrous coats — Pliny's transla-
tion of Theoplu-astus — Socks and gannents — Size of the bulb — Its gemis or
species not sufficiently defined — Remarks of various modern writers on this plant
— Interesting communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass.
to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth 202

PART SECOND.

ORIGIN AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER I.

sheep's wool.

SHEEP-BREEDING A\D PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS OF

THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

The Shepherd Boy — Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia — Mesopotamia and
Syria — In Idmnaea and Northern Arabia — In Palestine and Egypt — In Ethio-
pia and Libya — In Caucasus and Coraxi — The Coraxi identified with the
modern Caratshai — In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, «&c. — In Caria
and Ionia — Milesian wool — Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly,
Euboea, and BcEotia — In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris — In Arcadia — Worsliip
of Pan — Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds — Introduction of his worship
into Attica — Extension of the worship of Pan — His dances with the nymphs —
Pan not the Egjrptian Mendes, but identical with Famius — The philosophical
explanation of Pan rejected — Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians
— Polybius on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians — Worship of Mercury
in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade — Present state of Arca-
dia— Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus — Shepherds' dogs — Annual
migration of Albanian shepherds 217

CHAPTER 11.

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUS-
TRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Sheep-breeding in Sicily — Bucolic poetry — Sheep-breeding in South Italy — An-
nual migration of the flocks — The ram employed to aid the shepherd in con-
ducting his flock — The ram an emblem of authority — Bells — Ancient inscription
at Sepino — Use of music by ancient shepherds — Superior quality of Tarentine
sheep — Testimony of Columella — Distinction of the coarse and soft kinds —
Names given to sheep — Supposed effect of the water of rivers on wool — Sheep-
breeding in South Italy, Tarentum, and Apulia — Brown and red wool — Sheep-
breeding in North Italy — Wool of Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Padua — Ori-

XVIU CONTENTS.

g^n of sheep-breeding in Italy — Faunus the same with Pan — Ancient sculptures
exhibiting Faunus — Bales of wool and the shepherd's dress — Costume, appear-
ance, and manner of life of the ancient Italian shepherds . . 256

CHAPTER III.

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUS-
TRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Sheep-breeding in Germany and Gaul — In Britain — Improved by the Belgians
and Saxons — Sheep-breeding in Spain — Natural dyes of Spanish wool — Golden
hue and other natural dyes of the wool of Bsetica — Native' colors of Bsetic
wool — Saga and chequered plaids — Sheep always bred principally for the
weaver, not for the butcher — Sheep supplied milk for food, wool for clothing —
The moth 282

CHAPTER IV.

GOATS-HAIR.
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Sheep-breeding and goats in China — Probable origin of sheep and goats — Sheep
and goats coeval with man, and always propagated together — Habits of Gre-
cian goat-herds — He-goat employed to lead the flock — Cameo representing a
goat-herd — Goats chiefly valued for their milk — Use of goats' -hair for coarse
clothing — Shearing of goats in Phrj'gia, Cilicia, &-c. — Vestes caprina, cloth of
goats' -hair — Use of goats'-hair for military and naval purposes — Curtains to
cover tents — Etymology of Sack and Shag — Symbolical uses of sack-cloth —
The Arabs weave goats'-hair — Modern uses of goats'-hair and goats'-wool —
Introduction of the Angora or Cashmere goat into France — Success of the
Project 293

CHAPTER V.

BEAVERS-WOOL.

Isidorus Hispalensis — Claudian — Beckmann — Beavers' -wool — Dispersion of Bea-
vers through Europe — Fossil bones of Beavers .... 309

CHAPTER VI.

CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR.

Camels' -wool and Camels' -hair — Ctesia's account — Testimony of modem travel-
lers— Arab tent of Camels' -hair — Fine cloths still made of Camels'-wool — The
use of hair of various animals in the manufacture of beautiful stuffs by the ancient
Mexicans — Hair used by the Candian women in the manufacture of broidered
Btuffi — Broidered stuff's of the negresses of Senegal — Their great beauty 312

CONTENTS. Xix

PART THIRD.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

CHAPTER I.

GREAT ANTIQUITY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE IN INDIA

UNRIVALLED SKILL OF THE INDIAN WEAVER.

Superiority of Cotton for clothing, compared with linen, both in hot and cold cli-
mates— Cotton characteristic of India — Account of Cotton by Herodotus,
Ctesias, Theophrastus, Aristobulus, Nearchus, Pomponius Mela — Use of Cot-
ton in India — Cotton known before silk and called Carpasus, Carpasum, Car-
basum, &c. — Cotton awnings used by the Romans — Carbasus applied to linen
— Last request of Tibullus — Muslin fillet of the vestal virgin — Linen sails, &c.,
called Carbasa — Valerius Flaccus introduces muslin among the elegancies in
the dress of a Phrygian from the river Rhyndacus — Prudentius's satire on pride
— Apuleius's testimony — Testimony of Sidonius Apollinaris, and Avienus —
Pliny and Julius Pollux — Their testimony considered — Testimony of Tertullian
and Philostratus — Of Martianus Capella — Cotton paper mentioned by The-
ophylus Presbyter — Use of Cotton by the Arabians — Cotton not common an-
ciently in Europe — Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville's testimony of the
Cotton of India — Forbes's description of the herbaceous Cotton of Guzerat —
Testimony of Malte Brun — Beautiful Cotton textures of the ancient Mexicans
— Testimony of the Abbe Clavigero — Fishing nets made from Cotton by the
inhabitants of the West India Islands, and on the Continent of South Amer-
ica— Columbus's testimony — Cotton used for bedding by the Brazilians . 315

CHAPTER II.

SPINNING AND WEAVING MARVELLOUS SKILL DISPLAYED IN THESE

ARTS.

Unrivalled excellence of India muslins — Testimony of the two Arabian travellers
— Marco Polo, and Odoardo Barbosa's accounts of the beautiful Cotton tex-
tures of Bengal — Caesar Frederick, Tavemier, and Forbes's testimony — Extra-
ordinary fineness and transparency of Decca muslins — Specimen brought by Sir
Charles Wilkins ; compared with English muslins — Sir Joseph Banks's experi-
ments— Extraordinary fineness of Cotton yarn spun by machinery in England

Fineness of India Cotton yarn — Cotton textures of Soonergong — Testimony of
R. Fitch — Hamilton's accoimt — Decline of the manufactures of Dacca ac-
counted for — Orme's testimony of the universal diiFusion of the Cotton manu-
facture in India — Processes of the manufacture — Rude implements — Roller gin
— Bowing. (Eli Whitney inventor of the cotton gin — Tribute of respect paid
to his memory — Immense value of Mr. Whitney's invention to growers and man-
ufacturers of Cotton throughout the world.) Spinning wheel — Spinning without

3

XX CONTENTS.

a wheel — Loom — Mode of weaving — Forbes's description — Habits and remuner-
ation of Spinners, Weavers, &c. — Factories of the East India Company — Mar-
vellous skill of the Indian workman accounted for — Mills's testimony — Principal
Cotton fabrics of India, and where made — Indian commerce in Cotton goods —
Alarm created in the woollen and silk manufacturing districts of Great Britain
— Extracts from publications of the day — Testimony of Daniel De Foe (Au-
thor of Robinson Crusoe.) — Indian fabrics prohibited in England, and most
other countries of Europe — Petition from Calcutta merchants — Present con-
dition of the City of Dacca — Mode of spinning fine yams — Tables showing
the comparative prices of Dacca and British manufactured goods of the same
quality 333

PART FOURTH.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE.

CHAPTER I.

FLAX.

CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF FLAX BY THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS

OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Earliest mention of Flax — Linen manufactures of the Egj'ptians — Linen worn by
the priests of Isis — Flax grown extensively in Egj-pt — Flax gathering — Envel-
opes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies — Examination of mummy-cloth —
Proved to be Linen — Flax still grown in Egypt — Explanation of terms — Bys-
sus — Reply to J. R. Forster — Hebrew and Egj-ptian terms — Flax in North
Africa, Colchis, Babylonia — Flax cultivated in Palestine — Terms for flax and
tow — Cultivation of Flax in Palestine and Asia Minor — In Elis, Etruria, Cis-
alpine Gaul, Campania, Spain — Flax of Germany, of the Atrebates, and of the
Franks — Progressive use of linen among the Greeks and Romaiis . 358

CHAPTER H.

Cultivation and Uses of Hemp by the Ancients — Its use limited — Thrace — Col-
chis— Caria — Etj-mology of Hemp 387

CHAPTER III.

Uses of Asbestos — Carpasian flax — Still found in Cyprus — Used in funerals — As-
bestine-cloth— How manufactured — Asbestos used for fraud and superstition
by the Romish monks — Relic at IMonte Casino . ... 390

CONTENTS. XXI

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A.

ON pliny's natural history.

Sheep and wool — Price of wool in Pliny's time — Varieties of wool and where pro-
duced— Coarse wool used for the manufacture of carpets — Woollen cloth of
Egypt — Embroidery — Felting — Manner of cleansing — DistafF of Tanaquil —
Varro — Tunic — Toga — Undulate or waved cloth — Nature of this fabric — Fig-
ured cloths in use in the days of Homer (900 B. C.) — Cloth of gold — Figured
cloths of Babylon — Damask first woven at Alexandria — Plaided textures first
woven in Gaul — $150,000 paid for a Babylonish coverlet — Dyeing of wool in
the fleece — Observations on sheep and goats — Dioscurias a city of the ColchiaHS
— Manner of transacting business 401

APPENDIX B.

ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF LINEN AND COTTON PAPER.

THE INVENTION OF LINEN PAPER PROVEN TO BE OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN — COTTON
PAPER MANUFACTURED BY THE BUCHARIANS AND ARABIANS, A. D. 704.

Wehrs gives the invention of Linen paper to Germany — Schonemann to Italy —
Opinion of various writers, ancient and modern — Linen paper produced in
Egypt from mummy-cloth, A. D. 1200 — Testimony of Abdollatiph — Europe
indebted to Egypt for linen paper until the eleventh century — Cotton paper —
The knowledge of manufacturing, how procured, and by whom — Advantages
of Egyptian paper manufacturers — Clugny's testimony — Egyptian manuscript
of linen paper bearing date A. D. 1100 — Ancient water-marks on hnen paper
— Linen paper first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain. (The
Wasp a paper-maker — Manufacture of paper from shavings of wood, and from
the stalks or leaves of Indian-corn.) 404

APPENDIX C.

ON FELT.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF FELTING BY THE ANCIENTS.

Felting more ancient than weaving — Felt used in the East — Use of it by the
Tartars — Felt made of goats'-hair by the Circassians — Use of felt in Italy and
Greece — Cap worn by the Cynics, Fishermen, Mariners, Artificers, &c. —
Cleanthes compares the moon to a skull-cap — Desultores — Vulcan — Ulysses —
Phrygian bonnet — Cap worn by the Asiatics — Phrygian felt of Camels' -hair —
Its great stiffness — Scarlet and purple felt used by Babylonish decorators —
Mode of manufacturing Felt — Northern nations of Europe — Cap of liberty —

XXll CONTENTS.

Petasus — Statue of Endymion — Pctasus in works of ancient art — Hats of Thes-
saly and Macedonia — Laconian or Arcadian hats — The Greeks manufacture
Felt 900 B. C. — Mercury with the pileus and petasus — Miscellaneous uses of
Felt ... 414

APPENDIX D.

ON NETTING.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE

SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Nets were made of Flax, Hemp, and Broom — General terms for nets — Nets used
for catching birds — Mode of snaring — Hunting-nets — Method of hunting —
Himting-nets supported by forked stakes — Manner of fixing them — Purse-net
or tunnel-net — Homer's testimony — Nets used by the Persians in lion-hunting
— Hunting with nets practised by the ancient Egyptians — Method of hunting
— Depth of nets for this purpose — Description of the pvirse-net — Road-net —
Hallier — Dyed feathers used to scare the prey — Casting-net — Manner of throw-
ing by the Arabs — Cyrus king of Persia — His fable of the piper and the fishes
— Fishing-nets — Casting-net used by the Apostles — Landing-net (Scap-net) —
The Sean — Its length and depth — Modern use of the Sean — Method of fishing
with the Sean practised by the Arabians and ancient Egyptians — Corks and
leads — Figurative application of the Sean — Curious method of capturing an
enemy practised by the Persians — Nets used in India to catch tortoises — Bag-
nets and small purse-nets — Novel scent-bag of Verres the Sicilian praetor 436

LIST OF PLATES.

I. Frontispiece — Chinese Looms.
II. Egyptian Looms, with the Processes of Spinning and Winding,

to face page 9;j

III. Silk Worm, Cocoons, Chrysalis, Motlis, and Pinna . . . 118

IV. Spiders, with the Processes of Spinning and Weaving . . .172
V. Indian Loom, with the Process of Winding off the Thread . 31.5

VI. Egyptian Flax-gathering. Magnified Fibres of Flax and Cotton 359
VII. Map, showing the Divisions of the Ancient World, coloured ac-
cording to the Raw Materials principally produced in them

for Weaving 400

VIII. Caps worn by CjTiic Philosopher, Vulcan, Dtedalus, Ulysses,
and a Desultor. Caps worn by Modem Greek Boy and
Fisherman. Mysian Cap or Phrygian Bonnet. Coins in the
British Museum ......... 415

IX. Statue of Endymion. Hats worn by Shepherds and Athenian

Ephebi. Coins in the British Museum 434

X. Hunting-scenes in bas-reliefs at Ince-Blundell. Egyptians with

the Drag-Net . . 464

PART FIRST.
ANCIENT HISTORY OF SILK.

CHAPTER I.

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING.

Whether Silk is mentioned in the Old Testament — Earliest Clothing — Coats of
Skin, Tunic, Simla — Progress of Invention — Chinese chronology relative to the
Culture of Silk — Exaggerated statements — Opinions of Mailla, Le Sage, M.
Lavoisne, Rev. J. Robinson, Dr. A. Clarke, Rev. W. Hales, D.D., Mairan,
Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William Jones — Noah supposed to be the first empe-
ror of China — Extracts from Chinese publications — Silk Manufactures of the
island of Cos — Described by Aristotle — Testimony of Varro — Spinning and
Weaving in Egypt — Great ingenuity of Bezaleel and Aholiab in the production
of Figured Textures for the Jewish Tabernacle — Skill of the Sidonian women
in the Manufacture of Ornamental Textures — Testimony of Homer — Great
antiquity of the Distaff and Spindle — The prophet Ezekiel's account of the
Broidered Stuffs, etc. of the Egyptians — Beautiful eulogy on an industrious
woman — Helen the Spartan, her superior s^kill in the art of Embroidery — Golden
Distaff presented her by the Egj'ptian queen Alcandra — Spinning a domestic
occupation in Miletus — Thcocritus's complimentary verses to Theuginis on her
mdustry and virtue — Taste of the Roman and Grecian ladies in the decoration
of their Spinning Implements— Ovid's testimony to the skill of Arachne in
Spinning and Weaving— Method of Spinning with the Distaff— Described by
Homer and Catullus — Use of Silk in Arabia 500 years after the flood— For-
eter's testimony.

To please the flesh a thousand arts contend :

The miser's heaps of gold, the figur'd vest.

The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye,

Bv toil aoquir'd, promote no other end. — Peristepk. Hymn. x.

Whether silk is ever mentioned in the Old Testament
cannot perhaps be determined.

In Ezek. xvi. 10 and 13, '-'silk" is used in the common
Eno-hsh bible for i^yf;^, which occurs no where except here,
but which, as appears from the context, certainly meant some

1

Library
N. C. State Collefire

2 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

valuable article of female dress. Le Clerc and Rosenmiiller
translate it "scrico;" Cocceius, Schindler, Buxtorf, in their
Lexicons, and Dr. John Taylor in his Concordance^ give the
same interpretation. Augusti and De Wette in their German
translation make it signify " a silkeji veiV Others give dif-
ferent interpretations. The only ground, on which silk of
any kind is supposed to be meant, is that in the Alexandrine
or Septuagint version i^?f2 is translated rpixaTtrov^ and rpixa^rov
is explained by Hesychius to mean " the silken web fitted to
be placed over the hair of the head " {to PojaI^vkivov v^aana inip tuv
Tpix'iv rns «<^oX.is avTOficvov), and that other ancient Greek lexicogra-
phers also suppose a silken garment to be meant.* But the
meaning of rpixaiTTov is in reality as obscure as that of '>^f2'
Jerome could not discover it, and concluded that the word was
invented by the Greek translator. It is now extant no where
else except in a passage of the comic Pherecrates preserved in
Athenaeus. Schneider, followed by Passow, supposes it to
mean some garment made of hair, and quotes to this effect
the explanation of Pollux (2. 24.), v'Xiy^a u Tp^x'^v. Although,
therefore, the term in question may possibly have denoted
some elegant and costly ornament for the head, made at least
partly of silk, yet this opinion appears to rest altogether upon
the assumption, first, that the ancient lexicographers are ac-
curate in their use of the epithet HoiidUivov^ and secondly, that
the Alexandrine version is accurate in adopting the word

In Isaiah xix. 9, according to King James's Translators
and Bishop Lowth, mention is made of those " that work in
fine flax,'' in the orignal nipHLT^ D^nL*'5 H^V. Rosen-
miiller adopts nearly the same interpretation, which is founded
upon the use of the verb pity or plU in the Chaldee and
Syriac dialects to denote the operation of combing flax, wool,
hair, and other substances. In this sense the word has been
taken by tlie author of the Alexandrine Version, tov^ ipya^oijcvovi
TO yivov Td axxTrou; by Syinmachus, who instead of ax'-^'-o" uses
KWiardv; and by Jerome, "qui operabantur linum pectentcs."

* See Schleusner, Lexicon in LXX., v. Tpixa^'ov.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 3

In the Targum of Jonathan and in the Syriac Version the
same root is taken to denote silk ; ^{J^^ ^tl/D Vp^lO^
Targ. V*°i^t. U^ ^jT^ Syr. Both of these seem to ad-
mit of the following literal translation, " those who make silken
tunics" or in Latin, " Factores tnnicarum e sericis"

Kimchi supposes mp^^tJ^ to mean silk webs, observing
that silk is called pltJ^ ^N by the Arabs. The same opin-
ion has been adopted by Nicholas Fuller*, Buxtorf, and other
modern critics. Kennicott, however, arranges the words in
two lines as follows,

mn D»:i-ii\T mpn:r

According to this arrangement, which seems most suitable to
the rules of grammatical construction, we have three co-ordi-
nate phrases in the plural number, denoting three different
classes of artificers. The second, T^^p^^ly, would by its ter-
mination denote female artificers, viz. women employed in
combing wool, flax, or other substances. On the whole we
are incUned to adopt this explanation of the word, as it ap-
pears to be attended with the least difficulty, either grammati-
cal or etymological.

Silk is mentioned Prov. xxxi. 22. in King James's Trans-
lation, i. e. the common EngHsh version, and in the margin
of Gen. xh. 42. But the use of the word is quite unauthor-
ized.

After a full examination of the w^hole question Brauniusf
decides that there is no mention of silk in the whole of the
Old Testament, and that it was unknown to the Hebrews in
ancient times.

" There can be no doubt," says Professor Hurwitz, '• that
manufactures and the arts must have attained a high degree
of perfection at the time when Moses* wrote ; and that many
of them were known long before that period, we have the evi-
dence of Scripture. It is true that inventions were at first

* Miscellanea Sacra, 1. ii. c. 11.

t De vestitu Heb. Sacerdotum, 1. 1. eap. viii. § 8.

4 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

few, and their progress very slow, but they were suited to the
then condition and circumstances of man, as is evident even
in the art of clothing. Placed in the salubrious and mild air
of paradise, our first parents could hardly want any other cov-
ering than what decency required. Accordingly we find that
the first and only article of dress was the rTTUHl chagoi'a, the
belt, (not aprons, as in the established version). The male-
rials of which it was made were fig leaves ; (Gen. iii. 7.) the
same tree that afforded them food and shelter, furnished them
likewise with materials for covering their bodies. But when
in consequence of their transgressions they were to be ejected
from their blissful abode, and forced to dwell in less favoura-
ble regions, a more substantial covering became necessary,
their merciful Creator made them (i. e. inspired them with
the thoughts of making for themselves) *n^ DIJinD coats of
skins. (Gen. iii. 21.) The original word is H^n^ c'fhoiieth,
whence the Greek x""'^" the tunic, a close garment that was
usually worn next the skin, it reached to the knees, and had
sleeves (in after times it was made either of wool or linen.)
After man had subdued the sheep (Hebrew JJ^DD caves from
^^^ to sul>due*) and learned hoAV to make, use of its wool,
we find a new article of dress, namely the Tl7i2'C* simla, an
upper garment : it consisted of a piece of cloth about six yards
long and two or three wide, in shape not unlike our blankets.
This will explain Gen. ix. 23, 'And Shem and Japheth took
a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went
backward and covered the nakedness of their father.' It
served as a dress by day, as a bed by night, (Exod. xxii. 26,)

* There is not the least shadow of truth in support of such a deduction ; and
particularly so since the general tenor of the Scriptures leads to a very different
conclusion. We arc, therefore, not authorized to give our support to any such
hypothesis. The histoi-y of tlif Sheep and Goat is so interw'ovcn with the hisfoiy
of man, that those naturalists have not reasoned correctly, who have thought it
necessary to refer the first origin of either of them to any wild stock at all. Such
view is, we imagine, more in keeping with tlio inferences to be drawn from Scrip-
ture History with regard to the early domestication of the sheep. Abel, we are
told, was a keeper of sheep, and it was one of the firstlings of his flock that he
offered to the Lord, and which, proving a more acceptable sacrifice, excited the
implacable and fatal jealousy of his brother Cain. (See Part ii. pp. 217 and 293.)

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 5

' If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou
shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down ; for that
is his covering only ; it is his raiment for his skin : wherein
shall he sleep V And sometimes burdens were carried in it,
(Exod. xii. 34,) 'And the people took their dough before it
was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their
clothes upon their shoulders.'

" In the course of time various other garments came into
use, as mentioned in several other parts of Scripture. The
materials of which these garments were usually made are
specified in Leviticus xiii. 47 — 59, ' The garment also that
the plague of the leprosy is in, w^iether it be a woollen gar-
ment or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp or ivoof,
of hnen or of woollen ; whether in a skin, or in anything
made of skin, (fcc' "

In our search for the distant origin of any art or science, or
in looking through the long vista of ages remote even to na-
tions extinct before our own, we are favored with satisfactory
evidence so long as we are accompanied with authentic records :
beyond, all is dark, obscure, tradition, fable. On such ground
it w^ould be credulous or rash in the extreme to repeat as our
own, an affnmation, when that rests on the single testimony
of one party or interest, especially when that is of a very ques-
tionable character. It is even safer, w^hen history or well au-
thenticated records fail us, to appeal to philosophy, or to the
well known laws of mind, from w^hich all arts and science
spring. The former favors us with the commanding evidence
of certainty and decision ; and though the latter may only af-
ford the testimony of analogy, yet, is its probability more safe,
at least, than what rests on misguided calculations or on the
legendary tales of artifice and fiction.

We have, however, authentic testimony that the inventive
faculty existed at a very early period. The peculiar condition
of man at that time must have afforded many imperative oc-
casions for its exertion. Hence we read that " Jabal was the
father of such as dwell in tents" {i. e. inventor of tent-ma-
king) ; that " Jubal, his brother, was the father " (inventor) of
musical instruments : such as the kinnor, harp, or stringed in-

6 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

struments, and the ugab, organ, or wind instruments ; that
" Tubal-cain was the instructor of every artificer in brass and
iron," the first smith on record, or one to teach how to make
instruments and utensils out of brass and iron ; and that the
sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah, whom the Targum of
Jonathan ben Uzziel affirms to have been the inventrix of
plaintive or elegiac poetry*. Here is then an account of the
inventive faculty being in exercise 3504 years before the
Christian era ; or 1156 years prior to the deluge ; or 804
years before the earliest period assigned to the Chinese for the
discovery of silk. And of whatever arts or sciences existing
amongst men prior to the deluge, there is no difficulty in con-
ceiving the possibility of the transmission of the leading and
most essential parts, at least, to the post-diluvians, by the fam-
ily of Noah.

But instead of giving our unqualified assent to what has
been servilely copied from book to book from the most accessible
account, we shall advert to the great discrepancy relative to
Chinese chronology, amongst those wlio have had equal access
to their records. Thus the time of Fohi, the first emperor, has
been said to be 2951 B. C, by some 2198 B. C, and by others
2057, or about 300 years after the deluge : of Hoang-ti, 2700
B. C, by Mailla it is quoted at 2602 B. C, by Le Sage at
2597 B. C, and by Robinson and others at 1703 B. C. Sim-
ilar disagreements might, Avould our limits allow, be observed
concerning the rest, and particularly of the emperors, Hiao-
wenti, Chim-ti, Ming-ti, Youen-ti, Wenti, Wou-ti, and Hiao-
wou-ti. Even in more modern times, and relative to a char-
acter so notorious as Confucius, no less than three dates are

* As a proof that the inventive faculty, as to every thing truly useful to man,
originally proceeded from the only " Giver of every good and perfect gift," con-
sult Isa. xxviii. 24 — 29: and also a beautiful comment by Dr. A. Clarke on,
" And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with
the spirit of wisdom." Exod. xxviii. 3 : and also on, " I have filled him with the
spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all man-
ner of workmanship ; to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and
in brass ; and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work
in all manner of curious workmanship." Exod. xxxi. 3, 4, and 5.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 7

equally affirmed to be true. As to Hoang-ti, who is said to
have begun the ciiUure of silk, we are inclined to prefer the
latter account, 1703 B. C, which makes him contemporary
with Joseph, when prime minister over the land of Egypt.

As a confirmation of this, it may be stated, that by referring
to the account given of nine* of the patriarchs at this period,
we shall find that the average age of human life, before much
greater, soon after rapidly declined. Now the average dura-
tion of the reigns of the first thrcef Chinese emperors, including
Hoang-ti, was 118 years ; of the five that immediately succeed-
ed, only 68 years. After this, until the Christian era, the aver-
age duration of a single reign did not exceed 23 years, and
thence until the present time not 13 years. Since, therefore,
the average duration of the reign of the first three emperors
bears an evident and fit proportion to that of the age of man
at the period specified, though not at any other before or after,
beino- in the former case as much too small as it would in the
latter be too great, the opinion now offered is the only one that
can be consistent with these striking facts ; and, if duly con-
sidered, presents an argument strongly corroborating this view
of the subject.

To attempt to establish any greater certainty, in a case of
tliis nature, the Chinese during the dynasty of Tschin, having,
to conceal the truth, destroyed everything authentic, would be
in vain. It would be even more rational to have recourse to
the Vedas, or sacred books of the Brahmins, or to records in
the Sanscrit, were it not a well known fact, that nearly all
ancient nations, except the Jews, actuated by the same ambi-
tion, have betrayed a wish to have their origin traced as far
back as the creation. And in the gratification of this passion
none are so notoriously pre-eminent as the Egyptians, Hindoos,
and Chinese.l For them the limits of the creation itself have
been too narrow, and days, weeks, and even months too short,
unless multiplied into years. §

* Peletr, Reu, Senior, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph:
Gen. xi. 16—26 ; xlvii. 28 ; and 1. 26. t Fohi, Eohi Chinun, and Hoang-ti.
\ See Dr. A. Clarke's remarks : end of Gen.
§ Secpp. 68, 74, 119 and 294.

8 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

The chronology relative to the early culture of silk, as
found in Chinese documents, for several irrefragable objections
already assigned, is exceedingly questionable, and therefore
we are by no means pledged to affirm that either in the
authenticity of the books, or in tlie correctness of the dates have
we any faith. M. Lavoisne dates the commencement of the
Chinese dynasties at A. M.* 1816, or 159 years after the del-
ua-e. The Rev. J. Robinson of Christ Col., Cam., at A. M.
1947. We have already given as strong reasons, as under the
extreme incertitude of the case, can, perhaps, be offered, for
preferring the latter ; the important points may be briefly
stated, thus :

End of the deluge tlG57 A. M.

Fohi, first emperor, began to reign ... - 1947 A. M.
Noah died 2007 A. M.

Eohi Chinun, second emperor, began to reign - - 2061 A. M.
Hoang-ti, the third emperor, began to reign - - 2201 A. M.

Hoang-ti after establishing the silk culture, died - - 2301 A. M.

Hoang-ti was therefore contemporary with Joseph when ad-
ministering the affairs of Egypt.J But would we know what
account the Chinese themselves give relative to the earliest
introduction of the silk culture, we shall find it in the French
version of the Chinese Treatises, by M. Stanislas Julien, or in
the following words of pages 77 and 78, as translated and
published in 1838, at Washington, under the title of " Sum-
mary of the principal Chinese Treatises upon the Culture of
the Mulberry, and the rearing of Silk-worms."

* A. M. signifies Anno Mundi, that is in the year of the World. The Year of
Our Lord always commences on the first day of Januarj^ the day on which
Christ was circumcised, being eight days old. From the Creation until the birth
of Christ, was 4004 years.

Tirin places the birth of Christ in the 36th year of Herod, the 40th of Augus-
tus, the 28th from the battle of Actium, the 749th of Rome, and the 4th of the
193d Olympiad.

t It will here not be improper to observe that the Samaritan text and Septua-
gint version of the Hebrew, carry the deluge as far back as to the year 3716 be-
fore Christ ; or 1000 years before the Chinese account of Hoang-ti. On this sub-
ject see the New Analysis of Chronology, by the Rev. W. Hales, D.D. 4to., 3 vol.

t Joseph died in the 2369th year from the Creation.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS.

In the book on silk-worms, we read : " The lawful wife of
the emperor Hoang-ti, named Si-ling-chi, began the culture of
silk. It was at that time that the emperor Hoang-ti invented
the art of making garments (!)." The same fact is mentioned
more in detail in the general history of China, by P. Mailla,
in the year 2602, before our era (4447 years ago).

" This great prince (Hoang-ti) was desirous that Si-hng-
chi, his legitimate wife, should contribute to the happiness of
his people. He charged her to examine the silk-worms, and
to test the practicability of using the thread. Si-ling-chi had
a large quantity of these insects collected, which she fed her-
self, in a place prepared for that purpose, and discovered not ,
only the means of raising them, but also the manner of reel-
ing the silk, and of employing it to make garments."

" It is through gratitude for so great a benefit," says the
history, entitled Wai-ki, " that posterity has deified Si-ling-
chi, and rendered her particular honors under the name of
the goddess of silk-worms." (Memoirs on the Chinese, vol.
13, p. 240.)

We have seen that the most probable account relative to the
time of Fohi, said to have been the first Chinese emperor, is
that he reigned 2057 years before the Christian era, or in the
year of the world 1947. "According to the most current
opinion," says M. Lavoisne, " China was founded by one of
the colonies formed at the dispersion of Noah's posterity under
the conduct of Yao, who took for his colleague Chun, after-
wards his successor. But most writers consider Fohi to have
been Noah himself(!)."

Now the deluge terminated A. M. 1657, and Noah lived
after the deluge 350 years*, and therefore died A. M. 2007 ;
and as Fohi is said to have reigned 114 years, before Eohi
Chun or Chinun succeeded him, he was contemporary, at
least, with Noah. The ark rested on Mount Ararat, which is
generally allowed to be one of the mountains of Armenia, to
the east of the head of the Tigris. And liere the same author
remarks, that "in rather less tban a century and a half, after

* Gen. ix. 28.

2

10 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

the birth of Peleg, it is supposed that Noah, being then about
his 840th year, wearied with the growing depravity of his
descendants^ retired with a select company to a remote
corner of Asia, and there began what in after ages has
been termed the Chinese monarchy^'''* This view of the sub-
ject, we beheve, coincides perfectly with the reputable testi-
monies presented by Mairan, Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William
Jones, and demonstrates that the transit of more central abo-
rigines, since the deluge, to the extremes of China, was per-
fectly feasiblcjt and a matter of even high probability.

The first ancient author, who affords any evidence respect-
ing the use of silk, is Aristotle. He does not, however, appear
to have been accurately acquainted with the changes of the
silk- worm ; nor does he say, that the animal was bred or the
raw material produced in Cos. He only says, " Pamphile,
daughter of Plates, is reported to have first woven it in Cos."
(See Chapters ii. iii. and iv. of this Part.)

Long before the time of Aristotle a regular trade had been
established in the interior of Asia, which brought its most
valuable productions, and especially those which were most
easily transported, to the shores opposite this flourishing island.
Nothing therefore is more likely than that the raw silk from
the interior of Asia was brought to Cos and there manufac-
tured. We shall see hereafter from the testimony of Procopius,
that it was in like manner brought some centuries later to be
woven in the Phoenician cities. Tyre and Berytus.

The arts of spinning and weaving, Avhich rank next in im-
portance to agriculture, having been found among almost all
the nations of the old and new continents, even among those
little removed from barbarism, are reasonably supposed to
have been invented at a very remote period of the world's
history!. They evidently existed in Egypt in the time of

* Clarke's "Treatise on the Mulberry-tree, and Silk-wonn," pp. 14, 18, 20,
21, 27, and 34.

t See chap. iv. p. 67. Also Plate VII. (Map.

X According to Pliny, Semiramia, the Assyrian queen, was believed to have
been the iuventress of the art of weaving. Minerva is in some of the ancient

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS.

11

Joseph (1700 years before the Christian era), as it is recorded
that Pharaoh " arrayed him in vestures of fine linen." (Gene-
sis xli. 42.) Two centuries later, the Hebrews carried with
them on their departure from that ancient seat of civilization,
the arts of spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery ; for
when Moses constructed the tabernacle in the wilderness, " the
v/omen that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and
brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of pur-
ple, and of scarlet, and of fine hnen." (Exod. xxxv. 2.5.)
They also " spun goats' hair ;" and Bezaleel and Aholiab
"worked all manner of wwk, of the engraver, and of the
cunning workman, and of the cmhroiderer, in hhie, and of
2)urple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver P
These passages contain the earliest mention of woven cloth-
ing, which was linen, the national manufacture of Egypt.
The prolific borders of the Nile furnished from the remotest
periods, as at the present time, abundance of the finest flax* ;
and it appears, from the testimony both of sacred and profane
histor)^, that linen continued to be almost the only kind of
clothing used in Egypt till after the Christian erat. The
Egyptians exported their "hnen yarn," and "fine hnen," to
the kingdom of Israel, in the days of Solomon, (2 Chron. i.
16 ; Prov. vii. 16 ;) their " fine hnen with broidered work," to
Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 7.)

The women of Sidon before the Trojan war, were especially
celebrated for the skill in embroidery : and Homer, who lived
900 years B. C, mentions Helen as being engaged in em-
broidering the combats of the Greeks and Trojans.

statutes represented with a distaff, to intimate that she taught men the art of spin-
ning ; and this honor is given by the Egyptians to Isis, by the Mohammedans to
a son of Japhet, by the Chinese to the consort of their emperor Yao, and by the
Peruvians to Mamaoella, wife to Manco-Capac, tlieir first bovereign. These
traditions serve only to carry the mvaUiable arts of spinning and weaving up to
an extremely remote period, long prior to that of authentic history.

* Paintings representing the gathering and preparation of flax have been found
on the walls of the ancient sepulchres at Eleithias and Beni Hassan, in Upper
Egypt, and are described and copied by Hamilton.—" Remarks on several parts
of Turkey, and on ancient and modern Egypt," pp. 97 and 287, plate 23.

t Herodotus, book u. c. 37, 81. (See Plate vi.)

12 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

The transition from vegetable fibre to the use of animal
staples, such as wool and hair, could not have been very dif-
ficult ; indeed, as already stated, it took place at a period of
which we possess no very authentic written record.

The instrument used for spinning in all countries, from the
earliest times, was the distaff and spindle. This simple ap-
paratus was put by the Greek mythologists into the hands of
Minerva and the Parcse ; Solomon employs upon it the indus-
try of the virtuous woman ; to the present day the distaff is
used in India, Egypt, and other eastern countries.

The ancient spindle or distaff was a very simple instru-
ment. The late Lady Calcott informs us, that it continued
even to our own days to be used by the Hindoos in all its
primitive simplicity. " I have seen," she says, " the rock or
distaff formed simply of the leading shoot of some yovmg
tree, carefully peeled, it might be birch or elder, and, further
north, of fir or pine ; and the spindle formed of the beautiful
shrub Euonymus, or spindle-tree."*

Spinning among the Egyptians, as among our ancestors
of no very distant age, was a domestic occupation in which
ladies of rank did not hesitate to engage. The term " spin-
ster "is yet applied to unmarried ladies of every rank, and
there are persons yet alive who remember to have seen the
spinning wheel an ordinary piece of furniture in domestic
economy.

We are told that " Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt

* The superior fineness of some Indian muslins, and their quality of retaining,
longer than European fabrics, an appearance of excellence, has occasioned a be-
lief that the cotton wool of which they are woven is superior to any known else-
where ; this, however, is so far from being the fact, that no cotton is to be found
in India which at all equals in quality the better kinds produced in the United
States of America. The excellence of India muslins must be wholly ascribed to
the skilfulness and patience of the workmen, as shown in the different processes
of spinning and weaving. (See Plate v.) Their yarn is spun upon the distaff,
and it is owing to the dexterous use of the finger and thumb in forming the
thread, and to the moisture wliich it thus imbibes, that its fibres are more per-
fectly incorporated than they can be through the employment of any mechanical
substitutes.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 13

and linen yarn ; the king's nieixliants reccivea the linen yarn
at a price." (1 Kings, x. 28.) And the Unen of Egypt was
highly valued in Palestine, for the seducer, in Proverbs, says,
" I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carv-
ed works, with fine Unen of Egypt." (Prov. vii. 16.) Tlie
prophet Ezekiel also declares that the export of the textile
fabrics was an important branch of Phoenician commerce ;
for in his enumeration of the articles of traffic in Tyre, he
says : " Fine Unen with broidered work from Egypt was that
which thou sprcadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple
from the isles of EUsha was that which covered thee."
(Ezek. xxvn. 7.)

It deserves to be remarked that the prophet here joins
Egypt with the isles of EUsha or EUs, that is, the districts of
western Greece, and thus confirms the ancient tradition re-
corded by Herodotus of some Egyptian colonists having set-
tled in that country, which the sceptics of the German school
of history have thought proper to deny.* Spinning was
wholly a female employment ; it is rather singular that we
find this work frequently performed by a large number col-
lected together, as if the factory system had been established
3000 years ago.

We have, however, many specimens of spinning as a do-
mestic employment. Indeed, attention to the spindle and
distaff forms a leading feature in king Lemuel's description
of a virtuous woman. " Who can find a virtuous woman 1
for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband
doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

* The sceptical school of history, founded by Nicbuhr, in Germany, and ex-
tended by his disciples to a sweeping incredulity, far beyond what was contem-
plated by the founder, has labored hard to prove, that the Greek system of civili-
zation was indigenous, and that the candid confession of Herodotus, attributing
to Egj'ptian colonies the first introduction of the arts of life into Hellas, was au
idle tale, or a groundless tradition. But the examination of the monuments has
proved that Greek art originated in Egypt ; and that the elements of the archi-
tectural, sculptural, and pictorial wonders which have rendered Greece and Italy
illustrious, were derived from the valley of the Nile.

14 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her
hands. She is like the merchant's ships ; she bringeth her
food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and
giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
She considereth a field, and buyeth it ; with the fruit of her
hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with
strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that
her merchandise is good : her candle goeth not out by night.
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the
distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the jjoor ; yea, she
reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of
the snow for her household : for all her household are clothed
with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry ; her
clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the
gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She
maketh fine linen, and selleth it ; and deUvereth girdles unto
the merchant." (Prov. xxxi. 10-24.)

Hamilton and Wilkinson have already shown that many
of the descriptions of combats we meet in the Iliad appear to
have been derived from the battle pieces on the walls of the
Theban palaces, which the poet hiuuelf pretty plainly inti-
mates that he had visited. The same observation may be
applied to most of Homer's pictures of domestic life. We find
the lady of the mansion superintending the labors of her ser-
vants, and using the distaff herself. Her spindle made of
some precious material, richly ornamented, her beautiful
work-basket, or rather vase, and the wool dyed of some bright
hue to render it worthy of being touched by aristocratic fin-
gers, remind us of the appropriate present which the Egyp-
tian queen, Alcandra, made to the Spartan Helen ; for the
beauty of that frail fair one scarcely is less celebrated than her
skill in embroidery and every species of ornamental work.
After Polybus had given his presents to Menelaus, who stop-
ped at Egj^t on his return from Troy,

Alcandra, consort of liis high command,

A golden distaff gave to Helen's hand ;

And that rich vase, with living sculpture wrought,

Which, heap'd with wool, the beauteous Phylo brought;

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 15

The silken fleece empurpled for the loom,
Rivall'd the hyacinth in vernal bloom.

Odyssey, iv.

In the hieroglyphics over persons employed with the spindle
on the Egyptian monuments, it is remarkable that the word
saht, which in Coptic signifies to twist, constantly occurs.
The spindles were generally of wood, and in order to increase
their impetus in turning, the circular head was occasionally of
gypsum, or composition : some, however, were of a light plait-
ed work, made of rushes, or palm leaves, stained of various
colors, and furnished with a loop of the same materials, for
securing the twine after it was wound*. Sir Gardner Wilkin-
son found one of these spindles at Thebes, with some of the
linen thread upon it, and is now in the Berlin Museum.

Theocritus has given us a very striking proof of the pleas-
ure which the women of Miletus took in these employments ;
for, when he went to visit his friend Nicias, the Milesian phy-
sician, to whom he had previously addressed his eleventh and
thirteenth Idylls, he carried with him an ivory distaff as a
present for Theugenis, his friend's wife. He accompanied his
gift with the following verses, which modestly commend the
matron's industry and virtue, and, at the same time, throw an
interesting hght on the domestic economy of the ladies of Mi-
letus :

O Distaff, friend to warp and woof,
Minerva's gift in man's behoof,
Whom careful housewives still retain.
And gather to their households' gain ;
With me repair, no vulgar prize.
Where the famed towers of Nileus riset,
Where Cytherea's swayful power
Is worship'd in the reedy bower.

* The ordinary distaff does not occur in these subjects, but we may conclude
they had it. Homer mentions one of gold, given to Helen by " Alcandra the
wife of Polybus," who lived in Egj'ptian Thebes.— Od. iv. 131.

t Miletus was called " the towers of Nileus," from its having been founded by
Nileus, the son of the celebrated king Codrus, who devoted himself for the siifcty
of Athens. Nileus was so indignant at the abolition of royalty on his father's
death, that he migrated to Ionia.

16 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

Thither, would Jove khid breezes send,
I steer my course to meet my friend.
Nicias, the Graces' honor'd child,
Adoni'd with sweet persuasion mild,
That I his kindness may requite —
May be delighted, and delight.
Thee, ivory distaff, I provide,
A present for his blooming bride ;
With her thou wilt sweet toil partake
And aid her various vests to make.
For Theugenis the shepherds shear
The sheep's soft fleeces twice a year,
So dearly industry she loves
And all that wisdom points, approves,
I ne'er design'd to bear thee hence
To the dull house of Indolence ;
For, in that city thou wert framed
Which Archias built, Corinthian named, —
Fair Syracuse, Sicilia's pride,
Where troops of famous men abide.
Dwell thou with him whose art can cure
Each dire disease that men endure ;
Thee to Miletus now I give,
W^here pleasure-crown'd lonians live ;
That Theugenis by thee may gain
Fair honor with the female train ;
And thou renew witiiiu her breast
Remembrance of her muse-charm'd guest.
Admiring thee, each maid will call
The favor great, the present small ;
For love the smallest gift commends,
All things are valued by our friends.

Idyll, xxviii.

The Roman and Grecian ladies displayed not less taste in
the decoration of their various spinning unplements, than
those of modern times in the ornaments of their work-table.
The calathns or qualus was the basket in which the wool
was kept for the fair spinsters. It was usually made of wick-
er-work. Thus Catullus in his description of the nuptials of
Peleus and Thetis, says :

The softest fleeces, white as driven snow,
Beside their feet in osier baskets glow.

Poevia, l.viv.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 17

Homer asserts that the Egyptian queen Alcandra presented
Helen with a silver work-basket as well as a golden distaff
(Odyss. iv.) ; and from the paintings on ancient vases, we
see that the calathi of ladies of rank were tastefully wrought
and richly ornamented. From the term qualiis or quasillus,
equivalent to calathus, the Romans called the female slaves
employed in spinning quasillaricB.

The material prepared for spinning was wrapped loosely
round the distaff, the wool being previously combed, or the flax
hackled by processes not very dissimilar to those used at the
present day amongst the peasantry in the west of Ireland.
The ball thus formed on the distaff required to be arranged
with some neatness and skill, in order that the fibres should
be sufficiently loose to be drawn out by the hand of the spin-
ner. Ovid declares, that Arachne's skill in this simple process
excited the wonder of the nymphs who came to see her tri-
umphs in the texile art, not less than the finished labors of
the loom.

Oft, to admire the niceness of her skill,

The nymphs would quit their fountain, shade, or hill :

Thither from green Tymolus they repair,

And leave the vineyards, their peculiar care ;

Thither from fair Pactolus' golden stream,

Drawn by her art, the curious Naids came.

Nor would the work, when finish'd, please so much

As while she wrought to view each graceful touch ;

Whether the shapeless wool in balls she wound,

Or with quick motion tum'd the spindle round.

Met, vi.

The distaff was generally about three feet in length, com-
monly a stick or reed, with an expansion near the top for
holding the ball. It was sometimes, as we have shown,
composed of richer materials. The distaff was usually held
under the left arm, and the fibres were drawn out from the
projecting ball, being, at the same time, spirally twisted by the
forefinger and thumb of the right hand. The thread so pro-
duced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as
great as it would carry.

The spindle was made of some hght wood, or reed, and was

3

18 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

generally from eight to twelve inches in length. At the top
of it was a slit, or catch, to which the thread was fixed, so
that the weight of the spindle might carry the thread down to
the ground as fast as it was finished. Its lower extremity was
inserted into a whorl, or wheel, made of stone, metal, or some
heavy material which both served to keep it steady and to pro-
mote its rotation. The spinner, who, as we have said before,
was usually a female, every now and then gave the spindle a
fresh gyration by a gentle touch so as to increase the twist of
the thread. Whenever the spindle reached the ground a length
was spun ; the thread was then taken out of the sht, or clasp,
and wound upon the spindle ; the clasp was then closed again,
and the spinning of a now thread commenced. All these cir-
cumstances are briefly mentioned by Catullus, in a poem from
which we have aheady quoted : —

The loaded distaff, in the left hand placed,

With spongy coils of snow-white wool was graced ;

From these the right hand lengthening fibres drew

Which into thread 'neath nimble fingers grew.

At intervals a gentle touch was given

By which the twirling whorl was onward driven.

Then, when the sinking spindle reach'd the ground,

The recent thread around its spire was wound.

Until the clasp within its nipping cleft

Held fast the newly-finish'd length of weft.

In order to understand this description of Catullus, it is ne-
cessary to bear in mind, that as the bobbin of each spindle
was loaded with thread, it was taken off from the whorl and
placed in a basket until there was a sufficient quantity for the
weavers to commence their operations.

Homer incidentally mentions the spool or spindle on which
the weft-yarn was wound, in his description of the race at the
funeral-games in honor of Patroclus :

Oileus led the race ;
The next Ulysses, measuring pace with pace
Behind him, diligently close he sped,
As closely following as the nmning thread
The spindle follows, and displays the charms
Of the fair spinner's breast, and moving arms.

Iliad, xxiii.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 19

In India women of all castes prepare the cotton thread for
the weaver, spinning it on a piece of wire, or a very thin rod
of polished iron with a ball of clay at one end ; this they turn
round with the left hand, and supply the cotton with the right ;
the thread is then wound upon a stick or pole, and sold to the
merchants or weavers ; for the coarser thread the women make
use of a wheel very similar to that of the Irish spinster,
though upon a smaller construction. (For further information
on the manufactures of India, their present state, (fcc, see
Part III.)

The Reverend Mr. C. Forster of Great Britain, has lately
published a very curious work on Arabia, being the result of
many years' untiring research in that part of the world; from
which we learn the very interesting fact, that the ancient
Arabians were skilled in the manufacture of silkeji textures,
at as remote a period as within 500 years of the flood !

Mr. Forster has, it appears, succeeded in deciphering many
very remarkable inscriptions found on some ancient monuments
near Adon on the coast of Hadramant. These records, it is
said, restore to the world its earliest written language, and carry
us back to the time of Jacob, and within 500 years of the
flood.

The inscriptions are in three parts. The longest is of ten
Hues, engraved on a smooth piece of rock forming one side of
the terrace at Hisn Ghorab. Then there are three short lines,
found on a small detached rock on the summit of the little hill.
There are also two lines found near the inscriptions, lower
down the terrace. They all relate to one transaction, an in-
cident in Adite history. The tribe of Ad, according to Mr.
Sale, were descended from Ad the son of Aws or Uz. the son
of Aram, the son of Shem, tlie son of Noah. The event re-
corded is the rout and entire destruction of the sons of Ac, an
Arab tribe, by the Aws or tribe of Ad, whom they invaded. In
Mr. Forster's book fac similes are given of the inscription ; the
Aditie and the Hamyaritie alphabet ; and a glossary containing
every word in them, its derivation, and its explanation ; with
notes of copious illustration upon every point which they in-
volve. The first inscription of ten lines is thus translated :

20 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

We dwelt, living long luxuriously in the zananas of this spacious mansion ; oui
condition exempt from misfortune and adversity. Rolled in through our chan-
nel.

The sea, swelling against our castle with angry surge ; our fountains flowed with
murmuring fall, above

The lofty palms ; whose keepers planted dry dates in our valley date-grounds;
they sowed the arid rice.

We hunted the young mountain-goats and the young hares, with gins and snares ;
beguiling we drew forth the fishes.

We walked with slow, proud gait, IN NEEDLE-WORKED, MANY-COL-
ORED SILK VESTMENTS, IN WHOLE SILKS, IN GRASS-GREEN
CHEQUERED ROBES*!

Over us presided kings, far removed from baseness, and stern chastisers of repro-
bate and wicked men. They noted down for us according to the doctrine of
Heber,

Good judgments, written in books to be kept ; and we proclaimed our belief in mir-
acles, in the resurrection, in the return into the nostrils of the breath of life.

Made an inroad robbers, and would do us violence ; we rode forth, we and our
generous youth, with stiff and sharp-pointed spears ; rushing onward.

Proud champions of our families and wives ; fighting valiantly upon coursers with
long necks, dun-colored, iron-gray, and bright bay.

With our swords still wounding and piercing our adversaries, until charging home,
we conquered and crushed this refuse of mankind.

On the subject of these inscriptions, Mr. Forster, in the dedi-
cation of his book to the Archbishop of Canterbury, thus re-
marks : " What Job (who, hving- in the opposite quarter of
Arabia, amid the sands of the great Northern desert, had no
lasting material within reach on which to perpetuate his
thoughts,) so earnestly desired, stands here reahzed." " Oh
that my words were now written ! Oh that they were printed
in a Book ! That (hke the kindred creed of the lost tribe of
Ad) they were graven with an iron pen, and lead, in the
rock forever. (For mine is a better and brighter revelation
than theirs.) For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though,
after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in the flesh shall I
see God : whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall be-
hold, and not another."

* Silk is the only material used for human clothing which Mohammed, the im-
postor, introduces among the lu.xuries of Paradise. (See the Koran, chap. 35.)

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 21

That the Arabians should have understood the manufacture
of silken textures at as remote a period as that supposed by Mr.
Forster, viz., 500 years after the flood, is, to say the least of it,
exceedingly questionable, yet it cannot be denied that we are
indebted to them for many useful inventions, and among which
may be mentioned the art of making cotton paper*. It is no
less true that we first received our cotton-wool from countries
where the Arabic language was spoken.

To the Arabs also we are indebted for that almost indispen-
sable article of apparel, the shirt, the Arabic name for which is
camees, whence the Italian camiscia, and the French chemiset.

In the attempt here made to trace from the dark ages of
antiquity the progress of trades and manufactures so widely
diflfused over the civilised world as those of cotton, linen, silk,
wool, &c., chronological order is followed as closely as the
nature of the inquiry will permit.

* See Appendix B.

t For further information on Arabia, see Parts II. and III.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED
TO THE FOURTH CENTURY.

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE

ATTAINED IN THESE ARTS.

Testimony of the Latin Poets of the Augustan age — Tibullus — Propertius — Virgi)
— Horace — Ovid — Dyonisius Perigetes — Strabo. Mention of silk by authors in
the first century — Seneca the Philosopher — Seneca the Tragedian — Lucan —
Pliny — Josephus — Saint John — Silius Italicus — Statius — Plutarch — Juven.il —
Martial — Pausanias — Galen — Clemens Alexandrinus — Caution to Cliristian
converts against the use of silk in dress. Mention of silk by authors in the
second century — TertuUian — Apuleius — Ulpian — Julius Pollux — Justin. Men-
tion of silk by authors in the third century — iElius Lampidius — Vopiscus —
Trebellius Pollio — Cyprian — Solinus — Ammianus Marcellinus — Use of silk by
the Roman emperors — Extraordinary beauty of the textures — Use of water to
detach silk from the trees — Invectives of these authors against extravagance in
dress — The Seres described as a happy people — Their mode of traffic, etc. —
(Macpherson's opinion of the Chinese.) — City of Dioscurias, its vast commerce in
former times. — (Colonel Syke's account of the Kolissura silk-worm — Dr. Rox-
burgh's description of the Tusseh silk -worm.)

The next Authors, who make mention of silk, are the Latin
poets of the Augustan age, Tibullus and Propertius, Virgil,
Horace, and Ovid. The Parthian war, and. the increased in-
tercourse between the Roman empire and the kingdoms of the
East, had been the means of recently introducing every kind
of silken goods into more general use, although these manufac-
tures were still so rare as to be the objects of curiosity and ad-
miration, and were therefore well adapted to be brought in
among the embellishments of poetical imagery.

The appearance of the silken flags attached to the gilt
standards of the Parthians (Florus iii. 11.) must have been a
very striking sight for the army of Crassus, contributing both
to inflame their cupidity and to alarm them with a sense of the

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 23

power of their opponents. The conflict here referred to took
place in the year 54 B. C. In about 30 years after this date
tlie Roman empire obtained its greatest extension. In the lan-
guage of Petronius Arbiter (c. 119.),

Th' insatiate Roman spread his conquering arms
O'er land and sea, where'er heaven's light extends.

After these words he says, that among the richest produc-
tions of distant climates the Seres sent their "new fleeces."
The remotest countries thus contributed to increase the luxury
of Rome, and we shall now see how silk, one of the most costly
and the most admired of its recent acquisitions, was used by its
poets to represent the polish of elevated life and to adorn their
language with rich and beautiful allusions. The webs, which
they mention, are either those still obtained from Cos, or those
imported from the country of the Seres.

TIBULLUS.

A Coan vest for girls.

L. ii. 4.

She may thin garments wear, which female Coan hands
Have woven, and in stripes dispos'd the golden bands.

L. iL 6.

The latter of these two passages is remarkable as showing
that the Coan women practised the elegant art of interweaving
gold thread in their silken webs. The gold was no doubt dis-
played in transverse stripes.

PROPERTIUS.

Wliy thus, my life, display thy braided hair,

And heave beneath thin Coan webs thy bosom fair?

L. i. 2.

In the next passage Propertius is speaking of his own Poetry,
and alludes to his frequent mention of Coan garments.

If bright she walk in Coan vest array'd.
Through all this book will Coan be display'd.

L. ii. 1.

24 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

ON A STATUE OF VERTDMNUS.

My nature suits each clianging form :
Tum'd into what you please, I'm fair.
Clothe me in Coan, I'm a decent lass,
Put on a toga, for a man I pass.

L. iv. 2.

The texture of the Coan Minerva.

L. iv. 5.

Who gives no Coan robe, but verse instead.
Artless shall be his lyre, his verses dead.

Ibid.

The same poet (L. iv. 8. 23.) mentions " Serica carpenta,"
chariots with silk curtains ; and the following line (L. i. 14. 22.)
shows, that couches with ornamented silk covers were then in
use:

Quid revelant variis Serica textilibus ?

Propertius also mentions silk under the name of the animal,
which produced it :

Shines with tlie produce of tli' Arabian worm.

L. ii. 3. 15.

In this line, as well as in some of those before quoted, he al-
ludes to the use of silk by females of indifferent character. He
probably uses the epithet Arabian, because the Roman mer-
chants obtained silk from the Arabs, who received it from
Persia.

VIRGIL.

Soft wool from doveny groves the jEthiop weaves.
And Seres comb their fleece from silken leaves.

Georg. ii. 120, 121.— Sotheby's Translation.

The poet is here enumerating the chief productions of dif-
ferent countries, and therefore mentions cotton and silk. The
idea, that silk webs were manufactured from thin fleeces ob-
tained from trees, will be found recurring in many of the sub-
sequent citations. It may have been founded on reports brought

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. iio

by the soldiers of Crassus, or by others who visited the interior
of Asia about the same period.

HORACE.

Nor Coan purples, nor the blaze
Of jewels can bring back the days,
Which, fix'd by time, recorded stand,
By all, who read the Fasti, scann'd.

Od. I. iv. 13. {ad Lycen.) 13-16.

As if uncloth'd, she stands confess'd
In a translucent Coan vest.

Sat. i. 2. 101.

These passages allude to the fineness and transparency of
silken webs, which in the time of Horace were worn at Rome
only by prostitutes, or by those women who aimed at being as
attractive and luxurious as possible in their attire.

The former passage shows, that the silks manufactured in
Cos were dyed with the murex, " Cose purpuree."

The expression " Sericos pulvillos" {Epod. 8. 15.) has been
supposed to denote small cushions covered with silk. But the
epithet " Sericos" implies nothing more than that they were ob-
tained from the Seres, who supphed the Romans with skins as
well as silk*; and leather seems to have been a more proper
substance than silk for making cushions.

OVID.

Sive erit in Tjriis, Tyrios laudabis amictus,

Sive erit in Cois, Coa decere puta.
Aurata est : ipso tibi sit pretiosior auro ;

Gausapa si sumsit, gausapa sumta proba.

Ars Amat. ii. 297-300.

Whatever clothing she displays.
From Tyre or Cos, that clothing praise :
If gold shows forth the artist's skill.
Call her than gold more precious still :
Or if she choose a coasre attire,
E'en coarseness, worn by her, admire.

* Flin. xxxiv. cap. 24.

4

26 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

In another passage [Aniores i. 14. 5.) Ovid compares the
thin hairs of a lady to the silken veils of the Seres,

Veils such a§ eolor'd Seres wear.

We now proceed to the testimonies of authors who wrote
either in Greek or Latin at the latter part of the Augustan age,
or immediately after it.

DYONISIUS PERIEGETES.

Kai iOvta Pap/iapa Uripoiv,
O'iTC 0oai jxiv dvaivovTai Kai \(pta firjXa,
At'<5Aa Si. ^aivovre; iprifit^i audca yairii,

Ei(5o^£va XP"'!! ^ci'ioiviSoi avOcat iroiijt'

Ktivoij oiiTi KSV cpyov dpa^vdcui' ipiatitv- {I. 755.)

And the barbarous nations of the Seres, who renounce the care of sheep and
oxen, but comb the variously colored flowers of the desert land to make precious
figured garments, resembling in color the flowers of the meadow, and rivallui^
(ui fineness) the work of spiders. — Yates's Translation.

It is worthy of observation that Dyonisius speaks expressly
not only of the fineness of the thread, but of the Jlowered tex-
ture of the silk.

STRABO.

Toiavra Si Kol ra S/jpifcii, SK Tt v<i)V (p\oioJv ^aivojjtivt^i 0vccav,

L. XV. 695. (v. vi. p. 40. Tzschucke.)

This is repeated by Eustathius on Dyonisius Periegetes*.
The account seems to have been taken by Strabo, perhaps in-
accurately, from Nearchus. It is doubtful, whether S^pi-ca de-
noted silken webs in this passage. But whatever Strabo meant,
he supposed the raw material to be scraped from the bark of
treest.

As contemporary with the authors last quoted, Dyonisius and
Strabo, we may here mention the law passed by the Roman
Senate early in the reign of Tiberius, " Ne vestis Scrica viros
foedaret." Taciti Annales, ii. 33. Dion. Cass. I. 57. p. 860.

* L. 1107. p. 308, Bemhardy. t Book ii. ch. 3. p. 307.

SILK BY THK ANCIENTS. 27

Reim. Suidas in v. Tipiptos*. Silk was to be worn by women
only.

The next emperor Caligula had silk curtains to his throne
{Dion. Cass. I. 59. p. 915. Reim.), and he wore silk as part of
his dress, when he appeared in public. Uio Cassius particularly
mentions, that, when he was celebrating a kind of triumph at
Puteoli, he put on what he alleged to be the thorax of Alex-
ander, and over that a silken chlamys, dyed with the murex,
and adorned with gold and precious stones. On the following
day he wore a tunic interwoven with goldt. The use of
shawls and tunics of silk was, however, except in the case
of the extravagances of a Caligula, still confined to the fe-
male sex. Under the earlier emperors it is probable, that silk
was obtained in considerable quantities for the wardrobe of the
empress, where it was preserved from one reign to another, until
in the year 176 Marcus Aureiius Antoninus, the philosopher, in
consequence of the exhausted state of his treasury, sold by pub-
lic auction in the Forum of Trajan the imperial ornaments and
jewels together with the golden and silken robes of the Em-
presst.

FIRST CENTURY.

SENECA, THE PHILOSOPHER.

Posse nos vestitos esse sine commercio Serum. — Epist. 91.

We may clothe ourselves without any commerce with the Seres.

Video Sericas vestes, si vestes vocandte sunt, in quibus nihil est, quo defendi aut
corpus aut denique pudor possit : quibus sumtis mulier parum liquid6 nudam se
non esse jurabit. Hibc ingenti sumnid, ab ignotis etiam ad commercium gentibus
accersunter, ut matronaB nostrae ne adulteris quidem plus sui in cubiculo quam in
publico osteudant. — De Benejiciis, L. vii. c. 9.

I see silken (Seric) garments, if they can be called garments, which cannot
afford any protection either for the body or for shame : on taking which a woman
will scarce with a clear conscience deny, that she is naked. Tliese are sent for

* Dio Cassius (1. 43. p. 358. Rheini.) mentions as a report, that Julius Coesar
employed silk curtains {-Kixpa-ntTaafiara TinpiKo) to add to the splendor of his triumph.

t In describing the effeminate dress of the emperor Caligula, Suetonius tells us
{cap. 52), that he often went into public, wearing bracelets and long sleeves, iind
sometimes in a garment of silk and a cyclas.

X Jul. Capitol, c. xvii. p. 65. Bip.

28 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP

at an enormous price from nations, to which our commerce has not yet extended,
in order that our matrons may display their persons to the public no less than to
adulterers in their chamber I — Yates's Translation.

The Seres must be supposed to have dwelt somewhere in the
centre of Asia. Perhaps those geographers who represent Lit-
tle Bucharia as their country*, are nearest the truth, and thus
far neither Greeks nor Romans had penetrated. Silk was
brought to them " from nations, to which even their commerce
had not yet extended."' Hence their inaccurate ideas respecting
its originf.

SENECA, THE TRAGEDIAN.

Nee MtBonia, distinguit acu,
Quae Phoebeis subditus Euris
Legit Eois Ser arboribus.

Here. CEtaus, 664.
Nor with Mteonian needle marks the web,
Gather'd by Eastern Seres from the trees.

Seres, illustrious for their fleece.

Thyestes, 378.
Remove, ye maids, the vests, whose tissue glares
With purple and with gold ; far be the red
Of Tyrian murex, and the shining thread,
Which furthest Seres gather from the boughs.

Hyppolitus, 386. (Phadra loquitur.)

At a very early period the art of dyeing had been earned to
a very great degree of perfection in Phoenicia. The method
of dyeing woollen cloths purple was, it is said, first discovered at
Tyre. This color, the most celebrated among the ancients,
appears to have been brought to a degree of excellence, of
which we can form but a very faint idea :

* The position of Serica is discussed by Latreille in his paper hereafter cited.
See also Mannert. iv. 6. 6, 7. Brotier, Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscrip. torn. 46.
John Reinhold Forster {De Bysso, p. 20, 21.) thinks that Little Bucharia was
certainly the ancient Serica. Sir John Barrow {Travels in China, p. 435-438.)
thinks the Seres were not the Chinese.

t The first author who speaks of the Seres as a distinct nation, is Mela, iii. 7.
He describes them as a very honest people, who brought what tliey had to sell,
laid it down and went away, and then returned for the price of it. The same
account is given by Eustathius, on Dyonisius, 1. 752. p. 242, Bemhardy.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 29

" In oldest times, when kinjrs and hardy chiefs
In bleating sheep-folds met, for purest wool
Phoenicia's hilly tracts were most renown'd.
And fertile S)Tia's and Judtca's land,
Hermon, and Seir, and Hebron's brooky sides,
Twice with the murex, crimson hue, they ting'd
The shining fleeces — hence their gorgeous wealth ;
And hence arose the walls of ancient Tyre*."

LUCAN.

Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo,
Quod Nilotis acus percussum pectine Serum
Solvit, et extenso laxavit stamina velo.

L. X. 141.
Her snowy breast shines through Sidonian threads,
First by the comb of distant Seres struck,
Divided then by Egypt's skilful toil.
And with embroidery transparent made.

The poet is describing the dress of Cleopatra. He supposes
her to have worn over her breast a piece of silk, woven by the
Seres, imported through Sidon into Egypt, and then embroider-
ed. By the last process, in which the Egyptians greatly excell-
ed, the threads were in part separated, so as to exhibit the ap-
pearance of lace, and to allow the white breast of the queen to
be visible through the texture.

Amidst the braidings of her flowing hair,

The spoils of orient rocks and shells appear :

Like midnight stars, ten thousand diamonds deck

The comely rising of her graceful nock ;

Of wondrous work, a thin transparent lawn

O'er each soft breast in decency was drawn,

Where still by turns the parting threads withdrew,

And all the panting bosom rose to view.

Her robe, her every part, her air confess

The power of female skill exhausted in her dress.

Pharsalia, x.
In glowing purple rich the coverings lie,
Twice had they drunk the noblest Tyrian dye
Others, tis Pharian artists have the skill
To mix the party-color'd web at will,

* Old TjTe was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the second year after the
destruction of Jerusalem, or 584 B. C.

30 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP

With winding trails of various silks were made,
Whose branching gold set off the rich brocade.

Ibid.

With this description we compare that of Seneca, which rep-
resents silk as embroidered in Asia Minor, with the " Maeonian
needle."

PLINY

speaks copiously and repeatedly of the manufacture of silk.
Nevertheless we learn from him scarce anything, which we did
not know from the earlier authorities. His accounts are taken
from Aristotle, from Varro, and probably also from persons who
accompanied the Parthian expeditions, or who engaged in the
trade with inner Asia. But according to his usual manner,
when he speaks of what he has not himself seen, he confounds
accounts from different witnesses, which are inconsistent with
one another. He asserts that the bombyx was a native of Cos ;
but it is not probable that the women of that island would, in
sucli case, have recourse to the laborious operation of convert-
ing foreign finished goods into threads for their own weaving.
It is, therefore, only reasonable to suppose, that whatever man-
ufacture was carried on from the raw material, was, like that
of Tyre or Berytus, composed of unwrought silk imported from
the East. It is mentioned both by Theophanes and Zonares,
the Byzantine historians, that before silk-worms were brought to
Constantinople in the middle of the sixth century, no person in
that capital knew that silk was produced by a worm; a toler-
ably strong evidence that none were reared so near to Constan-
tinople as Cos.

Pliny's account of the Coan bombyx is evidently a cloud of
fable and absurdit}^, in which, however, we may discern a few
lines of truth, probably derived from the accounts of the silk-
worm of the Seres.

JOSEPHUS

says, that the emperors Titus and Vespasian wore silk dresses*,
when they celebrated at Rome their triumph over the Jews.

* De Bello Jud. vii. 5. 4.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 31

SAINT JOHN.

Silk (SipiKov) occurs but once in the New Testament, Rev.
xviii. 12. It is here mentioned in a curious enumeration of all
the most valuable articles of foreign traffic.

SILIUS ITALICUS.

Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis. Punica. vi. 4.
Seres took fleeces from the woolly groves.

Munera rubri
Prseterea Ponti, depexaque vellera ramis,
Femineus labor. lb. xiv. 664.
The produce of the ErythrjEan seas,
And fleeces comb'd by women from the trees*.

Videre Eoi (monstrum admirabile !) Seres
Lanigeros cinere Ausonio canescere lucos.

lb. xvii. 595, 596.
The Seres' woolly groves, O wondrous sight I
In the far East, were with Italian ashes white.

In the last passage Silius is describing the effects of the re-
cent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79. That its ashes
should reach the country of the Seres, whether it was in Persia
or China, would indeed have been " Monstrum admirabile !"

STATIUS.

Seric (i. e. silken) palls.

Sylv<B, iii. 4. 89.

PLUTARCH

dissuades the virtuous and prudent Avife from wearing silkf.
He mentions, that webs of silk and fine linen were at the same
time thin and compact or closet

* See latter part of Chapter viii. Part First.

t Conjugailia Preecepta, tom. vi. p. 550. ed. Reiske.

t De Pythiee Orac. c. iv. p. 557. Reiske.

32 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

JUVENAL

speaks of women,

Quarum
Delicias et panniculus bombycinus urit. Sat. vi. 259.
Whose beauty e'en a silken veil o'erheats.

MARTIAL.

Nee vaga tarn tenui discursat aranea tela,

Tam levo nee bombyx pendulus iirget opus. L. \m. 33
The spider traces not so thin a line,
Nor does the pendent silk-womi spin so fine.

Foemineiun lucet sic per bombyeina corpus.

Calculus in nitida sic numeratur aqua. L. viii. 68.
Thus tlirough her silk a lady's body looks.
Thus count we pebbles in the sparkling brooks.

De Pallatinis domince quod Serica prelis.

L. xi. 9.

Here Martial alludes to the employment of presses {prela) lor
preserving the garments of silk and other precious materials;
belonging to the Empress, in the same way, in which we noAV
use presses to keep table-Unen. He says to a lady (L. ix. 38.).

Nee dentes aliter, quam Serica, nocte reponas.
Your teeth at night, lilie silks, you lay aside.

In another passage (L. xi. 27.) he speaks of silken goods
[Serica] as procurable in the Vicus Tuscus at Rome : and
lastly in L. xiv. £p. 24, he mentions ribbons or fillets of silk as
used for adorning the hair.

Tenuia ne madidi violent bombyeina crines,

Figat aeus tortas, sustineatque comas.
Lest your moist hair defile the ribbons thin,
Twist it in knots, and fix it with a pin.

PAUSANIAS,

a native of Asia Minor, and an inquisitive traveller in the
second century, gives the following distinct account of Sericum
according to the ideas received among the Greeks in his time.

The threads from wliich the Seres make webs, are not the produce of bark, but
are obtained in the following manner. There is an animal in that coimtry, which

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 33

the Greeks call Ser, but wliicli they call by some other name. Its size is twice
that of the largest beetle. In other respects it resembles the spiders, ichich iveave
under the trees. It has also the same nimiber of feet as the spider, namely,
eight*. In order to breed these creatures, the Seres have houses adapted both for
summer and winter. The produce of the animal is a fine thread twisted about its
legs. The Seres feed it four years on " pauicum." In the fifth year they give it
ffreen reed, of which it is so fond as to eat of it until it bursts, and after this the
greatest part of the thread is found within its bodyt.

The most interesting circumstance, mentioned by Pausanias,
is the breeding of the silk-worms within doors in houses adapt-
ed both for summer and winter. There seems no reason to
doubt the truth of this fact ; and, if admitted, it proves, that
their country, the Serica of the ancients, lay so far North, or
was so elevated, as to have a great diiference of temperature in
summer and in winter. It is remarkable, that in China the
worms are now reared in small houses, and this practice has
long prevailed in that countryt

GALEN

recommends silk thread for tying blood-vessels in surgical opera
tions, observing that the opulent women in many parts of the
Roman empire possessed such thread, especially in the great
citiesj. He also mentions cloths of silk and gold in his treatise,
c. 9. [Hipjoocratis et Galeni Opp. ed. Chartier, tom. vi. p.
533.) :

" Of this kind are the shawls interwoven with gold, the materials of which are
brought from afar, and which are called Scric or silk."

CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS,

dissuading the Christian convert from luxury in dres?, thus
speaks :

El i]l avjmtpiipipzadai XP'h oXiyoj/ evooriov avraXi ^aSaKWTtpoii y^piiaOai roTs inpia-fta^iv'

* This does not apply to the silk-worm, which has sixteen legs, in pairs: six
proper legs before, and ten holders behind. (See Figure 1, Plate iii.)

t L. vi. 26. p. 125. ed. Siebel.

t Barrow's Travels in China, p. 437, &c. Rdsum6 des Traitfo Chinois, &c.
traduit par Julien, p. 70-72. 77-80. The practice is here shown to have pre-
vailed as early as the fifth century B. C.

§ Methodus Medendl, 1. xiii. c. 22.

5

34 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

liovop to; fiefioiprificfai Xtirroupyiaf, Kal rai li/ TaTsvipati ntpupyov; TrXoKOf CKiroloiv neQiaTavTai"
vrjfia )(pvaov, koX uiipai 'IvitKov;, xai tov; repiCpyovi /iofi/SxiKdi ^aipetv twira;, S; CKuXr)^
(pierai to irpdTOv' tlra tf avrov iaatXa dvacpaivcrai KafiTrri. fied "iv tli Tpi77]v fiCTafiopiptjsaiv
vco^HOVTai PojjPiXiov' ol 6i vcKvSaXov airo KaXoiaii/' i^ ov jiaKpoi TiKTCrai CTfijiojUj
Kaddrrtp Ik rijf dpa^nqi b rfji dpd^vrjs ^iroj. — PcCllag. li. 10.

But, if it is necessary to accommodate ourselves to the women, let lis concede to
them the use of cloths, which are a little softer, only refusing that degree of fine-
ness, which would hnply folly, and such webs as are excessitely labored and in-
tricate ; bidding farewell to gold thread, and to the Indian Seres, and that indus-
trious bombyx, which is first a worm, then puts on the appearance of a hairy cat-
erpillar, and licnce passes, in the third place, into a Bombylius, or, as some call
it, a Necydalus ; and out of which is produced a long thread, in the same man-
ner as the thread of the spider. — Yates's Translation.

The use of the epithet " Indian" in this passage may be ac-
counted for from the circumstance, that in the time of the
writer silken goods were brought to Alexandria and other cities
of Egypt from India. Clemens has evidently borrowed this
description from Aristotle.

SECOND CENTUEY.

TERTULLIAN.

thus describes the Bombyx :

Vermiculi genus est, qui per aereni liquando aranearum horoscopis idonesia
sedes tcndit, dehinc devorat, mox alvo rcddere ; proinde si necaveris, animata jam
stamina volves.

It is a kind of worm, which extends abodes like the dials of spiders by float-
ing them through the air. It then devours them so as to restore them to its stom-
ach. Therefore, if you kill it, you will roll living threads. (See chap, ix.)

In the same treatise {De Pallio, c. 4.) we find the following
notice :

Such as Hercules was in the silk of Omphale.

Soon after, the Kime author, speaking of Alexander the
Great, says,

Vicerat Medicam gentem, et victus est Medicft, veste : pectus squamarum

signaculis disculptum, tcxtu pellucido tegendo, nudavit : et anheluin adhuc ab
opere belli, ut moUius, ventilante serico extinxit. Non erat satis animi tumens
Macedo, ni ilium etiam vestis inflatior delcctisset.

He had conquered the Medes, and was conquered by a Median gannent.
When his breast exhibited the sculptured resemblances of scales, ho covered it

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 36

v'ith a pellucid texture, which rather laid it bare ; panting from the work of war,
he cooled and mollified it by tiio qso of silk, exposing it to the wind. It was not
sufficient for the Macedonian to have a tumid mind ; he required to be delighted
also with an inflated garment.

He afterwards says of a philosopher,

He went wearing a garment of silk, and sandals of brass.

Again he says of a low character, " She exposes her silk to
the icindy

In his treatise on Female Attire he mentions silk in relation
to Milesian wool, and he concludes that treatise in the following
terms :

Manus lanis occupate, pedes domi figite, ct plus quam in anro placebitis. Ves-
tite vos serico probitatis, byssino sanctitatis, piurpiira pudicitioe.

Employ your hands with wool ; keep your feet at home. Thus will you pleaso
more than if you were in gold. Clothe yourselves with the silk of probity, with
the fine linen of sanctity, and with the purple of modesty.

Lastly, this author says {Adv. Marcionem, I. i. p. 372.),

Imitare, si potes, apis oedificia, formica; stabula, aranei retia, bombycis stamina.
Imitate, if thou canst, the constructions of the bee, the retreats of the ant, the
nets of the spider, the threads of the silk-worm.

APULEIUS,

Prodeunt, mitellis, et crocotis, et carbasinis, et bombycinis injecti. * * * Deam-
que, serico contectam amiculo, mihi gerendam imponuni. Melamorphoseon, I.
viii. f. 579, 580. ed. Oudendorpii.

They came forward, wearing ribbons, and clotlis of a saffron color, of cotton,
and of silk, loosely thrown over them. * * * And they place on me the Goddess
covered with a small silken scarf, to be carried by me.

Hie incinctus baltheo militem gerebat ; ilium succinctum chlamyde, copides et
venabula venatorem fecerant ; alius soccis obauratis, indutus serica veste, mun-
(loque pretioso, et adtextis capitc crinibus, ineessu perfluo feminam mentiebatur.
Ibid. I. xi. p. 769.

One performed the part of a soldier, girt with a sword ; another had liis chla-
mys tucked up by a belt, and carried scimitars and hunting-poles, as if engaged
in the chaco ; another, wearing gilt slippers, a silken tunic, precious ornaments,
and artificial hair, by his flowing attire represented a woman.

ULPIAN.

Vossius, in his Etymologicum Lingucc Latince, in the
learned and copious article Sericum, says, " Inter sericum et

36 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

homhycinum discrimen ponit Ulpianus, 1. xxiii. de aur. arg.
leg. ' Vestimentorum sunt omnia lanea, lineaque, vel serica,
vel bombycina.' "

JULIUS POLLUX.

The Bonibyces are worms, which emit from themselves threads, like the spidor.
Some say, that the Seres collect their webs from animals of this kind. L. vii. 76.
p. 741. — Kuhn

JUSTIN

evidently refers to the use of silken garments in his account of
the customs of the Parthians, where he says.

They formerly dressed after their own fashion. After they became rich, they
adopted the pellucid and flowing garments of the Medes. L. xli. c. 2.

All doubt, whether the transparent garments, mentioned by
Justin, were of silk, must be removed by the authority of Pro-
copius, from whom we shall hereafter cite ample and important
testimony in reference to the time when he hved, and who in
the two following passages expressly states, that the webs,
called by the Greeks in his time Scric, were more anciently de-
nominated Median.

Among the valuable and curious effects of the emperor
Commodus, which after his death (A. D. 192.) w^ere sold by his
successor Pertinax, was a garment with a woof of silk, of a
bright yellow color, the appearance of which was more beau-
tiful than if the material had been interw^oven with threads of
gold*.

THIRD CENTURY.

The authorities now quoted supply evidence respecting the
use of silk among the Greeks and Romans down to the end of
the second century. It is rarely mentioned by any writer be-
longing to the following centuryt ; so far as we have discovered,

* Vestis subtegmine serico, aureis fills insignior. — Jul. Capitolini Pertina.x, c. 8.
in Scrip. Hist. Augustae.

t Mannert (Geogr. iv. 6. 7. p. 517.) attributes the excessive dearness of silk in
the third century to the victories of the Persians, which at that time cut off all
direct communication between Serica and the western world.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 37

only by llie three historians now to be quoted, by Cyprian, and
by Solinus. But we have from these historians some remark-
able accounts of the regard paid to it by the emperors Heliogab-
alus, Alexander Severus, Aurelian, Claudius 11., Tacitus, and
Carinus, all of whom reigned in the third century.

iELius Lampridius says (c. 26.), that the profligate and
effeminate emperor Heliogabalus was the first Roman, who
wore cloth made wholly of silk, the silk having been formerly
combined with other less valuable materials, and, in consequence
of his example, the custom of wearing silk soon became gen-
eral among the wealthy citizens of Rome. He mentions (c. 33)
among the innumerable extravagances of this emperor, that
he had prepared a silken rope of purple and scarlet colors to
hang himself with.

Of the emperor Alexander Severus he says (c. 40), that he
himself had few garments of silk, that he never wore a tunic
made wholly of silk, and that he never gave away cloth made
of silk mixed with less valuable materials.

Tiie following is the testimony of Flavius Vopiscus in his Ufe
of the emperor Aurelian.

Aurelian neither had himself in his wardrobe a garment wholly of silk, nor
gave one to be worn by another. When his own wife begged him to allow her to
have a single shawl of purple silk, he replied, Far be it from us to permit thread
to be reckoned worth its weight in gold. For a pound of gold was then the price
of a pound of silk. c. 45.

Although the above mentioned restrictions in the use of silk
may be partly accounted for from the usual severity of Aure-
lian's character, yet the facts here stated abundantly show the
rarity and high value of this material in that age.

Flavius Vopiscus further states, that the emperor Tacitus made
it unlawful for men to wear silk unmixed with cheaper mate-
rials. Carinus, on the other hand, made presents of silken
garments, as well as of gold and silver, to Greek artificers, and
to wrestlers, players, and musicians.

Trebellius Pollio, in his life of Claudius II. (c. 14 and
17.), twice mentions white garments of silk mixed with cheaper
materials, which were destined for that emperor.

38 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

CYPRIAN,

Bishop of Carthage in the third centiuy. inveighs in the follow-
ing terms against the use of silk :

Tu licet indumenta percgrina et vestes sericas induas, nuda es. Auro te licet ct
margaritis genimisque condecores, sine Christi decore deformis es. De Lapsis, p.
135. ed. Fell.

Although thou shouldest put on a tunic of foreign silk, thou art naked ; al-
though thou shouldest beautify thyself with gold, and pearls, and gems, without
the beauty of Christ thou art unadorned.

Also in his treatise on the dress of Virgins he says,

Sericum et purpuram indutoe, Christum induere non popsunt : auro et margari-
tis et mouilibus adomatce, ornamenta cordis et pectoris perdiderunt.

Those who put on silk and purple, cannot put on Christ : women, adorned with
gold and pearls and necklaces, have lost the ornaments of the heart and of the
breast.

In the same place he gives us a translation of the well-
known passage of Isaiah enumerating the luxuries of female
attire among the Jews : " In that day the Lord will take away
the bravery of their tinkUng ornaments about their feet, and
their cauls, and their round tires Uke the moon, the chauis.
and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the
ornaments of the legs, and the head-bands, and the tablets,
and the ear-rings, the rings, and nose-jewels, the changeable
suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the
crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine hnen, and the hoods,
and the veils." Isaiah iii. lS-23.

SOLINUS.

Primos hominum Seres cognoscimus, qui, aquarum aspergine inundatis frondi-
bus, veUera cirbonun adminiculo depectunt liquoris, et lanuginis teneram subtilita-
tem humore domant ad obsequium. Hoc illud est sericum, in quo ostentare po-
tius corpora quim vestire, prim6 feminis, nunc etiara viris persuasit luxuriae
libido. Cap. 1.

The Seres first, having inundated the foliage with aspersions of water, combed
down fleeces from trees by the aid of a fluid, and subdued to their purposes the
tender and subtile down by the use of moisture. The substance so prepared is
silk ; that material in which at first women, but now even men, have been per-
suaded by the eagerness of luxury rather to display their bodies, than to clothe
them.

SILK BY THE ANXIENTS. 39

AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS.

This historian describes the Seres as " a quiet and inofTen-
sive people who, avoiding all quarrels with their neighbors, are
exempt from the distresses and alarms of war, and not being
under the necessity of using offensive arms, do not even know
their use, and occupy a fertile country under a delicious and
healthy climate. He represents them as passing their happy
hfe in the most perfect tranquillity and the most delicious re-
pose amidst shady thickets refreshed by pleasant zephyrs, and
where the soil furnishes so soft a wool, that after having been
sprinkled with water and combed, it forms cloths resembling
silk."

Marcellinus proceeds to describe the Seres as being content
with their own felicitous condition, and so reserved in their in-
tercourse with the rest of mankind, that when foreigners ven-
ture within their boundaries for Avrought and unwrought silk,
and other valuable articles, they consider the price offered in
silence, and transact their business without exchanging a word ;
a mode of traffic which is still practised in some eastern coun-
tries.

Macpherson, in the Annals of Commerce, a very valuable
work, thinks that according to all appearances, the Seres were
themselves the authors of this story, in order to make stran-
gers believe that their country enjoyed all these benefits by the
peculiar blessing of heaven, and that no other nation could
participate in them.

The remarks of Solinus and Ammianus conspire to show,
how much more common silk had become about the end of
the third century, being then worn, at least with a warp of
cheaper materials, by men as well as by women, and not
being confined to the noble and the wealthy. These authors
likewise dilate upon the use of showers of water to detach silk
from the trees on which it was found. According to PUny and
Solinus, water was also employed after the silk was gathered
from the trees* : and probal^ly the fact was so. Silk, as it

*

" The remaining shores are occupied by savage nations, as the Melanchlceni

40 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE, ETC.

comes from the worm, contains a strong gum, which would be
dissolved by the showers of water dashed against the trees,
and thus the cocoons, being loosened from the leaves and twigs,
would be easily collected. In the subsequent processes, water
would be further useful in enabling the women to spin the silk
or to wind it upon bobbins.

It may be observed that in this use of water art only follows
nature. When the moth is ready to leave its cell, it always
softens the extremity of it by emitting a drop of fluid, and thus
easily obtains for itself a passage. In the third volume of the
Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 543.), Colonel
Sykes gives the following account of the process by which the
moth of the Kolisurra silk-worm liberates itself from confine-
ment. " It discharges from its mouth a liquor, Avhich dissolves
or loosens that part of the cocoon adjoining to the cord which
attaches it to the branch, causing a hole, and admitting of the
passage of the moth. The solvent property of this liquid is
very remarkable ; for that part of the cocoon, against which it
is directed, although previously as hard as a piece of wood, be-
comes soft and pervious as wetted brown paper."

In the seventh volume of the Linna'an Transactions, is an
account by Dr. Roxburgh of the Tusseh silk-worm. Both
species are natives of Bengal. The cocoons require to be im-
mersed in cold water before the silk can be obtained from them.
In the latter species it is too delicate to be wound from the co-
coons, and is therefore spun like cotton. Thus manufactured
it is so duraljle. that the life of one person is seldom sufficient
to wear out a garment made of it, and the same piece descends
from mother to daughter. (See Chap. VIII. of this Part.)

and Coraxi, Dioscurias, a City of the Colchians, near the river Anthemus, being
now deserted, although formerly so illustrious, that Timosthenes 1ms recorded
that three hundred nations used to resort to it speaking different languages;
and that business was afterwards transacted on our part through the medium of
one hundred and thirty interpreters."

CHAPTER III,

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE FROM THE
THIRD TO THE SIXTH CENTURY.

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE

ATTAINED IN THESE ARTS.

Fourth centurj- — Curious account of silk found in the Edict of Diocletian — Extrav-
agance of the Consul Furius Placidus — Transparent silk shifts — Ausonius de-
scribes silk as the produce of trees — Quintus Aur Symmachus, and Claudian's tes-
timony of silk and golden textures — Their extraordinary beauty — Pisanders de-
scription— Periplus Maris Erythraji — Dido of Sidon. Mention of silk in the
laws of Manu — Rufiis Festus Avinus — Silk shawls — Marciannus Capella — In-
scription by M. N. Proculus, silk manufacturer — Extraordinary spiders' webs —
Bombyces compared to spiders — Wild silk-worms of Tsouen — Kien and Tiao-
Kien — M. Bertin's account — Further remarks on wild silk-worms. Chris-
tian authors of the fourth century — Araobius — GregoriusNazienzenus — Basil —
Illustration o-f the doctrine of the resurrection — Ambrose — Georgius Pisida —
Macarius — Jerome — Chrj-sostom — Hcliodorus — Salmasius — Extraordinary
beauty of the silk and golden textures described by these authors — Their invec-
tives against Christians wearing silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors m
the fifth centurj'— Prudcntius — Palladius— Theodosian Code— Appolinaris Si-
donius — Alcimus Avitus. Sixth century — Boethius. (Manufactures of Tyre
and Sidon — Purple — Its great durability — Incredible value of purple stufEj
found in the treasury of the King of Persia.)

FOURTH CENTURY.

SoME^ curious evidence respecting the use of silk, both un-
mixed with Unen and with the warp of hnen, or some inferior
material, is found in the Edict of Diocletian, which was
published A. D. 303 for the purpose of fixing a maximum of
prices for all articles in common use throughout the Roman
Empire*. The passage pertaining to our present subject, is as
follows :

* It was edited A. D. 1826, by Colonel Leake, as a sequel to his Journal of a
Tour in Asia. Mmor, and is also published ui Tr. of the Royal Society of Litera-
ture, vol. i. p. 181.

42 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

Sarciiiatori in vcstc soubtili rei)Iicat(u)r£e . . * sex

Eidcm apertura; cum siibsutura olosericaj . . * quinquaginta

Eidcm aperturoe cum subsutura su(b)sericne . . * triginta

(Sub)sutur!B in veste grossiori * quattuor.

Denarii*.

To the Tailor for lining a fine vest 6

To the same for an opening and an edging with silk . . . . .50
To the same for an opening and an edging with stufl" made of a mixed tis-
sue of silk and flax .......... 30

For an edging on a coarser vest 4

Colonel Leake's translation.

This document proves, in exact conformity with the passages
quoted from SoUnus and Ammiamis, that silk had come into
general use at the commencement of the fourth century. It is
also manifest from this extract, that silk was employed in giv-
ing to garments a greater proportion of intricacy and ornament
than had been in use before.

The authors who make mention of silk in the fourth and fol-
lowing centuries are very numerous. We shall first take the
heathen authors, and then the Christian writers, whose observa-
tions often have some moral application, which gives them an
additional interest.

The unknown author of the Panegyric on the emperor Con-
stantine, pronounced A. D. 317, thus mentions silk as charac-
terizing oriental refinement.

Facile est vincere timidos et imbelles, quales amoena Grmcia et delicioB Oricntis
educunt, vix leve pallium et sericos sinus vitando sole tolerantes.

It is easy to vanquish the timid and those unused to war, the offspring of pleeis-
sant Greece and the delightful East, who, whilst they avoid the heat of the sun,
can scarcely bear even a light shawl and folds of silk.

The testimony of the Roman historian Flavius Vopiscus,
in reference to the practice of the emperor Aurelian and the
dearness of silk during his reign, has already been produced.
This author, in his life of the same emperor, makes the follow-
ing remarks on a display of silk which he had himself recently
witnessed.

* A Roman com of the value of about sixteen or seventeen cents, called De-
narii from the letter X upon it ; which denoted ten.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 43

We have lately seen the Consulate of Furiiis Placidus celebrated in the Circus
with so great eagerness for jjopularity, that ho seemed to give not prizes, but pa-
trimonies, presenting tunics of linen and silk, borders of linen, and even horses,
to the great scandal of all good men.

The exact period here referred to is no doubt the Consulship
of Placidus and Romulus, A. D. 343.

In the Epistles of Alciphron (i. 39.) Myrrhine, a courtesan,
loosens her girdle, which probably fastened her upper garment
or shawl. Her shift was silk, and so transparent as to show
the color of her skin.

ausonius

satirizes a rich man of mean extraction, who nevertheless
made lofty pretensions to nobility of birth, pretending to be de-
scended from Mars, Romulus, and Remus, and who therefore
caused their images to be embossed upon his plate and woven
in a silken shawi. — Epig. 26.

In the following hue, he alludes to the production of silk in
the usual terms :

Vellera depectit nemoralia vestifluus Ser.

Idyll. 12.

The Ser remote, in flowing garments drest,
Combs down the fleeces, which the trees invest.

aUINTUS AUR SYMMACHUS.

This distinguished officer, in a letter to the Consul Stilicho,
apologizes in the following terms for his delay in sending a con-
tribution of Holoseric pieces, that is, webs wholly made of silk,
to the public exhibitions.

Others have deferred supplying the water for the theatre and the Holoseric
pieces, so that I have examples in my favor. — Epist. I. iv. 8.

In a letter to Magnillus (/. v. 20.) he speaks of Subseric
pieces, webs made only in part of silk, as presents ;

At your instigation the Subseric pieces have been supplied, which my men
kept back after the price had been settled ; and likewise everj'thing else pertain-
ing to the prizes which were to be given.

CLAUDIAN

mentions silk in numerous passages. This poet, in describing

44 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

the consular robes of the two brothers Probinus and Olybrius
(A. D. 395.), represents the Gabine Cincture, by which the toga
was girt over the breast, as made of silk.

In the following passage he represents the two brothers,
Honorius and Arcadius, as dividing the empire of the world be-
tween them and receiving tributes of its productions from the
most distant regions :

Vestri juris erit, quicquid complectitiir axis.
Vobis rubra dabunt pretiosas cequora conchas,
Indus ebur, ramos Panohaia, vellera Seres.

De III. Cons. Honorii, I. 209-211.
To you the world its various wealth shall send :
Their precious shells the Erythrean seas ;
India its iv'ry, Araby its boughs,
The distant Seres fleeces from the trees.

In a poem, which immediately succeeds this in the order of
time, Claudian describes a magnificent toga, worn by Honorius
on being appointed a fourth time consul, by saying, that it re-
ceived its color [the Tyriaii j)urple) from the Phoenicians ; its
•woof [of silk forming- stripes or figures) from the Seres ; and
its weight [jiroduced hy Indian gems) from the river Hydas-
pes*. Again, in his poem on the approaching marriage of
Honorius and Maria, he mentions yellow silk curtains (Z. 211.)
as a decoration of the nuptial chamber.

Again he says {in Eutrop. I. i. v. 225, 226. 304. /. ii. v.
337.) :

Te grandibus India gemmis,
Te foliis Arabes ditent, te vellere Seres.
Let India with her gems thy wealth increase,
The Arabs with their leaves, the Seres with their fleece. ,

He also mentions with delight the use of gold in dress, as
well as of silk. The following passage represents the manner
in which Proba, a Roman matron, near the end of the fourth
century, expressed her affectionate congratulations on the ele-
vation of her two sons to the Consulship, by preparing robes in-
tericoven loith gold for the ceremony of their installation.

* De IV. Cons. Honorii, i. 600, COL

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 45

With joy elated at this proud success,

Their venerable mother now prepares

The golden trabcas, and tiie cinctures bright

With Seric fibres shorn from woolly trees :

Her well-train'd thumb protracts the length'ning gold,

And makes the metal to the threads adhere.

In Probini et Olyhrii Consulatum, I. 177-182.

From these verses we learn that Proba had herself acquired
the art of covering the thread with gold, and that she then
used her gold thread in the ivoof to form the stripes or other
ornaments of the consular trabeae. These are afterwards call-
ed "stiff togas" {togce, rigentes, I. 205.), on account of the
rigidity imparted to them by the gold thread.

The same poet gives an elaborate description of a Trabea
which he supposes to have been woven by the Goddess Rome
with the aid of Minerva for the use of the Consul Stilicho.
Five different scenes are said to have been woven in this admi-
rable robe [regentia dona, graves aiiro trabeas), and certain
parts of them were wrought in gold*.

Again, Claudian supposes Thetis to have woven scarfs of gold
and purple for her son Achilles :

Ipsa manu chlamydes ostro texebat et auro. {Ep. 35.)

The epigram in which this line occurs, seems to imply that
Serena, mother-in-law of the Emperor Honorius, wove garments
of the same kind for him.

Maria, the daughter of the above-mentioned Stilicho, was
bestowed by him upon Honorius, but died shortly after, about
A. D. 400. In February, 1544, the marble coffm, containing
her remains, was discovered at Rome. In it were preserved a
garment and a pall, which, on being burnt, yielded 3G ])ounds
of gold. There were also found a great number of glass ves-
sels, jewels, and ornaments of all kinds, which Stilicho had
given as a dowry to his daughtcrt. We may conclude, that
the garments discovered in the tomb of Maria were woven by
the hands of her mother Serena, since the epigram of Claudian

* In I. Cons. Stilichonis, L. ii. 330-.359.

t Surii Comment. Rerum Gest. ab anno 1500, &c.

46 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

proves that she wove robes of a similar description for Hono-
rius, and probably on the same occasion. Anastasius Biblio-
thecarius says, that when Pope Paschal was intent on finding
the body of St. Ceecilia, having performed mass with a view
to obtain the favor of a revelation on the subject, he was di-
rected A. D. 821 to a cemetery on the Appian Way near Rome,
and there found the body enveloped in cloth of gold*. Although
there is no leason to believe, that the body found by Paschal
was the body of the saint pretended, yet it may have been tlie
body of a Roman lady who had lived some centuries before,
and probably about the time of Honorius and Maria.

Pisander, who belonged to the same period (900 B. C.) with
Homer, speaks of the Lydians as wearing tunics adorned
with gold. Lydus observes, that the Lydians were supphed
with gold from the sands of the Pactolus and the Hermust.

Virgil also represents the use of gold in weaving, as if it had
existed in Trojan times. One of the garments so adorned
was manufactured by Dido, the Sidonian, one by Androm-
ache, and another was in the possession of Anchises+. In
all these instances the reference is to the habits of Phoenice,
Lycia, or other parts of Asia.

He describes an ape ludicrously attired in a silk jacket ; and,
inveighing against the progress of luxury, he speaks of some
to whom even silk garments were a burthen. In elaborate
descriptions of the figured consular robes (the Trabeae) of Ho-
norius and Stilicho, he mentions the reins and other trap-
jnngs of horses, as being wrought in silk§.

The frequent allusions to silk in the comphmentary poems
of Claudian, receive illustration from various imperial laws,
which were promulgated in the same century, and in part by
the very emperors to whom his flattery is addressed, and which

* " Aureis vcstitum indumentis." De Vitis Rom. Pontificum jMogunt. 1G02,
p. 222.

+ De iMatristratibus Rom. L. iii. § 64.

t JEn, iii. 48.3. ; iv. 264. ; viii. 167. ; xi. 75.

§ Rubra Serica, De VI. Cons. Honor. I. 577. Serica Fraena. In I. Cons. Stili-
chonis 1. ii. V. 350.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 47

are preserved in the Code op Justinian. Their object was
not to encourage the silk manufacture, but, on a principle very
opposite to that of modern times, to make it an imperial mo-
nopoly. The admiration excited by the splendor and elegance
of silk attire was the ground, on which it was forbidden that
any individual of the male sex should wear even a silken bor-
der upon his tunic or pallium, with the exception of the em-
peror, his officers and servants. To confine the enjoyment of
these luxuries more entirely to the imperial family and coiut,
all private persons were strictly forbidden engaging in the
manufacture, gold and silken borders were to be made only in
the imperial Gyna^cea*.

THE PERIPLUS MARIS ERYTHRjEI.

In this important document on ancient geography and com-
merce, we find repeated mention of silk in its raw state, in that
of thread, and wovent. These articles were conveyed down
the Indus to the coast of the Erythrean Sea. They were also
brought to the great mart of Barygaza, which was on the
Gulf of Cambay near the modern Surat, and to the coast of
Lymirica, which was still more remote. The author of the
Periplus states, that they were carried by land through Bactria
to Barygaza from a great city called Thina, lying far towards
the North in the interior of Asia. He of course refers to some
part of Serica. It is remarkable, that he makes no mention
of silk as the native production of India.

Silk is mentioned in two passages of the laws of Manu, viz.
XI. V. 1G8, and XII. v. 64. It is. however, observed by Heer-
en, who quotes passages of the Ramayana that make mention
of silk, that garments of this material are there represented as
worn only on festive occasions, and that they were undoubt-
edly Seric or Chinese productions!. Indeed it appears that

* See the Corpus Juris Civilis, Lugdiini 1()27, folio, torn. v. Codex Justiniani,
1. X. tit. vii. p. 131. 134.

t Arriani 0pp., vol. ii. Blancardi, pp. 164, 170. 173. 177.

t Ideen uber die Politik, &c. der alten "Welt, i. 2. pp. G47. G18. 665-668. 677.
3rd edition. Gottingen, 1815.

48 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP

the cloth made from the thread of tlie native worms of Hin-
dostan, although highly valued for strength and durability, is
not remarkable for fineness, beauty, or splendor.

RUFUS FESTUS AVIENUS.

This author, adopting the common notion of his time, sup-
poses the Seres to spin thread from fleeces which were produced
upon the trees. He also mentions silk shawls [Serica pallia,
I. 1008.) as worn by the female Bacchantes of Ionia in their
processions in honor of Bacchus ; and it is worthy of remark,
that they are not mentioned in the original passage of Dionys-
ius, the author whom Avienus translates, so that we may
reasonably infer, that the use of them on these occasions was
introduced between the time of Dionysius (about 30 B. C.) and
that of Avienus (A. D. 400).

MARTIANUS CAPELLA.

Beyond these {the Anthropophagi) are the Seres, who asperse their frees with
water to obtain the down, which produces silk. L. vi. p. 223. ed. Grotii, 1599.

The following Inscription is given in Gruter, Tom. iii. p.
DCXLV. It was found at Tivoh, and expresses that M. N.
Proculus, silk-mamifactiirer, erected a monument to Valeria
Chrysis, his excellent and deserving wife.

D. M.

VALERIAE. CHRYSIDI.

M. NVMIVS. PROCVLVS.

SERICARIVS.

CONJVGI. SVAE.

OVTIMM. BENEM.

FECIT.

Before proceeding to the Christian writers of the 4th and fol-
lowing centuries we may now introduce the remarks of Servius
on the passage formerly quoted from Virgil. He is supposed to
have written about A. D. 400.

Among the Indians and Seres there are on the trees certain worms, called
Bombyces, which draw out very fine tlireads after the manner of spiders ; and
these threads constitute silk.

SLIK BY THE ANCIENTS. 49

It will be seen hereafter, that these " Indian Seres" were the
inhabitants of Khotan in Little Bucliaria.

Tlie frequent comparison of Bombyces to spiders by the an-
cients suggests the inquiry whether they employed the thread
of any kind of spider to make cloth, as was attempted in
France by M. Bon. The failure of his attempt is sufficient,
as it appears, to show, that the extensive manufacture of gar-
ments from this material must have been scarcely possible in
ancient times. It is also to be observed, that the ancients,
when they compare the silk-worm to the spider, refer to the
spider's tocb, whereas M. Bon, not finding the web strong
enough, made his cloth from the thread with which the spider
envelopes its eggs*.

But, although we have no reason to believe, that the web of
any spider was anciently employed to make cloth, yet these
accounts may have referred to worms, possibly varieties of the
silk-worm, which spun long threads floating in the air. The

* Tho most extraordinary account of a spider's web, which we have ever seen,
is that given by Lieutenant W. Smyth. He says, " We saw here (viz. at Pachi-
za, on the river Huayabamba in Peru) a gigantic spider's web suspended to the
trees : it was about 25 feet in height, and near 50 in length ; the threads were
very strong, and it had the empty slouglis of thousands of insects hanging on it.
It appeared to be the habitation of a great number of spiders of a larger size than
we ever saw in England." Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Para, London,
1836, p. J41.

For some interesting notices of the great spider of Brazil the reader is refeiTcd
to Caldcleugli's Travels in South America, London 1825, vol i. eh. 2. p. 41 ; and
to the Rev. R. Walsh's Notices of Brazil, London 1830, vol. ii. p. 300, 301. Mr.
Caldcleugh " assisted in liherating from a spider's net a bird of the size of a
swallow, quite exhausted with struggling, and ready to fall a prey to its inde-
fatigable enemies." Mr. Walsh had his light straw hat removed from his head
by a similar web extending from tree to tree in an opening through which he had
occasion to pass. He wound upon a card several of the threads composing the
web ; and he observes, that, as these spiders are gregarious, the difficulties expe-
rienced by M. Bon from the ferocity of the solitary European spiders in killing
and devouring one another, would not exist if the attempt were made to obtain
clothing from the former.

In the forests of Java Sir George Staunton " found webs of spiders, woven
with tlireads of so strong a texture as not easily to be divided without a cutting
instrument." — Account of Lord Macartney'.s Embas.sy to China, London 1797,
vol. i. ch. 7. p. 302. (See Chap. IX.)
7

60 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

common silk-worm spins and suspends itself by its thread, long
before it begins its cocoon. It appears probable, tlierefore, that
there may have been wild varieties of tliis creatme, or perhaps
other species of the same genus, which in the earher stages of
their existence spun threads long enough for use. We ground
this conjecture partly on the following passage from Du Halde's
History of China*.

" The province of Chan-tong produces a particular sort of silk, wliich is found
in great quantities on the trees and in the fields. It is spun and made into a stuff
called Kien-tcheou. This silk is made by little insects that are much like cater-
pillars. They do not spin an oval or roimd cocoon, like the silk-worms, but verj-
long threads. These threads, as they are driven about by the winds, hang upon
the trees and bushes, and are gathered to make a sort of silk, which is coarser
than that made of the silk spun in houses. But these worms are wild, and eat
indifferently the leaves of mulberry and other trees. Those who do not under-
stand this silk would take it for unbleached cloth, or a coarse sort of drugget.

" The worms, which spin this silk, are of two kinds : the first, much larger and
blacker than tlie common silk-worms, are called Tsouen-kien; the second, being
smaller, are named Tiao-hien. The silk of the former is of a reddish gray, that
of the latter darker. The stuff made of these materials is between both colors, it
is very close, does not fret, is very lasting, washes like linen, and, when it is good,
receives no damage by spots, even though oil were to be shed on it.
k " This stuff is much valued by the Chinese, and it is sometimes as dear as
satin or the finest silks. As the Chinese are verj' skilful at counterfeiting, they
make a false sort of Kien-icheou with the v/aste of the Tche-kiang silk, which
without due inspection might easily be taken for the genuine article."

This account affords a remarkable illustration of many of
the expressions of the ancient writers, such as ''Bombyx pen-
dulus urget opus," Martial; "Per aerem liquando aranearum
horoscopis idoneas sedes teiidit," TertuUian ; '•' In aranearum
morem tenuissima fila deducunt," /Servius.

In further illustration of the subject, and as tending to show
that the Kien-tcheou is manufactured from the thread of a
silk- worm, modified in its habits and perhaps in its organization
by circumstances, we shall now quote a few passages from a work
having the following title : " China ; its costume, arts, onan-
ufactures, cj'C, edited from the originals in the cabinet of
M. Bertin, with observations by M. Breton. Translated
from the French. London, 1812." Vol. iv. p. 55, ^^c.

* Vol. ii. p. 359,360, 8vo. edition, London, 1736.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 51

" Tlie wild silk-worms are found in the hottest provinces of China, especially
near Canton. They live indifferently on all sorts of leaves, particularly on those
of the ash, the oak, and the fagara, and spin a greyish and rarely white silk.
The coarse cloth manufactured from it is called Kicn-tcheou, will hear washing,
and on that account persons of quality do not disdain to wear clothes of it. With
this silk also the strings of musical instruments are made, because it is stronger
and more sonorous.

" Entomologists treat but very superficially of the habits of the wild silk-
worms, while they dwell in minute detail on the method of rearing them in Pro-
vence.

" It is between the nineteenth and twenty-second day of their existence, that
they undertake the great work of spinning their cocoon. They curve a leaf
into a kind of cup, and then form a cocoon as large and nearly as hard as a hen's
egg ! This cocoon has one end open like a reversed funnel ; it is a passage for
the butterflj', which is to come out.

" The oak-worms are slower in making their cocoon than those of the fagara
and ash, and they set about it differently. Instead of bending a single leaf, they
roll tliemselves in two or three and spin their cocoon. It is larger, but the silk is
inferior in quality, and of course not so valuable.

" The cocoons of wild silk-worms are so strong and compact, that the insects
encounter great difficulty in extricating themselves, and therefore remain inclosed
from the end of the summer, to the spring of the following year. These butter-
flies, unlike the domestic insect, fly verj' well. — The domestic silk -worm is but a
variety of the wild species. It is fed on the leaves of the mulberry tree." (Seo
chap. VIII.)

The circumstance that the worms were sometimes fed with
oak-leaves is mentioned in Du Halde's History of China,
vol. ii. p. 363.

Here then we have a justification of the ancients in asserting",
both that the silk-worms produced lo)ig- threads and webs float-
ing- in the air like those of spiders, and that they fed upon
the leaves of the oak, the ash, and many other trees. It may
be recollected, that Pliny expressly mentions both the oak
{qiiercus) and the ash {fraxinus).

Until very lately the use of silk among the ancients was in-
vestigated only by philologists. Within a few years M. Latreille,
an entomologist of the highest distinction, has directed his at-
tention to the subject and has examined particularly the above-
cited passages of Aristotle, Pliny, and Pausanias*. He never

* M. Latreille's paper is published in the Annalcs dcs Sciences Naturelles, tome
xxiii. pp. 58-84.

52 ■ CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

supposes the ancient Sericum to have been the produce of any-
thing except the silk-worm. But of this there are several va-
rieties, partly perhaps natural, and partly the result of domes-
tication. He endeavors to explain some parts of Pliny's descrip-
tion by showing their seeming correspondence with some of the
practices actually observed by the Orientals in the management
of silk-worms.

An account of the wild silk-wonns of China is to be found
in the " Memoires conceniant I'Histoire, les Sciences, les Arts,
&c., des Chinois," compiled by the missionaries of Peking*.
This account is principally derived from the information of Fa-
ther D'Incarville, one of the missionaries. It coincides gen-
erally with the accounts already quoted from Du Halde and
Breton. We extract the following particulars as conve}ing
some further information :

" The Chinese annals from the year 150 B. C. to A. D. 638 make frequent
mention of the great quantity of silk produced by the wild worms, and observe
that their cocoons were as large as eggs or apricots."

The following passage is also deserving of attention : " Le
papillon de ces vers sauvages, dit le Pere d'lncarville, est a ailes
vitrees." This information, if correct, would prove that there
was at least one kind of wild silk-worms in China, which was
a different species from the Phalsena Mori ; for that has no
transparent membranes in its wings, and would not be likely to
receive them in consequence of any change in its mode of life.

We now proceed to take the Christian authors of the fourth
and following centuries in the order of time.

ARNOBIUS (a. d. 306.)
thus speaks of the heathen gods :

They want the covering of a garment : the Tritonian virgin must spin a threat
of extraordinary fineness, and according to circumstances put on a tunic cither of
mail, or silkt.

* Tome ii. pp. 579-601. Paris, 1777, 4to. This Memoir is reprinted with
abridgments as an Appendix to Stanislaus .Tulion's Translation of the Cliinese
Treatise on the Breeding of Silk-worms, Paris, 1837, Bvo.

t Adv. Gentes, 1. iii. p. 580, ed. Erasmi.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 53

GREGORIUS NAZIENZENUS, CL., A. D. 370.

The following passage contains, we believe, the earliest al-
lusion to the use of silk in the services of the Christian Church.

^AAXoi itiv ^pvaovTC (cat apyvpov, ol Si ra Siipwi/

A'jipa (pipovai Oe&J vrijiara XcTrraXta.
Kai XjJiirra) Ovair/v Tij uyv^i' dvcdrjutv iaVTOv'
Koi airivSu iapKViOv aAXoj ayvas \i0a6as.
Ad Hellenium pro Monachis Carmen, torn. ii. p. 106. ed. Par. 1C30.
Silver and gold some bring to God
Or the fine tlireads by Seres spun :
Others to Christ themselves devote,
A chaste and holy sacrifice,
And make libations of their tears.

Yates's Translation.

BASIL, CL., A. D. 370.

Although this celebrated author was a native of Asia Minor,
and had studied in Syria and Palestine, he appears to have
known the silk- worm only from books and by report. His de-
scription of it 'in the following passage, in which we first find
the beautiful illustration of the doctrine of a resiirrection from
the change of the chrysalis, is chiefly copied from Aristotle's ac-
count as formerly quoted.

Tt i^aTt ol aTTiaTovvTii tu> IlauXw Trepl rijs Kara Tt]V dpaaraatv aXXottoffEtof, optoirtj ttoXXo!
Tcov dcpiiov raj iiop(pas ftzTafiaWovTa ; o-Koia Ka\ wepl tov 'IvSikov aKwXrjKOi; 'laTopiXrai roO
KCpaai^opav Ss ci{ Ka^VT\v Tairpwra jitTa^oKiov, ctra -irpo'iijjv po^tlivXidi yCverat, koI oiSi £iri
TavTrjs IcTarai rijf nop<p!is, dX\a ^aiuots Kai nXariai TTCrdXois v-JTowTcpovrat. "Orav ovv
Kudi^ncOs rfiv TOVToyv Ipyaoiav dvaTTr)vi^6ijicvai al yvvaiKC;, ra vrjfiara Xcyu, a ■nifmovaiv
iifiiv oi S^ptj Tpos rJjv tuv //aXaKaJv EvJv/iuraji/ KaraaKtvqv, fieyiVJinivni Trjf Kara to ^(Sov
rovTO fteraffoXiji, evapyij XafiPdveTC rijj dvaaraaeui svvotav, Kai /xi] diriaTUTe tj dWayy^
Ijv ITaOXoj airaai KamrayyiWcTai. — Hexakemeivii, p. 79. A. Ed. Benedict.

What have you to say, who disbelieve the assertion of the Apostle Paul con-
cerning the change at the resurrection, when you see many of the inliabitants of
the air changing their forms? Consider, for example, the account of the horned
worm of India, which (i. e. the silk-worm) having first changed into a caterpillar
{eruca, or veruca), then in process of time becomes a cocoon {homhylius, or bom-
hulio), and does not continue even in this form, but assumes light and expanded
wings. Ye women, who sit winding upon bobbins the produce of these animals,
namely the threads, which the Seres send to you for the manufacture of fine gar-
ments, bear in mind the change of form in this creature ; derive from it a clear
conception of the resurrection ; and discredit not that transformation wliich Paul
annoimces to us all. — Yates's Translation.

54 CULTIVATION- AND MANUFACTURE OF

When St. Basil says of the new-born moth, that " it as-
sumes hght and expanded wings," the beauty of the com-
parison in illustrating the Christian doctrine of the resurrection
is enhanced, when we consider that in its wild state the moth
flies very well, althougli. when domesticated, its flight is weak
and its wings small and shrivelled* : but still more beautiful
does the figure become, if we suppose a reference to those
larger and more splendid Phalanaj which produce the coarser
kinds of silk in India, and probably in China also.

Basil is the Jirst writer, Avho distinctly mentions the change
of the silk-worm from a Chrysalis to a moth. In his applica-
tion of that fact he addresses himself to his countrywomen in
Asia Minor, and his language represents them sitting and
winding on bobbins the raw silk obtained from the Seres and
designed to be afterwards woven hito clotli.

Between these two authors, Aristotle and Basil, we observe
a diflference of phraseology which appears deserving of notice.
While they both describe the Avomen, not as spinning the
silk, but as winding it on bobbins, they designate the ma-
terial so wound by two different names. Basil uses the term
yfijiara, which Hiiglit bc mcaut to- imply that the silk came
from the Seres in skeins as it comes to us from China : Aris-
totle, on the contrary, uses the term dofPvKta, which can only
refer to the state of silk before it is wound into skeins.
As it might appear impossible to convey it in this state to
Cos, we shall here insert from the authorities already quoted,
the Chinese Missionaries, an account of the process by which
the cocoons are prepared for winding, and it will then be seen,
that the cocoons might have been transported to ar^y part of
the world.

" To prepare the cocoons of the wild silk-worms, the
Chinese cut the extremities of them with a pair of scissors.
They are then put into a canvass bag, and immersed for an
hour or more in a kettle of boiling lye, which dissolves the
gum. When this is effected, they are taken from the kettle ;

* The Phalsena Atlas, apparently a native of China, measures eight inches
across the wings from tip to tip.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 55

pressed to expel the lye, and then laid out to dry. Whilst
they are still moist, the chrysalises arc extracted ; each cocoon
is then turned inside out, so as to make a sort of cowl. It is
necessary only, to put them again into lukewarm Av^ater,
after which ten or twelve of them arc capped one upon an-
other lik<>, so many thimbles, to insert a small distaff through
them, when the silk may be reeled off.

Basil, in one of his Homilies, {0pp. torn. ii. p. 53. 55. ed.
Benedict.) inveighs against the ladies of Csesarea, \vho em-
ployed themselves in weaving gold ; and he is no less indig-
nant at their husbands who adorned even their horses with
cloths of gold and scarlet as if they were bridegrooms.

The author of a Treatise " De discipliniX et bono pudicitiaj,"
which is usually published with Cyprian, and which may be
referred to the fourth or fifth century, thus speaks {Cypriani
Opera.) ed. Erasmi, p. 499.) :

To weave gold in cloth is. as it were, to adopt an expensive method of spoiling
it. Wliy do they interpose stiff metals between the delicate threads of the warp ?

The same censure is implied in the following address of Al-
cimus Avitus to his sister.

Non tibi gemmato posuere nonilia collo,
Nee te contexit, neto quie fulguratauro
Vestis, ductilibus concludens fila talentis :
Nee te Sidoniiim bis cocti muricis ostriun
Induit, aut rutilo perluceiis purpura succo,
Mollia vel tactu qua; mittuut vellera Seres:
Nee tibi transfossis fixcrunt auribus auruni.

No tlircaded gems have pressed thy sparkling neck :
No cloth, with lines incased in ductile gold,
Or twice with the Sidonian murcx dyed,
Has glittered on thee : thou hast never worn
The fleeces soft which distant Seres send:
Nor are thy ears transfixed for pendent gold.

The effect of such exhortations as the preceding, was to in-
duce piously disposed persons to apply pieces of gold cloth to
public and sacred, instead of private purposes. After this
period we find continual instances of their use in the decoration
of churches and in the robes of the priesthood.

56 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP

AMBROSE, CL. A. D. 374.

Sericae vestes, et auro iutexta velamina, quibus divitis corpus ambitur, damna
viventium, uoii subsidia defuiictorum sunt. — De Nahatho Jezraelila, cap. i. iom.
i. p. 566. Ed. Bened.

Silken garments, and veils interwoven with gold, with which the body of the
rich man is encompassed, are a loss to the living, and no gain to the dead.

Here we tliink it not out of place to introduce the account of
the silk- worm by Georgius Pi»ida, who flourished about A. D.
640, although he lived at Constantinople after the breeding
of silk-worms had been introduced there. According to him
the silk-worm pines or moulders ahnost to nothing in its tomb,
and then returns to its former shape. The verses are however
deserving of attention for their elegance, and for the repetition
of Basil's idea, which Ambrose has left out, of the analogy be-
tween the restoration of the sillc-worm and the resurrection of
man.

TlUdei Ta XauiTpoKXioara vfijiaTa TrXlKCtVy
'A., 7-jf Pa(pij ■^pojaOira rfjS aXovpyiSoSf
'X.avvoX Tov OyKov twv KparovvToyv ifiippovmSf

"On wpo avrdv Tils OToXiJs fj Xd^rpdrij;
HxioXiiKOi rjv iv6vjia xal <p6apTri ctkctij,
'Os, Tj KaO' fifSs fiapTVpwv avaoTaatiy
Qvf\aKei fiiv Iviov tcov lavrov vr^jiaron'^
Tov avTOv oiKOv Kai ratphv ScScyfiei/oSy
lj)(^eidv Si TiavTOi tov kut' avTov aapKiuv

SaTTElTOf 3) ftVCPTOS J) TtTriyjlCVOV,

X.pov6v KoXovvTo; Ik (pBopas VTrouTpiipci,
Kot Trjv iraXai n6p(j)tiiaiv dppfiToy; ipiei
'Ew Tco weptTTevaavTi piKpw Xetxpavot,
Tlpos Ttiv an' dp^ijs (TOijiaTovitcvos TrXairtv.

I. 1265-1282.
What law persuades the Seric worm to spin
Those shining tln-eads, which, dyed with purple hue.
Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men?
For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thought
Steals on, — This splendid robe once cloth'd a worm :
Type of our resurrection from the grave,
It dies within the tomb itself has spun.
That perishing abode, which is at once
Its house and tomb ; in which it rots away.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 57

Till at the call of time it gladly leaves
Corruption, and its ancient shape resumes.
A little remnant of its mould'ring flesh,
By processes unspeakable and dark,
Restores the wonders of its earliest form.

Yates's Translation

MACARIUS, CL., A. D. 373.

This author gives us.an additional proof [Homil. 17, § 9,) that
the use of silkeu clothing was characteristic of dissolute women.

JEROME, CL., A. D. 378.

This great author mentions silk in numerous passages.

In his translation of Ezekiel xxvii. he has supposed silk
{sericuni) to be an article of Syrian and Phoenician traffic as
early as the time of that prophet.

In his beautiful and interesting Epistle to Laeta on the Edu-
cation of her Daughter {0pp. Paris, 1546, torn. i. p. 20. C),
he says :

Let her learn also to spin wool, to hold the distaff, to place the basket in her
bosom, to twirl the spindle, to draw the threads with her thumb. Let her despise
the webs of silk-worms, the fleeces of the Seres, and gold beaten into tlu-eads.
Let her prepare such garments as may dispel cold, not expose the body naked,
even when it is clothed. Instead of gems and silk, let her love the sacred
books, &c.

Because wc do not use garments of silk., wo are reckoned monks ; because we
are not drunken, and do not convulse ourselves with laughter, wc are called re-
strained and sad : if our tunic is not white, wc immediately hear the proverb. He
is an impostor and a Greek. — Epist. ad Marccllum, Dc ^grotatione Blcsillce,
torn. i. p. 156, ed. Erasmi, 1526.

YoH formerly went with naked feet ; now you not only use shoes, but even
ornamented ones. You then wore a poor tunic and a black shirt under it, dirty
and pale, and having your hand callous with labor ; now you go adorned with
linen and silk, and with vestments obtained from the Atrcbates and from Laodl-
cea. — Adv. Jovintanum, I. ii 0pp. ed. Paris, 1546, (oin. ii. p. 29.

In the following he further condemns the practice of wrap-
ping the bodies of the dead in cloth of gold :

Why do you wrap your dead in garments of gold ? Why does not ambition
cease amidst wailings and tears ? Cannot the bodies of the rich go to corruption
except in silk ? Epist. L. ii.

You cannot but be offended yourself, when you admire garments of silk and
gold in others.— Epist. L. ii. No. 9, p. 138, ed. Par. 1613, 12?«a

58 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

CHRYSOSTOM, CL., A. D. 398.

'AXXu aripixa ra i^uriaj dXXu j^aKioiv yiijiovaa i) ^v^ti.

Comment, in Psalm 48. torn. v. p. 517. ed. Ben.
Docs the rich man wear silken shawls? His soul however is full of tatters.

KaXu Ta ctjpiKU ijidriai dWa (jK(ii\fiKOiv 1<ttIv vipaafia.

(Quoted hy Vossius, Etym. Lat. p. 4GG.)
Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms.

Chrysostom also inveighs against the practice of embroiderinff
shoes with silk thread, observing that it was a shame even to
wear it woven in shawls. Such is the change of circumstan-
ces, that now even the poorest persons of both sexes, if decently
attired, have silk in their shoes.

HELIODORUS, CL., A. D. 390.

This author, describing the ceremonies at the nuptials of
Theagenes and Chariclea, says, " The ambassadors of the
Seres came, bringing the thread and webs of their spiders, one
of the webs dyed purple (!), the other white." JE^thiojnca,
lib. X. 2>- 494. Commelini.

Salmasius {in Tertullianum de Pallia, p. 242.) quotes the
following passage from an uncertain author.

'Ojioia cctXv fi Tov TzapdnTo; fiiov Tipirvortji \vSikm aKw^rjKioij oKcpTO) ^jiXXw rov iii/Spov
(rvvTv\i^6t.u^ xai Tij rpotpt] da^oXrjdiVj avvcniiiyri iv airio tov j-UTa^iov kovkovXio).

The pleasure of the present life is like the Indian worm, which, having involv-
ed itself in the leaf of the tree and having been satisfied with food, chokes itself
in the cocoon of its own thread. — Yates's Translation.

This writer, whoever he was, appears to have had a correct
idea of the manner in which the silk-worm wraps itself in a
leaf of the tree, on which it feeds, and spins its tomb within*.

* In the Royal Museum of Natural History at Leyden are eight or ten cocoons
of the Phalaena Atlas from Java. They consist of a strong silk, and are formed
upon the leaves of a kind of Ficus. The first laj'er of the cocoon covers the
whole of a leaf, and receives the exact impress of its form. Then two or three
other layers are distinctly perceptible. Two or three leaves are joined together to
form the cocoon. In regard to the looseness of the layers these cocoons do not
correspond to M. Breton's description of the cocoons of the wild silk-worms of

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 59

FIFTH CENTURY.

PRUDENTIUS, CL., A. D. 405.

The following sentence occurs in a speech of St. Lawrence

at his martyrdom :

Hunc, qui superbit serico,
Quern currut! mfiatum vel>it ;
Hydrops aquosus lucido
Teudit venoiio intrinsecus.

Pcrisieph. Hymn. ii. I. 2.'?7-240.

See him, attir'd in silken prido,

Inflated in his cliaiiot ride ; ,

Tlie hicid poison works within,

Dropsy distends his swollen skin.

In another Hymn to the honor of St. Romanus we find the
following lines :

Aurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur?
Inluga vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura,
In carnis usum mille quaeruntur dolis.

PeristepJi. Hymn. x.
To please the flesh a thousand arts contend :
The miser's heaps of gold, the figur'd vest,
The gem, the silk- worm, and the purple dye.
By toil acquir'd, promote no other end.

In the same Hymn {1. 1015.) Prudentius describes a heathen
priest sacrificing a bull, and dressed in a silken toga which is
held up by the Gabine cincture {Cinctu Gabino Sericam fultiis
togam). Perhaps, however, we ought here to understand that
the cincture only, not the whole toga, was of silk. It was used
to fasten and support the toga by being drawn over the breast.

In two other passages this poet censures the progress of lux-
ury in dress, and especially when adopted by men.

Sericaque in fractis fluitent ut pallia nienibris

Psychomachia, I. 3G5.
The silken scarfs float o'er their weaken'd limbs.

Sed pudet esse viros : queerunt vanissima quosquo
Quis niteant: genuina leves ut robora solvant,

China, which are very strong eind compact, and therefore more resemble those of
the Phalsena Papliia.

60 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitis
Ramorum spoliis fluitantes surnere amictus,
Gaudent, et durum scutulis pcrfundere corpus.
Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctis
Inluduiit varias distincto staniine formas.
Ut qufequc est lan\igo feraj mollissinia tactu,
Per.tifiir. Hunc videas lascivas priEpete cursu
Venantem tnninas, avium quoque versicolorum
Indumenta novis texentem phimea telis:
Ilium piginentis ledolentibus, et percgrino
Pulvcre femineas spargentem turpitur auras.

Hamartigp.rtia, l. 286-^98.

They blush to be call'd men : they seek to shine

In cv'ry vainest garb. Their native strength

To soften and impair, tliey gaily choose

A flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep,

But of those fleeces from the Eastern world,

The spoil of trees. Tiieir hardy frame they deck

All o'er with tesselated spots : and art

Is added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs,

May sportively intwine their various hues

And mimic forms, within the yielding warp.

Whatever creature wears the softest down.

They comb its fleece. This man with headlong course

Hunts motley tunics which inflame desire,

Invents neio looms, and weaves a feather'd vest,

Which with the plumage of the birds compares ;

That, scented with cosmetics, basely sheds

EfFemmate foreign powder all around.

PALLADIUS.

A work remains under the name of Palladius on " The
Nations of India and the Brachmans." Whether it is by the
same PaUadius, who wrote the Historia Lausiaca; is disputed.
But, as we see no reason to doubt, that it may have been writ-
ten as early as his time, we introduce here the passages, which
have been found in it, relating to the present subject. The au-
thor represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great,
" You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms."
(2>. 17. ed. Bisswi.) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not
pass the Ganges, but went " as far as Serica, where the siUc-
worms produce raw-silk" (p. 2.).

In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin,

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 61

bearing the name of St. Ambrose and entitled De moribus
Brachmanorum. It contains nearly the same matter with
the preceding. The writer professes to have obtained his in-
formation from " Museeus Dolenorum Episcopus," meaning, as
it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop of Adule, of
whom he says,

Sericam fcr6 iiniversam rcgioncm pcragravit : in qua. refcrt arbores esse, qiinc
non solum folia, sod lanam qiioque proferunt tenuissimam, ex quft, vestimenta con
ficiiintnr, qua3 Scrica nuncupantur. p. 58.

He travelled through nearly all the country of the Seres, in which, he says,
that there are trees producing not only leaves, but the finest wool, from which
are made the garments called Serica.

These notices are not devoid of value as indicating what
were the first steps to intercourse with the original silk country.
It may however be doubted, whether the last account here
quoted is a modification of the ideas previously current among
the Greeks and Romans, or whether it arose from the mistakes
of Moses himself, or of other Christian travellers into the in-
terior ®f Asia, tvho confounded the j)roduction of silk loWt
that of cotton.

THE THEODOSIAN CODE,

published A. D. 438, mentions silk {sericam et metaxam) in
various passages.

APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS, CL., A. D. 472.

Describing the products of diflferent countries, this learned au-
thor says [Carmen, v. I. 42-50),

Fert
Assyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabseus.
Th' Assyrian brings his gems, the Ser
His fleeces, the Sabean frankincense.

In a passage [Carmen, xv.), he mentions a pall,

Cujus bis coctus aheno
Serica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex.
The T}Tian murex, twice i' th' cauldron boil'd, .
Had dyed its silkrn threads.

The expression here used, indicates that the silk thread was

62 CULTIVATION AND :MANUFACTURE OF

brouglit from the country of the Seres to be dyed in Phcenice.
In Horace we have aheady noticed the " Cote purpurae."

A passage from tiie Burgus Pontii Leontii [Carmen, xxii.),
shows that tiie same article {Serica Jila) was imported into
Gaul.

In the same author {I. ii. Epist. ad S'crraiuim) we meet
with '•' Sericatum toreuma." The latter word probably denoted
a carved sofa or couch. The epithet " sericatum'' may have
referred to its silken cover.

The same author describes Prince Sigismer, who was about
to be married, going in a splendid procession and thus clothed :

Ipse medius incessit, flammeus cocco, rutiliis auro, lacteiis serico. L. iv. Epist
p 107. ed. Ebnenhorstii.

He himself marched in the midst, his attire flammg with coccus, glittering
with gold, and of milky whiteness with silk.

Describing the heat of the weather, he says :

One man perspire? in cotton, anotlier in silk.

L. ii. Epist. 2.

Lastly, in tlie following lines he alludes to the practice of
giving silk to the successful charioteers at the Circensian
games :

The Emp'ror, just as powerful, ordains

That silks with palms be given, crowTis with chains :

Thus marks high merit, and inferior praise

In brilliant carpets to the rest conveys.

Carmen, xxiii. Z. 423-427

ALCIMUS AVITUS, CL., A. D. 490.

Describing the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, this
author says :

Ipse cothumatus gemmis et fulgidus auro
Serica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis.

L. iii. 222.
In jewell'd biLskins and a blaze of gold,
Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore.

Avitus also mentions " the soft fleeces sent by the Seres."

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 63

SIXTH CENTURY.

BOETHIUS, CL., A. D. 510

Nor honey into wine tlicy pour'd, nor mix'd
Bright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.

Dc Consol. Philos. ii.

The Tyiians are chiefly known to us in commercial history
for their skill in dyeing ; the Tyrian purple formed one of the
most general and principal articles of luxury in anticiuity : but
dyeing could scarcely have existed without weaving, and
though we have no direct information respecting the Tyrian
and Sidonian looms, we possess several ancient references to
their excellence, the less suspicious because they are incidental.
Homer, for instance, when Hecuba, on the recommendation of
the heroic Hector, resolves to make a rich offering to Minerva,
describes her as selecting one of Sidonian manufacture as the
finest which could be obtained.

The Phrj'gian queen to her rich wardrobe went
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent ;
There lay the vestures of no vidgar art —
Sidonian maids embroider'd every part,
Whom from soft Sidon youtliful Paris bore
Witli Helen, touching on the Tyrian sliore.
Here, as tlie queen revolved with careful eyes
The various textures and tlie various dyes,
She chose a veil tliat shone superior far,
And glow'd refulgent as the morning star.

Iliad, vi.

Tyre appears to have been the only city of antiquity Avhich
made dyeing its chief occupation, and the staple of its com-
merce. There is little doubt that purple, the sacred symbol of
royal and sacerdotal dignity, was a color discovered in that
city; and, that it contributed to its opulence and grandeur.
It is related that a shepherd's dog, instigated by hunger, having
broken a shell on the sea shore, his mouth became stained
with a color, which excited the admiration of all who saw it,
and that the same color was afterwards applied with great suc-
cess to the dyeing of wool. According to some of the ancient
writers, tliis discovery is placed in the reign of Phoenix, second

64 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF

King of Tyre (five hundred years before the Christian era) ;
others fix it in that of Minos, who reigned 939 years earlier or,
1439 B. C. The honor of the invention of dyeing purple, is
however, generally awarded to the Tynan Hercules, who pre-
sented his discovery to the king of Phoenicia ; and the latter
was so jealous of the beauties of this new color, that he forbade
the use of it to all his subjects, reserving it for the garments of
royalty alone. Some authors relate the story differently : Her-
cules' dog having stained his mouth with a shell, which he had
broken on the seashore, Tysus, a nymph of whom Hercules
was enamored, was so charmed with the beauty of the color,
that she declared she would see her lover no more until he had
brought garments dyed of the same. Hercules, in order to
gratify his mistress, collected a great number of the shells, and
succeeded in staining a robe of ,the color she had demanded.
" Colored dresses," says Pliny*, " were known in the time of
Homer (900 B. C), from which the robes of triumph were bor-
rowed." Purple habits are mentioned among the presents
made to Gideon, by the Israelites, from the spoils of the kings
of Midan, Ovid, in his description of the contest in weaving
between Minerva and Arachne, dwells not only on the beautj'
of the figures which the rivals wove, but also mentions the del-
icacy of shading by which the various colors were made to har-
monize together :

Tlirn both their mantles biitton'd to their breast,

Their skilful fingers ply with willing haste,

And work with pleasure, while they cheer the eye

With glowing purple of the Tyrian dye :

Or justlj" intermixing shades with light.

Their colorings insensibly unite

As when a shower, transpierced with sunny rays.

Its mighty arch along the heaven displays :

From whence a thousand different colors rise

Whose fine transition cheats the clearest eyes ;

So like the intermingled shading seems

And only dificrs in the last extremes.

Their threads of gold both artfully dispose,

And, as each part in just proportion rose,

Some antic fable in their work disclose. — Metam. vl.

* Plin. viii. 48.

C.

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 65

The Tyrian purple was communicated by means of several
species of univalve shell-fish. Pliny gives us an account of two
kinds of shell-fish from which the purple was obtained. The
first of these was called buccinum, the other purpura*. A
single drop of the liquid dye was obtained from a small vessel
or sac, in their throats^, to the amount of only one drop from
each animal ! A certain quantity of the juice thus collected
being heated with sea salt, was allowed to ripen for three days,
after which it was diluted with five times its bullv of water, kept
at a moderate heat for six days more, occasionally skimmed,
to separate the animal membranes, and when thus clarified,
was applied directly as a dye to white wool, previously prepared
for this purpose, by the action of lime-water, or of a species of
lichen called fucus. Two operations were requisite to commu-
nicate the finest Tyrian purple ; the first consisted in plunging
the wool into the juice of the purpura, the second into that of
the Ijuccinum. Fifty drachms of wool required one hundred
of the former liquor, and two hundred of the latter. Some-
times a preliminary tint was given with cocus, the kermes of
the present day, and the cloth received merely a finish from
the precious animal juice. The color appears to have been
very durable ; for Plutarch observes in his life of Alexandert,
that, at the taking of Susa, the Greeks found in the royal
treasury of Darius a quantity of purple stuflfs of the value of
five thousand talents, which still retained its beaut}^, though it
had lain there for one hundred and ninety yearst.

* Plin. Lib. vi. c. 3G. t Plutarch, chap. 36.

t The true value of tlie talent cannot well bo ascertained, but it is known that
it was different among different nations. The Attic talent, tlie weight, contained
60 Attic minoB, or 6000 Attic drachmae, equal to 56 pounds, 1 1 ounces, English
troy weight. The mina being reckoned equal to £3 4s. Id. sterling, or $14 33
cents ; the talent was of the value of £193 I5s. sterling, about §861. Other
computations make it £225 sterling.

The Romans had the great talent and the little talent ; the great talent is
computed to be equal to £99 6s. 8d. sterling, and the little talent to £75 sterling.

2. Talent, among the Hebrews, was also a gold coin, the same with a shekel
of gold ; called also stater, and weighing only four drachmas. But the Hebrew
talent of silver, called dear, was equivalent to three thousand shekels, or on©
hundred and thirteen pomids, ten ounces, and a fraction, troy weight. — Arbuthnot.

9

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED
FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF SILK-WORMS INTO
EUROPE, A.D. 530, TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

A. D. 530. — Introduction of silk-woims into Europe — Mode by which it was
effected — Tlie Serinda of Procopius the same with the modern Khotan — The
silk-worm never bred in Sir-hind — Silk shawls of Tyre and Berytus — Tyran-
nical conduct of Justinian — Ruin of the silk manufactures — Oppressive conduct
of Peter Barsames — Menander Protector — Surprise of Maniak the Sogdian am-
bassador— Conduct of Chosroes, king of Persia — Union of the Chinese and Per-
sians against the Tui-ks — The Turks in self-defence seek an alliance with the
Romans — Mortification of the Turkish ambassador — Reception of the Byzan-
tine ambassador by Disabul, king of the Sogdiani — Display of silk textures —
Paul the Silentiary's account of silk — Isidorus Hispalensis. Mention of silk by
authors in the seventh centuiy — Dorotheus, Archimandrite of Palestine — In-
troduction of silk-worms into Chubdan, or Khotan — Theophylactus Simocatta
— Silk manufactures of Turfan — Silk known in England in this century —
First worn by Ethelbert, king of Kent — Use of by the French kings — Aldhel-
mus's beautiful description of the silk-worm — Simile between weaving and vir-
tue. Silk in the eighth century — Bede. In the tenth century — Use of silk by
the English, Welsh, and Scotch kings. Twelfth century — Theodoras Prodro-
mus — Figured shawls of the Seres — Ingulphus describes vestments of silk
interwoven with eagles and flowers of gold — Great value of silk about this
time-^Silk manufactures of Sicily — Its introduction into Spain. Fourteenth
century — Nicholas Tegrini — Extension of the Silk manfacture through Eu-
rope, illustrated by etymology — Extraordinary beauty of silk and golden tex-
tures used in the decoration of churches in the middle ages — Silk rarely men-
tioned in the ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth centuries.

We now come to the very interesting account of the first in-
troduction of silk-worms into Europe, which is given by Pro-
copius in the following terms. (Z>e Bello Gothico, iv. 17.)

"About this time (A. D. 530.) two monks, having arrived
from India, and learnt that .Tustinian was desirous that his
subjects should no longer purchase raw silk from the Persians,
went to him and offered to contrive means, by which the Ro-
mans would no longer be under the necessity of importing this
article from their enemies the Persians or any other nation.

CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 67

They said, that they had long resided in the country called
Serinda, one of those inhabited by the various Indian nations,
and had accurately informed themselves how raw silk might
be produced in the country of the Romans. In reply to the
repeated and minute inquiries of this Emperor, they stated,
that the raw silk is made by worms, which nature instructs
and continually prompts to this labor ; but that to bring the
worms alive to Byzantium would be impossible ; that the
breeding of them is quite easy ; that each parent animal pro-
duces numberless eggs, which long after their birth are covered
with manure by persons who have the care of them, and being
thus warmed a sufficient time, are hatched. The Emperor
having promised the monks a handsome reward, if they would
put in execution what they had proposed, they returned to In-
dia and brought the eggs to Byzantium, where, having hatched
them in the manner described, they fed them with the leaves
of the Black Mulherry, and thus enabled the Romans thence-
forth to obtain raw silk in their own country."

The same narrative, abridged from Procopius, is found in
Manuel Glycas [Annal. I. iv. p. 209.), and Zonares {Annal. I.
xiv. 7^. 69. ed. Dii Cange.). In the abstract given by Photius
[Biblioth. p. 80. ed. Rothani) of the history of Theophanes
Byzantinus, who was a writer of nearly the same age with Pro-
copius, we find a narrative, in which the only variation is, that
a Persian brought the eggs to Byzantium in the hollow stem
of a plant. The method now practised in transporting the
eggs from country to country is to place them in a bottle not
more than half full, so that by being tossed about, they may be
kept cool and fresh. If too close, they would probably be heat-
ed and hatch on the journey*.

The authors who have hitherto treated of the history of the
silk-worm, have supposed the Serinda of Procopius to be the
modern Sir-hind, a city of Circar in the North of Hindostant.

• Transactions of the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, &c., vol.
xliii. p. 236.

t In this they have followed D'Anville, Antiquity G^ographique de I'lndo,
Paris, 1775, p. 63.

68 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK

Notwithstanding the striking similarity of names, we think it
more Hkely that Serinda was adopted by Procopius as another
name for Khotan in Little Bucharia. The ancients included
Khotan among the Indian nations* : and that they were right
in so doing is established from the facts, that Sanscrit was the
ancient language of the inhabitants of Khotan ; that their al-
phabetical characters, their laws, and their hterature resembled
those of the Hindoos ; and that they had a tradition of being In-
dian in their originf. Since, therefore, Khotan was also in-
cluded in the ancient Serica, a term probably of wide and ra-
ther indefinite extenti ; the name Serinda would exactly de-
note the origin and connexions of the race which occupied
Khotan.

On the other hand, although Sir-hind is termed " an ancient
city" by Major Rennell§, we cannot find any evidence that the

* In proof of this we refer to Heeren, Ideen, i. 1. p. 358-387, on the Indian
tribes which constituted one of the Persian Satrapies, and in whicli the inhabi-
tants of Khotan appear to have been inchided ; and also to Cellarii Antiqui Orbis
Notitia, 1. iii. c. 23. § 2.

t Remusat, Hist, de la Ville de Khotan, p. 32. Note 1. and p. 37.

X De Guignes (Hist. Gen. des Huns, tome i. p. v.) expresses his opinion, that
Serica, besides the North of China, included the countries towards the West, which
were conquered by the Chinese, viz. Hami, Turfan, and other neighboring territo-
ries. Rennell (Mem. of a map of Hindostan) agrees with D'Anville, that Serica
was at the Northwest angle of the present empire of China. Heeren decides
in favor of the same opinion, supposing Serica to be identical with the modem
Tongut. Comment. Soc. Reg. Sclent. Gottingensis, vol. xi. p. 106. 111. Gottingae,
1793.

Pausanias observes that the Seres, in order to breed the insects which produced
silk, had houses adapted both for summer and winter, which implies that there
was a vast diifcrence between the summer and winter temperature of their coun-
try. A late oriental traveller says of the climate of Khotan, " In the summer,
when Tnelons. ripen, it is very hot in these countries ; but, diu-ing winter, ex-
tremely cold." — Wathen's Memoir on Chinese Tartarj"^ and Khotan, in Journal of
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 1835, p. 659.

On referring to the map, Plato VII., the reader will see the position of Serica
hidicated at its Eastern extremity. As that map is limited to the Orhis Veteri-
bus Cognitus, only a small space on its border is marked as the country of silk
indicated by the yellow color. It is, nevertheless, pretty certain that silk may be
justly placed next in order to wool.

§ Memoir of a Map of Hindostan.

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 69

silk-worm was ever bred there. So far is this from being the
case, that it appears to be a country very ill adapted for the pro-
duction of silk*. It may indeed be true, as stated by Latreille,
that Sir-hind was colonized from Khotan, and it may be men-
tioned as a remarkable circumstance in confirmation of this
supposition, that there is a town called Kotana a httle way to
the North East of the City of Sir-hind. But, supposing this
account to be correct, it is highly probable that the settlement
of Sir-hind as a colony of Khotan did not take place till after
the year 530, when the breeding of silk-worms was according
to Procopius introduced into Europe from " Serinda." Rather
more than 120 years before this time India was visited by the
Chinese traveller. Fa Hian, who on his way passed some
months with great delight and admiration in Khotan ; and the
special object of whose journey was to see and describe all the
cities of India where Buddhism was professed. The inhabi-
tants of Khotan being wholly devoted to that delusion, the
same system must have been estabUshed in its colony; and,
since this zealous pilgrim crossed India at no great distance
from the spot where Sir-hind afterwards stood, we cannot doubt
that he would have mentioned it, if it had existed in his age.
He says not a word about it ; and the time is comparatively so
short between his visit to India and the date of the introduction
of silk-worms into Europe, that we can scarcely suppose Sir-hind,
the colony of Khotan and consequently the seat of Buddhism,
to have been in existence either at the former or latter periodt.
In another passage of his history {Bell. Pers. 1. 20.) Pro-
copius throws some light upon our subject by stating that in
consequence of the monopoly of the trade in raw silk by the
Persians, Justinian attempted to obtain it throngli the ^thi-

» " The S. W. portion of the Circar Sir-liind is extremely barren, being cover-
ed with low scrubby wood, and in many places destitute of water. About A. D.
1357 Feroze the Third cut several canals from the Jumna and the Sutulege m
order to fertilize this naturally arid country." — Walter Hamilton's Description of
Hindostan, vol. i. p. 465.

t Foe Koue Ki, ou Rdlation dcs Royaumes Bouddiqnes : Voyage dans la Tar-
tarie, dans I'Afghanistan, ct dans ITnde ; traduit du Cliinois et comment^ par
Remusat, Klaproth, et Landresse. Paris, 1836, 4to.

70 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK

opians of Arabia, l3ut found this to be impracticable, as the
Persian merchants frequented the ports to which the Indians
resorted, and from them purchased all their cargoes.

Procopius further states [Hist. Arcana, c. 25.), that silk
shawls had long been manufactured in the Phoenician cities
Tyre and Berytus (to which all who were concerned in the
silk trade, either as merchants or manufacturers, consequently
resorted, and from whence goods were carried to every part of
the earth) ; but that in the reign of Justinian the manufactu-
rers in Byzantium and other Greek cities raised the prices of
their goods, alleging that the Persians had also advanced theirs,
while the imposts were increased among the Romans. Justin-
ian, pretending to be much concerned at the high prices, for-
bade any one in his dominions to sell silk for more than eight
aurei per pound, threatening confiscation of goods against any
one who transgressed the law. To comply was impossible,
since they were required to sell their goods at a price lower than
that for which they bought them. They therefore abandoned
the trade, and secretly sold the remnant of their goods for what
they could get. The Empress Theodora, on being apprised of
this, immediately seized the goods and fined the proprietors a
hundred aurei besides. It was then determined, that the silk
manufacture should be carried on solely by the Imperial Treas-
urer. Peter Barsames held the ofllice, and conducted him-
self in relation to this business in the most unjust and oppres-
sive manner, so that the silk-trade was ruined not only in By-
zantium but also at Tyre and Berytus, while the Emperor,
Empress and their Treasurer amassed great wealth by the
monopoly.

MENANDER PROTECTOR, A. D. 560-570.

In an account of an embassy sent to Constantinople by the
Avars of Sarmatia, this author states, that the Emperor Jus-
tinian endeavored to excite their admiration by a display of
splendid couches, gold chains, and garments of silk*.

The establishment of the Turkish power in Asia, about the

Corp. Hist. Byzant. ed. 1729. torn. i. p. 67.

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 71

middle of the sixth century, together with subsequent wars, had
greatly interrupted the caravan trade between China and
Persia. On the return of peace, the Sogdians, an Asiatic peo-
ple, who had the greatest interest in the revival of the trade,
persuaded the Turkish sovereign, whose subjects they were be-
come, to send an embassy to Chosroes, king of Persia, to open
a negotiation for this purpose. Maniak, a Sogdian prince, who
was ambassador, being instructed to request that the Sogdians
might be allowed to supply the Persians with silk ; presented
himself before the Persian jnonarch in the double character of
merchanjL and envoy, carrying with him many bales of silken
merchandise, for which he hoped to find purchasers among the
Persians. But Chosroes, who thought the conveyance by sea
to the Persian Gulf more advantageous to his subjects than this
proposed ti"affic, was not disposed to lend a favorable ear to the
legation, and rather uncourteously showed his contempt for the
Sogdian traders. He bought up all the silk which the ambas-
sador had carried with him, and immediately burned it before
them ; thus giving the most convincing proof of the Little value
which it had in his estimation.

After this the Persians and Chinese united against the Turks,
who, to strengthen themselves, sought an alliance with the
Emperor Justin. Maniak was again appointed ambassador,
and sent to negotiate the terms of the alliance ; but disappoint-
ment, though from a dissimilar cause, attended this his second
embassy. The sight of silk-worms, and the establishment for
manufacturing their produce, in Constantinople, were to him as
unwelcome as unexpected ; he however concealed his mortifica-
tion, and, with perhaps an overstrained civility, acknowledged,
that the Romans were already become as expert as the Chinese
in both the management of silk-worms and manufacture of
their silk* ; and when in the fourth year of Justin II. {i. e. A. D.
569.) they went on the same mission to Byzantium, they found
that here also there was no demand, since silk-worms were
bred there already. Soon after this we learn that the Byzan-
tines sent an embassy to Disabul, King of the Sogdiani, who

* Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xlii.

72 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK

received the ambassadors in tents covered with variously-colored

silks.

PAUL, THE SILENTIARY, A. D. 562,

mentions silk thread, used in adorning the vestments in the
church of St. Sophia at Constantinople. (P. ii. 1. 368.) The
note of the Editor, Du Cange, on the desaiption of the pall,
(577.), contains various quotations from ecclesiastical writerSy
which mention " vela rubea Serica ;" " vela alba holoserica
rasata ;" " vela serica de blattin." These quotations show-
that silk had been inti-oduced into general used for the
churches.

ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS, CL., A. D. 575.

The etymological work of Isodore of Seville may be re-
garded as a kind of encyclopedia, exhibiting the general state
of knowledge and art at the time when he wrote. Hence the
following descriptive extracts are well deserving of attention.

Bombyx frondium vermis, ex cujus texturd, Bombycinum conficitur. Appel-
latur autem hoc nomine ab eo quod evacuetur dum fila general, et aer solus in eo
remanet. Origin. I. xii. c. 5.

Bombj'x, a worm which lives upon the leaves of trees, and from wliose web
silk is made. It is called Bombyx, because it empties itself in producing threads,
and nothing but air remains within it.

The cloth called Bombycina, derives its name from the silk-worm {Bombyx)^
which emits very long threads ; the web woven from them is called Bombyeinum>
and is made in the island of Cos.

That called Serica derives its name from silk (sericvm), or from the circum-
stance, that is was first obtained from the Seres.

Holoserica is all of silk : for Holon means all.

Tramoserica has a warp of linen ; and a woof (trama) of silk. — L. xix. c. 22

Touching these extracts we would remark, that the testi-
mony of Isidore must not be considered as proving, that the
silk manufacture still existed in Cos. His statement was no
doubt merely copied from Yarro or Pliny, or founded upon the
authority of other Avriters long anterior to his own age. It is
indeed probable that silk- worms had by this time been brought
into Greece, but that he was ignorant of the fact.

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 73

SEVENTH CENTURY.

DOROTHEUS, ARCHIMANDRITE OF PALESTINE, A. D. 601.

'noTTcp yap hScSvuivos hXoo'ipiKov. — Dodr. 2, 05 quoted in Cod. Tlieodos. Gollio-
fredi. L. Bat. 1665.

For as a man wearing a tunic entirely of silk.

THEOPHYLACTUS SIMOCATTA, A. D. 629.

This author, in his Universal History (/. vii. c. 9.), informs us
that the silk manufacture was carried on at Chubdan, with the
greatest skill and activity, which was probably the same as
Khotan, or, as it was called in his time, Ku-tan*.

We have, moreover, the following account of the origin of
the growth and manufacture of silk in that countr}' (p. 55, 56.).

"The monastery of Lou-clie [occupied by Buddhists) is to
the south-west of the royal city. Formerly the inhabitants of
this kingdom had neither mulberries nor silk-worms. They
heard of them in the East country, and sent an embassy to ask
for them. The King of the East refused the request, and is-
sued the strictest injunctions to prevent either mulberries or
silk-worms' eggs from being conveyed across the border. Then
the King of Kiu-sa-tan-na {i. e. Koustana, or Khotan) asked
of him a princess in marriage. This having been granted, the
king charged the officer of his court who went to escort her, to
say, that in his country there were neither mulberry-trees nor
cocoons, and that she must introduce them, or he without silk
dresses. The princess, having received this information, ob-
tained the seed both of mulberries, and silk-worms, which
she concealed in her head-dress. On arriving at the frontier,
the officers searched every where, but dare not touch the tur-
ban of the princess. Having arrived at the spot, where the
monastery of Lou-che was afterwards erected, she deposited
the seed both of the mulberries and worms. Tlie trees were
planted in the spring, and she afterwards went herself to assist
in gathering the leaves. At first the Avorms were fed upon the

* Intineraire de Hiuan Tlisang, Appendice ii. h. Foe Koue Ki, p. 399.

10

74 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK

leaves of other plants, and a law was enacted, that no worm^
were to be destroyed or sacrificed until their quantity was suffi-
cienth' great. The n'loaastery was founded to commemorate so
great a benefit, and some trunks of the original mulberry-trees
can yet be seen there*."

In the following passage [Regne Animal, par Ciivier, torn.
V. p. 402.,) Latreille mentions Tuifan as an important city as
far as it aflfected the early silk-trade. In other respects his ac-
count coincides wdth that aheady given.

" La ^^lle de Turfan, dans la petite Bucharie, fut long-temps le rendez-vous
des caravanes venant de I'Ouest, et I'entrepot principal des soieries de la Chine.
Elle ^tait la mdtropole des Sferes de I'Asie superieure, ou de la Serique de Pto-
l^m^e. Expuls^s de leurs pays par les Huns, les Sferes s'etablirent dans le grande
Bucharie et dans I'lnde. C'est d'une de leurs colonics, du Ser-hend (Ser-indi),
que des missionaires Grfecs transportferent, du temps de Justinien, les oeufs du ver
k sole i Constantinople."

The City of Turfan in Little Bucharia was for a long time the rendezvous of
the caravans coming from the West, and the principal market for Chinese silks.
It was the metropolis of the Seres of L^^pper Asia, or the Serica of Ptolemy. The
Seres having been expelled their countrj' by the Huns, established themselves in
Great Bucharia and in India. It is from one of their colonies (of Ser-indi), that
the Grecian ^Missionaries, in the time of Justinian, brought the eggs of the silk-
worm to Constantinople.

A diploma of Ethelbert, King of Kent, mentions "Ar-
milausia holoserica," proving that silk was known in England
at the end of the sixth centuryt. The usual dress of the
earhest French kings seems to have been a linen shirt and
drawers of the same material next to the skin ; over these a
tunic, probably of fine wool, which had a border of silk, orna-
mented sometimes with gold or precious stones; and upon this
a sagum, which was fastened with a fibula on the right shoul-
der. Eginhart informs us, that Charlemange wore a tunic, or
vest, with a silken border {limbo serico)t.

* It may be observed, that the folds of the turban are not unfrequently used in
the East to convey articles of value. See Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, by
Charles Fellows, London, 1839, p. 216.

t Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 24. Adelung's Glossarium Manuale, v. Ar-
milauFiia.

X Examples of it may be seen, I. in the two figures of Charlemagne, executed
in mosaic during liis life-time, one of which is preserved in the Penitentiary of St

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 75
ALDIIELMUS, CL., A. D. G80.

This author, who died Abbot of Sherburn, was among the
most learned men of his age. In his iEnigmas, which are
written in tetrastics, we find the following description of the
silk- worm. As it is scarcely possible that he could have seen
this creature, we have cause to admire both the ingenuity and
general accuracy of his lines. The ascending to the tops of
thorns or shrubs, such as " gcnistic," to which the animal may
attach its cocoon {globulu?7i), has not been noticed by any
earlier author.

De Bombycibus.
Annua dum redeunt texendi tempora telas,
Lurida setigeris replentur viscera fills ;
Moxque genistarum frondosa cacumina scando,
Ut globulus fabricans cum fati sorte quiescam.

Maxima Bibl. Vet. Patrum, torn. xiii. p. 25.
Soon as the year brings round the time to spin,
My entrails dark with hairy threads are fill'd:
Then to the leafy lops of shrubs I climb,
Make my cocoon, and rest by fate's decree.

In a book written by this author, in praise of virginity, he
observes, That chastity alone did not form an amiable and per-
fect character, but required to be accompanied and adorned by
many other virtues ; and this observation he further illustrates
by the following simile taken from the art of weaving : " As it
is not a web of one uniform color and texture, without any
variety of figures, that pleaseth the eye and appears beautiful,
but one that is woven hy shuttles, filled with threads of pur-
ple, and many other colors, flying- frotn side to side, and
forming a variety of figures and images, in different com-
partments, with admirable art." — Bibliotheca Patrum, torn. xiii.

John Lateran at Rome, and both of these are described by Spon in his Miscel-
lanea Erudita; Antiquitatus (p. 284.) ; II. in the figure of Charles the Bald, tho
grandson of Charlemagne, which is in tho splendid copy of the Latin Gospels
made for his use, now preserved in the library at Munich, and which may be
seen engraved in Sanft's Dissertation on that MS. (p. 42.) ; III. in the figure of
an early French king engraved from a MS. by Baluz.ius in his Capitularia Ro-
giun Francorum (tom. ii. p. 1308.) ; and IV. in the first volume of Montfaucon's
Monumens de la Monarchie Fran9aise.

76 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK

EIGHTH CENTURY.

BEDE, CL.j A. D. 701.

Joseph autem mercatus est sindonem, et deponens eum involvit sindone. (Marc.
XV. 46.) — Et ex simplici sepultura domini ambitio divitum condemnatur, qui ne in
tumulis quidem possunt carere divitiis. Possumus autem juxta inteiligentiam spir-
italem hoc sentire, quod corpus domini non aiu-o, non gemmis et serico, sed lintea-
mine puro obvolvendum sit, quanquam et lioc significet, quod ille m sindone mun-
da involvat Jesum, qui puia eum mente susceperit. Hinc ecclesiaj mos obtinuit,
ut sacrificium altaris non in serico, neque in panno tincto, sed in lino terreno cel-
ebrctur, sicut corpus est domini in sindone mimda sepultimi, juxta quod in gestis
pontificalibus a beato Papa, Silvestro legimus esse statutum. — Expos, in Marcum,
torn. V. p. 207. Col. Agrip. 1688.

But Joseph bought a linen cloth, and, taking him down, wrapped him in the
linen cloth. (Mark xv. 46.) — The simple burial of our Lord condemns the am-
bition of rich men, who cannot be without wealth even in their tombs. That his
body is to be wrapped not in gold, not in silk and precious stones, but in pure
linen, may be understood by us spiritually. It also intimates, that he incloses
Jesus in a clean linen cloth, who receives him with a pure mind. Hence the
custom of the church has obtained, to celebrate the sacrifice of the altar, not in
silk, nor in dyed cloth, but in earthy flax, as the body of our Lord was buried in
a clean linen cloth ; for so we read in the pontifical acts, that it was decreed by
the blessed Pope Silvester.

The latter portion of this extract, wherein we are informed
of the origin of the practice, universally adopted, of covering
the Eucharist with a white linen cloth, must be a later addi-
tion. Pope Silvester lived, as the reader will perceive, long
after the time of Bede.

Bede, in his History of the Abbots of Wear mouth, states
that the first abbot and founder of the monastery, Biscop, sur-
named Benedict, went a fifth time to Rome for ornaments and
books to enrich it, and on this occasion (A. D. 685.) brought
two scarfs, or palls, of incomparable workmanship, composed
entirely of silk, with which he afterwards purchased the land
of three families situated at the mouth of the Wear*. This
shows the high value of silken articles at that period.

* Bedffi Hist. Eccles. &c. cura Jo. Smith. Cantab. 1722. p. 297. Mr. Sharon
Turner, speaking of Bede, says, " His own remains were inclosed in silk. Mag.
Bib. xvi. p. 88. It often adorned the altars of the church ; and wc read of a pres-
ent to a West-Saxon bishop of a casula, not entirely of silk, but mixed with goat's

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 11

TENTH CENTURY.

About the year 970 Kenneth, king of Scotland, paid a visit
in London to Edgar, king of England. The latter sovereign,
to evince at once his friendship and munificence, bestowed upon
his illustrious guest silks, rings, and gems, together with one
hundred ounces of pure gold*.

Perhaps we may refer to the same date the composition of
the "Lady of the Fountain," a Welsh tale, recently translated
by Lady Charlotte Guestt. At the opening of this poem King
Arthur is represented sitting in his chamber at Caer-leon upon
Usk. It is said,

In the centre of the chamber, King Arthur sat npon a seat of green rushes,
over which was spread a covering of flame-colored satin, and a cushion covered
with the same material was under his elbow.

The mention of silk and satin is frequent in this tale.

GERBERT, CL., A. D. 970.

This author, who became Pope Silvester, mentions garments
of silk (sericas vestes) in a passage which has been already
quoted (see Part IL chap. V.).

TWELFTH CENTURY.

THEODORUS PRODROMUS,

a romance w^riter in the twelfth century, mentions the figured
shawls (TfirAn) manufactured by the Seres.

Tlie breeding of silk-worms in Europe appears to have been
confined to Greece from the time of the Emperor Justinian
until the middle of the twelfth century. The manufacture

wool." Ibid. p. 50. He refers to p. 97. of the same volume, as mentioning "pal-
lia holoserica." — History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. book vii. chap. 4. p. 48, 49

* Lingard's Hist, of England, vol. i. 241. London, 1819, 4to.

t The Mabinogion, from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest and other ancient Welsh
manuscripts ; with an Engli.sh translation and notes. By Lady Charlotte GuesL
Part I. The Lady of the Fountain. Llandovery, 1838.

78 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK

of silk was also very rare in other parts of Europe, being prob-
ably practised only as a recreation and accomplishment for
ladies. But in the year 1148 Roger I., King of Sicily, having
taken the cities of Corinth, Thebes, and Athens, thus got into
his power a great number of silk-weavers, took them away
with the implements and materials necessary for the exercise
of their art, and forced them to reside at Palermo*. Nicctas
Choniatest, referring to the same event, speaks of these arti-
sans as of both sexes, and remarks that in his time those who
went to Sicily might see the sons of Thebans and Corinthians
employed in weaving velvet stoles interwoven with gold, and
serving like the Eretrians of old among the Persianst.

We find in the writings of Ingulphus several curious ac-
counts of vestments of silk, interwoven with eagles and flowers
of gold. This author, in his history, mentions that among
other gifts made by Witlaf, king of Mercia, to the abbey of
Croyland, he presented a golden curtain, embroidered with
the siege of Troy, to be hung up in the church on his birth-
day§. At a later period, 1155, a pair of richly worked san-
dals, and three mitres, the work of Christina, abbess of Mark-
gate, were among the valuable souvenirs presented by Robert,
abbot of St. Albans, to Pope Adrian IV. ||.

* Otto Frisingen, Hist. Imp. Freder. 1. i. c. 33. in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum
Scriptores, torn. vi. p. 668.

t In Manuel Comnenus, 1. ii. c. 8., torn. xii. of the Scriptores Hist. Byzantine,
p. 5L ed. Ven.

X Hugo Falcandus, who visited this manufactory A. D. 1169, represents it as
being then in the most flourishing condition, producing great quantities of silks,
both plain and figured, of many diiTerent colors, and enriched with gold

§ Ingulphus, p. 487, edit. 1596.

II Adrian IV., was the only Englishman that ever sat in St. Peter's chair. His
name was Nicolas Breakspear : he was born of poor parents at Langley, near St.
Albans. Henry II., on his promotion to the papal chair, sent a deputation of an
abbot and three bishops to congratulate him on his election ; upon which occasion
he granted considerable privileges to the abbey of St. Albans. With the e.\cep-
tion of the presents named above, he refused all the other valuable ones which
were offered him, saying jocosely, — " I will not accept your gifts, because when
I wished to take the habit of your monastery you refused me." To which the
abbot pertinently and smartly replied, — " It was not for us to oppose the will of
Providence, which had destined you for greater things."

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE, 79

Without digressing from oiir subject to question the right
of the royal marauder thus tyrannously to sever these unof-
fending artisans from the ties of country and of kindred, we
may yet be allowed to express some satisfaction at the conse-
quences of his cruelty. It is well for the interests of humanity
that blessings, although unsought and remote, do sometimes
follow in the train of conquest ; that wars are not always hm-
ited in their results to the exaltation of one individual, the
downfall of another, the slaughter of thousands, and misery
of milUons, but occasionally prove tiie harbingers of peaceful
arts, heralds of science, and in short deliverers from the yoke
of slavery or superstition.

In twenty years from this forcible establishment of the man-
ufacture, the silks of Sicily are described as having attained a
decided excellence ; as being of diversified patterns and colors ;
some fancifully intervv^oven with gold — tastefully embellished
with figures ; and others richly adorned with pearls. The in-
dustry and ingenuity thus called forth, could not fail to exer-
cise a beneficial influence over the character and condition of
the Sicilians.

From Palermo the manufacture of silk extended itself
through all parts of Italy and into Spain. We learn from
Roger de Hoveden, that the manufacture flourished at Alme-
ria in Grenada about A. D. 1190*.

FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

According to Nicholas Tegrinit, the silk manufacture after-
wards flourished in Lucca ; and the weavers, having been
ejected from that city in the earlier part of tlie fourtcentli cen-
tury, carried their art to Venice, Florence, Milan, Bologna, and
even to Germany, France, and Britain.

We have seen from different historical testimonies, that silk
was known to the inhabitants of France and England as early
as the sixth century. The fact of its introduction into all parts

* " Deinde per nobilem civitatem, qua; dicitur Almaria, ubi fit nobile sericum et
delicatum, quod dicitur sericum do Almaria." Scriptores post Bedam, p. 671.
t Vita Castniccii, in Muratori, Rer. Ital. Scriptores, t. xi. p. 1320.

80 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

of the North of Europe is manffest from the use of words for
sillc ill several northern languages. These words appear, ac-
cording to the inquiries of the learned orientaUsts, Klaproth
and Abel Remusat*, to have been derived from those Asiatic
countries, in which silk was originally produced. In the lan-
guage of Corea silk is called Sir ; in Chinese JSe, which may-
have been produced by the usual omission of the final r. In
the Mongol language silk is called Sirkek, in the Mandchou
Sirghe. In the Armenian the silk-worm is called Cheram.
In Arabic, Chaldee, and Syriac, silk was called Sericf. From
the same source we have in Greek and Latin Enpuov, Sericum.

In the more modern European languages we find two sets
of terms for silk, the first evidently derived from the oriental
Seric, but with the common substitution of I for r, the second
of an uncertain origin. To the first set belong,

Chelk, silk, in Slavonian.

Sllke, in Suio-Gothic and Icelandic!.

Silcke, in Danish.

Siolc or Seolc, silk, in Anglo-Saxon. Also Siolcen or

Seolcen, silken ; Gal reolcen,
Holosericus ; Seolcpynm, silk-
worm §.

* Journal Asiatique, 1823, torn. ii. p. 246. Julius Klaproth (Tableau Historique
de I'Asie, Paris, 1826, p. 57, 58.) says, that in the year 165 B. C. the inhabi-
tants of the country called by us Tangut, who constituted a powerful kingdom,
were attacked by the Hioung Nou, and driven to the West, where they fixed
themselves in Transoxiana, and that these events led to an uninterrupted com-
munication with Persia and India, especially in regard to the silk trade. Klap-
roth considers that the Seres of the ancients were the Chinese ; but he appears to
include under that term all tlie nations which were brought into subjection to the
Chinese.

Professor Karl Ritter (Erdkunde, Asien, Band iv. 2 te Auflage, Berlin, 1835,
p. 437.) observes, in allusion to the authority just quoted, that all the names of
the silk -worm and its products are to be accounted for on the supposition (which
he considers the true one) that they were first known and cultivated in China,
and from thence extended through central Asia into Europe^

t See Schindler's Pentaglott, p. 1951, D.

t Silki trojo crmalausa, a silk tunic without sleeves. Knitlynga Saga, p. 114,
as quoted by Ihre, Glossar. Suio-Goth. v. Armalausa.

§ jElfric's Glossary (made in the tenth century), p. 68. Appendix to Sumner's
Dictionary.

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 81

^ilk, silk, in English*.

Sirig-, in Welsht.

To the second set belong-,
Seda, silk, in the Latin of the middle ages.

Seta, in Italian.

Seide, in German.

'S'ic^e, in Anglo-Saxon. Also Sidene,

silken, ^Ifric as quoted by Lye ;

Sidpypm, silk-worm, Junius, 1. c.

Sldan, in Welsh.

Satin, in French and EnglishJ.

According to Abel Remusat {Journal Asiat. I. c.) the mer-
chandise of Eastern Asia passed through Slavonia to the North
of Europe in the middle ages, even without the mediation of
Greece or Italy. This may account for the use of the terms
of the first class, while it is possible that those of the second
have been derived from the South of Europe, from whence we
have seen that silken commodities were also occasionally trans-
ported to the North.

To the evidence now produced from authors and printed
documents respecting the history of siUc from the earliest times
to the period of its universal extension throughout Europe, an-
other species of proof may be added, viz. that afforded by Rehcs
preserved in churches, and by other remains of the antiquities
of the middle ages. As examples of this method for illustrating
the subject, the following articles may be enumerated.

I. The rehcs of St. Regnobert, Bishop of Bayeux in the
seventh century. These consist of a Casula, or Chasuble, a
Stole, and a Maniple. They are yet preserved in the cathe-
dral of Bayeux, and worn by the Bishop on certain annual fes-

* Nicholas Fuller (Miscellanea, p. 248.) justly obsen-es, Vocabuliim Anglica-
num Selk non nisi Sericum authorem generis sui agnoscit. Selk enini nuncupa-
tum est quasi Selik pro Serik, literjE r in 1 facili commutatione facta.

Minsliew and Skinner give the same etymology.

t Junius, Elymologicum, v. Silk. It appears doubtful, however, whether Ju-
nius is here to be depended on.

X Menage, Diction. Etym. de la Langue Frangaise, torn. ii. p. 457, ed. Joult

11

82 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK

tivals. They are of silk interwoven with gold, and adorned
with pearls*.

II. Portions of garments of the same description with those
of St. Regnobert were discovered A. D. 1827 on opening the
tomb of St. Cuthbert in the Cathedral of Durham. They are
preserved in the hbrary of that church, and accurately described
by the Rev. James Raine, the librarian, in a quarto volume.

III. The scull-cap of St. Simon, said to have been made
in the tenth century, and now preserved in the Cathedral of
Treves. Its border is interwoven with gold.

In regard to these interesting relics, they may with confi-
dence be looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of siUc
from the seventh to the twelfth century.

IV. In the Cathedral at Hereford is a charter of one of the
Popes with the bull (the leaden seal), attached to it by silken
threads. Silk was early used for this purpose in the South of
Europet. The Danish kings, began to use silk to append the
waxen seals to their charters about the year 1000+.

V. Sijk, in the form of velvet, may be seen on some of the
ancient armor in the Tower of London.

VI. The binding of ancient manuscripts affords specimens
of silk. A French translation of Ludolphus Saxo's Life of
Christ in four folio volumes, among Dr. William Hunter's
MSS. at Glasgow, still has its original binding covered with
red velvet, Avhich is probably as old as the fourteenth century.
A curious source of information on the art of book-binding at
that period is the Inventory, or Catalogue of the hbrary col-
lected by that ardent lover of books, Charles V. of France.
As this catalogue particularly describes the bindings of about
1200 volumes, many of which were very elaborate and splen-
did, it enables us to judge of the use made of all the most valu-
able stuffs and materials which could be employed for this pur-
pose, and under the head of silk we find the following : " sole,"

* See John Spencer Smythe's Description de la Cliasuble de Saint Regnobert,
in the Proems Verbal de I'Academie Royale des Sciences, Arts, et Belles Lettres,
de la Ville de Caen, Seance d'Avril 14, 1820.

t Mabillon de Re Diplomatica., 1. ii. cap. 19. § 6.

X Diplomatarium Ama-Magnceanum, a Thorkelin, torn. i. p. xliv.

AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 83

silk ; " veluyau," velvet ; " satanin," satin ; " damas," damask ;
" taffetas," taffetas ; " camocas ;" " cendal ;" and " drap dor,"
cloth of gold, having probably a basis or ground of silk*.

From the few examples of ancient Catholic vestments that
have escaped destruction, the generality of persons are but
little acquainted with the extreme beauty of the embroidery
worked for ecclesiastical purposes during the Middle Ages.
The countenances of the images were executed with perfect
expression, like miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Every
parochial church, previous to the Reformation, was furnished
with complete sets of frontals and hangings for the altars. One
of the great beauties of the ancient embroidery was its appro-
priate design ; each flower, leaf, and device having a signifi-
cant meaning with reference to the festival to which the vest-
ment belonged. Such was the extreme beauty of the English
vestments in the reign of Henry III., that Innocent IV. for-
warded bulls to many EngUsh bishops, enjoining them to send
a certain quantity of embroidered vestments to Rome, for the
use of the clergyt.

* See Inventaire de I'Ancienne Bibliotfeque due Louvre, fait en I'annee 1373.
Paris, 1836, 8vo.

t Tlie art of embroidery seems to have attained a higher degree of perfection
in France, than any other country in Europe ; — it is not, however, so much prac-
tised now. Embroiderers fonnerly composed a great portion of the working pop-
ulation of the largest towns ; laws were specially framed for their protection,
some of which would astonish the working people of the present day. They
were formed into a company as early as 1272, by Etienne Boileau, Pr^vot de
Paris, under their respective names of " Brodeurs, Decoupeurs, Egratigneurs, and
Chasubiters."

In the last and preceding centuries, when embroidery, as an article of dress
both for men and women, was an object of considerable importance, the Ger-
mans, and more particularly those of Vienna, disputed the palm of excellence
with the French. At the same period, Milan and Venice were also celebrated
for their embroidery ; but the prices were so extravagantly high, that according
to Lamarre, its use was forbidden by sumptuary laws.

CHAPTER V.

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.

HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED IN THIS MANUFACTURE.

Manufacture of golden textures in the time of Moses — Homer — Golden tunics of
the Lydians — Their use by the Indians and Arabians — Extraordinary display
of scarlet robes, purple, striped with silver, golden textures, &c., by Darius,
king of Persia — Purple and scarlet cloths interwoven with gold — Tunics and
shawls variegated with gold — Purple garments with borders of gold — Golden
chlamys — Attalus, king of Pergamus, not the inventor of gold thread — Bostick
— Golden robe worn by Agrippina — Caligula and Heliogabalus — Sheets inter-
woven with gold used at the obsequies of Nero — Babylonian shawls intermixed
with gold — Silk shawls interwoven with gold — Figured cloths of gold and Ty-
rean purple — Use of gold in the manufacture of shawls by the Greeks —
4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000) paid by the Emperor Nero for a Baby-
lonish coverlet — Portrait of Constantius II. — Magnificence of Babylonian car-
pets, mantles, &c. — Median sindones.

The use of gold in weaving may be traced to the earliest
times, but seems to be particularly characteristic of oriental
manners.

It was employed in connexion with woollen and linen thread
of the finest colors to enrich the ephod, girdle, and breast-plate
of Aaron*. The sacred historian goes so far as to describe the

* " And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.
And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and
fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulder-pieces
thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And
the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according
to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine
twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the
names of the children of Israel : six of their names on one stone, and the other
six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work
of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet shalt thou engrave the
two stones with the names of the children of Israel : thou shalt make them to be
set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of
the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel : and Aaron shall

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 85

mode of preparing the gold to be used in weaving : " And they
did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work
it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the
fine linen, with cunning work." — Ex. xxxix. 2-8. The his-
torian certainly does not intend to describe the process of wire-
drawing, nor probably the art of making gold thread. It
seems likely, that neither of these ingenious manufactures
were invented in his time. The queen described in Ps. xiv.,
wears " clothing of wrought gold*." Homer mentions " a golden
girdle," (Od. c. 232. *-, 543.). He also describes an upper gar-
ment, which Penelope made for Ulysses before going to lllium.
On the front part of it a beautiful hunting piece was wrought
in gold. It is thus described. " A dog holds a fawn with its
fore feet, looking at it as it pants with fear and strives to make
its escape." Tliis, he says, was the subject of universal admi-
rationt.

Pisander, who probably lived at the same period with Homer,
speaks of the Lydians as wearing tunics adorned with gold.
Lydus, who has preserved this expression of the ancient cycUc
poet, observes that the Lydians were supplied with gold from
the sands of the Pactolus and the HermusJ.

Virgil also represents the use of gold in weaving, as if it had
existed in Trojan times. One of the garments so adorned was
made by Dido, the Sidonian, another by Andromache, and a
third was in the possession of Anchises§. In all these instances
the reference is to the habits of Phoenice, Lycia, or other parts
of Asia.

Among all the Asiatics, none were more remarkable than

bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And
thou shalt make ouches of gold ; and two chains of pure gold at the ends ; of
wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the
ouches. And thou shalt make the breast-plate of judgment with cunning work ;
after the work of the ephod shalt thou make it ; of gold, of blue, and of purple,
and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen shalt thou make it." — Ex. xxviii. 5-15.

* " The king's daughter is all glorious witliin : her clothing is of wrought
gold."— Ps. xlv. 13.

t Od. r. 225-235.

t De Magistratibus Rom. L. iii. § 64.

§ iEin. iii. 483. ; iv. 264. ; viii. 167. ; xi. 75.

86 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.

the Persians for the display of textures of gold, as well as every
other kind of luxury in dress. A tiara interwoven with gold
was one of the presents which Xerxes gave as an expression of
his gratitude to the citizens of Abdera {Herod, viii. 120.).
The Indians also employed the same kind of ornament (*S'^ra6o,
L. XV. c. i. § 69.) ; and the Periegesis [1. 881.) of Priscian at-
tributes the use of it to the Arabians*.

The history of Alexander the Great affords frequent traces
of the use of cloth interwoven with gold in Persia. Garments
made of such cloth were among the most splendid of the
spoils of Persepolist.

Justin (L. xii.) says that Alexander, to avoid offending the
Persians, ordered his principal attendants to adopt for their
dress " longam vestem auream purpureamque." The dress
prescribed was therefore of fine woollen cloth, or probably of
silk, dyed purple, and interwoven with gold. Among the vast
multitudes which preceded the King of Persia when he ad-
vanced to oppose Alexander, was the band of ten thousand
called the Immortals, whose dress was earned to the ' ne plus
ultra' of barbaric splendor, some wearing golden collars, others
"cloth variegated with gold." Some idea of the extravagance
and pomp of the Persians on this occasion may be formed from
the following passage, taken from RolUn's " Ancient History."

*' The order Darius observed in his march was as follows. Before the army
were carried silver altars, on which burned the fire, called by them sacred and
eternal ; and these were followed by the magi, singing hymns, and 365 youths in
scarlet robes. After these proceeded a consecrated car, drami by white horses
and followed by one of an extraordinarj- size, which they called " The horse of the
Bun." The equerries were dressed in white, each bearing in his hand a golden
rod. Next appeared ten sumptuous chariots, enriched with curious sculptures in
gold and silver ; and then the vanguard of the horse, composed of twelve different
nations, in various armor. This body was succeeded by those of the Persians,
called " The Immortals," amounting to 10,000, who surpassed the rest of the
barbarians in the extravagant richness and splendor of their dress ; for they all
wore collars of gold, and were clothed in robes of gold tissue, having large
sleeves, garnished with precious stones. About thirty paces from them came the

* In Europe the nearest approach to oriental habits in regard to dress was made
by the Gauls. Their principal men wore collars, armlets, and bracelets of gold,
and clothes enriched with the same metal. — Strabo, L. iv. cap. 4. § 5.

t Diod. Sic, L. xvii. 70. p. 214. Wessel.

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 87

king's relations or cousins, to the number of 15,000, apparelled like women, and
more remarkable for the pomp of their dress than the glitter of their arms ; and af-
ter these Darius attended by his guards, seated on a chariot, as on a throne. Tho
chariot was enriched, on both sides, with images of the gods in gold and silver ;
and from the middle of the yoke, which was covered with jewels, rose two statues,
a cubit in height ; the one representing War, the other Peace, having between
them a golden eagle with wings extended. The king was attired in a garment
of purple striped loith silver ; over which was a long robe, glittering with gold
and precious stones, and whereon two falcons were represented as if rushing from
the clouds at each other. Around his waist he wore a golden girdle, from whence
hmig scimitar, the scabbard of which was covered with gems. On each side of
Darius walked 200 of his nearest relations, followed by 10,000 horsemen, whoso
lances were plated with silver, and tipped with gold. After these marched 30,000
foot, the rear of the army, and, lastly, 400 horees belonging to the king.

" About 100 paces from the royal divisions of the army came Sisygambis, the
mother of Darius, seated on a chariot, and his consort on another, with female at-
tendants of both queens riding on liorseback. Afterwards came fifteen chariots,
in which were the king's children, and their tutors. Ne.\t to these were the royal
concubines, to the number of 360, all attired like so many queens. These were
followed by 600 mules, and 300 camels, carrying the king's treasure, and guarded
by a body of bowmen. After these came the wives of the crown officers, and tho
lords of the court ; then the suttlers, servants ; and, lastly, a body of light armed
troops, with their commanders."

At the nuptials of Alexander purple and scarlet cloths, in-
terwoven with gold, were expanded over the guests : and a
pall of the same description covered the golden sarcophagus
made to contain his body. Among the splendid ornaments of
the tent erected not long after at Alexandria by Ptolemy Phil-
adelphus, there were tunics interwoven with gold : and in the
procession on the same occasion, the colossal statues of Bacchus
and his nurse Nysa were attired ; the former in a shawl ; the
latter in a tunic variegated with gold. Probably we may refer
to the same country and age the " golden tunic" mentioned in
one of the Arundle marl^les (No. xxii. 2.). Also the tent pitch-
ed by Arsace with hangings of gold and purple tissues, and
the robe of similar materials worn by Arsace herself, as de-
scribed by Hehodorus {JEthiop. vii.), relate to the customs of
the same country.

Another of the successors of Alexander, viz. Demetrius
Poliorcetes, wore purple garments with borders of gold*.

* Plutarch, Demet. 41.

88 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.

Themistius describes a portrait of one of the kings of Persia,
who wore, together with the tiara and the collar or necklace,
a purple shawl interwoven with gold {Oral. 24. p. 369. ed.
Dindorf.).

During the periods to which the preceding evidence has alhi-
sion, it is not probable that cloth of gold was in use among the
Greeks and Romans except to a very limited extent. Never-
theless it does not appear to have escaped the avidity for every
species of excellence, which in early times distinguished the in-
habitants of Magna Greecia. For, when Pythagoras became
a teacher of wisdom and philosophy at Crotona, among other
lessons of frugaUty he persuaded the matrons to put off their
"golden garments" Avith other fashionable ornaments, and de-
posit them in the temple of Juno as offerings to the goddess*.
In a passage attributed toMenander we meet with the men-
tion of a "golden or purple chlamys" as a suitable offering to
the godsf. Hedylus of Samos, a writer of the same age, de-
scribes a woman of loose morals, by name Niconoe, as wearing
a tunic striped with gold {Bi'unck's Analecta, i. 483.).

Attains, king of Pergamus, is said by Phny (L. viii. cap. 48.)
to have invented the art of embroidering with gold thread!.
Nevertheless we have seen, that gold was thus used long before
the time of Attains. But there can be no doubt, that he es-
tablished and maintained a great manufacture of these stuffs
at Pergamus ; thus contributing greatly to improve the art,
and bring these cloths into more general use.

The next passage is from Dr. Bostock's translation of the
33rd Book, ch. xix. " Gold may be spun or woven like wool,
without the latter being mixed with it. We are informed by
Verrius, that Tarquinius Priscus rode in triumph in a tunic of
gold ; and we have seen Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor
Claudius, when he exhibited the spectacle of a naval combat,
sitting by him covered with a robe made entirely of woven
gold. In what are called the Attahc stuffs, the gold is woven

* Justin, L. XX. c. 4.

+ Menandri Reliquiae, i Meineke, p. 306. Bockh, Gr. Trag. Prbcipes, p. 157.

X See Appendix A.

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 89

with some other substance. This art was the invention of one
of the kings of Asia."

In Book XXXV. c. 36. Pliny says that Zeuxis, to display his
wealth at Olympia, caused his name to be woven in gold in
the compartments of his outer garment.

CaUgula once wore a tunic interwoven with gold. Heliogab-
alus was far more profuse in regard to this kind of splendor.
White sheets, ijiterwoven with gold, were used at the funeral
obsequies of Nero*. We may here observe, that the use of gold
in dress almost invariably accompanied that of silk. The
same Emperors who took delight in the one, indulged them-
selves with the other also. On the contrarj'-, Alexander Seve-
rus, as we shall show when treating of Unen in Part IV., was
economical in both these respects.

In Chapters II. and III., we cjuoted several passages which
make mention of cloth of gold, from Tibullus, Ovid, Seneca
the Tragedian, Lucan, Dio Cassius, Claudian, Virgil, Gregorius
Nazienzenus, and Basil, all of which speak of cloth of gold.
Ovid mentions purple garments variously colored and inter-
woven with gold, as belonging to Bacchus. — Met. m. 556.

Publius Syrus was a writer of the same period. In the fol-
lowing fragment preserved by Petronius Arbiter, he compares
the train of the peacock to Babylonian stufls enriched with
gold and various colors :

Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train,
As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather'd gold I

Shawls, interwoven with gold, are mentioned by Galent, and
by Valerius Flaccus+ ; also by Lucan in the following passage,
where he is describing the furniture of Cleopatra's palace (x.
125, 126.) :

Part shines with feather'd gold, part sheds a blaze
Of scarlet, intermixed by Pharian looms 1

The following passages also contain evidence on the same
subject.

* Suetonius, Nero, 50. t Quoted in Chapter II.

X Auro depicta chlamys.

12

90 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.

SENECA, THE PHILOSOPHER.

As yet figured cloths dl^ not exist : gold was not woven, it was not even ex-
tracted from the ground. — Ejjist. 9L

LUCIAN

descnhes the tragic actors, when they performed the part of
king?^ as wearing a chlamys interwoven with gold*.

APULEIUS.

They carefully spread over the couches, cloths figured with gold and Tyrian
purple. — Met.

PHILOSTRATUS

depicts Midas wearing a golden robet.

NEMESIANUS.
In tby scarf's woof much sportive gold display. — Cyneg. 91.

The poet is addressing Diana and describing her attire.

AUSONIUS.
Weave flexile gold within thy shawls, O Greecet.

This is the^r^^ passage since the time of Homer, which men-
tions Greece as concerned in weaving with gold. But Auso-
nius probably alluded to the Greeks of Asia Minor, as, besides
the evidence produced from Basil, we have seen that Pergamus
was one of the most noted places for these productions, which
were on that account called " AttaUcae vestes§."

* Somnium, yol. ii. p. 742. ed. Hemsterhusii.

t Imag. i. 22. X Epigram 37.

§ " I find evidence that kings wore the striped toga. ; that figured cloths were
in use even in the days of Homer ; and that these gave rise to the triumphal.
To produce this effect with the needle was the invention of the Phrygians, on
whicli account cloths so embroidered have been called Phrygionic. In the same
part of Asia king Attains discovered the art of inserting a woof of gold (?) ; from
which circumstance the Attalic cloths received their name (?). Babylon first ob-
tained celebrity by its method of diversifying the picture with different colors,
and gave its name to textures of this description. But to weave with a great
number of leashes, so as to produce the cloths called polymita (the polymita were
damask clotlis), was ^rsi taught in Alexandria; to divide by squares (j)laids) in

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OP THE ANCIENTS. 91

When Ausonius was appointed Consul at Rome A. D. 379,
his friend and former pupil, tlie Emperor Gratian, sent him as
a present a toga in which was inserted a figure of Constantius
II., wrought in gold. — Ausonii Gratiarum Actio, § 53.

CLAUDIAN

mentions with deUght the use of gold in dress as well as of
silk. His testimony has been given in chapter III. of this
Part.

SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS

mentions the gold in the dress of Prince Sigismer. His testi-
mony is also given in chapter III.

CORIPPUS,

describing the accession of Justin II. to the Empire (A. D. 565),
mentions (L. ii.) his tunic enriched mth gold as part of his im-
perial costume.

PAULINUS.
Misceturque ostro mollitum in fila metellum.

De Vita Martini, L. iii.

We find the following law in the Codex Justinianus :

Nemo vir auratas in tunicis aut in lincis habeat paragaudas : nisi hi tantum-
modo, quibu3 hoc propter Imperiale ministerium concessum est.

Corpus Juris Civilis, torn. v. tit. viii. leg. 2.

The " aurata paragauda " was a border of gold lace or
thread. It appears that ladies might wear it on their tunics,
while men were only permitted to use it in token of their of-
ficial character as being in the service of the emperor. In al-
lusion to these or similar regulations, JElius Lampridius (34)
says of the emperor Alexander Severus,

Gaul. Metellus Scipio brought it as an accusation against Cato, that even in hLs
time Babylonian coverlets for triclinia were sold for 800,000 sesterces (about
$30,000), although the emperor Nero lately gave for them no less than 4,000,000
sesterces (about $150,000). The pra.text(B of Serv-ius TuIIius, covering the stat-
ue of Fortune which ho dedicated, remained until the death of Sejanus, and it is
wonderful that they had neither decayed of themselves nor been injured by moths
during the space of 560 years." — Plin. H. N. viii. 64. (See Appendix A.)

92 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.
Auratam vestem ministerium nullus vel in publico convivio liabuit.

The testimony of Ambrose, Jerome, and Basil has been
given in Chapter III., which see.

From the book of Joshua we learn that the woven stuffs of
Babylon were not confined to domestic use, but exported into
foreign countries. The two chief productions of Babylonian
looms were carpets and shawls. One of the principal objects
of luxury in Asia from the remotest ages, were nowhere so
finely woven, and in such rich colors as at Babylon. On the
Babylonian carpets were woven or depicted representations of
those fabulous animals the dragon and griffin, together with
other unnatural combinations of form, probably originating in
India, and with which we have become acquainted by the
ruins of PersepoUs. It was by means of the Babylonian man-
ufactures, that the knowledge of these fanciful and imaginary
beings, was conveyed to the Western world, and from them
transferred to the Greek vases. " A mantle of Shinar," or as
our translators have rendered it, " A Babylonish garment,"
was secreted by Achan from the spoils of Jericho ; and the
delinquent speaks of this as being the most valuable part of his
plunder". Next to carpets and shawls, the Babylonian garments
called Sindones were held in the highest estimation. The
most costly SindoJies, were so much valued for their fineness
of texture and brilliancy of color, as to be compared to those of
Media, and set apart for royal use ; they were even to be found
at the tomb of Cyrus, which was profusely decorated with every
species of furniture in use among the Persian monarchs during
their Uves.

* " When I saw among tlie spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two
hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I
coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst
of my tent, and the silver under it."— Joshua vii. 21.

wiHi the processes of Spinning* and Wiudmg".

CHAPTER VI.

SILVER TEXTURES, &c., OF THE ANCIENTS.

EXTREME BEAUTY OF THESE MANUFACTURES.

Magnificent dress worn by Herod Agrippa, mentioned in Acts xil. 21 — Josephus's
account of this dress, and dreadful death of Herod — Discovery of ancient Piece-
goods— Beautiful manuscript of Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, who lived in
the nintli centurj^ — Extraordinary beauty of Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, and
other manufactured goods preserved in this manuscript — Egyptian arts — Wise
regulations of the Egj'ptians in relation to the arts — Late discoveries in Egj'pt
by the Prussian hierologist. Dr. Lepsius — Cloth of glass.

The Evangelist Luke, in Acts xii. 21. speaks of the " royal
apparel," in which Herod Agrippa, king of Judea, was arrayed
when he received the ambassadors of Tjnre and Sidon, sitting
in great state upon his throne at Caesarea. " And upon a set
day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and
made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout,
saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And im-
mediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave
not God the glory : and he was eaten of worms, and gave up
the ghost."

Josephus describes the same garment, which was a tunic,
as " all made of silver, and wonderful in its texture." He
adds, that the king appeared in this dress at break of day in
the theatre, and that the silver, illuminated by the first rays
of the sun, glittered in such a manner as to terrify the behold-
ers, so that his flatterers began to call out aloud, saluting him
as a god. He was then seized tvith the painful and loath-
some distemper, of which he soon after died*.

We extract the following curious account of the discovery
of Ancient Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs from a late

• Ant. Jud. L. xix. cap. 8. § 2. p. 871. Hudson.

il.

.(PH

94 SILVER TEXTTIRES, ETC. OF THE ANCIENTS

number of an English publication called the " Mining Re-
view."

Discovery of ancient Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs. —
" It is more than a thousand years since Theodolphus, Bishop
of Orleans, gave to Notre Dame du Puy en Yelay a beautiful
manuscript, containing the ancient Testament, the chronogra-
phy of St. Isidor, and other pieces, the whole distributed into
138 articles ; which he presented in token of gratitude for his
deUverance from the prison of Angers, w^here he was confined
in the year 835. It was on Palm Sunday that year, while
Louis Le Debonnaire was passing, that he began to sing a
well-known Canticle, which the CathoUc church has since
then introduced into its ceremonies. This precious manu-
script, in a state of perfect preservation, is to be seen in the
archives of the Bishopric of the Puy en Velay, department of
the Haute Loire. A portion of the manuscript is written on
leaves of common parchment, in letters of red and black, with
a few of gold intermixed. The other portion is inscribed on
leaves of parchment, dyed purple, with letters of gold and
silver, among which are observed, ornaments of different kinds
and colors, designated the ^'■Byzantine styleP The manu-
script, remarkable for its beauty and preservation, is still more
valuable for the manufactured stuffs which it contains. When
Theodolphus composed his manuscript, with the intention of
preserving from contact and friction the gold and silver char-
acters (which, in time, would have tended to displace and ob-
literate them), he placed between each page a portion of the
manufactured tissues peculiar to the era in which he lived.
These specimens of the silk, and other pieces of goods of the
time are thus curiously preserved*. Till lately, little attention
was paid to these tissues, which are principally of India man-
ufacture, bearing scarcely any analogy to the products of the
modern loom. Some are CASHMERE SHAWLS of those
patterns, which the French call broucha and espoidine, and are

* A shred of gold cloth is preserved m the Museum of Antiquities at Leyden,
which is supposed to have been discovered in one of the ancient tombs at Tar-
quinia in Etruria. In this tissue the gold fonns a compact covering over bright
yellow silk.

SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS. 95

made in the Indian fashion, but with this difference, that they
are Umited to four colors, and demonstrate the greatest anti-
quity by the primitive simpUcity of tlieir colors and design.
Others are CRAPES and GAUZES, against the luxury of
whose transparent tissues, the fathers of the church at that
time so perseveringly fulminated their censures. The rest
consist of muslins and China-crape of exquisite beauty.
The components of the majority of these tissues are of goats'
or camels' hair of exceeding delicacy and fineness. Like the
manufactured stuffs of ancient Egypt, painted on the walls of
its palaces and tombs, or substantially preserved amidst the
envelopes of mummies, the designs are hmited to four colors,
which are in fact the four sacred ones of China, India,
Egypt, and the Hehreio Tabernacle. Nevertheless, the
Egyptian designs, identical with those of India, are many
of them of exquisite beauty. The consummate skill of the
silk and cotton manufacturers of ancient Egypt, 4000 years
ago, the beauty and richness of their fabrics — the Uttle alter-
ation which has taken place in the economy or machinery of
the factories, as well as in their product, has been recently dem-
onstrated in the great work of ChampoUion. All the details
of the silk and cotton factories of Egypt, under the Pharaohs
of the 18th dynasty (which then monopolized the commerce
of the world, and sent a colony of weavers, from the overbur-
thened population of Lower Egypt, to found Athens, and the
subsequent civilization of Europe), are laid open with vivid ac-
curacy in that splendid work*, and brought wdth all their start-
ling analogies before the eye of the modern reader by drawings
from the temples, palaces, and tombs which it contains. It
proves, indeed, that there is '■'■nothing neio under the sunP

That the Egyptians excelled in science and art is evident
from their monuments, paintings, and sculptures, whereon they
are depicted. It is also proved by Scripture, which speaks of
the " ^\^sdom of Egypt" with reference to art ; and from the
fact that Egypt was deemed by other nations the fountain of
arts and sciences, and that their philosophers were wont to re-

* See Plate II.

96 SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS.

sort thither to collect some of the " droppings of Egyptian wis-
dom." According to Diodorus, all trades ^^ed with each other
in improving their own particular branch, no pains being
spared to bring each to perfection. To promote the more effec-
tually this object, it was enacted that no artisan should follow
any trade or emplopiient but that defined by law, and pia'sued
by his ancestors. No tradesman was permitted to meddle
with political affairs, or hold any civil office in the state, lest
his thoughts should he distracted by the inconsistency of his
pwsuits, or the jealousy and displeasure of the master in
whose service he was employed. They foresaw that without
such a law constant interruptions would take place, in conse-
quence of the necessity or desire of becoming conspicuous in a
public station ; that their proper occupations woidd be neglected,
and many would be led by vanity and self-siijficiency to inter-
fere in matters which were out of their sphere. They consid-
ered, moreover, that to pursue more than one avocation would
be detrimental to their a\w\ interests, and those of the commu-
nity at large ; and that, when men, from a motive of avarice,
engage in numerous branches of art, the general result is, that
they are unable to excel in any. If any artisan interfered in
political matters, or engaged in any employment other than the
one to which he had been brought up, a severe punishment
was immediately mflicted upon him.

The eminent German hierologist. Dr. Lepsius, now employ-
ed in Eg}^t by the Prussian government, after mentioning, in
a recent letter, the many discoveries he had made of ancient
ruins, tombs, &c., \\Tites as follows :

" With the exception of about twelve, which belong to a later
period, all these tombs were erected contemporaneously with, or
soon after, the buildmg of the great p}Tamid, and consequently
their dates throw an invaluable light on the study of human
civihzation in the most remote period of antiquity. — The sculp-
tures in reUef are surprisingly numerous, representing whole
figures, some the size of Ufe, and others of various dimensions.
The paintings are on back grounds of the finest chalk. They
are numerous and beautiful beyond conception — as fresh and
perfect as if flushed yesterday! The pictures and sculp-

SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS. 97

tures on the walls of the tombs, represent, for the most part,
scenes in the Uves of the deceased persons, whose wcaUli in
cattle, fish-boats, servants, &c., is ostentatiously displayed before
the eye of the spectator. All this gives an insight into the de-
tails of private hfe among the ancient Egyptians. By the help
of these inscriptions I think I could, without difficulty, make a
" Court Calendar" of the reign of King Cheops*. In some in-
stances I have traced the graves of father, son, grandson, and
even great-grandson — all that now remains of the distinguished
famiUes, which five thousand years ago, formed the nobility of
the land."

* We do not find in these researches, that the ancients were acquainted with
the arts of spinning and weaving glass, or of giving it any required shade of color.
This invention, therefore, must be considered as belonging to the nineteenth cen-
tury, and the honor of the discovery is due to M. Dubus Bonnel, an ingenious
Frenchman, a native of Lille, and for which he obtained patents in Great Brit-
ain, and various countries of the European continent in 1837.

" When we figure to ourselves an apartment decorated with cloth of glass, and
resplendent with lights, we must be convinced that it will equal in brilliancy all
that the imagination can conceive ; and realise, in a word, the wonders of the
enchanted palaces mentioned in the Arabian tales. The lights flashing from the
polished surface of the glass, to which any color or shade may be given, will
make the room have the appearance of an apartment composed of pearls, mother-
of-pearl, diamonds, garnets, sapphires, topazes, rubies, emeralds, or amethysts,
dec, or, in short, of all those precious stones united and combined in a thousand
ways, and formed into stars, rosettes, boquets, garlands, festoons, and graceful un-
dulations, varied almost ad infinitum." — L'Echo du Monde Savant, &c. No. 58,
Feb. 15, 1837. — Translated from the French.

The warp is composed of silk, forming the body and groundwork on which
the pattern in glass appears, as effected by the weft. The requisite flexibility of
glass thread for manufacturing purposes is to be ascribed to its extreme fineness ;
as not less than from fifty to sixty of the original threads (spun by steam engine
power) are required to form one thread of the weft. The process is slow ; for no
more than a yard of cloth can bo produced in twelve hours. The work, however,
is extremely beautiful and comparatively cheap, inasmuch as no similar stufll",
where bullion is really introduced, can be purchased for anything like the price
for which this is sold ; added to this, it is, £is far eis the glass is concerned, imper-
bhable. Glass is more durable than either gold or silver, and, besides, possesses
the advantage of never tarnishing.

13

CHAPTER VII.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM, &c.

Preliminary observations — The silk-worm — Various changes of the silk-worm
— Its superiority above other worms — Beautiful verses on the May-fly, illustra-
tive of the shortness of human life — Transformations of the silk-worm — Its
small desire of locomotion — First sickness of the worm — Manner of casting its
ExuviiE — Sometimes cannot be fully accomplished — Consequent death of the
insect — Second, third, and fourth sickness of the worm — Its disgust for food —
Material of which silk is formed— Mode of its secretion — Manner of unwindmg
the filaments — Floss-silk — Cocoon — Its imperviousness to moisture — EfFect of
the filaments breaking during the formation of the cocoon — Mr. Robmet's curi-
ous calculation on the movements made by a silk-worm in the formation of a
cocoon — Cowper's beautiful lines on the silk-worm — Periods in which its vari-
ous progressions are effected in different climates — Effects of sudden transitions
from heat to cold — The worm's appetite sharpened by increased temperature —
Shortens its existence — Various experiments in artificial heating — Modes of ar-
tificial heating — Singular estimate of Count Dandolo — Astonishing increase of
the worm — Its brief existence in the moth state — Formation of silk — The silken
filament formed in the worm before its expulsion — Erroneous opinions enter-
tained by writers on this subject — The silk-wonn's Will.

It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind anxious
for the acquisition of knowledge, that the commonest things by
which we are surrounded are deserving of minute and careful
attention. The most profound investigations of Philosophy are
necessarily connected with the ordinary circumstances of our
being, and of the world in which our every-day hfe is spent.
AVith regard to our own existence, the pulsation of the heart,
the act of respiration, the voluntary movement of our hmbs,
the condition of sleep, are among the most ordinary operations
of our nature ; and yet how long were the wisest of men strug-
ghng with dark and bewildering speculations before they could
offer anything Uke a satisfactory solution of these phenomena,
and how far are we still from an accurate and complete know-
ledge of them ! The science of Meteorology, which attempts
to explain to us the philosophy of matters constantly before our
eyes, as dew, mist, and rain, is dependent for its illustrations
upon a knowledge of the most compUcated facts, such as the

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 99

influence of heat and electricity upon the air ; and this know-
ledge is at present so imperfect, that even these common occur-
rences of the weather, which men have been observing and
reasoning upon for ages, are by no means satisfactorily explain-
ed, or reduced to the precision that every science should aspire
to. Yet, however difficult it may be entirely to comprehend
the phenomena we daily witness, everything in nature is full
of instruction. Thus the humblest flower of the field, although,
to one whose curiosity has not been excited, and whose under-
standing has, therefore, remained uninformed, it maj' appear
worthless and contemptible, is valuable to the botanist, not
only with regard to its place in the arrangement of this portion
of the Creator's works, but as it leads his mind forward to the
consideration of those beautiful provisions for the support of
vegetable Ufe, which it is the part of the physiologist to study
and admire*.

This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the econo-
my of insects. They constitute a very large and interesting
part of the animal kingdom. They are everywhere about us.
The spider weaves his curious web in our houses ; the cater-
pillar constructs his silken cell in our gardens ; the wasp that
hovers over our food has a nest not far removed from us, which
she has assisted to build with the nicest art ; the beetle that
crawls across our path is also an mgenious and laborious me-
chanic, and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those who
will feel an interest in watching his movements ; and the moth
that eats into our clothes has something to plead for our pity, for
he came, like us, naked into the world, and he has destroyed
our garments, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may
clothe himself with the same wool which we have stripped from
the sheep. An observation of the habits of these little crea-
tures is full of valuable lessons, which the abundance of the
examples has no tendency to diminish. The more such obser-
vations are multiplied, the more we are led forward to the fresh-
est and the most delightful parts of knowledge ; the more do

* " Insect Architecture," vol. i. p. 9. London : Charles Knight & Co., Lud.
gate St 1845.

100 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

we learn to estimate rightly the extraordinary provisions and
most abundant resouixes of a creative Providence ; and the bet-
ter do we appreciate our o\\ti relations with all the inlinite va-
rieties of Nature, and our dependence, in common with the
ephemeroii that flutters its Uttle hour in the summer sun, upon
that Being in whose scheme of existence the humblest as well
as the highest creature has its destined purposes. " If you
speak of a stone" says St. Basil, " if you speak of a Jiy, a
gnat., or a 6ee, your conversation will be a sort of demonstra-
tion of his power whose hand formed them, for the msdom of
the worknmn is commonly perceived in that which is of little
size. He who has stretched out the Heavens, and dug up the
bottom of the sea, is also He who has pierced a passage through
the sting of the bee for the ejection of its poison."

If it be gianted that making discoveries is one of the most
satisfactory of human pleasures, then we may \vithout hesita-
tion affirm, that the study of insects is one of the most delight-
ful branches of natural history, for it affords peculiar faciUties
for its pursuit. These facilities are found in the almost inex-
haustible variety which insects present to the curious observer.

There is, perhaps, no situation in which the lover of nature
and the observer of animal life may not find opportunities for
increasing his store of facts. It is told of a state prisoner un-
der a cruel and rigorous despotism, that when he was excluded
from all commerce with mankind, and was shut out from books,
he took an interest and found consolation in the visits of a
spider ; and there is no improbability in the story. The op-
erations of that persecuted creature are among the most ex-
traordinary exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity ; and a daily
watching of the workings of its instinct would beget admira-
tion in a rightly constituted mind. The poor prisoner had
abundant leisure for the speculations in which the spider's web
would enchain his understanding. We have all of us, at one
period or other of our lives, been struck with some singular
evidence of contrivance in the economy of insects, which we
have seen with our own eyes. Want of leisure, and probably
want of knowledge, have prevented us from following up the
curiosity which for a moment was excited. And yet some such

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 101

accident has made men Naturalists, in the highest meaning of
the term. Bonnet, evidently speaking of himself, says, " I
knew a naturahst, who, when he was seventeen years of age,
having heard of the operations of the ant-Uon, began by doubt-
ing them. He had no rest till he had examined into them ; and
he verified them, he admired them, he discovered new facts, and
soon became the disciple and the friend of the PUny of
France*" (Reamur). It is not the happy fortune of many to
be able to devote themselves exclusively to the study of nature,
unquestionably the most fascinating of human employments ;
but ahnost every one may acquire sufficient knowledge to be
able to derive a higii gratification from beholding the more com-
mon operations of animal life. His materials for contemplation
are always before him.

The silk-worm is a species of caterpillar which, like all other
insects of the same class, undergoes a variety of changes during
the short period of its life ; assuming, in each of three succes-
sive transformations, a form wholly dissimilar to that with
which it was previously invested.

Among the great variety of caterpillars, the descriptions of
which are to be found in the records of natural history, the
silk-worm occupies a place far above the rest. Not only is our
attention called to the examination of its various transforma-
tions, by the desire of satisfying our curiosity as entomologists,
but our artificial wants mcite us hkewise to the study of its na-
ture and habits, that we may best and most profitably apply its
instinctive industry to our own advantage.

It has been well observed by Pullein, a ^vriter on this subject,
that " there is scarcely anything among the various wonders
which the animal creation affords, more admirable than the
variety of changes which the silk-worm undergoes ;" but the
curious texture of that silken covering with which it surrounds
itself when it arrives at the perfection of its animal life, vastly
surpasses what is made by other animals of this class. All the
caterpillar kind do, indeed, pass through changes like those of
the silk-worm, and the beauty of many in their butterfly state

* Contemplation de la Nature, part ii. ch. 42.

102 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

greatly exceeds it ; but the covering which they put on before
this mutation is poor and mean, when compared to that golden
tissue in which the silk-worm Avraps itself. They, indeed, come
forth in a variety of colors, their wings bedropped with gold
and scarlet, yet are they but the beings of a summer's day ;
both their life and beauty quickly vanish, and they leave no
remembrance after them ; but the silk-worm leaves behind it
such beautiful, such beneficial monuments, as at once to record
both the wisdom of their Creator and his bounty to man."

We may without impropriety, here introduce the following
truly beautifid comparison of the shortness of human life, as
well as in illustration of this part of our subject, as evidenced
in the May-fly.

" T]ie angler's May-fly, the most short-lived in its perfect state of any of the
insect race, emerges from the water, where it passes its aurelia state, about six
in the evening, and dies about eleven at night." — White's Selborne.

The sun of the eve was warm and bright

When the May-fly burst his shell.
And he wanton'd awhile in that fair light

O'er the river's gentle swell ;
And the deepening tints of the crimson sky
Still gleam'd on the wing of the glad May-fly.

The colors of sunset pass'd away,

The crimson and yellow green,
And the evening-star's first twinkling ray

In the waveless stream was seen ;
Till the deep repose of the stillest night
Was hushing about his giddy flight.

The noon of the night is nearly come —

There's a crescent in the sky ; —
The silence still hears the myriad hum

Of the insect revelry.
The hum has ceas'd — the quiet wave
Is now the sportive Mayfly's grave.

Oh ! thine was a blessed lot — to spring

In thy lustihood to air.
And sail about, on untiring wing,

Through a world most rich and fair,
To drop at once in thy watery bed,
Like a leaf that the willow branch has shed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 103

w\nd who shall say that his thread of years

Is a hfe more blCvSt than thine !
Has his feverish dream of doubts and fears

Such joys as those which shine
In the constant pleasures of thy way,
Most happy chUd of the liappy May ?

For thou wert bom wlieu the earth was clad

With her robe of buds and flowers,
And didst float about with a soul as glad

As a bird iu the sunny showers ;
And the hour of ihy death had a sweet repose,
Like a melody, sweetest at its close.

Nor too brief the date of thy cheerful race —

'Tis its use that measures time —
And the mighty Spirit that fills all space

With His life and His will sublime,
May see that the May-fly and the Man
Each flutter out the same small span ;

And the fly that is bom with the sinking sun,

To die ere the midnight hour,
May have deeper joy, ere his course be run,

Than man in his pride and power ;
And the insect's minutes be spared the fears
And the anxious doubts of our threescore years.

The years and the minutes are as one —

The fly drops in his twilight mirth.
And the man, when his long day's work is done.

Crawls to the self-same earth.
Great Father of each ! may our mortal day
Be the prelude to an endless May* !

* " See," exclaims Linnceus, " the large, elegant painted wings of the butterfly,
four in number, covered with delicate feathery scales ! With these it sustains
itself in the air a whole day, rivalling the flight of birds and the brilliancy of the
peacock. Consider this insect through the wonderful progress of its life,— how
different is the first period of its being from the second, and both from the parent
insect ! Its changes are an inexplicable enigma to us : we see a green caterpil-
lar, furnished with sixteen feet, feeding upon the leaves of a plant ; this is changed
into a chrysalis, smooth, of golden lustre, hanging suspended to a fixed point,
without feet, and subsisting without food ; this insect again undergoes another
transformation, acquires wings, and six feet, and becomes a gay butterfly, sport-
ing in the air, and livmg by suction upon the honey of plants. What has Nature

104 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

/ / Silk-wonns proceed from eggs "which are deposited during the
' sununer by a grayish kind of motli, of the genus palaena.
These eggs are alwut equal m size to a grain of mustard seed :
their color when first laid is yeUow ; but in three or fom* days
after, they acquire a bluish cast. In temperate climates, and
by vising proper precautions, these eggs may be preserved du-
ring the winter and spring, without risk of premature hatching.
The period of their animation may be accelerated or retarded
by artificial means, so as to agree ^^^th the time when the nat-
ural food of the insect shall appear in ample abundance for its
N support.

All the curious changes and labors which accompany and
characterize the life of the silk-worm are performed within the
space of a very few weeks. This period varies, indeed, accord-
ing to the climate or temperature in which its life is passed ; aU
its vital functions being quickened, and their duration propor-
tionally abridged, by wannth. With this sole variance, its pro-
gressions are alike in all climates, and the same mutations ac-
company its course.

The three successive states of being put on by this insect
are, that of the worm or caterpillar, of the chrysalis or aurelia,
and moth. In addition to these more decided transfomiations,
the progress of the silk-wonn in its caterpillar state is marked
hy Jive distinct stages of being.

When first hatched, it appears as a small black worm about

produced more worthj' of our admiration than such an animal coming upon the
stage of the world, and playing its part there under so many different masks ?"
The ancients were so struck with the transformations of the butterfly, and its re-
\'ival from a seeming temporary death, as to have considered it an emblem of the
soul, the Greek word ■psyche signifying both the soul and a butterfly ; and it is
for this reason that we find the butterfly introduced into their allegorical sculp-
tures as an emblem of immortality. Trifling, therefore, and perhaps contempti-
ble, as to the unthinking may seem the study of a butterfly, yet when we consid-
er the art and mechanism displayed in so minute a structure, — the fluids circu-
lating in vessels so small as almost to escape the sight — the beauty of the wings
and covering — and the manner in which each part is adapted for its peculiar
functions, — we cannot but be struck with wonder and admiration, and allow,
with Paley, that " the production of beauty was as much in the Creator's mind in
painting a butterfly as in givmg symmetry to the human form."

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 105

a quarter of an inch in length. Its first indication of anima-
tion is the desire which it evinces for obtaining food, in search of
which, if not immediately supphed, it will exhibit more power
of locomotion than characterizes it at any other period. So
small is the desire of change on the part of these insects, that
of tlie generaUty it may be said, their own spontaneous will
seldom leads them to travel over a greater space than three
feet throughout the whole duration of their Mves. Even when
hungry, the worm still clings to the skeleton of the leaf from
which its nourishment was last derived. If, by the continued
cravings of its appetite, it should be at length incited to the ef-
fort necessary for changing its position, it will sometimes wan-
der as far as the edge of the tray wherein it is confined, and
some few have been found sufficiently adventvuous to cling to
its rim ; but the smell of fresh leaves will instantly aUure them
back. It would add incalculably to the labors and cares of
their attendants, if silk-worms were endowed with a more rain-
bhng disposition. So useful is this pecuharity of their nature,
that one is irresistibly tempted to consider it the result of design,
and a part of that beautiful system of the fitness of things,
wliich the student of natmal history has so many opportunities
of contemplating with delight and admiration.

In about eight days from its being hatched, its head becomes
perceptibly larger, and the worm is attacked by its first sickness.
This lasts for three days ; during which time it refuses food,
and remains motionless as in a kind of lethargy. Some have
thought this to be sleep, but the fatal termination wliich so
frequently attends these sicknesses seems to afford a denial to this
hypothesis. Tl>e silk-worm increases its size so considerably,
and in so short a space of time, — its weight being multiplied
many thousand fold in the course of one month, — that if only
one skin had been assigned to it, which should serve for its
whole caterpillar state, it would with difficulty have distended
itself sufficiently to keep pace with the insect's growth. The
economy of nature has therefore admirably provided the em-
bryos of other skins, destined to be successively called into use ;
and tliis sickness of the worm, and its disincUnation for food,

14

lOG CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

may very probably be occasioned by the pressure of the skin,
now become too small for the body which it encases.

At the end of the third day from its first refusal of food, the
animal appears, on that account, much wasted in its bodily
frame ; a circimistance which materially assists m the painful
operation of casting its skin : this it now proceeds to accomplish.
To facilitate this moulting, a sort of humor is throwTi off by the
worm, which, spreading between its body and the skin about to
be abandoned, lubricates their surfaces, and causes them to
separate the more readily. The insect also emits from its body
silken traces, which, adhering to the spot where it rests, serves
to confine the skin to its then existing position. These prelim-
inary steps seem to call for some considerable exertion, as after
them the worm remains quiet for a short space of time, to re-
cover from its fatigue. It then proceeds, by rubbing its head
among the leafy fibres surrounding it, to disencumber itself of
the scaly covering. Its next effort is to break through the skin
nearest to the head, which, as it is there the smallest, calls for the
greatest exertion ; and no sooner is this accomplished and the
two front legs are disengaged, than the remainder of the body
is quickly drawn forth, the skin being still fastened to the spot
in the manner already described.

This moulting is so complete, that not only is the whole
covering of the body cast off, btct that of the feet, the entire
skull, and even the jaws, including the teeth. These several
parts may be discerned by the unassisted eye ; but become very
apparent when viewed through a magnifying lens of moderate
power.

In two or three minutes from the beginning of its eflforts the
worm is wholly freed, and again puts on the appearance of
health and vigor ; feeding with recruited appetite upon its leafy
banquet. It sometimes happens that the outer skin refuses to
detach itself wholly, but breaks and leaves an annular portion
adhering to the extremity of its body, from which all the strug-
gles of the insect cannot wholly disengage it. The pressure
thus occasioned induces swelling and inflammation in other
parts of the body ; and, after efforts of greater or less duration,
death generally terminates its sufferings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 107

Worms newly freed from their exuviae are easily distinguished
from others by the pale color and wrinkled appearance of their
new skin. This latter quality, however, soon disappears,
through the repletion and growth of the insect, which continues
to feed during five days. At this time its length will be in-
creased to half an inch ; when it is attacked by a second sick-
ness, followed by a second moulting, the manner of performing
which is exactly similar to the former. Its appetite then again
returns, and is indulged during other five days, in the course of
which time its length increases to three quarters of an incli : it
then undergoes its third sickness and moulting. These being
past in all respects like the former, and five more days of feed-
ing having followed, it is seized by its fourth sickness, and casts
its skin for the last time in the caterpillar state. The worm is
now about one and a half or two inches long. This last change
being finished, the worm devours its food most voraciously, and
increases rapidly in size during ten days.

The silk- worm has now attained to its full growth, and is a
slender caterpillar from two and a half to three inches in length
(See Figure 1. Plate III.). The peculiarities of its structure
may be better examined now than in its earlier stages. It can
readily be seen that the worm has twelve membranous rings
round its body, parallel to each other ; and which, answering to
the movements of the animal, mutually contract and elongate.
It has sixteen legs, in pairs : six in front, which are covered
with a sort of shell or scale, and are placed under the three first
rings, and cannot be either sensibly lengthened, or their position
altered. The other ten legs are called holders : these are mem-
branous, flexible, and attached to the body under the rings, be-
ing furnished with little hooks, which assist the insect in
cUmbing. The skull is inclosed in a scaly substance, similar to
the covering of the first six legs. The jaws are indented or
serrated like the teeth of a saw, and their strength is great con-
sidering the size of the insect. Its mouth is peculiar, having a
vertical instead of an horizontal aperture ; and the worm is fur-
nished with eighteen breathing holes, placed at equal distances
down the body, nine on each side. Each of these holes is sup-
posed to be the termination of a particular organ of respiration.

108 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

On either side of the head, near to the mouth, seven small eyes
may be discerned. The two broad appearances higher upon
the head, which are frequently mistaken for eyes, are bones of
tlie skull. The two apertures through which the worm draws
its silken filament are placed just beneath the jaw, and close to
each other ; these being exceedingly minute.

At the period above-mentioned the desire of the worm for
food begins to abate : the first symptom of this is the appear-
ance of the leaves nibbled into small portions and wasted. It
soon after entirely ceases even to touch the leaves j appears
restless and uneasy ; erects it head ; and moves about from side
to side, with a circular motion, in quest of a place wherein it
can commence its labor of spinning. Its color is now light
green, with some mixture of a darker hue. In twenty-four
hours from the time of its abstaining from food, the material
for forming its silk will be digested in its reservoirs ; its green
color will disappear ; its body will have acquired a degree of
glossuiess, and have become partially transparent towards its
neck. Before the worm is quite prepared to spin, its body will
have acquired greater firmness, and be in a trifling measure
lessened m size.

" The substance," says Mr. Porter, " of which the silk is
composed, is secreted in the form of a fine yellow transparent
giini in two separate vessels of slender dimensions, v;oinid,
as it were, on two spifidles in the stomach ; and if unfolded,
these vessels woidd he about ten inches in loig-th*.'' This
statement is proved to be erroneous, as the reader will perceive,
at the conclusion of this chapter.

When the worm lias fixed upon some angle, or hollow place,
whose dimensions agree with the size of its intended silken
ball or cocoon, it begins its labor by throwing forth thin and ir-
regular threads, see Figure 2. Plate III., which are intended to
support its future dwelling.

During the first day, the insect forms upon these a loose
structure of an oval shape, which is called floss silk, and within
which covering, in the three following days, it forms the firm

* Porter's "Treatise on the Silk Manufacture," p. 111.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM,

109

and consistent yellow ball ; the laborer, of course, always re-
maining on the inside of the sphere which it is forming*.

The silken filament, which when drawn out appears to be
one thread, is composed of two fibres, unwound through the
two orifices before described ; and these fibres are brought to-
gether by means of two hooks, placed within the silk-worm's
mouth for the purpose. The worm rests on its lower extremity
throughout the unwinding operation, and employs its mouth
and front legs in the task of directing and uniting the two fila-
ments. The filament is not wound in regular concentric circles
round the interior surface of the ball, but in spots, going back-
wards and forwards with a sort of wavy motion. This appa-
rently irregular manner of proceeding is plainly perceptible
when the silk is being reeled off the ball ; which does not make
more than one or two entire revolutions while ten or twelve
yards of silk are being transferred to the reelt.

At the end of the third or fourth day, the worm will have
completed its task ; and we have then a silk cocoon (See Fig-
ure 3. plate III.), with the worm imprisoned in its centre ; the

« If at this time any of the threads intended for the support of the cocoon
should be broken, the worm will find, in the progress of its work, that the ball,
not being properly poised, becomes unsteady, so that the insect is unable properly
to go forward with its labors. Under these circumstances the worm pierces and
altogether quits the unfinished cocoon, and throws out its remaining threads at
random wherever it passes ; by which means the silk is wholly lost, and the
worm, finding no place wherein to prepare for its change, dies without having
effected it. It may sometimes happen, but such a thing is of unfrequent occur-
rence, that the preparatory threads before mentioned are broken by another
worm working in the neighborhood, when the same unsatisfactory result will be
experienced.— 06s. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson.

t Mr. Robinet, of Paris, made the following curious calculation on the move- ')
ments a silk-worm must make in forming a cocoon supposed to contain a thread )
of 1500 metres. It is known, says Mr. Robinet, that the silk-worm, in forming /
his cocoon, does not spin the silken filament in concentric circles round the inte- (
rior surface of the ball, but in a zigzag manner. This it effects by the motions of (
its head. Now if each one of these motions gives half a centimetre of the silken j
filament ; it follows that the worm must make_300,000 motions of its head to j
form it ;' and if the labor requires 72 hours in the' performance, the creatiu-e |
makes 100,000 motions every 24 hours, 4,166 per hour, 69 per minute, and a lit^
tie more than one in a second !

110 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK.

cocoon being from an inch to an inch and a half long, and of a
yellow or orange color.

When the insect has finished its labor of unwinding, it
smears the entire internal surface of the cocoon with a pecii-
har kind of gum, very similar in its nature to the matter which
forms the silk itself; and this is no doubt designed as a shield
against rain or the humidity of the atmosphere, for the chrysa-
lis in its natural state ; when of course it would be subject to
all varieties of weather. The silken filament of which the
ball is made up. is hkewise accompanied, throughout its entire
length, by a portion of gum, which serves to give firmness and
consistency to its texture ; and assists in rendering the dwell-
ing of the chrysalis impervious to moisture. This office it per-
forms so well, that when, for the purpose of reeling the silk
with greater facility, the balls are thrown into basins of hot
water, they swim on the top with all the buoyancy of blad-
ders ; nor, unless the ball be imperfectly formed, does the water
penetrate within until the sillv is nearly aU unwound. In fig-
ure 4, plate III., the cocoons are drawn two-thirds of the usual
size, and are shown with part of the outward floss siik re-
moved.

The continual emission of the silken material during the
formation of its envelope, together with its natural evaporation,
uncompensated by food, causes the worm gradually to contract
in bulk ; it becomes wrinkled, and the rings of its body ap-
proach nearer to each other and appear more decidedly marked.
When the ball is finished, the insect rests awhile from its toil,
and then throws off its caterpillar garb. If the cocoon be now
opened, its inhabitant will appear in the form of a chrysalis or
aurelia, in shape somewhat resembling a kidney-bean (See Fig-
ure 5. plate III.), but pointed at one end, having a smooth brown
skin. Its former covering, so dissimilar to the one now assumed,
will be found lying beside it.

The account which has been given of the progressions of the
sill<:-worm shows, that, in its various modifications, the ajiimal
organization of the insect has been ahoays tending toivards
its sirnplification. Count Dandolo, writing upon this subject,
observes, " Thus the caterpillar is in the first instance composed

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. Ill

of animal, silky, and excremental particles ; this forms the state
of the growing caterpillar : in the next stage it is composed
of animal and silky particles ; it is then the mature caterpil-
lar: and lastly, it is reduced to the animal particles alone; and
is termed in this state the chrysalis. The poet Cowper, in
the following Unes, beautifully illustrates this subject :

The beams of April, ere it goes,

A worm, scarce visible, disclose ;

All winter long content to dwell

The tenant of his native shell.

The same prolific season gives

The sustenance by which he lives.

The mulberry leaf, a simple store.

That serves him — till he needs no more !

For, his dimensions once complete.

Thenceforth none ever sees him eat ;

Though till his growing time be past

Scarce ever is he seen to fast.

That hour arrived, his work begins.

He spins and weaves, and weaves and spins ;

Till circle upon circle, wound

Careless around him and around,

Conceals him with a veil though slight,

Impervious to the keenest sight.

Thus self-inclosed, as in a cask,

At length he finishes his task :

And, though a worm when he was lost,

Or caterpillar at the most,

When next we see him, wings he wears.

And in papilio pomp appears ;

Becomes oviparous ; supplies

With future worms and future flies

The ne.xt ensuing year— and dies '.

Well were it for the world if all

Who creep about this earthly ball.

Though shorter-lived than most he be,

Were useful in their kind as he.

It has been already noticed that the progressions of the in-
sects are accelerated by an iacrease of temperature ; and some
variation wiU equally be experienced where different modes of
treatment are foUowed ; and, in particular, where different
periods of the year are chosen in which to produce and rear the
worm. Malpighius, in his " Anatomy of the Silk-worm," says,

112 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

that worms which he hatched in May were eleven days old ere
they were attacked by their first sickness ; others hatched in
July were ten days, and those brought forth in August nine days,
before they refused their food, preparatory to their first moulting.
Eight days appear to be the most usual term for their first at-
tack ; and by his judicious treatment count Dandolo shortened
even this term by two days. In Europe, except where recourse
is had to artificial aid, the term of the caterpillar state is usually
that which has been already mentioned.

Sudden transitions from cold to heat, or vice versa, are highly
injurious to the silk-worm ; but it can bear a very high degree
of heat, if uniformly maintained, without sustaining injury.
Count Dandolo observed, that " the greater the degree of heat
in Avhich it is reared, the more acute are its wants, the more
rapid its pleasures, and the shorter its existence." Monsieur
Boissier de Sauvagues made many experiments on this point.
One year, when by the early appearance of the mulberry
leaves, which were developed by the end of April, he was
forced to hurry forward the operations of his filature, he raised
the heat of the apartment in which the newly-hatched worms
were placed to 100'^ ; gradually diminishing this during their
first and second ages to 95*-'. In consequence of the animal ex-
citement thus induced, there elapsed only nine days between
the hatching and the second moulting inclusively. It was the
general opinion of those cultivators who witnessed the exper-
iment, that the insects would not be able to exist in so intensely
heated an atmosphere. The walls of the apartment, and the
wicker hurdles on which the worms were placed, could scarcely
be touched from the great heat, and yet all the changes and
progressions went forward perfectly well, and a most abundant
crop of silk was the result.

The same gentleman, on a subsequent occasion, exposed his
brood to the temperature of 93'-' to 95'^ during their first age ;
of 89° to 91*^ in the second age ; and remarked that the at-
tendant circumstances were the same as in his former experi-
ment, the changes of the worm being performed in the same
space of time ; whence he came to the conclusion, that it is not
practicable to accelerate their progress beyond a certain point

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 113

by any superadditions of heat. In both of these experiments
the quantity of food consumed, was as great as is usually given
during the longer period employed in the common manner of
rearing. After the second moulting had taken place in the
last experiment, the temperature was lowered to 82*^ ; and it is
remarkable that the worms occupied only five days in comple-
ting their thud and fourth changes, although others which had
been accustomed to this lower degree from their birth occupied
seven or eight days for each of these moultings. It would there-
fore seem that the constitution of the insects can be affected,
and an impetus given to their functions at the period of their
first animation, which accompanies them through their after
stages. So far from this forcing system proving injurious to the
health of silk-worms, M. de Sauvagues found that his broods
were unusually healthy ; and that while the labors of cultiva-
tion were abridged in their duration, much of the attendant
anxiety was removed.

Like other caterpillars, the silk-worm is not a warm-blooded
animal, and its temperature is therefore always equal to that of
the atmosphere in which it is placed. In the silk-producing
countries, where modes of artificial heating have not been
studied practically and scientifically, the difficulty and expense
that must attend the prosecution of this heating system, form
abmidant reasons why it cannot be generally adopted. The
great susceptibility of the insect to atmospheric influences
would also in a great degree render unsuitable the more com-
mon arrangements for the purpose. The plan of warming
apartments by means of stoves, in its passage through which
the air becomes highly heated before it mixes with and raises
the general temperature of the air in the chamber, is liable to
this inconvenience, — that the portion so introduced, having its
vital property impaired by the burning heat through which it
has passed, injures, proportionably, the respirable quality of the
whole atmosphere ; an effect which is easily perceptible by
those who inhale it. A better plan of heating has lately been
suggested, and is rapidly coming into practice, viz., of warming
buildings by a current of hot water (an American invention),
which is, by a very simple process, kept constantly flowing in

15

114 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

close channels through the apartment, where it continually
gives off its heat by radiation ; and the degree of this being
far below the point which is injurious to the vital quality of
air, the evil before alluded to is avoided. If the expense of fuel
be not too great, as compared with that of the labor which
would be saved by this invention, the adoption in silk countries
of such a mode of raising and regulating the temperature
might, probably, prove advantageous.

The silk-worm remains in the form of a chrysalis for periods
which, according to the climate or the temperature wherein it
may be placed, vary from fifteen to thirty days. In India, the
time is much shorter (See Chapter VIII.) ; in Spain and Italy,
eighteen to twenty days. In France three weeks ; and in the
climate of England, when unaccelerated by artificial means,
thirty days wiU elapse from the time the insect begins to spin
until it emerges in its last and perfect form. It then throws off
the shroud which had confined it in seeming l>feless7iess, and
appears as a large moth of a grayish-white color, furnished with
four wings, two eyes, and two black horns or antlers which
present a feathery appearance (See Figure 6. plate III.).

If left until this period within the cocoon, the moth takes
immediate measures for its extrication : ejecting from its mouth
a liquor with which it moistens and lessens tlie adhesiveness
of the gum wherewith it had lined the interior surface of its
dwelling, and the insect is enabled, by frequent motions of its
head, to loosen, without breaking, the texture of the ball ; then
using its hooked feet, it pushes aside the filaments and makes
a passage for itself into light and freedom. It is erroneously
said that the moth recovers its liberty by gnawing the silken
threads ; but it is found, on the contrary, that if carefully un-
wound, their continuity is by this means rarely broken.

One of the most remarkable circumstances connected witli
the natural history of silk-worms, is the degree in which their
bulk and weight is increased, and the limited time wherein
that increase is attained. Count Dandolo, who appears to
have neglected nothing that could tend to the right under-
standing of the subject, and to the consequent improvement
of the processes employed, had patience enough to count and

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 115

weigh many hundred thousand eggs, as well as follow out to
the ultimate result his inquiries respecting their produce. He
found that on an average sixty-eight sound silk-worm's eggs
weighed one grain. One ounce*, therefore, comprised, 39,168
eggs. But one twelfth part of this weight evaporates previous
to hatching, and the shells are equal to one fifth more. If,
therefore, from one ounce, composed of 576 grains, 48 grains be
deducted for evaporation, and 115 for the shells, 413 grains
will remain equal to the weight of 39,168 young worms ; and,
at this rate, 54,526 of the insects when newly hatched, are
required to make up the ounce. After the first casting of the
skin, 3840 worms are found to have this weight, so that the
bulk and weight of the insects have in a few days been multi-
plied more than four tee7i times. After the second change 610
worms weigh an ounce, their weight being increased in the in-
termediate time six fold. In the week passed between the sec-
ond and third ages, the number of insects required to make up
the same weight, decreases from 610 to 144, their weight be-
ing therefore more than quadrupled. During the fourth age,
a similar rate of increase is maintained : thuty-five worms now
weigh an ounce. The fifth age of the caterpillar comprises
nearly a third part of its brief existence, and has been describ-
ed, by an enthusiastic writer on the subject, as the happiest
period of its hfe, during which it rapidly increases in size, pre-
paring and secreting the material it is about to spin. When
the silk-worms are fully grown, and have arrived at their period
of finally rejecting food, six of them make up the weight of
an ounce. They have, therefore, since their last change, again
added to their weight six fold.

It is thus seen that, in a few short weeks, the insect has
multiplied its weight more than nine thousand fold ! From
this period, and during the whole of its two succeeding states
of being, the worm imbibes no nourishment, and gradually di-
minishes in weight ; being supported by its own substance, and

* This ounce contains 576 grains ; 8.5325 of these grains equal seven grains
troy. One ounce avoirdupoise is therefore equal to about 533 grains, and between
11-12 and 11-13 ounce avoirdupoise equals one of the above ounces.

116 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

appearing to find sufficient occupation in forming its silken web^
and providing successors for our service, without indulging that
grosser appetite which forms the beginning and the end of their
desires during their caterpillar existence.

The moth enjoys its liberty for only a very brief space. Its
first employment is to seek its mate ; after which the female
deposits her eggs ; and both in the course of two or three days
after, end their being.

Formation of Silk. By M. H. Straus, of Durckheim. — " It
is generally admitted by naturalists that the thread of the
caterpillar is produced by a simple emission of liquid matter
through the orifice of the spinner, and that it acquires soUdity
at once from the drying influence of the air. It was easy to
entertain such an hypothesis, for nothing is more simple than
the formation of a very fine thread by such a process. But a
little reflection will soon show us, even a priori, that it is not
possible ; for how can we comprehend that so fine a fibre, liquid
at the instant of its issue from the aperture, should iyistantly
acquire such a consistence as to bear the weight of the animal
suspended by it, and at the same time that it is rapidly pro-
duced ? Though the fluid, holding the silk in solution, should
be quickly volatilised, it must still be a matter of conjecture,
how the animal suspended by this thread could be able to ar-
rest its issue, holding on only by the thread itself, for it cannot
pinch the thread, seeing that it is only in a hquid state inside,
and the thread cannot be glued to the edge of the opening, as
its rapid adhesion would prevent its issue while the animal is
spinning. A Uttle examination would satisfy us that silk can-
not be produced in this manner, but that it is secreted in the
form of silk in the silk vessels, and that the spinning appara-
tus only winds it. The thread is produced in the slender pos-
terior part of the vessel, the inflated portion of which consists
of the reservoir of ready formed silk, where it is found in the
form of a skein ; each thread being rolled up so as to occupy
in the silk-worm [Bomhex inori) a space of only about a sixth
part of the real length of the skein. The fact is shown by the
following experiment I made for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the silk is formed in the body of the caterpillars.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 117

* Take one of the animals when about to form its cocoon,
clean it in common vinegar, in which it may remain from
four to six hours, open it 07i the back and extract the silk
vessels, there being one on each side of the alim,entary canal.
Take them uj) by the hinder end, just lohere they begin to
swell {further back the silk is not solid enough), and draw
them out. The membrane forming the vessel is easily torn
open, and the contents expand to six or seven times its orig-
inal length. The skein having attained its full length by
the letting out of its gathers, we obtain a cord perfectly equal
in size throughout, except at the end, where it is attenuated.
This cord resembles a large horse-hair, and constitutes what
fishermen call " Florence hair." I ought to add that in simply
drawing out the silk vessel, the Florence hair is found envel-
oped in a golden yellow gummy matter, formiiig the glutmous
portion by which the worm fastens its thread. This must be
got rid of by drawing the cord through the fold formed on the
inside of the joint of the left fore finger, converted into a canal
by applying to it the end of the thumb. The glutinous sub-
stance and the membranes being thus separated, we have the
naked hair. In this state, before the silk becomes dry and
hard, not only will it be indefinitely divided longitudinally,
which proves its fibrous structure, but in trying to spUt it by
drawing it transversely, the little f laments of silk which form
it are perfectly separated, making a bundle of extremely fine
fibrils."

We cannot better conclude this interesting portion of our
subject, than by quoting the following beautiful fines by Miss
H. F. Gould :—

THE SILK-WORM'S WILL.

On a plain rush hurdle a silk-worm lay,
When a proud young princess came that way :
The haughty child of a human king,
Threw a sidelong glance at the humble thing,
That took, with a silent gratitude,
From the mulberry leaf, her simple food ;
And shrunk, half scorn and half disgust,
Away from her sister child of dust —

118 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

Declaring she never yet could see

Why a reptile form like this should be,

And that she was not made with nerves so firm,

As calmly to stand by a " crawling wonn !"

With mute forbearance the silk-worm took
The taunting words, and the spurning look :
Alike a stranger to self and pride,
She'd no disquiet from aught beside —
And lived of a meekness and peace possessed,
Which these debar from the human breast.
She only wished, for the harsh abuse.
To find some way to become of use
To the haughty daughter of lordly man ;
And thus did she lay a noble plan.
To teach her wisdom, and make it plain,
That the humble worm was not made in vain ;
A plan so generous, deep and high.
That, to carry it out, she must even die !

" No more," said she, " will I drink or eat !
I'll spin and weave me a winding-sheet.
To wrap me up from the sun's clear light.
And hide my form from her wounded sight.
In secret then, till my end draws nigh,
I'll toil for her ; and when I die,
I'll leave behind, as a farewell boon,
To the proud young princess, my whole cocoon,
To be reeled and wove to a shining lace.
And hung in a veil o'er her scornful face !
And when she can calmly draw her breath
Through the very threads tliat have caused my death ;

When she finds, at length, she has nerves so firm
As to wear the shroud of a crawling worm,
May she bear in mind, that she walks with pride
In the winding-sheet where the silk-worm died I"

F/air///.

Silk Wfvrm. ( v.coaii:;, (^irvsaba. Alciths. au'i T'lnna.

CHAPTER VIII.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHINESE MODE
OF REARING SILK-WORMS, &c.

Great antiquity of the silk -manufacture in China — Time and mode of pruning the
Mulberry-tree — Not allowed to exceed a certain height — Mode of planting —
Situation of rearing-rooms, and their construction — Effect of noise on the silk-
\fOTm — Precautions observed in preserving cleanliness — Isan-mon, mother of
tlie worms — Manner of feeding — Space allotted to the worms — Destruction of
the Chrysalides — Great skill of the Chinese in weaving — American writers on the
Mulberry-tree — Silk-wonns sometimes reared on trees — (M. Marteloy's ex-
periments in 1764, in rearing silk-wonns on trees in France) — Produce inferior
to that of worms reared in houses — Mode of delaying the hatching of the eggs
— Method of hatching — Necessity for preventing damp — Number of meals —
Mode of stimulating the appetite of the worms — Effect of this upon the quan-
tity of silk produced — Darkness injurious to the silk-worm — Its effect on the
Mulberry-leaves — Mode of preparing the cocoons for the reeling process — Wild
silk-worms of India — Mode of hatching, &c. — (Observations on the cultivation
of silk by Dr. Stebbins — Dr. Bowring's admirable illustration of the mutual de-
pendence of the arts upon each other.)

In China, the tradition of the silk culture is, as already-
shown, carried back into the mythological periods, and dates
with the origin of agriculture itself. These two pursuits or
avocations, namely, husbandry and the silk-manufacture, form
the subject of one of the sixteen discourses to the people. It
is there observed, that " from ancient times the Son of Heaven
directed the plough: the Empress planted the mull3erry-tree.
Thus have these exalted personages, not above the practice of
labor and exertion, set an example to all men, with a view to
leading the millions of their subjects to attend to their essential
interests."

In the work published by Imperial authority, entitled '• Illus-
trations of Husbandry and Weaving*," there are numerous

* The drawing, plate I. (Frontispiece) is a faithful copy of a loom represented
in this curious work. For this representation of a Cliineso weaving engine, as
well as several translations, explanatorj- of the silk-manufacture, &.C., we are in-

120 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

wood-cuts, accompanied by letter-press explanatory of the dif-
ferent processes of farming and the silk-manufacture. The
former head is confined to the production of rice, the staple ar-
ticle of food, and proceeds from the ploughing of the land to
the packing of the grain ; the latter details all the operations
connected with planting the mulberry and gathering its leaves,
up to the final weaving of the silk.

The mulberry-tree is chiefly cultivated in Clie-kiang, which
province, together with the only three others that produce fine
silk, namely, Kiang-nan, Woo-pe, and Sze-chuen, is crossed by
the thirtietii parallel of latitude. Che-kiang is a country
highly alluvial, intersected by numerous rivers and canals, with
a cUmate that corresponds pretty nearly to the same latitude as
that in the United States of America. The soil is manured
with mud, dug from the rivers, assisted Avith ashes or dung;
and the spaces between the trees are generally filled with mil-
let, pulse, or other articles of food. The time for pruning the
young trees, so as to produce fine leafy shoots, is at the com-
mencement of the year. About four eyes are left on every
shoot, and care is taken that the branches be properly thinned,
with a view to giving plenty of light and air to the leaves. In
gathering these, they make use of steps, as the young trees
could not support a ladder, and would besides be injured in their
branches by the use of one. The trees, with their foliage, are
carefully watched, and the mischiefs of insects prevented by
the use of various applications, among which are some essen-
tial oils.

The young trees of course suflfer by being stripped of their
leaves, which are the lungs of plants, and this is an additional
reason for renewing them after a certain time. They endeav-
or in part to counteract the evil eflfect, by pruning and lop-
ping the tree, so as to diminish the wood when the leaves have

debted to Walter Lowrj', Esq., Sec. to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis-
sions in this city ; who kindly permitted us to copy it from the original plate,
forming a part of the interesting work above referred to, wliich is composed of
soventy-five volumes, and was, as we understand, presented to the Board by a
New York merchant. Many of the illustrations are extremely beautiful, reflect-
ing the liighest credit upon the artisans of the " Celestial Empire."

/7a V/

J- y^'m (/na^'t/ii JJraninas.

€IIISM"I1SII TL,®(S)MSo

S^i J^cu?£ 119.

CHINESE MODE OF REARING' SILK-WORMS, ETC. 121

been gathered. It is surprising, however, to observe how soon
a tree in those dimates will recover its leaves in the summer or
autumn, after liaving been entirely stripped of them by a ty-
phoon or hurricane. Fresh plants are procured by cuttings or
layers, and sometimes from seed. When the trees grow too
old for the production of the finest leaves, and show a greater
tendency to fruiting, they are either removed or so cut and
managed as to produce young branches.

The principal object, in the cultivation of the mulberry, is to
produce the greatest quantity of young and healthy leaves
without fruit. For this reason the trees are not allowed to ex-
ceed a certain age and height. They are planted on the plan
of a quincunx*, and said to be in perfection in about three
years.

Mr. Barrow, who observed the management of the trees and
silk-worms in Che-kiang, confirms the usual Chinese accounts,
by saying that " the houses in which the womis are reared are
placed generally in the centre of each plantation, in order that
they may be removed as far as possible from every kind of
noise ; experience having taught them that a sudden shout, or
the bark of a dog, is destructive of the young worms. A
whole brood has sometimes perished from the effects of a thun-
der-storm."

Some notion of the extent of the care required in the man-
agement of the worms may be formed from the following ex-
tract, taken from the Chinese work referred to at the beginning
of this chapter.

" The place where their habitation is built must be retired,
free from noise, smells," and disturbances of every kind. The
least fright, makes great impressions on these sensitive crea-
tures ; even the barking of dogs, «fcc., is capable of throwmg
them into the utmost disorder.

For the purpose of paying them every attention an affection-
ate mother is provided, who is careful to supply their wants ;

« 111 gardening, the quincunx order is a plantation of trees disposed in a
square, consisting of five trees, one at each comer and a fifth in the centre, which
order repeated indefinitely, forms a regular grove or wood, viewed by an angle of
the square or parallelogram, presents equal or parallel alleys.

16

122 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

she is called Isan-mo7i, ' mother of the worms.' She takes
possession of the chamber, but not before she has washed her-
self and put on clean clothes, which have not the least repul-
sive smell ; she must not have eaten anything immediately be-
fore, or handled any ^^^ld succory, the smell of which is very
prejudicial. She must be clothed in a plain habit, without any
hning, that she may be more sensible of the warmth of the
place, and accordingly increase or lessen the fire. She must
also carefully avoid making a smoke or raising a dust, which
would also be offensive."

Silk-worms require to be carefully humored before the time
of casting their slough. Every day is to them a year, having
in a maimer, the four seasons ; the morning being the Spring ;
the middle of the day : Summer ; the evening : Autmiin ; and
the night, AVinter.

The chambers are so contrived as to admit of the use of ar-
tificial heat when necessary. Great care is taken of the sheets
of paper on which the eggs have been laid ; and the hatching
is either retarded or advanced, by the application of cold or heat
according to circumstances, so as to time the simultaneous exit
of the young worms exactly to the period when the tender
spring-leaves of the mulberry are most fit for their nourishment.

They proportion the food very exactly to the young worms
by weighing the leaves, which in the first instance are cut, but
as the insects become larger, are given to them whole. The
greatest precautions being observed in regulating the tempera-
ture of the apartments. The worms are fed upon a species of
small hurdles of basket-work, strewed with leaves, wliich are
constantly shifted for the sake of cleanUness, the insects readily
moving off to a fresh hurdle with new leaves, as the scent at-
tracts them. In proportion to their growth, room is afforded to
them by increasing the number of these hurdles, the worms of
one being shifted to three, then to six, and so on until they at-
tain their greatest size. When they hav'e cast their several
skins, reached their greatest size, and assumed a transparent
yellowish color, they are removed to places divided into compart-
ments, preparatory to casting forth their silken filaments.

In the course of a week after the commencement of this op-

CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 123

eration, the cocoons are complete, and it now becomes neces-
sary to take them in hand before the pupae turn into tnoths.
which would immediately bore their way out, and spoil the co-
coons. When a certain nmnber, therefore, have been laid aside
for the sake of future eggs, the chrysalides are killed by being
placed in jars under layers of salt and leaves, with a complete
exclusion of air. They are subsequently placed in moderately
warm water, which dissolves the glutinous substance that binds
the silk together, and the filament is wound off upon reels.
This is put up in bundles of a certain size and weight, and
either becomes an article of merchandise under the name of
" raw silk," or is subjected to the loom, and manufactured into
various stuffs, for home or foreign consumption. The Chinese
notwithstanding the simplicity of their looms (see frontispiece),
will imitate exactly the newest and most elegant patterns from
France. They particularly excel in the production of damasks,
figured-satins, and embroidery. Their crape has never yet
been perfectly imitated ; and they make a species of washing
silk, called at Canton " ponge," which, the longer it is used, the
softer it becomes.

The Chinese have from time immemorial been celebrated for
the beauty of their embroideries ; indeed, it has been doubted
whether the art was not originally introduced into Europe by
them, through the Persians.

From what has been said, it is evident that the raising of the
midberry-tree should first engage the attention of the cultiva-
tor, since its leaves form the almost exclusive nourishment of
the silk-worm. It is scarcely necessary that we should in a
work of this description enter more fully into the cultivation of
the mulberry-tree. This has already been so ably done by
Jonathan Cobb, Esq. of Dedham, Mass., Dr. Pascalis of New
York, Judge Comstock of Hartford, Conn., and E. P. Roberts,
Esq. of Baltimore, as to leave no stone unturned, or any want
upon the subject.

In such parts of the Chinese empire where tlie climate is fa-
vorable to the practice, and where alone, most probably, the
silk-worm is indigenous, it remains at liberty, feeding on the
leaves of its native mulberry-tree, and going through all its mu-

124 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

tations among the branches, uncontrolled by the hand and un-
assisted by the cares of man. As soon, however, as the silken
balls have been constructed, they are appropriated by the uni-
versal usurper, who spares only the few required to reproduce
their numbers, and thus furnish him with successive harvests*.
This silk, the spontaneous offering of nature, is not, however,
equal in fineness to that produced by worms under shelter, and
whose progressions are influenced by careful management.
Much attention is, therefore, bestowed by the Chinese in the
artificial rearing of silk-worms. One of their principal cares,
is to prevent ihe too early hatching of the eggs, to which the
nature tf the cUmate so strongly disposes them. The mode
of insuring the requisite delay, is, to cause the moth to deposit
her eggs on large sheets of paper : these, immediately upon
their production, are suspended from a beam in the room, while
the wdndows are opened to expose them to the air. In a few
days the papers are taken down and rolled loosely up with the
eggs inside, in which form they are again hung during the
remainder of the summer and autumn. Towards the end of
the year they are immersed in cold water wherein a small por-
tion of salt has been dissolved. In this state the eggs are left
during two days ; and on being taken from the salt and water
are first hung to dry, and then rolled up rather more tightly
than before, each sheet of paper being thereafter inclosed in a

* Mons. Marteloy of Montpelier, who made many experiments upon the rear-
ing of silk-worms, presented a memorial upon the subject to the French minister,
in compliance with whose recommendation, a few silk growers of Languedoc
caused an experiment to be publicly made in the open air, in the garden belong-
ing to the Jesuits' college at Montpelier. The whole was placed under the direc-
tion of Mons. Marteloy, who had 1200 livres assigned to him to defray the neces-
sary expenses. The experiment succeeded perfectly. This was in 1764. In
the following year a second trial was made, and 1800 livres were set apart for
the expenses. Owing, however, to the unfavorable nature of the season, this ex-
periment failed entirely, the heavy and incessant rains making it impossible to
keep the food of the worms in a sufficiently dry state. The rearing of silk-worms
in the open air was not again attempted in that quarter; but the partial success
led to the adoption among cultivators of a better system of ventilation, and the
production of silk was about this time very much extended througliout Langue-
doc.— Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson.

CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 125

separate earthen vessel. Some persons, who are exceedingly-
particular in their processes, use a lye made of mulberry-tree
ashes, and place the eggs likewise, during some minutes, on
snow-water.

These processes appear efficacious for checking the hatching,
until the expanding leaves of the mulberry-tree give notice to
the silk-worm-rearer that he may take measures for bringing
forth his brood. For this purpose the rolls of paper are taken
from the earthen vessels, and hung up towards the sun, the
side to which the eggs adhere being turned from its rays, by
being placed inside, and thus allowing the heat to be transmit-
ted to them through the paper. In the evening the sheets arc
rolled closely up and placed in a warm situation. The same
proceeding is repeated on the follo^ving day, when the eggs as-
sume a grayish color. On the evening of the third day, after
a similar exposure, they are found to be of a much darker color,
nearly approaching to black ; and the following morning, on
the paper being unrolled, they are covered with worms. In the
higher latitudes the Chinese have recourse to the heat of stoves,
in order to promote the simultaneous hatching of the eggs.

The apartments in which the worms are kept stand in dry
situations, in a pure atmosphere, and apart from all noise, which
is thought to be annoying to the worms, especially when they
are young. The rooms are made very close, but adequate
means of ventilation provided : the doors being open to the
south. Each chamber is provided with nine or ten rows of
frames, placed one above the other. On these frames, rush
hurdles are ranged ; upon which the worms are fed through
their five ages. A uniform degree of heat is constantly pre-
served, either by means of stoves placed in the corners of the
apartments, or by chafing-dishes which from time to time are
carried up and down the room. Flame and smoke being al-
ways carefully avoided : cow-dung dried in the sun is preferred
by the Chinese to all other kinds of fuel for this purpose.

The most unremitting attention is paid to the wants of the
worms, which are fed night and day. On their being hatched
they are furnished with forty meals for the first day, thirty are
given on the second day, and fewer on and after the third.

126 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

The Chinese believe that the growth of silk-worms is accel-
erated, and their success promoted by the abundance of their
food, and therefore, in cloudy and damp weather, when the
insects are injuriously affected by the state of the atmosphere,
their appetites are stimulated by a wisp of very dry straw being
hghted and held over them, thus causing the cold and damp
air to be dissipated.

The Chinese calculate that the same number of insects
which would, if they had attained the full size in twenty-three
or twenty-four days, produce twenty-five ounces of silk, would
give only twenty ounces if their growth occupied twenty-eight
days, and only ten ounces if forty days. In order, therefore, to
accelerate their growth, they supply them with fresh food every
half-hour during the first day of their existence, and then grad-
ually reduce the number of meals as the worms grow older.
It deserves to be remarked as a fact unnoticed in Natural The-
olog)'^, that 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 Avill partake of the same food ; thus en-
suring a certain supply for the little spinster.

Many persons beUeve that light is injurious to silk-worms ;
but, so far from this opinion being correct, the opposite belief
would probably be nearer to the truth. In its native state, the
insect is of course exposed to light, and suffers no inconvenience
on that account ; and it has been observed by one who gave
much attention to the subject (Count Dandolo), that in his
estabUshmcnt, " on the side on which the sun shone directly
on the hurdles, the silk-worms were stronger and more numer-
ous than in those places where the edge of the wicker hurdle
formed a shade." The obscurity wherein the apartments are
usually kept has a very pernicious influence on the air : the
food of the Avorms emits in light oxygen, or vital air, while in
darkness it exhales carbonic acid gas, unfit for respiration.
This well-known fact occurs alike with all leaves similarly
circumstanced*. To the bad effects thus arising from the ex-

* " There is in the order of nature a certain and very surprising fact ; when

CHTNESE MODE OF REARmO SILK-WORMS, ETC, 127

elusion of the sun's rays, another evil is added by the nature
of the artificial lights employed, being such as still further to

vitiate the air.

An almost incredible quantity of fluid is constantly disen-
gaged by evaporation from the bodies of the insects ; and if
me^ans be not taken to disperse this as it is produced, another
cause of unwholesomeness in the air arises. Noticing this,
Count Dandolo observes, " This series of causes of the deterio-
ration of the air which the worms must inhale, may be termed
a continual conspiracy against their health and hfe ; and their
resisting it, and living throughout shows them to have great
strength of constitution."

In seven days from the commencement of the cocoons they
are coUected in heaps ; those which are designed to continue

the leaves of vegetables are struck by the sun's rays, they exhale an immense
quantity of vital air necessary to the life of animals, and which they consume by

respiration.

" These same leaves in the shade as well as in darkness exhale an immenfio
quantity of mephitic or fixed air, which cannot be inhaled without destruction of

life. ,

« This influence of the sun does not cease even when the leaf has been recently
gathered ; on the contrary, in darkness, gathered leaves will exhale a still greater
quantity of mephitic air.

" Place one ounce of fresh mulberry leaves in a wide-necked bottle of the sizo
of a Paris pint, containing two pounds of liquid ; expose this bottle to the sun ;
about an hour afterwards, according to the intensity of the sun, reverse the bottlo
and introduce a lighted taper in it ; this done, the light will become brighter,
whiter, and larger, wliich proves that the vital air contained in the bottle has in-
creased by that which has disengaged itself from the leaves: to demonstrate this
phenomenon more clearlv, a taper may be put in a similar bottle, that only con-
tains the air which has entered into it by its being uncorked. Shortly after the
first experiment, water will be found in the bottle which contained the mulberry
leaves; this water, evaporating from the leaves by means of the heat, hangs on
the sides, and runs to the bottom when cooling; the leaves appear more or lea
withered and dry according to the liquid they have lost. In another smi.lar bot-
tle place an ounce of leaves, and cork it exactly like the former ; place it m ob-
scurity, either in a box, or wrap it in cloths, in short, so as totally to exclude
light-" about two hours after, open the bottle, and put either a ligiited taper or a
small' bird into it; the candle will go out, and the bird will perish, as if they had
been plunged into water, which demonstrates that in darkness the leaves have
exhaled mephitic air, while in the sun they exhaled vital air."-CouNT Da.ndo-
Lo's Treatise on ihe Art of Rearing Silk-worms, p. 144.

128 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

the breed being first selected and set apart on hurdles, in a
dry and airy situation. The next care, is to destroy the vital-
ity of the chrysalides in those balls which are to be reeled.
The most approved method of performing this, is to fill large
earthen vessels with cocoons, in layers, throwing in one-fortieth
part of their weight of salt upon each layer, covering the whole
with large dry leaves resembling those of the water-lilly, and
then closely stopping the mouths of the vessels. In reeling
their silk the Chinese separate the thick and dark from the
long and glittering white cocoons, as the produce of the former
is inferior.

We are indebted to Dr. Ure for the two following articles
{extracted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society, for Jan-
uary, 1837), on wild silk-worms. The first article is from the
pen of Thomas Hugon, a resident of Nowgong, and relates to
wild silk- worms of Assam.

"The Assamese select for breeding, such cocoons only as have
been begun to be formed in the largest number on the same
day, usually the second or third after the commencement ;
those w'hich contain males being distinguishable by a more
pointed end. They are put in a closed basket suspended from
the roof ; the moths, as they come forth, having room to move
about, at the expiration of a day, the females (known only by
their large body) are taken out, and tied to small wisps of
thatching-straw, selected always from over the hearth, its dark-
ened color being thought more acceptable to the insect. If out
of a batch, there sliould be but few majes ; the wisps with the
females tied to them are exposed outside at night ; and the
males thrown away in the neighborhood, find their way to
them. These wisps are hung upon a string tied across the
roof, to keep them from vermin. The eggs laid after the first
three days, are said to produce weak worms. The wisps are
taken out morning and evening, and exposed to the sun, and
in ten days after being laid, a few of them are hatched. The
wisps being then hung up to the tree, the young worms find
their way to the leaves. The ant, whose bite is fatal to the
worm in its early stages, is destroyed by rubbing the trunk of
the tree with molasses, and tying dead fish and toads to it, to

CHINESE MODE OF RAISING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 129

attract these rapacious insects in large numbers, when they are
destroyed with fire ; a process which needs to be repeated seve-
ral times. The ground under the trees is also well cleared, to
render it easy to pick up and replace the worms which fall
down. They are prevented from coming to the ground, by
tying fresh plantain-leaves round the trunk, over whose slip-
pery surface they cannot crawl ; and then transferred from
exhausted trees to fresh ones, on bamboo platters tied to long
poles. The worms require to be constantly watched and pro-
tected from the depredations of both day and night birds, as
well as rats and other vermin. During their moultings, they
remain on the branches ; but when about beginning to spin,
they come down the trunk, and being stopped by the plantain-
Leaves, are there collected in baskets, which are afterwards put
under bunches of dry leaves, suspended from the roof, into
which the worms crawl, and form their cocoons — several being
clustered together : this accident, owing to the practice of crowd-
ing the worms, which is most injudicious, rendering it impos-
sible to wind off their silk in continuous threads, as in the fila-
tures of Italy, France, and even Bengal. The sillc is, therefore,
spun like flax, mstead of being unwound in single filaments.
After four days the proper cocoons are selected for the next
breed, and the rest are reeled. The total duration of a breed
varies from sixty to seventy days ; divided into the following
periods : —

Four moultings, with one day's illness attending each, - - 20
From fourth moulting to beginning of cocoon, - - • - 10
111 the cocoon 20, as a moth 6, hatching of eggs 10, - - - 36

66

" On being tapped with the finger, the body renders a hollow
sound ; the quaUty of which shows whether they have come
down for want of leaves on the tree, or from their having ceas-
ed feeding.

" As the chrysalis is not soon killed by exposure to the sun,
the cocoons are put on stages, covered with leaves, and exposed
to the hot air from grass burned under them ; they are next
boiled for about an hour in a solution of the potash, made firora

17

130 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

icinerated rice-stalks ; then taken out and put on a cloth folded
over them to keep them warm. The floss being removed by
hand, they are then thrown into a basin of hot water to be un
Avound ; which is done in a very rude and wasteful way.

" The plantations for the mooga silk-worm in Lower Assam,
amount to 5000 acres, besides what the forests contain ; and
yield 1500 maunds of 84 lbs. each per annum. Upper Assam
is more productive.

" The cocoon of the Koiitkurl niooga is of the size of a
fowl's egg. It is a wild species, and affords filaments much
valued for fishing-lines.

<' The Arriiidy^ or Eria worm, and moth, is reared over a
great part of Hindostan, but entirely within doors. It is fed
principally on the Hera, or Palm a chrlsti leaves, and gives
sometimes 12 broods of spun silk in the course of a year. It
affords a fibre which looks rough at first; but when woven,
becomes soft and silky, after repeated washings. The poorest
people are clothed wdth stuff made of it, which is so durable as
to descend from mother to daughter. The cocoons are put in
a close basket, and hung up in the house, out of reach of rats
and insects. When the moths come forth, they are allowed to
move about in the basket for twenty-four hours ; after which
the females are tied to long reeds or canes, twenty or twenty-
five to each, and then hung up in the house. Of the eggs
that are laid the first three days, about 200, only are kept;
then tied up for seed. When a few of the worms are hatched,
the cloths are put on small bamboo platters hung up in the
house, in which they are fed with tender leaves. After the
second moulting, they are removed to bunches of leaves sus-
pended above the ground, beneath which a mat is laid to re-
ceive them when they fall. When they cease to feed, they are
thrown into basketsfull of dry leaves, among which they form
their cocoons, two or three being often discovered joined to-
gether.

" The Saturnia trifenestrata has a yellow cocoon of a re-
markably silky lustre. It fives on the soom-tree in Assam, but
seems not to be much used."

The second article is from the pen of Dr. Heifer, upon those

CHINESE MODE OP REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 131

wild silk-worms which are indigenous to India. Besides the
Bonibyx mori, tlic Doctor enumerates the following seven spe-
cies, formerly unknown : — 1. " The wild silk-worm of the cen-
tial provinces, a moth not larger than the Bombyx morir 2.
" The Joree silk-worm of Assam, Bombyx rcligioscB, which
spins a cocoon of a fine filament, with much lustre. It lives
upon the pipul tree {Flcus religiosa), which abounds in India,
and ought therefore to be turned to account in breeding this
valuable moth." 3. '• Satuniia silhetica, which inhabits the
cassia mountains in Silhet and Dacca, where its large cocoons
are spun into silk." 4. " A still larger SaUirnia, one of the
greatest moths in existence, measuring ten inches from the one
end of the wing to the other* ; observed by Mr. Grant, in
Chirra ptmjee.^' 5. " Saturnia paphia, or the Tusseh silk-
worm, is the most common of the native species, and furnishes
the cloth usually worn by Europeans in India. It has not
hitherto been domesticated, but millions of its cocoons are an-
nually collected in the jungles, and brought to the silk factories
near Calcutta and Bhagelpur. It feeds most commonly on the
hair-tree {Zizyphus jitjuba), but it prefers the Terminalia al-
ata, or Assam tree, and the Bombax heptaphylliim. It is call-
ed Koutkuri mooga, in Assam." 6. " Another Saturnia, from
the neighborhood of ComercoUy." 7. " Saturnia assamensis,
with a cocoon of a yellow-brown color, diflerent from all others,
called mooga, in Assam ; which, although it can be reared in
houses, thrives best in the open air upon trees, of which seven
different kinds afford it food. The Mazankoory mooga, which
feeds on the Adakoory tree, produces a fine silk, which is nearly
white, and fetches 50 per cent, more than the fawn colored.
The trees of the first year's growth produce by far the most
valuable cocoons. The mooga which inhabits the soom-tree,
is found principally in the forests of the plains, and in the vil-
lages. The tree grows to a large size, and yields three crops
of leaves in the year. The silk is of a light fawn color, and
ranks next in value to the Mazankoory. There are generally
five breeds of mooga worms in the year ; 1. In January and

* See p. 40 Also p. 31. (note *)

132 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

Februaiy ; 2. In May and June ; 3. In June and July ; 4. In
August and September ; 5. In October and November ; the first
and last being the most valuable."

Dr. Anderson informs us, that in Madras the silk-worm goes
through all its evolutions in the short space of twenty-two days.
It appears, however, that the saving of time, and consequently
labor, is the only economy residting from the acceleration ; as
the insects consume as much food during their shorter period of
life, as is assigned to the longer-hved silk-worms of Europe.

We extract the following paper, with slight emendations,
from Ellsworth's Report of the Patent Office for the year 1844,
being a commmiication from Dr. Stebbins of Northampton,
Mass*., to the Editor of the American Agriculturalist, as having
some bearing upon the present subject.

" As requested, I forward you a sketch of Mr. Gill's cra-
dle for feeding silk-woniis, (It is not necessary for us to give
a drawmg of it in a work like the present, which is chiefly
intended for the general reader, and besides, this machine
is already sufficiently known to silk culturists.) I have five
patches of mulberr)^, (in all, len or twelve acres,) two parcels
of which you have seen. The one adjoining my garden, by
estimation, may furnish foliage sufficient for a million and
a half of wonns. The mulberries consist of the white, black,
alpine, broosa, moretta, alata, multicaulis, Asiatic, and large-
leaf Canton. The two latter I prefer for my o^^Tl use —
the Canton for early feeding with foUag'e, and the Asiastic for
branch feeding. The Canton is highly approved of for produ-
cing heavy and firm cocoons, which, by competent testimony
and experiments, have been found in favor of the Canton feed
as five to eight, and is the true species used by the Chinese,
as testified by a resident Missionary, the Rev. E. C. Bridg-
man, and more recently by Dr. Parker, while on his late visit
to the United States. I consider the peanut variety of worms
the best for producing the most silk of a good quaUty.

" From an elevated plat near my cocoonery, you had a view
of our extensive meadows spread out at the foot of Moimt Ho-

» Sec Chapter XIII. p. 211.

CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 133

lyoke. My cocoonery you have examined, with its fixtures for
feeding silk-worms — the mode of open feeding, ventilator, and
ventilating cradles. Since you left, the whole has been com-
pleted, with hammocks suspended over the cradles, easily put in
motion, and so constructed that no offal can drop into the cradles
beneath, nor interfere with the rocking motion or winding ; the
arrangement is much admired, and estimated to accommodate
half a million of worms, or more, to be fed simultaneously.
About half of the cocoonery has hurdles of lattice work, cover-
ed in part with gauze netting four feet wide and the same
number of tiers in height. The cocoonery is supposed to be
sufficiently open on the sides, ends, and roof, to admit a free
circulation of pure air. The flooring is the natural earth.

" The past winter has been uncommonly severe on grape-vines
and fruit ; forest and mulberry trees ; the Asiatic I found the
most hardy of any other, and the Canton the earliest in foliage.
On the 21st and 22d of May there were severe frosts, destroy-
ing garden vegetables, and injuring some early mulberry fohage;
added to this, ice was formed in many places. The accounts
from Vermont and New Hampshire are so disastrous as to delay
early feeding ; while in Northampton, June 14, at one of my
plantations, you saw silk-worms in the act of winding, and
others in a good state of forwardness. On the day of your de-
parture, I received a letter from a distant silk grower, a staunch
promoter of the one early and open crop system, that, on ac-
count of the unpropitious season and condition of his trees, he
would delay fetching out his worms until the last of June, and
then make his great effort upon one crop.

" To provide against premature hatching of silk-worms, or the
disaster of an early frost, it is advisable to have fohage gathered
and dried the year preceding ; which, being pulverized and
moistened with water, may be given to the worms until new
foliage appears ; and they will eat it freely.

" To obtain the most and best foliage of the mulberry, it will
be necessary every Spring to cut or head them down within
three or four inches of the ground, and preserve the stalks for
bark-silk. I have a quantity of them saved with bark peeled
from the lartre Asiatics to be used for making bark-silk, in ad-

134 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

dition to a quantity of mulberry-leaves preserved for making
paper. The whole process, although not carried out, as yet, in
this country, with either, has been successfully accomplished in
France, from proof shown by M. Frassinet. I am endeavor-
ing to have it tested here, by subjecting both stalk and peeled
bark to the operation of steaming with soap and water, to facil-
itate the separation of the bark from the wood, and the outside
cuticle from the fibrous substance of the bark, before trying the
operation of the brake for dressing, carding, spinning, &c.
Should it prove successful, it will be made public (See Mr.
Zinke's process. Chapter XL). Hopes are entertained that
what has been done may be done again ; that Yankee ingenu-
ity and perseverance may prove a match for foreign cheap la-
bor(?).

" The present time has been called the age of invention and
improvement. But if " there is nothing new under the sun "
(a pretty fair illustration of this assertion of the wise man —
Tide Ecclesiastes i. 9, 10. — will be found in this work.) ; and
if what is, has been and may be again, then may we hope to
be benefitted by the reproduction of astonishing results in all
coming time ; and even now, while there has been anxious in-
quir}^ for some easy mode to separate the bark of the mulberiy
from the wood, an historical fact has been recently communi-
cated(?) ; by which, some two hundred and forty years ago, in
the year 1600. an accident occurred, which resulted in the
manufacture of a handsome fabric from the fibrous bark of the
mulberry, with the inference that the bark had been previously
used for the manufacture of cordage, on account of the supe-
rior strength of the fibrous bark over that of other materials
used for cordage*.

"Under date of June 6, 1844, I have been favored with a let-
ter from the president of one of the most eminent literary insti-
tutions of our country, who expresses his opinion of the prog-
ress of silk culture as follows :

* We have abundant testimony that the most beautiful fabrics, comprising
mantles, &c., as well as cordage, was produced from the bark of trees, as early
as the year 412 B. C. So that Mr. Stebbins's " historical fact" is anticipated by
2012 years ! (See Chapters XII. and XIII. of this Part.)

CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 135

* I am gratified to find a renewed and more general interest
excited at tlic present time. If this awaking up to a scien-
tific and practical consideration of the subject is not soon crown-
ed with signal success, I am satisfied it will not be for want of
enterprize or skill in our countrymen, but merely from the high
price of labor, compared with the scanty wages given in other
silk-growing countries. Even this consideration (though it
may retard for a while the complete success of this department
of productive industry), will not prevent its ultmiate triumph.'

" The above is the opinion of one of the most scientific men
of the age, who, in early life, was himself a silk grower. His
opinion accords with that of many others of high consideration
in the United States.

" While viewing the flourishing condition of one of my mul-
berry patches, you asked with what it had been manured ? and
received for answer, ashes, and the deciduous foliage. The
foliage, you thought, could be gathered for making paper, and
answered, that there would be sufficient defective foliage left to
manure the land ; the foliage is richer than any stable manure,
and stable manure should never be appUed to the mulberry. I
have not had occasion the last five or six years to use even
ashes as a manure, but keep the land in good tilth by frequent
hoeing. If you found these mulberries more flourishing than
others you had seen, it may be attributed, in a great measure,
to frequent hoeing, and dressing with the decayed mulberry
foUage.

" The soil is a Hght sandy loam ] and, previous to its being
stocked with mulberry, would not yield the value of $10 in any
crop ; and now. my feeder says, if his worms do well, he hopes
to get $800 for the crop ! A part of this lot being stocked with
alpine, broosa, and Asiatic mulberry, of 6 to 10 feet in height,
in rows 3 feet apart ; and having grown so vigorously as to
shade each other, and liable to have spotted leaves. I have, in
order to avoid this, and procure more, larger, and better foliage,
cut away or headed down every other row, within three or four
inches of the ground ; and from the stumps have sprung up a
multitude of thrifty sprouts, now fit for use, and the leaves three
times larger than those on the standard trees, are so fresh and

136 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

tender, that in some measure it is hoped, they may answer the
purpose of seedUng foliage, so highly recommended by M. Fras-
sinet, who has the following encomium on seedling foliage :
' that 100 pounds of such foliage is worth near 200 pounds of
old leaves to make the same quantity of cocoons ; or in fact,
equivalent in value to nearly double the stock of other foliage.'
I have caused considerable bark to be stripped from the Asiatic
trees cut away for manufacturing purposes ; and M. Rouviere,
of Lyons, has proved that the bark of young shoots, submitted
to the same process as hemp, yields abundant silk-fibre to make
beautiful tissues (noticed at the close of Chapter XL). I should
advise silk growers to preserve the shoots, have them barked
in the best way, and the silky fibre rotted, carded, spun, and
wove. M. Rou\iere asserts that it will be not only fine and
strong, but take the most beautiful colors. Of the bark, ropes
and nets are made in the Morea, and may be applied to great
advantage m the manufacture of paper, together with the
foUage.

" The Canton and Asiatic seed sown this year are in a floiu"-
ishing condition for plantation use, exclusive of several midber-
ry plantations which will be for rent, or growing silk on shaies,
next spring. Up to the first of July, worms have been uncom-
monly healthy — the probable effect of more open ventilation
than in former years.

" Mr. Dabney, consul at Fayal, (now in Boston) has two mil-
lions of worms at present on feed. S. Whitmarsh, at Jamaica,
has 360 of what he calls creoUzed native eggs, in constant
feed, which go through the whole course to the cocoon in 24
days. The eggs hatch in 10 days after being laid. He has
received the silk report, and made such improvement as to
save, in all, nine-tenths of the usual labor. The silk cause at
Jamaica occasions great mterest in England for its prosperity
and success."

D. Stebbins.

Northampton, Mass., July, 1844.

We will now conclude this Chapter with Dr. Bowring's ad-
mirable illustration, of the mutual dependence of the arts upon
each otlier : —

CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 137

" Let us fancy that some thousand years ago, a mortal, wandering through an
oriental wood, saw a worm falling from a fruit-bearing tree — that he found this
little creature had reached the end of one of its stages of existence, and was labo-
riously engaged in shrouding itself in an unknown substance, like a fine thread of
gold, out of which it constructed its tomb ; that, attracted by the circumstance,
he found this shroud to consist of a thread hundreds of yards long, which a very
little attention enabled him to detach ; he found he could strengthen the threads
by uniting them together, and they could be applied to various purposes of useful-
ness ; he thought of winding off the thread ; the reel lends him the first assistance,
but he could not make the reel without the co-operation of a knife, or some such
uistrument with a sharp edge. Thus the aid of art — of the produce of art — is
already called in. With this rude instrument he makes a machine which enables
him to reel off the thread coffm of the curious animal. In process of time, he
finds that this fine filament can be applied to the making of garments — garments
alike useful and ornamental. Now trace the progress of things by which, from
the narrow sphere of his observation and experiment, his success spreads through
the districts he inhabits, and from them to other lands, and becomes an object of
importance to communicate with the whole family of man. By and by the co-
coon, or its produce, finds its way to foreign countries, probably more enlightened
than his own, again to be operated on by a higher intelligence and more practised
skill. This associates the thread of the silk-worm with a ship, with sliip-building,
and all its marvellous combinations. — Some wandering merchant probably con-
veyed the raw material to Persia ; some adventurous mariner to Greece or Italy,
or other regions where it gave a new impulse to science and to thought. But
consider for a moment, before the ship was launched upon the water, how many
elements were necessary for its production ; think of how multitudinous and va-
rious the materials which that ship required for its construction, before the prod-
ucts of that remote country are brought to their ultimate markets for manufac-
ture. I refer to this particular topic, because it is associated with the prosperity
of the districts in which we are, and I wished to carry back your thoughts to the
germ whence that prosperity sprung." — Bo wring's Lecture at the Poplar Insti-
tution.

18

CHAPTER IX.

THE SPIDER.

ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE SILKEN FILAMENTS FROM SPIDERS.

Structures of spiders — Spiders not properly insects, and why — Apparatus for spin-
ning— Extraordinary number of spinnerules — Great number of filaments com-
posing one thread — Reaumur and Leeuwenhoeck's laughable estimates — At-
tachment of the thread against a wall or stick — Shooting of the lines of spiders
— 1. Opinions of Redi, Swammerdain, and Kirby — 2. Lister, Kirby, and White
— 3. La Pluche and Bingley — 4. D'Isjonval, Murray, and Bowman — 5. Ex-
periments of Mr. Blackwall — His account of the ascent of gossamer — 6. Ex-
periments by Rennie — Thread supposed to go off double — Subsequent experi-
ments— Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders — Elastic satin nest of a spider — Eve-
Ij-n's account of hunting spiders — Labyrinthic spider's nest — Erroneous account
of the House Spider — Geometric Spiders — attempts to procure silken filaments
from Spiders' bags — Experiments of M. Bon — Silken material — Manner of its
preparations — M. Bon's enthusiasm — His spider establisiiment — Spider-silk not
poisonous — Its usefulness in healing wounds — Investigation of M. Bon's estab-
lishment by M. Reaumur — His objections — Swift's satire against speculators
and projectors — Ewbank's interesting observations on the ingenuity of spiders —
Mason-spiders — Ingenious door with a hinge — Nest from the West Indies with
spring hinge — Raft -building Spider — Diving Water-Spider — Rev. Mr. Kirby's
beautiful description of it — Observations of M. Clerck — Cleanliness of Spiders —
Structure of their claws — Fanciful account of them patting their webs — Pro-
ceedings of a spider in a steamboat — Addison — His suggestions on the compila-
tion of a " History of Insects."

Op spiders there are many species ; most of them extend
their labors no further than merely to make a web to ensnare
and detain their food. But others are known to go beyond
this, and spin a bag in the form of a cocoon, for the protection
of their eggs, nearly similar to that of the silk-worm.*

Modern naturalists do not rank spiders among insects, be-
cause they have no antenna?, and no division between the head

* Don Luis Nee observed on certain trees growmg in Chilpancingo, Tixtala in
South America, ovate nests of caterpillars, eight inches long, vi'hich the inhabi
tants manufacture into stockings and handkerchiefs. — Annals of Botany, 2d, p
104.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 139

and shoulders. They breathe by leaf-shaped gills, situated un-
der the bell}', instead of spiracles in the sides ; and have a heart
connected with these. But as spiders are popularly considered
insects, it will sufficiently suit our purpose to introduce them
here as such.

Spiders are usually classed according to their difference of
color, whether black, brown, yellow, <fec., or sometimes by the
number and arrangement of their eyes : of these organs some
possess no fewer than ten, others eight, and others again six*.

Some species of spiders are known to possess the power of not
merely forming a web, Ijut also of spinning, for the protection
of their eggs, a bag somewhat similar in form and substance
to the cocoon of the silk-worm. The apparatus by which they
construct their ingenious fabrics, is much more complicated
than that which is common to the various species of caterpil-
lars. Caterpillars have only two reservoirs for the materials
of their silk ; Init the spider spins minute fibres from fine papil-
lae, or small nipples placed in the hinder part of its body.' These
papillae serve the office of so many wire-drawing machines, from
which the silken threadlets are ejected. Spiders, according to
the dissections of M. Treviranus, have four principal vessels,
two larger and two smaller, with a number of minute ones at
their base. Several small tubes branch towards the reservoirs,
for carrying to them, no doubt, a supply of the secreted mate-
rial. Swammerdam describes them as twnsted into many coils
of an agate colort. We do not find them coiled, but nearly
straight, and of a deep yellow color. From these, when bro-
ken, threads can be drawn out like those spun by the spider,
though we cannot draw them so fine by many degrees.

From these little flasks or bags of gum, situated near the
apex of the abdomen, and not at the mouth as in caterpillars,
a tube originates, and terminates in the external spiimercts,
which may be seen by the naked e3'e in the form of five little
teats surrounded by a small circle, as represented in Fig. 8.

* Porter's " Treatise on tlie Silk Manufacture," p. 168.
t Hill's Swammerdam, part i. p. 23.

140 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

Plate IV. ; this figure shows the garden spider {Epeira dia-
dema) suspended by a thread proceeding from its spinneret.

We have seen tliat the thread of the silk-worm is composed
of two filaments united, but the spider's thread would appear,
from the first view of its five spinnerets, to be quintuple, and in
some species which have six teats, so many times more. It is not
safe, however, in our interpretations of nature to proceed upon
conjecture, however plausible, nor to take anything for granted
which we have not actually seen ; since our inferences in such
cases are almost certain to be erroneous. If Aristotle, for exam-
ple, had ever looked narrowly at a spider when spinning, he
could not have fancied, as he does, that the materials which it
uses are nothing but wool stripped from its body. On looking,
then, with a strong magnifying glass, at the teat-shaped spin-
nerets of a spider, we perceive them studded with regular rows
of minute bristle-like points, about a thousand to each teat,
making in all from five to six thousand. These are minute
tubes which we may appropriately term spinnerides, as each
is connected wdth the internal reservoirs, and emits a thread
of inconceivable fineness. Fig. 9. represents this wonderful
apparatus as it appears in the microscope.

We do not recollect that naturalists have ventured to assign
any cause for this very remarkaljle multiplicity of the spinner-
ules of spiders, so different from the simple spinneret of cater-
pillars. To us it appears an admirable provision for their mode
of life. Caterpillars neither require such strong materials, nor
that their thread should diy as fjuickly. It is well known in
our manufactures, particularly in rope-spinning, that in cords
of equal thickness, those which are composed of many smaller
ones united are stronger than those spun at once. In the in-
stance of the spider's thread, this principle must hold still more
strikingly, inasmuch as it is composed of fluid materials that
require to be dried rapidly, and this drying must be greatly
facilitated by exposing so many to the air separately before
their union, which is effected at about the tenth of an inch
from the spinnerets. In Fig. 10. Plate IV. each of the threads
shown is represented to contain one hundred minute threads,
the whole forming only one of the spider's common threads.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 141

In the figure the threads are, of course, greatly magnified, so
that, for the small space represented, the lines are shown as
parallel. The threadlcts. or filaments as they come from the
papillae, are too fine to be counted with any degree of accuracy,
but it is evident that very many are sent forth from each of the
larger papillse. This fact tends to explain the power possessed
by the spider of producing threads having different degrees of
tenuity. By applying more or less of these papillae against the
place whence it begins its web, the spider joins into one thread
the almost imperceptible individual filaments which it draws
from its body ; the size of this thread being dependent on the
nvnnber of nipples employed, and regulated by that instinct
which teaches the creature to make choice of the degree of
exility most appropriate to the work wherein it is about to
engage.

Reaumur relates that he has often counted as many as seventy
or eighty fibres through a microscope, and perceived that there
were yet infinitely more than he could reckon ; so that he be-
lieved himself to be far within the limit of truth in computing
that the tip of each of the five papillae furnished 1000 separate
fibres : thus supposing that one slender filament of a spider's
web is made up of 5000 fibres !

Leeuwenhoeck, in one of his extraordinary microscopical ob-
servations on a young spider, not bigger than a grain of sand,
upon enumerating the threadlets in one of its threads, calcula-
ted that it would require yb?<r millions of them to be as thick
as a hair of his head !

Another important advantage derived by the spider from the
multiplicity of its threadlets is, that the thread affords a much
more secure attachment to a wall, a branch of a tree, or any
other object, than if it were simple ; for, upon pressing the
spinneret against the oljject, as spiders always do when they fix
a thread, the spinnerules are extended over an area of some
diameter, from every hair's breadth of which a strand, as rope-
makers term it, is extended to compound the main cord. Fig.
11. Plate IV. exhibits, magnified, this ingenious contrivance.
Those who may be curious to examine it, will see it best when

Id2 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

the line is attached to any black object, for the threads, being
whitish, are, in otherwise, not so easily perceived.

Shooting of the lines. — It has long been considered a
curious though difficult investigation, to determine in what
manner spiders, seeing that they are destitute of wing:^, trans-
port themselves from tree to tree, across brooks, and frecjuently
through the air itself, without any apparant starting point. Ou
looking into the authors who have treated upon this subject,
it is siuprising how Uttle there is to be met with that is new,
even in the most recent. Their conclusions, or rather their
conjectural opinions, are, however, worthy of notice ; for by
tinleaming error, we the more firmly establish truth.

1. One of the earhest notions upon this subject is that of
Blancanus, the commentator on Aristotle, which is partly
adopted by Redi, by Henricus Regius of Utrecht, by Swammer-
dam*. l)y Lehmann, as well as by Kirby and Spencet. " The
spiders thread," says Swammerdam, '• is generally made up of
two or more parts, and after descending by such a thread, it as-
cends by one only, and is thus enabled to waft itself from one
height or tree to another, even across running waters ; the
thread it leaves loose behind it being driven about by the wind,
and so fixed to some other body." '-'I placed," says Kirby,
" the large garden spider (£^;jeira diadema) upon a stick about

a foot long, set upright in a vessel containing w^ater

It let itself drop, not by a single thread, but by two, each distant
from the other about the twelfth of an inch, guided, as usual,
by one of its hind feet, and that one apparently smaller than
the other. When it had suffered itself to descend nearly to the
surface of the water, it stopped short, and by some means,
which I could not distinctly see, broke off, close to the spinners,
the smallest thread, which still adliering by the other end to
the top of the stick, floated in the air, and was so hght as to be
carried about by the slightest breath. On approaching a pencil
to the loose end of this line, it did not adhere from mere con-
tact. I, therefore, twisted it once or twice round the pencil, and
then drew it tight. The spider, which had previously climbed

* Swammerdam, part i. p. 24. t Intr. vol. i. p. 415.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 143

to the top of the Stick, immediately pulled at it with one of its
feet and finding it sufficiently tense, crept along it, stiengthcn-
ing'it as it proceeded by another thread, and thus reached the

pencil." ,,

1. " We have repeatedly witnessed this occurrence, says Mr.
Rennie, " in the fields, and when spiders were placed for experi-
ment, as Kirby has described; but we very much doubt that
the thread broken is ever intended as a bridge cable, or that it
would have been so used in that instance, had it not been arti-
ficially fixed and again accidentally found by the spider. Ac-
cording to our observations, a spider never for an instant, aban-
dons, the thread which she dispatches in quest of an attach-
ment, but uniformly keeps trying it with her feet, in order to
ascertain its success. We are, therefore, persuaded, that when
a thread is broken in the manner above described, it is because
it has been spun too weak, and spiders may often be seen break-
ing such threads in the process of netting their webs."

The plan, besides, as explained by these distinguished writers,
would more frequently prove abortive than successful, from the
cut thread not being sufficiently long. They admit, indeed,
that spiders' lines are often found " a yard or two long, fastened
to twigs of grass not a foot in height. . . .^^. Here, there-
fore, some other process must have been used*."

2. The celebrated Enghsh naturalist, Dr. Lister, whose
treatise upon the native spiders of that country, has been the
basis of every subsequent work on the subject, maintains that
" some spiders shoot out their threads in the same manner tliat
porcupines do their quillst ; that whereas the quills of the lat-
ter are entirely separated from their bodies, when thus shot out,
the threads of the former remain fixed to their anus, as the
sun's rays to its bodyt." A French periodical writer goes a lit-
tle farther, and says, that spiders have the power of sliooiing
out threads, atid directing them at pleasure towards a deter-
mined point, judging of the distance and position of the ob-

* Kirbv and Spence, vol. i. Intr. p. 41G.

t Porcupines do not shoot out their quills, as was once generally believed.

t Lister, Hist. Animulia Anglian 4to. p. 7.

144 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

ject by some sense of which we are ignorant*. Kirby also
says, that he once observed a small garden spider {Aranea re-
ticulata) " standing midway on a long perpendicular fixed
thread, and an appearance caught" his " eye, of what seemed
to be the emission of threads." " I," therefore, he adds, " moved
my arm in the direction in which they apparently proceeded,
and, as I had suspected, a floating thread attached itself to my
coat, along which the spider crept. As this was connected with
the spinners of the spider, it could not have been formed" by
breaking a "secondary threadt." Again, in speaking of the
gossamer-spider, he says, " it first extends its thigh, shank, and
foot, into a right line, and then, elevating its abdomen till it be-
comes vertical, shoots its thr'ead into the air, and flies off from
its station+."

Another distinguished naturalist, Mr. White of Selborne, in
speaking of the gossamer-spider, says, "Every day in fine
weather in autumn do I see these spiders shooting out theii"
webs, and mounting aloft : they will go off from the finger, if
you take them into your hand. Last summer, one ahghted on
my book as I was reading in the parlor ; ran to the top of the
page, and shooting out a iveb, took its departure from thence.
But what I most wondered at, was, that it went off with consid-
erable velocity in a place where no air was stirring ; and I am
sure I did not assist it with my breath§."

" Having so often witnessed," says Mr. Rennie, " the thread
set afloat in the air by spiders, we can readily conceive the way
in wliich those eminent naturalists were led to suppose it to be
ejected by some animal force acting like a syringe ; but as the
statement can be completely disproved by experiment, we shaU
only at present ask, in the words of Swammerdam — 'how can
it be possible that a thread so fine and slender should be shot
out with force enough to divide and pass through the air ? — is
it not rather probable that the air would stop its progress, and
so entangle it and fit it to perplex the spider's operationsll V "

* Phil. Mag. ii. p. 275.

t Vol. i. Intr. p. 417. t Ibid. ii. p. .339.

§ Nat. Hist, of Selbome, vol. i. p. 327. |1 Book of Nature, part i. p. 25.

SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 145

The opinion, indeed, is equally improbable with another sug-
gested by Dr. Lister, that the spider can retract her thread
within the abdomen, after it has been emitted*. De Geerf very
justly joins Swammerdam in rejecting both of these fancies,
which, in our own earlier observations upon spiders, certainly
struck us as plausible and true. There can be no doubt, indeed,
that the animal has a voluntary power of permitting the ma-
terial to escape, or stopping it at pleasure, but this is not pro-
jectile.

3. '■ There are many people," says the Abbe de la Pluche,
" who believe that the spider flies when they see her pass from
branch to branch, and even from one high tree to another ; but
she transports herself in this manner ; and places herself upon
the end of a branch, or some projecting Ijody, and there fastens
her thread ; after which, with her two hind feet, she squeezes
her dugs {spinnerets)^ and presses out one or more threads of
two or three ells in length, which she leaves to float in the air
till it be fixed to some particular placet." Without pretending
to have observed this, Swammerdam says, " I can easily com-
prehend how spiders, without giving themselves any motion,
may, l>y only compressing their spinnerets, force out a tliread,
which being driven by the wind, may serve to waft them from
place to place§." Others, proceeding upon a similar notion,
give a rather different account of the matter. " The spider,"
says Bingley, " fixes one end of a thread to the place where
she stands, and then with her hind paws drairs out several
other threads from the nipples, which, being lengthened out
and driven by the wind to some neighboring tree or other ob-
ject, are b}^ their natural clanmiiness fixed to itil."

Observation gives some plausibility to the latter opinion, as
the spider always actively uses her legs, though not to draw
out the thread, but ascertain whether it has caught ujwn any
object. The notion of her pressing the spinneret with her feet

* Hist. Aniin. Anglae, 4to. t M^moires, vol. vii. p. 189

t Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i. § Book of Nature, pt. i. p. 25.

11 Animal Biography, vol. iii. p. 475, 3d edition.

19

146 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

must be a mere fancy ; at least it is not countenanced by any-
thing which we have observed.

4. An opinion mucli more recondite is mentioned, if it was
not started, by M. D'Isjonval, that the floating of the spider's
thread is electrical. " Frogs, cats, and other animals," he says,
'• are afiected by natural electricity, and feel the change of wea-
ther ; but no other animal more than myself and spiders." In
wet and windy weather he accordingly found that they spun
very short lines, " but when a spider sjrins a long thread,
there is a certainty of fine weather for at least ten or twelve
days afterxoards* P A periodical writer, who signs himself
Carolant, fancies that in darting out her thread the spider emits
a stream of air, or some subtle electric fluid, by which she
guides it as if by magic.

A living writer (Mr. John Murray) whose learning and skill
in conducting experiments give no little weight to his opinions,
has carried these views considerably farther. " The aeronautic
spider," he says, " can propel its thread both horizontally and
vertically, and at all relative angles, in motionless air and in
an atmosphere agitated by winds ; nay more, the aerial trav-
eller can even dart its thread, to use a nautical phrase, in the
' wind's eye.' My opinion and observations are based on many

hundred experiments The entire phenomena are

electrical. When a thread is propelled in a vertical plane, it
remains perpendicular to the horizontal plane always upright,
and when others are projected at angles more or less inclined,
their direction is invariably preserved ; the threads never inter-
mingle, and when a pencil of threads is propelled, it ever pre-
sents the appearance of a divergent brush. These are elec-
trical phenomena, and cannot be explained but on electrical
principles."

" In clear, fine weather, the air is invarial)ly positive ; and it
is precisely in such weather that the aeronautic spider makes
its ascent most easily and rapidl}^, whether it be in summer or
winter." " When the air is weakly positive, the ascent of the

* Brez, Flore des Insectophilcs. Notes, Supp. p. 134.
t Thomson's Ann. of Philosophy, vol. iii. p. 306.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 147

spider will be difficult, and its altitude extremely limited, and
ihe threads propelled will be but little elevated above the hori-
zontal plane. When negative electricity prevails, as in cloudy
weather, or on the approach of rain, and the index of De
Saussure's hygrometer rapidly advancing towards humidity, the
spider is unable to ascend*."

Mr. Murray tells us, that " when a stick of excited sealing-
w^ax is brought near the thread of suspension, it is evidently
repelled ; consequently, the electricity of the thread is of a
negative character," while " an excited glass tube brought near,
seemed to attract the thread, and with it the aeronautic
spidert." His friend, Mr. Bowman, further describes the aerial
spider as " shooting out four or five, often six or eight, extreme-
ly fine webs several yards long, which waved in the breeze, di-
verging from each other Ukc a pencil of rays." One of them
" had two distinct and widely diverging fasciculi of w^ebs," and
" a line uniting them w^ould have been at right angles to the
direction of the breezet."

'• Such is the chief evidence in support of the electrical the-
ory," says Mr. Rennie ; " but though we have tried these ex-
periments, we have not succeeded in verifying any one of them.
The following statements of Mr. Blackwall come nearer our
own observations.

5. ' Having procured a small branched twig,' says Mr.
BlackwaU, ' I fixed it upright in an earthen vessel containing
water, its base being immersed in the liquid, and upon it I
placed several of the spiders which produce gossamer. When-
ever the insects thus circumstanced were exposed to a current
of air, either naturally or artificially produced, they directly
turned the thorax towards the quarter whence it came, even
when it was so sUght as scarcely to be perceptible, and eleva-
ting the abdomen, they emitted from their spinners a small por-
tion of glutinous matter, which was instantly carried out in a
Une, consisting of four finer ones, with a velocity equal, or nearly

* Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 322.
t Experim. Researches in Nat. Hist., p. 136
t Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 324.

148 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

SO, to that with which the air moved, as was apparent from
observations made on the motion of detached Hnes similarly
exposed. The spiders, in the next place, carefully ascertained
whether their lines had become firmly attached to any object
or not, by pulling at them with the front pair of legs : and if
the residt was satisfactory, after tightening them sufficiently,
they made them pass to the twig ; then discharging from their
spinners, which they applied to the spot where they stood, a
httle more of their hquid gum, and committing themselves to
these bridges of their own constructing, they passed over them
in safety, drawing a second line after them, as a security in case
the first gave way, and so effected their escape.

' Such was invariably the result when spiders were placed
where the air was liable to be sensibly agitated : I resolved, there-
fore, to put a bell-glass over them ; and in this situation they re-
mained seventeen days, evidently unable to produce a single
line by which they could C}uit the branch they occupied, with-
out encomitering the water at its base ; though, on the removal
of the glass, they regained their liberty with as much celerity
as in the instances already recorded.

' This experiment, which, from want of due precaution, has
misled so many distinguished naturalists, I have tried with sev-
eral geometric spiders, and always with the same success*.' "

Mr. Blackwall, from subsequent experiments, says he is
" confident in affirming, that in motionless air, spiders have not
the power of darting their threads even through the space of
half an incht." The following details are given in confirma-
tion of this opinion. Mr. Blackwall observed, the 1st of Oct.,
1826, a httle before noon, with the sun shining brightly, no
wind stirring, and the thermometer in the shade ranging from
55°. 5 to 64°, a profusion of shining lines crossing each other at
every angle, forming a confused net-work, covering the fields
and hedges, and thickly coating his feet and ankles, as he
walked across a pasture. He was more struck with the pheno-
menon because on the previous day a strong gale of wind had
blown from the south, and as gossamer is only seen in calm

* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 456. t Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 397.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 149

weather, it must have been all produced within a very short
time.

" What more particularly arrested my attention," says Mr.
Blackwall, " was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs
of an irregular, complicated structure, resembling ravelled
silk of the finest quality, and clearest white ; they were of
various shapes and dimensions, some of the largest measur-
ing upn-ards of a yard in length, and several inches in
breadth in the widest part ; while others rcere almost as
broad as long, presenting an area of a few square inches
only.

" These webs, it was quickly perceived, were not formed in
the air, as is generally believed, but at the earth^s surface.
The lines of which they were composed, being brought into
contact by the mechanical action of gentle airs, adhered to-
gether, till, by continual additions, they were accumulated into
flakes or masses of considerable magnitude, on whicii the as-
cending current, occasioned by the rarefaction of the air con-
tiguous to the heated ground, acted with so much force as to
separate them from the objects to which they were attached,
raising them in the atmosphere to a perpendicular height of at
least several hundred feet. I collected a number of these webs
about mid-day, as they rose ; and again in the afternoon, when
the upward current had ceased, and they were falUrig ; but
scarcely one in twenty contained a spider : though, on minute
inspection, I found small winged insects, chiefly aphides, en-
tangled in most of them.

" From contemplating this unusual display of gossamer, my
thoughts w^ere naturally directed to the animals which pro-
duced it, and the countless myriads in which they swarmed al-
most created as much surprise as tlie singular occupation that
engrossed them. Apparently actuated by the same impulse,
all were intent upon traversing the regions of air ; accordingly,
after gaining the summits of various objects, as blades of
grass, stubble, rails, gates, cjv., by the slow and laborious
process of climbing, they raised themselves still higher by
strengthening their limbs ; and elevating the abdomen, by
bringing it from the usual horizontal position into one al-

150 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

most perpendicular, they emitted from their spinnijig appa
ratus a sinall quantity of the glutinous secretion tcith which
they construct their webs. This viscous substance being
dra\m out by the ascending current of rarefied air into fine
lines several feet in length, was carried upward, until tlie spi-
ders, feeling themselves acted upon with suthcient force in that
direction, quitted their hold of the objects on which they stood,
and commenced their journey by mounting aloft.

'• Whenever the hues became inadequate to the purpose for
which they were intended, by adhering to any fixed body, they
were immediately detached from the spinners and so converted
into terrestrial gossamer, by means of the last pair c^ legs, and
the proceedings just described were repeated ; which plainly
proves that these operations result from a strong desire felt by
the insects to eflfect an ascent*.'' Mr. BlackwaU has recently
read a paper (still unpublished) in the Linnaean Society, confij:-
matory of his opinions.

6. " Without going into the particulars," says Mr. Rennie,
" of what agrees or disagrees in the above expeiiments with
our own observations, we shall give a brief account of what
we have actually seen in our researches. So far as we have
determined, then, all the various species of spiders, how differ-
ent soever the form of their webs may be, proceed in the circum-
stance of shooting their hnes precisely aUke ; but those which
we have found the most manageable in experimenting, are the
small gossamer spider (Aranea ohtextrix, Bechstein), known
by its shuiing blackish-broA\Ti body and reddish-brown semi-
transparent legs ; but particularly the long-bodied spider ( Te-
trognatha extensa, Latr.), which varies in color from green
to brownish or grey — but has always a black line along the
belly, with a silvery white or yeUownsh one on each side. The
latter is cliiefly recommended by being a very indvistrious and
persevering spinner, while its movements are easily seen, from
the long cyhndrical form of its body and the length of its legs.

'• "We placed the above two species with five or six others, in-
cluding the garden, the domestic, and the labyrinlhic spiders,

* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 453.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 151

in empty wine-glasses, set in tea-saucers filled with water, to
prevent their escape. When they discovered, by repeated de-
scents from the brinis of tlie glasses, that they were thus sur-
rounded by a w^et ditch, they all set themselves to the task of
throwing their silken bridges across. For this purpose they
first endeavored to ascertain in what direction the wind blew,
or rather (as the experiment was made in our study) which
w^ay any current of air set, — by elevating their arms as we
have seen sailors do in a dead calm. But, as it may prove
more interesting to keep to one individual, we shall first watch
the proceedings of the gossamer spider.

" Finding no current of air on any quarter of the brim of the
glass, it seemed to give up all hopes of constructing its bridge
of escape, and placed itself in the attitude of repose ; but no
sooner did we j^roduce a stream of air, by blowing gently
towards its jjosition, than, fixing a thread to the glass, and
layitig hold of it with one of its feet, by way of security, it
placed its body in a vertical jjosition, with its spinnerets ex-
tended outwards ; and immediately we had the pleasure of
seeing a thread streaming out from them several feet in
length, on which the little aeronaut sprung up into the air.
We were convinced, from what we thus observed, that it was
the double or bend of the thread which w^as blown into the
air ; and we assigned as a reason for her previously attaching
and drawing out a thread from the glass, the wish to give the
wind a j^oint d^appui — something upon which it might have
a jiurchase, as a mechanic would say of a lever. The bend
of the thread, then, on this view of the matter, woidd be car-
ried out by the wind, — ^would form the point of impulsion, — ^and,
of course, tlie escape bridge would be an ordinary line doubled."

Such is the opinion of Mr. Rennie, which is strongly corrobo-
rated by what has been said by M. Latreille — than whom no
higher authority could be given. " When the animal," says
he, " desires to cross a brook, she fixes to a tree or some other
object one of the ends of her first threads, in order that the wmd
or a current of air may carry the other beyond the obstacle* ;"

* " L'un des bouts de ces premiers fils, afiii que le vent ou un courant

152 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

and as one end is always attached to the spinnerets, he must
mean that the double of the thread flies ofi". In his previous
publications, however, Latreille had contented himself with
copying the statement of Dr. Lister. " In order to ascertain
the fact," says Mr. Rennie, " and put an end to all doubts, we
watched, with great care and minuteness, the proceedings of
the long-bodied spider above mentioned, by producing a stream
of air in the same manner, as it perambulated the brim of the
glass. It immediately, as the other had done, attached a thread
and raised its body perpendicularly, like a tumbler standing on
his hands with his head downwards ; but we looked in vain for
this thread bending, as we had at first supposed, and going off
double. Instead of this it remained tight, while another thread,
or what appeared to be so, streamed off from the spinners, simi-
lar to smoke issuing through a pin-hole, sometimes in a line,
and sometimes at a considerable angle, with the first, according
to the current of the air, — the first thread, extended from the
glass to the spinnerets, remaining all the while tight drawn in
a right line. It further appeared to us, that the first thread
proceeded from the pair of spinnerets nearest the head, while
the floating thread came from the outer pair, — though it is
possible in such minute objects we may have been deceived.
That the first was continuous with the second, without any
perceptible joining, we ascertained in numerous instances, by
catching the floating line and pulling it tight, in which case
the spider glides along without attaching another line to the
glass ; but if she have to coil up the floating line to lighten it,
as usually happens, she gathers it into a packet and glues the
two ends tight together. Her body, while the floating line
streamed out, remained quite motionless, but we distinctly
saw the spinnerets not only projected, as is always done when
a spider spins, but moved in the same way as an infant moves
its lips when sucking. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this
motion is intended to emit (if eject or project be deemed words
too strong), the liquid material of the thread ; at the same time,

d'air pousse I'autre extr^mitd de I'un d'eux au de li de I'obstacle." — Diet. Clas-
sique d'Hist. Nat., vol. i. p. 510.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 153

we are quite certain that it cannot throw out a single inch of
thread without the aid of a current of air. A long-bodied
spider will thus throw out in succession as many threads as we
please, by simply blowing towards it ; but not one where there
is no current, as under a bell-glass, where it may be kept till it
die, without being able to construct a bridge over water of an
inch J(^g. We never observed more than one floating thread
prodiieed at the same time; though other observers mention
several.

" The probable commencement, we think, of the floating line,
is by the emission of little globules of the glutinous material to
the points of the spinnerules — perhaps it may be dropped from
them, if not ejected, and the globules being carried off by the
current of air, drawn out into a thread. But we give this as
only a conjecture, for we could not bring a glass of sufficient
power to bear upon the spinnerules at the commencement of
the floating line.

" In subsequent experiments we found, that it was not indis-
pensable for the spider to rest upon a solid body when producing
a Une, as she can do so while she is suspended in the air by
another line. When the current of air also is strong, she Aviil
sometimes commit herself to it by swinging from the end of the
Une. We have even remarked this when there was scarcely a
breath of air.

" We tried another experiment. We pressed pretty firmly
upon the base of the spinnerets, so as not to injure the spider,
blowing obli([uely over them ; but no floating Une appeared.
We then touched them with a pencil and drew out several
lines an inch or two in length, upon which we blew in order to
extend them, but in this also we were unsuccessful, as they did
not lengthen more than a quarter of an inch. We next traced
out the reservoirs of a garden-spider [Epcira diadcma), and
immediately taking a drop of the matter from one of them on
the point of a fine needle, we directed upon it a strong current
of air, and succeeded in blowing out a thick yellow line, as we
might have done with gum-water, of about an inch and a half
long.

" When we observed our long-l)odied spider eager to throw a

2U

154 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

line by raising up its l)ody, wc l:)ronght within three inches of
its spinnerets an excited stick of sealing-wax, of which it took
no notice, nor did any thread extend to it, not even when
brought ahnost to touch the spinnerets. We experienced the
same want of success with an excited glass rod ; and indeed
had not anticipated any other result, as we have never observed
that either these attract or repel the floating threads^ as Mr.
Murray has seen them do ; nor have we ever noticed iBe end
of a floating thread separated into its component threadlets and
diverging hke a brush, as he and Mr. Bowman describe (See
Fig. 11.). It may be proper to mention that Mr. Murray, in
conformity with his theory, explains the shooting of lines in a
current of air by the electric state produced by motion in con-
sequence of the mutual friction of the gaseous particles. But
this view of the matter does not seem to afl'ect our state-
ments."

Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders. — " The neatest,"
says Mr. Rennie, " though the smallest spider's nest which
we have seen, was constructed in the chink of a garden-
post, which we had cut out the previous summer in getting
at the cells of a carpenter-bee. The architect was one of the
larger hunting-spiders, erroneously said by some naturalists to
be incapable of spinning. The nest in question was about
two inches high, composed of a very close satin-like texture.
There were two parallel chambers placed perpendicularly, in
which position also the inhabitant reposed there during the day.
going, as we presume, only abroad to prey during the night.
But the most remarkable circumstance was, that the openings
(two above and two below) were so elastic, that they shut close-
ly together. We observed this spider for several months, but
at last it disappeared, and we took the nest out under the no-
tion that it might contain eggs ; but found none, and therefore
concluded that it was only used as a day retreat." The ac-
count which Evelyn has given of these hunting spiders is so
interesting that we must transcribe it.

" Of all sorts of insects," says he, " none have afforded
me more divertisement than the venatores (hunters), which
are a sort of bipi (wolves) that have their dens in rugged

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 155

walls and crevices of our houses ; a small brown and delicately-
spotted kind of spiders, whose hinder legs are longer than the
rest. Such I did frequently observe at Rome, which, espying
a fly at three or four yards distance, upon the balcony where I
stood, would not make directly to her, hut crawl under the
rail, till being arrived to the antipodes, it would steal i/p,
seldom missing its aim; but if it chanced to want anything
of being perfectly opposite, iconld, at first peep, immediate-
ly slide doicn again, — till taking better notice, it woidd
come the next time exactly upon the fly''s hack : hut if this
happened not to be within a competent leap, then icould this
insect move so softly, as the very shadoic of the gnomon
seemed not to be more imperceptible, unless the fly moved ;
and then xcould the spider move also in the same proportion,
keeping that just tiine with her motion, as if the same soul
had animated both these little bodies ; and whether it were
forivards, backwards, or to either side, ivithout at all tum-
i7ig her body, like a well-m,anaged horse : hut if the capri-
cious fly took wing and pitched upon another place behind
our huntress, then vjould the spider u-hirl its body so nimbly
about, as nothing could be imagined more swift : by ivhich
means she always kept the head towards her prey, though,
to apjiearance, as immoveable as if it had been a nail driven
into the ivood, till by that indiscernible progress {being ar-
rived within the sphere of her reach) she m^ade a fatal leap,
sicift as lightning, upon the fly, catching him in the pole,
ivhere she never quitted hold till her belly was full, and then
carried the remainder homeP

One feels a little sceptical, however, when he adds, '• I have
beheld ihdva instructing their young ones hoio to hunt, which
they would sometimes discipline for not well observing; but
when any of the old ones did (as sometimes) miss a leap, they
would run out of the field and hide themselves in their cran-
nies, as ashamed, and haply not to he seen abroad for four
or five hours after ; for so long have I watched the nature of
this strange insect, the contemplation of whose so wonderful
sagacity and address has amazed me ; nor do I find in any
chase whatsoever more cunning and stratagem observed. I

156 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

have found some of these spiders in my garden, when the
weather, towards spring, was very hot, but they are not so
eager in hunthig as in Italy*."

We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the hunt-
ing-spider, when he leaps, takes good care to provide against
accidental falls by always swinging himself from a good strong
cable of silk, as Swammerdam correctly states!, and which any-
body may recognise, as one of the small hunters [iSalticus
sceniats), known by its back striped. with black and white like
a zebra.

Mr. Weston, the editor of " Bloomfield's Remains," falls into
a very singular mistake about hunting-spiders, imagining them
to be web-weaving ones which have exhausted their materials,
and are therefore compelled to hunt. In proof of this he gives
an instance which came under his own observation + !

" As a -contrast," says Mr. Rennie, " to the little elastic satin
nest of the hunter, we may mention the largest with which we
are accjuainted, — that of the labyrinthic spider [Agelena laby-
rinthica, Walckenaer). Our readers must often have seen
this nest spread out hke a broad sheet in hedges, furze, and
other low bushes, and sometimes on the ground. The middle
of this sheet, which is of a close texture, is swung hke a sail-
or's hammock, by silken ropes extended all around to the
higher branches ; but the whole curves upwards and back-
wards, sloping down to a long funnel-shaped gallery which is
nearly horizontal at the entrance, but soon winds obliquel}- till
it becomes quite perpendicular. This curved gallery is about a
quarter of an inch in diameter, is much more closely woven
than the sheet part of the web, and sometimes descends into a
hole in the ground, though oftener into a group df crowded
twigs, or a tuft of grass. Here the spider dwells secure, fre-
quently resting with her legs extended from the entrance of
the gallery, ready to spring out upon whatever insect may fall
into her sheet net. She herself can only be caught by getting
behind her and forcing her out into the web ; but though we

* Evelyn's Travels in Italy. t Book of Nature, part i. p. 24.

X Bloomfield's Remains, vol. ii. p. 64, note.

SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER, 157

have often endeavored to make lier construct a nest under our
eye, we have been as unsuccesful as in similar experiments with
the common house spider [Aranca domcstica).

" Tlie house spider's proceedings were long ago described by
Homberg, and the account has been copied, as usual, by almost
every subsequent writer. Goldsmith has, indeed, given some
strange mis-statements from his own observations, and Bingley
has added the original remark, that, after fixing its first thread,
creeping along the wall, and joining it as it proceeds, it ' darts
itself to the opjwsite side, where the other end is to be fasten-
ed* !' Romberg's spider took the more circuitous route of trav-
elling to the opposite wall, carrying in one of its claws the end
of the thread previously fixed, lest it should stick in the wrong
place. This we believe to be the correct statement, for as the
web is always horizontal, it would seldom answer to commit a
floating thread to the wind, as is done by other species. Rom-
berg's spider, after sti-etching as many fines by way of tcarp as
it deemed sufiicient between the two walls of the corner which
it had chosen, proceeded to cross this in the way our weavers do
in adding the ivoof, with this difference, that the spider's threads
were only laid on, and not interlaced!. The domestic spiders,
however, in these modern days, must have forgot this mode of
weaving, for none of their webs will be found thus regularly
constructed !"

The geometric, or net-working spiders (See Fig. 12. Plate
IV.) are as well known as any of the preceding ; almost every
bush and tree in our gardens and hedge-rows having one or
more of their nests stretched out in a vertical position between
adjacent branches. The common garden spider [Epeira dia-
e/ema), and the long-bodied spider {Tetragnatha extensa), are
the best kno\vn of this order.

" The chief care of a spider of this sort," says Mr. Rennie,
" is, to form a cable of sufficient strength to bear the net she
means to hang upon it ; and after throwing out a floating line
as above described, when it catches properly, she doubles and

* Animal Biography, iii. 470, 471.

t Mem. de I'Acad. des Sciences, pour 1707, p. 339.

158 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

redoubles it with additional threads. On trying its strength she
is not contented with the test of pulhng it with her legs, but
drops herself down several feet from various points of it, as we
have often seen, swinging and bobbing with the whole weight
of her body. She proceeds in a similar manner with the rest
of the frame of her wheel-shaped net ; and it may be remarked
that some of the ends of these lines are not simple, but in fonn
of a Y, giving her the additional security of two attachments
instead of one."

In constructing the body of the nest, the most remarkable
circumstance is the using of her limbs as a measure, to regu-
late the distances of her radii or whecl-spokes (See Fig. 12.
Plate IV., which represents the geometric net of the " Epeira
diademd'^), and the circular meshes interwoven into them.
These are consequently always proportional to the size of the
spider. She often takes up her station in the centre, but not
always, though it is so said by inaccurate writers ; but she as
frequently lurks in a Uttle chamber constructed under a leaf or
other shelter at the corner of her web, ready to dart down upon
w4iatever prey may be entangled in her net. The centre of
the net is said also to be composed of more viscid materials than
its suspensory lines, — a circumstance alleged to be proved by
the former appearing under the micoscrope studded with glo-
bules of gum*. "We have not been able,"' says Mr. Rennie,
" to verify this distinction, having seen the suspensory lines as
often studded in this manner as those in the centre."

At the commencement of the last century a method was
discovered in France by Monsieur Bon, of procuring silk from
spiders' bags, and its use was attempted in the manufactvue of
several articles. Mr. Bon has, however, noticed only two kinds
of silk-making spiders, and these he has distinguished from
each other as having either long or short legs, the last variety
producing the finest quality of raw silk. According to this in-
genious observer, the sil!c formed by these insects is equally
beautiful, strong, and glossy with that formed by the silk-worm.
When first formed, the color of these spiders' bags is gray, but,

* Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 419.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 159

by exposure to the air, they soon acquire a blackish hue. Other
spider bags might probably be found of ditferent colors, and af-
fording silic of better quality, but their scarcity would render
any experiment with them difficult of accomplishment ; for
whicii reason M. Bon confined his attention to the bags of the
common sort of the short-legged kind.

These always form their bags in some place sheltered from
the wind and rain, such as the hollow trunks of trees, the cor-
ners of windows or vaults, or under the caves of houses. A
quantity of the bags was collected from which a new kind of
silk was made, said to be in no respect inferior to the produce
of the silk- worm. It took readily all kinds of dyes, and might
have been ^v^ought into any description of silken fabric. Mr.
Bon had stockings and gloves made from it, some of which he
presented to the Royal Academy of Paris, and others he trans-
mitted to the Royal Society of London.

This silk was prepared in the following manner : — Twelve or
thirteen ounces of the bags were beaten with a stick, until they
became entirely freed from dust. They were next washed in
warm water, which was continually changed, until it no longer
became clouded or discolored by the bags under process. After
this they were steeped in a large quantity of water wherein
soap, saltpetre, and gum-arabic had been dissolved. The
whole was then gently boiled during three hours, after which
the bags were rinsed in clear warm water to discharge the
soap. They were finally set out to dry, previous to the opera-
tion of carding, which was then performed with cards difl'er-
ing from those usually employed with silk, being much finer.
By these means silk of a peculiar ash color was obtained,
which was spun without difficulty. Mr. Bon afiirmod that
the thread was both stronger and finer than common silk, and
that therefore fabrics similar to those made with the latter ma-
terial might be manufactured from this, there being no reason
for doubting that it would stand any trials of the loom, after
having undergone those of the stocking frame.

The only obstacle, therefore, which appeared to prevent the
establishing of any considerable manufacture from these spider
bags was the difficulty of obtaining them in sufficient abund-

160 CULTIVATIOX AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

ance. Mr. Bon fancied that this objection could soon be over-
come, and that the art of domesticating and rearing spiders, as
practised with sillc-worms, was to be attained. Carried away
by the enthusiasm of one who, having made a discovery, pur-
sues it with ardor undismayed by difficuhies, he met every ob-
jection by comparisons, which perhaps were not wholly and
strictly founded on fact. Contrasted \\ath the spider, and to
favor his arguments, the silk-worm in his hands made a very
despicable figure. He affirmed that the female spider produces
600 or 700 eggs ; while of the 100, to which number he hmit-
ed the silk-worm, not more than one-half were reared to pro-
duce balls. That the spiders hatched spontaneously, without
any care, in the months of August and September ; that the
old spiders dying soon after they have laid their eggs, the young
ones live for ten or twelve months without food, and continue
in their bags without gro\\-ing. until the hot weather, by put-
ting their viscid juices in motion, induces them to come forth,
spin, and run about in search of food.

Mr. Bon's spider establishment, was managed in the follow-
ing manner : — having ordered all the short-legged spiders
which could be collected by persons employed for the purpose,
to be brought to him, he inclosed them in paper coffins and
pots ; these were covered with papers, which, as well as the
coffins, were pricked over their surface with pin-holes to admit
air to the prisoners. The insects were duly fed with flies, and
after some time it was found on inspection that the greater
part of them had formed their bags. This advocate for the
rearing of spiders contended that spiders' bags afforded much
more silk in proportion to their weight than those of the silk-
worm ; in proof of which he observed, that thirteen ounces
jdeld nearly four ounces of pure silk, two ounces of which were
sufficient to make a pair of stockings ; whereas stockings made
of common silk were said by him to weigh seven or eight
ounces.

It was objected by some of Mr. Bon's contemporaries, that
spiders were venomous ; and this is so far true that a bite from
some of the species is very painful, producing as much swelUng
as the smart sting of a nettle. Mr. Bon, however, asserted that

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 161

he was several times bitten, without experiencing any inconve-
nience ; if so, he was more fortunate or less sensitive than any
of the spider- tamers with whom we have been acquainted. It
was further asserted, that this venom extended itself to the silk
which the spider produced ; but this assertion was utterly ab-
surd, as any one who has ever applied a cobweb to stop the
bleeding from a cut ought to have known. Mr. Bon declared
with perfect truth, that the silk, so far from being pernicious,
was useful in staunching and liealing wounds, its natural glu-
ten acting as a kind of balsam. •

The honest enthusiasm of the projector, and the singularity
of a regular establishment being formed for rearing and work-
ing spiders, excited a considerable share of pubUc attention. It
was, indeed, an age of strange speculations, for nearly at the
same time a German gentleman broached a scheme for turn-
ing tame squirrels and mice to account in spinning ; and com-
panies were formed in England, with large nominal capitals to
carry out schemes still more preposterous. So important did
Mr. Bon's project appear to the French Academy, that they
deputed the eminent naturalist, M. Reaumur, to investigate
the merits of this new silk-filament.

After a long and patient examination M. Reaumur stated the
following objections to Mr. Bon's plan for raising spider-silk,
which have ever since been regarded as insurmountable.

1. The natural fierceness of spiders renders them unfit to be
bred together. On distributing four or five thousand of these
insects into cells or companies of from fifty to one or two hun-
dred, it was found that the larger spiders quickly killed and
ate the smaller^ so that in a short space of time the cells were
depopulated, scarcely more than one or two being found in each
cell.

2. The sillv of the spider is inferior to that of the silk-worm
both in lustre and strength ; and produces less material in pro-
portion, than can be made available for the purposes of the
manufacture. The filament of the spider's-bag can support a
weight of only thirty-six grains, while that of the silk-worm
will sustain a weight of one hundred and fifty grains. Thus
four or five threads of the spider must be brought together to

21

162 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

equal one thread of the silk-worm, and as it is impossible that
these should be applied so accurately over each other as not to
leave httle vacant spaces between them, the Ught is not equally
reflected, and the lustre of the material is consequently inferior
to that in which a solid thread is used.

3. A great disadvantage of the spider's silk is, that it cannot
be wound off the ball like that of the silk-worm, but must ne-
cessarily be carded. By this latter process, its evenness, which
contributes so materially to its lustre, is destroyed.

The ferociousness and pugnacity of the spiders are not ex-
aggerated ; they fight hke furies. Their voracity, too, is al-
most incredible, and it is very questionable whether the mere
collection of flies sufficient to feed a large number of the spi-
ders would not involve an amount of expense fatal to the proj-
ect as a lucrative undertaking. The strength of the spiders'
filament is, if anything, overstated by Reaumur. Deficiency
of lustre arising from the carding of the filaments is common
to the spider-fabric and to spun silk ; this objection would, per-
haps, not be of very great weight but for the decisive calcula-
tion by which Reaumur showed the comparative amount of
production between the spider and the silk- worm.

The largest cocoons weigh four, and the smaller three grains
each ; spider-bags do not Aveigh above one grain each ; and,
after being cleared of their dust, have lost two-thirds of this
weight ; therefore the work of tioelve spiders equals that of
only one silk-worm ; and a pound of spider-silk would require
for its production 27,648 insects. But as the bags are wholly
the work of the females, who spin them as a deposit for their
eggs, it follows that 55,296 spiders must be reared to yield one
pound of silk: yet this will be obtained only from the best
spiders ; those large ones ordinarily seen in gardens, (fcc, yield-
ing not more than a twelfth part of the silk of the others.
The work of 280 of these would therefore not yield more silk
than the produce of one industrious silk-worm, and 663,552 of
them would furnish only one pound of silk !

Although Reaumur's report completely extinguished Mr.
Bon's project in France, it was revived in England two or
three times in the early part of the last century. Swift has

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER 1G3

not neglected to make it a portion of liis unrivalled satire
against speculators and projectors, in liis account of Gulliver's
visit to the Academy of Lagado :

" I went into another room, says he, where tlie walls and ceilings were all hung
round with cobwebs, exept a narrow passage for the artist to go in and out. At
my entrance he called out to me not to disturb his webs. He lamented the fatal
mistake the world had been so long in, of using silk-worms, while we had such
plenty of domestic insects, who infinitely excelled the former, because they under-
stood how to weave as well as spin. And he proposed further, that, by employing
spiders, the charge of dyeing silk should be wholly saved ; whereof I was fully
convinced, when he showed me a vast number of flies most beautifully colored,
wherewith lie fed his spiders, assuring us that the webs woiUd take a tincture from
them, and as he had them of all hues, he hoped to suit every body's fancy, as soou
as he could find proper food for the flies, of certain gums, oils, and other glutinous
matter to give a strength and consistency to the tlireads."

The Ingenuity of Spiders. — Mr. Thomas Ewbank of
New York, in a letter to the Editor of the Journal of the
Franklin Institute, bearing date September 20th 1842, gives us
the following interesting description of the ingenuity of the
Spider.

" The resources of the lower animals have often excited admi-
ration, and though no comprehensive and systematic series of
obseiTations have yet been made upon them(?), the time is, I
believe, not distant when the task will be undertaken — perhaps
within the next century. But whenever and by whomsoever
accomplished, the mechanism of animals wiU then form the
subject of one of the most interesting and useful volumes in
the archives of man.

"Among insects, spiders have repeatedly been observed to
modify and change their contrivances for ensnaring their
prey. Those that hve in fields and gardens often fabricate
their nets or webs vertically. This sometimes occurs in loca-
tions where there is no object sufficiently near to which the
lower edge or extremity of the web can properly be braced ;
and unless this be done, light puffs or breezes of wind are apt
to blow it into an entangled mass. Instead of being spread out,
like the sail of a ship, to the wind, it would become clewed over
the upper line, or edge, like a sail when furled up. Now how
would a human engineer act under similar circumstances ? But

164 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

ere the reader begins to reflect(!); he should bear in mind that
it would not do to brace the web by running rigging from it to
some Jixed or immovable object below — by no means ; — for were
this done, it could not }aeld to impulses of wind ; the rigging
would be snapped Ijy the first blast, and the whole structure
probably destroyed.

" Whatever contrivances human sagacity might suggest, they
could hardly excel those which these despised engineers some-
times adopt. Having formed a web, mider circumstances simi-
lar to those to which we have referred, a spider has been known
to descend from it to the ground by means of a thread spun for
the purpose, and after selecting a mimjte pebble, or piece of
stone, has coiled the end of the thread round it. Ha\-ing done
this, the ingenious artist ascended, and fixing himself on the
lower part of the web, hoisted up the pebble imtil it s^^amg sev-
eral inches clear of the gromid. The cord to which the weight
was suspended was then secured by additional ones, running
fiom it to diflferent parts of the web, which thus acquired the
requisite tension, and was allowed, at the same time, to yield to
sudden puffs of wind without danger of being rent asunder.

" A similar instance came under my notice a few days ago.
A large spider had constructed his web, in nearly a vertical po-
sition, about six feet from the ground, in a corner of my yard.
The upper edge was formed by a strong thread, secured at one
end to a \ine leaf, and the other to a clothes Hne. One part of
the lower edge was attached to a Penyan sun-flower, and an-
other to a trellis fence, four or five feet distant. Between these
there was no object nearer than the ground, to which an addi-
tional brace line could be carried ; but two threads, a foot asun-
der, descended from this part of the web, and, eight or ten inches
below it, were united at a point. From this point, a single hne,
four or five inches long, was suspended, and to its lower extrem-
ity was the weight, a living one, viz. a worm, three inches
long, and one-eighth of an inch thick. The cord was fasten-
ed around the middle of the victim's body, and as no ol)ject was
within reach, all its writhings and efforts to escape were fruit-
less. Its weight answered the same purpose as a piece of in-
animate matter, while its sufferings seemed not in the least to

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 165

disturb the unconcerned murderer, who lay \vaithig for his prey-
above .

" Whether the owner of the web found it a more easy task
to capture this unlucky worm and raise it, than to elevate a
stone of the same weight, may be a question(?). Perhaps in
seeking for the latter, the former fell in his way, and was seized
as the fiist suitable object that came to hand — Uke the human
tyrant, (Domitian) who, to show his skill in archery, planted
his arrows in the heads of men or cattle, in the absence of other
targets. It may be, however, that a piece of stone, earth, or
wood, of a suitable weight, was not in the vicmity of the web.

" To observe the ell'ect of this weight, I separated, with a
pair of scissors, the thread by which it was suspended, and in-
stantly the web sunk to half its previous dimensions — the lower
part became loose, and with the slightest current kept shaking
Uke a sail shivermg in the wind. A fresh weight was not sup-
plied by the next morning ; but instead of it two long brace
lines extended from the lower part of the web to two vine ten-
drils, a considerable distance off. These I cut away to see what
device would be next adopted, but on going to examine it the
following day, I found the clothes line removed, and with it ail
relics of the insect's labors had disappeared."

Mason-Spiders. — A no less wonderful structure is com-
posed by a sort of spiders, natives of the tropics and the south
of Europe, which have been justly called mason-spiders by M.
Latreille. One of these {Mijgale nidulaiis, Walckn.), found
in the West Indies, " digs a hole in the earth obli([uely down-
wards, about three inches in length, and one in diameter.
This cavity she lines with a tough thick w^eb, which, when
taken out, resembles a leathern purse ; but what is most curi-
ous, this house has a door with hinges, Uke the operculum of
some sea-shells, and herself and famUy, who tenant this nest,
open and shut the door whenever they pass and repass. This
history was told me," says Darwin, " and the nest, with its door,
shown me by the late Dr. Butt, of Bath, who was some years
physician in Jamaica*."

* Danvin's Zoonomia, i. 253, 8vo. ed.

166 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

" The nest of a mason-spider, similar to this," saj^s Mr. Ren-
nie, " has been obligingly put into our hands by Mr. Riddle of
Blackheath. It came from the West Indies, and is probably
that of Latreille's clay-kneader [Mygale cratiens), and one of
the smallest of the genus. We have since seen a pair of these
spiders in possession of Mr. WlUiam Mello, of Blackheath.
The nest is composed of very hard argillaceous clay, deeply
tinged with brown oxide of iron. It is in form of a tube, about
one inch in diameter, between six and seven inches long, and
shghtly bent towards the lower extremity — appearing to have
been mined into the clay rather than built. The interior of
the tube is hned with a 2iniform tapestry of silken web, of
an orange-white color, with a texture intermediate between
India paper and very fine glove leather. But the most won-
derful part of this nest is its entrance, which we look upon as
the perfection of insect architecture. A circular door, about
the size of a crown piece, slightly concave on the outside and
convex within, is formed of more than a dozen layers of the
same web which hues the interior, closely laid upon one an-
other, and shaped so that the inner layers are the broadest, the
outer being gradually less in diameter, except towards the
hinge, which is about an inch long ; and in consequence of all
the layers being united there, and prolonged into the tube, it
becomes the thickest and strongest part of the structure. The
elasticity of the materials, also, gives to this hinge the remark-
able peculiarity of acting like a spring, and shutting the door
of the nest spontaneously. It is, besides, made to fit so accu-
rately to the aperture, which is composed of similar concentric
layers of web, that it is almost impossible to distinguish the
joining by the most careful inspection. To gratify curiosity,
the door has been opened and shut hundreds of times, without
in the least destroying the power of the spring. When the
door is shut, it resembles some of the lichens [Lecidea), or the
leathery fungi, such as Polyporus versicolor (Micheli), or,
nearer still, the upper valve of a young oyster-shell. The door
of the nest, the only part seen above gromid, being of a black-
ish-brown color, it must be very difficult to discover."

Another mason-spider {Mygale coemeataria, Latr.), found

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 167

in the south of France, usually selects for her nest a place bare
of grass, sloping in such a manner as to carry off the water,
and of a firm soil, without rocks or small stones. She digs a
gallery a foot or two in depth, and of a diameter (equal
throughout) sufficient to admit of her easily passing. She
lines this witli a tapestry of silk glued to the walls. The
door, which is circular, is constructed of many layers of earth
kneaded, and bound together with silk. Externally, it is flat
and rough, corresponding to the earth around the entrance, for
the purpose, no doubt, of concealment : on the inside it is con-
vex, a^id tapestried thickly with a web of fine silk. The
threads of this door- tapestry are prolonged, and strongly attach-
ed to the upper side of the entrance, forming an excellent
hinge, which, when pushed open by the spider, shuts again by
its own weight, without the aid of spring hinges. When the
spider is at home, and her door forcibly opened by an intruder,
she pulls it strongly inwards, and even where half-opened often
snatches it out of the hand ; but when she is foiled in this, she
retreats to the bottom of her den, as her last resource*. The
nest of this spider (the mason spider) is represented in Plate
IV. Fig. 14., and shows the nest shut. Fig. 15., represents it
open. Fig. 16. the spider [Mygale coemeiitaria). Fig. 17.
the eyes magnified. Figures 18 and 19 parts of the foot and
claw magnified. Rossi ascertained that the female of an allied
species {Mygale saiivagesii, Latr.), found in Corsica, lived in
one of these nests, with a numerous posterity. He destroyed
one of the doors to observe whether a new one would be made,
which it was ; but it was fixed immoveably, without a hinge ;
the spider, no doubt, fortifying herself in this manner till she
thought she might re-open it without dangerf.

"The Rev. Revett Shepherd has often noticed, in the feu
ditches of Norfolk, a very large spider (the species not yet de-
termined) which actually forms a raft for the purpose of ob-
taining its prey with more facihty. Keeping its station upon a

* Mem. Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii.

1- Mem. Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. p. 125, and Latreille, Hist. Nat.
Confer, viii. p. 163.

168 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

ball of weeds about three inches in diameter, probably held to-
gether by slight silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of
the water upon this floating island, which it quits the moment
it sees a drowning insect. The booty thus seized it devours at
leisure upon its raft, under which it retires when alarmed by
any danger*." In the spring of 1830, Mr. Rennie found a spi-
der on some reeds in the Croydon Canal, which agreed in ap-
pearance with Mr. Shepherd's.

Among our native spiders there are several, which, not con-
tented with a web hke the rest of their congeners, take advan-
tage of other materials to construct cells where, " hushed in
grim repose,^^ they " expect their insect prey." The most
simple of those spider cells is constructed by a longish-bodied
spider [Aranea holosericea, Linn.), which is a little larger
than the common hunting spider. It rolls up a leaf of the lilac
or poplar, precisely in the same manner as is done by the leaf-
roUing caterpillars, upon whose cells it sometimes seizes to save
itself trouble, having first expelled, or perhaps devoured, the
rightful owner. The spider, however, is not satisfied with the
tapestry of the caterpillar, but always weaves a fresh set of
her owti, more close and substantial.

Another spider, common in woods and copses [Epeira quad-
rata 7) weaves together a great number of leaves to form a
dweUing for herself, and in front of it she spreads her toils for
entrapping the unwary insects which stray thither. These, as
soon as caught, are dragged into her den, and stored up for a
time of scarcity. Here also her eggs are deposited and hatched
in safety. When the cold weather approaches, and the leaves
of her edifice wither, she abandons it for the more secure shel-
ter of a hollow tree, where she soon dies ; but the continuation
of the species depends upon eggs, deposited in the nest before
winter, and remaining to be hatched with the warmth of the
ensuing summer.

The spider's den of united leaves, however, which has just
been described, is not always useless when withered and de-
serted ; for the dormouse usually selects it as a ready-made

* Kirby and Spence, lutr. i. 425.

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 169

roof for its nest of dried grass. That those old spiders' dens
are not accidentally chosen by the mouse, appears from the
fact, that out of about a dozen mouse-nests of this sort found
during winter in a copse between Lewisham and Bromleyj
Kent (England), every second or third one was furnished with
such a roof.

The Water Spider. — "We extract the following exqui-
sitely beautiful and interesting fact in nature, connected with
diving operations, from the Rev. Mr. Kirby's Bridgcwater
Treatise : —

"The Water Spider is one of the most remarkable upon
whom that office (diving) is developed by her Creator. To
this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-
bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still
waters for this purpose. Her house is an oval cocoon, filled
with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every
direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants ; in this
cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even
appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. It is
most commonly, yet not always, entirely under water ; but its
inhabitant has filled it with air for her respiration, which ena-
bles her to Uve in it. She conveys the air to it in the follo^^^ng
manner : she usually swims upon her back, when her abdomen
is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of
quicksilver* ; with this she enters her cocoon, and displacing an

* Her singTilar economy was first, we believe, described by Clerck (Aranei
Suecici, Stockhohn, 1757.), L. M. de Ligimc (Mem. des Araign. Aquat., 12mo.
Paris, 1799.), and De Geer.

" The shining appearance," says Clerck, " proceeds either from an inflated
globule sunounding the abdomen, or from the space between the body and tho
water. The spider, when wishing to inhale the air, rises to the surface, with its
body still submersed, and only the part containing the spinneret rising just to tho
surface, when it briskly opens and moves its four teats. A thick coat of hair
keeps tho water from approaching or wetting the abdomen. It comes up for air
about four times an hour or oftener, though I have good reason to suppose it can
continue without it for several days together.

" I found in the middle of May one male and ten females, which I put into a
glass filled with water, where they lived together ver>- quietly for eight days. I
put some duck-weed (Lcmna) into the glass to afford them shelter, and the fe-

22

170 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading, till
she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all
the water.

" The males construct similar habitations by the same ma-
noeuvres. How these little animals can envelope their abdo-
men with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells,
is still one of Nature's mysteries that have not been explained.

" We, however, cannot help admiring, and adoring, the vns-
dom, power, and goodness manifested in this singular provision,
enabling an animal that breathes the atmospheric air, to fill
her house with it under water, and which has instructed her in
a secret art, by ichich she can clothe jiart of her body with air
as a garment, and which she can put off when it answers her
purpose.

" This is a kind of attraction and repulsion which mocks all our inquiries."

Thus it appears, that by the successive descents of the little
water-spider under the impulsion of its instinct, produce effects

males began to stretch diagonal threads in a confused manner from it to the sides
of the glass about half way down. Each of the females afterwards fixed a close
bag to the edge of the glass, from which the water was expelled by the air from
the spinneret, and thus a cell was formed capable of containing the whole animal.
Here they remained quietly, with their abdomens in their cells, and their bodies
still plunged in the water ; and in a short time brimstone-colored bags of eggs ap-
peared in each cell, filling it about a fourth part. On the 7th of July several
young ones swam out from one of the bags. All tliis time the old ones had no-
thing to eat, and yet they never attacked one another, as other spiders would have
been apt to do (Clerck, Aranei Suecici, cap. viii.)."

" These spiders," says De Geer, " spin in the water a cell of strong, closely wo-
ven, white silk in the form of half the shell of a pigeon's egg, or like a diving bell.
This is sometimes left partly above water, but at others is entirely submersed, and
is always attached to the objects near it by a great number of irregular threads.
It is closed all romid, but has a large opening below, which, however, I found
closed on the 15th of December, and the spider living quietly within, with her
head dowmwards. I made a rent in this cell, and expelled the air, upon which
the spider came out ; yet though she appeared to have been laid up for three
months in her winter quarters, she greedily seized upon an insect and sucked it.
I also found that the male as well as the female constructs a similar subaqueous
cell, and during summer no less than in winter (De Geer, Mem. des Insectes, vii.
312.)." " We have recently kept one of these spiders," says Mr. Rennie, " for
several months in a glass ol water, where it built a cell half under water, iu which
it laid its eggs."

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 171

in its subaqueous pavilion equivalent to those produced in the
diving-beU, or diving hehnet, by the successive strokes of the
condensing air-pump of scientific man ! , a t A Y

Tn tho Hno-uao-e of the book of Psahiis, this insect "LAY-
ETH TO^^^ OF" her "CHAMBERS IN THE

WATERS," and there secures her subaqueous chambers in the

manner described. , „;,^-,ri

Cleanliness op SPiDERs.-''When we look at the v.c d

materiaV says Mr. Rennie, "with which spiders coj-truct th^
Unes and webs, and at the rough, hairy covering (with a few
exceptions) of their bodies, we might conclude, that they would
be IJ stuck over with fragments of the minute fil.^
which they produce. This, indeed, must often happen, d d
they not take careful precautions to avoid it; -for we have ob-
served that they seldom, if ever, leave a thread to float at ran-
dom, except when they wish to form a bridge. A^ hen a spider
drops along a line, for instance, in order to ascertain the strength
of her web, or the nature of the place below her, she invari-
ably, when she re-ascends, coils it up into a little ball, and
throws it away. Her claws are admirably adapted for this pur-
pose, as well as for walking along the hues, as may be readily
seen by a magnifying glass. Fig. 13. Plate IV. shows the tr>
pie-clawed foot of a spider, magnified, the others being toothed
like a comb, for gliding along the lines. This structure, how-
ever unfits it to walk, as flies can do, upon any upright pohsh-
ed surface hke glass; although the contrary* is erroneously as-
serted by the Abbe de la Pluche. Before she can do so, she is
obh'ed to construct a ladder of ropes, as Mr Blackwa I re-
madcst, by elevating her spinneret as high as she can, and lay-
incr down a step upon which she stands to form a second ; and
so°on, as any one may try by placing a spider at the bottom of
a very clean wine glass. , •, ^r

u The hairs of the legs, however, are always catching bits of
web and particles of dust ; but these are not suflerec to remain
long. Most people may have remarked that the hovise-fly is
eve!- and anon brushing its feet upon one anotlier to rub off the

» Spectacle de la Nature, i. 58. + Linn. Trans, vol. xv.

172 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

dust, though we have not seen it remarked in authors that spi-
ders are equally assiduous in keeping themselves clean. They
have, besides, a very eflicient instrument in their mandibles or
jaws, which, Uke their claws, are furnished with teeth ; and a
spider which appears to a careless observer as resting idly, in
nine cases out of ten will be found slmcly combing her legs
with her mandibles, beginning as high as possible on the
thigh, and passing down to the claws. The flue which she
thus combs oft' is regularly tossed away.

"With respect to the house-spider [A. domestica), we are
told in books, that ' she from time to time clears away the dust
from her web, and sweeps the whole by giving it a shake with
her paw, so nicely proportioning the force of her blow, that she
never breaks any thing*.' That spiders may be seen shaking
their webs in this manner, we readily admit ; though it is not,
we imagine, to clear them of dust, but to ascertain whether
they are sufficiently sound and strong.

" We recently witnessed a more laborious process of cleaning
a web than merely shaking it. On coming down the Maine
by the steam-boat from Frankfort, in August 1829, we observed
the geometric-net of a conic spider [Epeira conica, Walck.)
on the framework of the deck, and as it was covered with
flakes of soot from the smoke of the engine, we were surprised
to see a spider at work on it ; for, m order to be useful, this sort
of net must be clean. Upon observing it a little closely, how-
ever, we perceived that she was not constructing a net, but
dressing up an old one ; though not, we must think, to save
trouble, so much as an expenditure of material. Some of the
hnes she dexterously stripped of the flakes of soot adhering to
them ; but m the greater number, finding that she could not
get them sufficiently clean, she broke them quite off", bundled
them up, and tossed them over. We counted five of these
packets of rubbish which she thus threw away, though there
must have been many more, as it was some time before we dis-
covered the manoeuvre, the packets being so small as not to be
readily perceiv^ed, except when placed between the eye and the

* Spectacle de la Nature, i. p. 61.

Pkftcur

Spider;;. Willi the processes <if jTpioTimg' and T^eflcvrng".

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 173

Lght. When she had cleared off all the sooted hnes, she began
to replace them in the usual way ; but the arrival of the boat
at Mentz put an end to our observations." Bloomfiekl, the
poet, having observed the disappearance of these bits of ravelled
web, says that he observed a garden spider mointen the pellets
before swallowing them ! Dr. Lister, as we have already seen,
thought the spider retracted the threads within the abdomen.

" I could wish," says Addison, in ' The Spectator,' " our Royal Society would
compile a body of natural history, the best that could be gathered together from
books and observations. If the several writers among them took each his partic-
ular species, and gave us a distinct account of its original, birth, and education;
its policies, hostilities, and alliances ; with the frame and texture of its inward and
outward parts, — and particularly those which distinguish it from all other animals,
— with their aptitudes for the state of being in which Providence has placed them ;
it would be one of the best sendees their studies could do mankind, and not a little
redound to the glory of the All-wise Creator." — ' Spectator,' No. iii.

Although we do not consider Addison as a naturalist, in any of the usual mean-
ings of the term, yet it would be no easy task, even for those who have devoted their
undivided attention to the subject, to improve upon the admirable i)lan of study here
laid down. It is, moreover, so especially applicable to the investigation of insects,
that it may be more or less put in practice by any person who chooses, in whatever
station or circiunstances he happens to be placed. Nay, we will go farther : for
since it agrees with experience and many recorded instances that individuals have
been enabled to investigate and elucidate particular facts, who were quite unacquaint-
ed with systematic natural history, we hold it to be undeniable, that any person of
moderate penetration, though altogether unacquainted with what is called "Natu-
ral History," who will take the trouble to observe particular facts and endeavor to
trace them to their causes, has every chance to bo successful in adding to his own
knowledge, and frequently in making discoveries of what was previously unknown.
It is related of M. Pdlissan, while a prisoner in the Bastille, that he tamed a spi-
der by means of music. This in conjunction with Evelyn's observations on hunt-
ing-spiders is strong prool' of our position, and show that though books are often
of high value to guide us in our observations, they are by no means indispensable
to the study of nature, masmuch as the varied scene of creation itself forms an.
inexhau.stiblo book, which " even he who runneth may read."

" It will be of the utmost importance, in the study hero recommended, to bear
in mind that an insect can never be found in any situation, nor make any move-
ment, without some motive, originating in the instinct imparted to it by Provi-
dence. This principle alone, when it is made the basis of inquiry into euch mo-
tives or instinct^; will be found productive of many interesting discoveries, which,
without it, might never be made. With this, indeed, exclusively in view, during
an excursion, and with a little attention and perseverance, every walk — nay,
ever}' step — may lead to delightful and interesting knowledge." — " Ixsect Archi-
tecture," p. 219.

CHAPTER X.

FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA.

The Pinna — Description of — Delicacy of its tlireads — Reaumur's obsen'ations —
Mode of forming the filament or thread — Power of continually producing new
threads — Experiments to ascertain this fact — The Pinna and its Cancer
Friend — Nature of their alliance — Beautiful phenomenon — Aristotle and Pliny's
account — The Greek poet Oppianus's lines on the Pinna, and its Cancer friend
— Manner of procuring the Pinna — Poli's description — Specimens of the Pinna
in the British IMuseum — Pearls found in tlie Pinna — Pliny and Athenaius's ac-
count— Manner of preparing the fibres of the Pinna for weaving — Scarceness
of this material — No proof that the ancients were acquainted with the art
of knitting — Tertullian the first ancient writer who makes mention of the
manufacture of cloth from the fibres of the Pinna — Procopius mentions a
chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna, and a silken tunic adorned with sprigs
or feathers of gold — Boots of red leather worn only by Emperors — Golden fleece
of the Pinna — St. Basil's account — Fibres of the Pinna not manufactured into
clotli at Tarentum in ancient times, but in India — Diving for the Pinna at Col-
chi — Arrian's account.

In the preceding chapter wc have confined our remarks,
principally, to the various attempts made to obtain a silken or
filamentous material from the spider, and allhougli those eflRsrts
have not been crowned with that degree of success Avhich Avould
render a speculation of the kind worthy of our attention in a
pecuniary point of view, yet, it must be conceded, that the sub-
ject is scarcely the less interesting ; and Mr. Bon, the gentle-
man who first undertook the training of spiders, has at least
given us matter for further interesting speculation. It is now
about 104 years since Mr. Bon commenced his experiments.

In this chapter, we shall proceed to describe the Pinna of the
ancients, and upon which hinnan ingenuity has been more
successfully exercised in seeking, many feet below the surface
of the Ocean, for the slender filaments, the produce of an ani-
mal in almost a vegetative state of existence.

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 175

The Pinna is a bivalve* shell-fish, which, when full grown,
is IS inches long, and G wide at its broad end. It is found
near the shores of South Italy, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia ;
also in the Bay of Smyrna, and in the Indian Ocean, It does
not fasten itself to rocks in the same position as the muscle, but
sticks its sharp end into the mud or sand, while the rest of the
shell is at Uberty to open in the water. In common with the
muscle, it has the power of spinning a viscid matter from its
body, conformably with that of the spider and caterpillar. Al-
though the pinna is vastly larger than the muscle, its shell be-
ing sometimes found two feet long, the threads which it produ-
ces are more dehcate and slender than those of the muscle, be-
ing in fineness and beauty scarcely inferior to the single filament
of the comparatively minute silk-worm. Threads so delicately
thin, as may readily be imagined, do not singly possess much
strength ; but the httle power of each is made up by the aggre-
gate of the almost infinite number which each fish puts forth
to secure itself in a fixed situation, and preserve it against the
rolling of the waves. The threads are, however, similar in
their nature to those of the muscle, differing only in their supe-
rior fineness and greater length. These fish have, therefore,
been distinguished by some naturalists, the one as the silk-
worm, the other as caterpillar of the sea.

It has been from a very remote period well known, that mus-
cles have the power of affixing themselves either to rocks or the
shells of one another, in a very firm manner ; yet their method
of effecting this was not understood until explained by the accu-
rate observations of M. Reaumur, the first naturalist who as-
certained that if, by any accident, the animals were torn from
their hold, they possessed the power of substituting other threads
for those which had been broken or injured. It was found by
him, that if muscles, detached from each other, were placed in
any kind of vessel and then plunged into the sea, they con-
trived in a very short time to fasten themselves both to the
vessel's side and one another's shells : in this process, the ex-

* An animal having two valves, or a shell consisting of two parts which open
and tsliut.

176 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

tremity of each thread seemed to perform the office of a hand
in seizing upon the body to which it would attach itself.

The threads issue from the shell at that part where it natu-
rally opens, and in affixing themselves to any substance, form
numerous minute cables, by which the fish steadies itself in the
water. Each animal is provided with an organ, which it is
difficult to designate by any name, since it performs the office
of so many members, and is the only indicator of the existence
of vital powers in the creature. It is by turns a tongue, an
arm, and sometimes a leg. Its shape resembles that of a
tongue, and is, therefore, most frequently called by that name.
Whenever the fish requires to change its place, this member
serves to drag its body forward, together with its cumbrous hab-
itation : in performing a journey, the extremity of this organ,
which may then be styled a leg, is fixed to some solid body,
and being then contracted in length, the whole fish is necessa-
rily drawn towards the spot where it intends to station itself ;
and by a repetition of these movements, the animal arrives at
its destination. It is not often that the organ is put to this use,
as the pinna is but little addicted to locomotion : some natural-
ists indeed affirm that it is always stable. The puipose to
which the tongue is most frequently applied, is that of spinning
the threads. Although this body is flat, and in form similar to
a tongue through the greater part of its length, it becomes cy-
lindrical about the base or root, where it is much smaller than
in any other part : at this lower end are several hgatures of a
muscular nature, which keep the tongue firmly fixed against
the middle of the shell ; fom- of these cords are very apparent,
and serve to move the tongue in any direction according to the
wants of the fish. Through the entire length of this member
there runs a slit, which pierces so deeply into its surface, as al-
most to divide it into two longitudinal sections ; this performs the
office of a canal for the liquor of which the tlireads are formed,
and serves to mould them into their proper form : the canal ap-
pears externally like a small crack, being almost covered by the
flesh from either side, but internally it is much wider, and sur-
rounded by circular fibres. The channel thus formed extends
regularly from the tip to the base of the tqngue, where it par-

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 177

takes of the form of the member and becomes cylindric, pro-
ducing there a tube or pipe in which the canal terminates. The
viscid substance is moulded ui this tube mto the shape of a cord,
similar to the threads produced from it, though much thicker,
and from which all the minute fibres issue and disperse. The
internal surface of the tube, wherein the large cord is formed, is
furnished with glands for the secretion of the peculiar substance
employed in its production, and which is always in gi'eat abun-
dance in this animal as well as in muscles.

Reaumur observed, " that although the workmanship of the
land and sea animals when completed is alike, the manner of
its production is very different. Spiders, caterpillars, &c., form
tlueads of any required length, by making the viscous liquor
of which the filament is formed pass through fine perforations
in the organ appomted for spinning. But the way in which
muscles form their thread is widely opposite ; as the former re-
sembles the work of the wire-drawer*, so does the latter that of
the founder who casts metals in a mould." The canal of the
organ destined for the muscle's spinning is the mould in which
its thread is cast, and gives to it its determinate length.

Reaumur learned the manner of the muscle performing the
operation of swimming by actually placing some of these fish
under his constant inspection. He kept them in his apartment
in a vessel filled with sea water, and distinctly saw them open
their shells and put forth their tongues. They extended and
contracted this organ several times, obtruding it in every direc-
tion, as if seeking the fittest place whereon to fix their threads.
After repeated trials of this kind, the tongue of one was ob-
served to remain for some time on the spot chosen, and being
then drawn back with great quickness, a thread was very

* This remark of M. Reaumur confirms the observations of M. H. Straus, quoted
m Chapter VII. that the thread of the silk-worm is not produced by a simple emis-
sion of liquid matter through the orifices of the spinner, or that it acquires solidity
at once from the drying influence of the air. Indeed, silk cannot be produced in
this manner, but is secreted in the form of silk in silk vessels, and the spinning
apparatus, so called, only unwinds it. Mr. Straus's obsen'ations on this head ad-
mit of no argument. The discovery reduces all that has been heretofore written
upon the subject to the character of old lumber.

23

178 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

easily discerned, fastened to the place : this operation was again
resumed, until all the threads were in sufficient numlDer : one
fibre being produced at each movement of the tongue.

The old threads were found to differ materially from those
newly spun, the latter being whiter, more glossy, and transpa-
rent than the former, and it was thence discovered that it was
not the office of the tongue to transfer the old threads one by
one to the new spots where they were fixed, which course M.
Reaumur had thought was pursued. The old threads once
severed from the spot to which they had been originally fixed
were seen to be useless, and that every fibre employed by the
fish to secure itself in a new position was produced at the time
required ; and, in short, that nature had endowed some fish, as
well as land insects, with the power of spinning threads, as
their natural wants and instincts demanded. This fact was ia-
controvertibly established by cutting away, as close to the body
as they could with safety be separated, the old threads, which
were always replaced by others in a space of time as short us
was employed by other muscles not so deprived.

" The pinna and its cancer friend" have on more than one
occasion been made subjects for poetry. There is doubtless
some foundation for the fact of the mutual alliance between
these aquatic friends which has been thus celebrated ; yet some
slight coloring may have been borrowed from the regions of
fancy wherewith to adorn the verse, and even the prose history
of their attachment may be exposed to a similar objection.

The scuttle-fish, a native of the same seas with the pinna, is
its deadly foe, and would quickly destroy it, were it not for its
faithful ally. In common with all the same species, the pinna is
destitute of the organs of sight, and could not, therefore, unas-
sisted, be aware of the vicinity of its dangerous enemy. A
^mall animal of the crab kind, itself deprived of a covering, but
extremely quick-sighted, takes refuge in the shell of the pinna,
whose strong calcareous valves affords a shelter to her guest,
tchile lie makes a return for tins j) rote ct ion by going forth in
search of prey. At these intervals tlie pinna opens lier valves
to afford him egress and ingress : if the watchful scuttle-fish
now approach, the crab returns instanter with notice of the

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE PINNA. 179

danger to her hostess ; who, timely warned, shuts her door and
keeps out the enemy. When the crab has, unmolested, suc-
ceeded in loading itself with provisions, it gives a signal by a
gentle noise at the opening of the shell, and when admitted,
the two friends feast together on the fruit of its industry. It
would appear an arduous, nay, a task almost impossible for the
defenceless and diminutive crab, not merely to elude its enemies
and return home, but likewise obtain a supply of provender
sufficient to satiafy the wants of its larger companion. The
following diilerent account of the nature of this alliance is more
credible : —

Whenever the pinna ventures to open its shell, it is immedi-
ately exposed to the attacks of various of the smaller kinds of
fish, Avhich, meeting with no resistance to their first assaults,
acquire boldness and venture in. The vigilant guard, by a
gentle bite, gives notice of this to his companion, who, upon
such a hint, closes her shell, and having thus shut them in
makes a prey of those who had come to prey upon her : when
thus supplied with food, she never fails to share her booty with
so useful an ally.

We are told that the sagacious observer. Dr. Hasselquist, in
his voyage, (about the middle of the last century,) to Palestine,
which he undertook for objects connected with the study of nat-
ural history, beheld this curious phenomenon, which, although
well known to the ancients, had escaped the attention of the
moderns.

It is related by Aristotle* that the pinna keeps a guard to
watch for her, which grows to her mouth, and serves as her
caterer : this he calls pinnophylax, and describes as a little fish
with claws hke a crab. Pliny observest, that the smallest spe-
cies of crab is called the pinnotores, and being from its diminu-
tive size ]ia])le to injury, has the prudence to conceal itself in
the shells of oysters. In another place he describes the pinna
as of the genus of shell-fish, with the further particulars that
it is found in muddy waters, alwaj^s erect, and never without a
companion, called by some pinnatores, by others pinnophylax ;

* Hist. Ub. V. c. 15. t Lib. ix. 51. 66.

180 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

this being sometimes a small squill, and at others a crab, which
remains with the pinna for the sake of food.

The description of the pinna by the Greek poet Oppianus,
who flourished in the second century, has been thus given in
Enghsh verse : —

Tlie pinna and the crab together dwell,

For mutual succor in one common shell ;

They both to gain a livelihood combine,

That takes the prey, when this has given the sign ;

From hence this crab, above his fellows famed.

By ancient Greeks weis Finnotores named.

It is said that the pinna fastens itself so strongly to the rocks,
that the men employed in fishing for it are obUged to use con-
siderable force to break the tuft of tlireads by which it is secu-
red fifteen, twenty, and sometimes even thirty feet below the
surface of the sea.

It is fished up in the Gulf of Tarentum by the Pernonico,
which consists of two semicircular bars of iron fastened together
at the ends, at one of which is a wooden pole, at the other a
ring and cord. The fishermen conduct their boat over the
place, where the pinna is seen through the clear water, let
down the Pernonico, and, having loosened the pinna by em-
bracing it with the iron bars and twisting it round, draw it up
to the boat. The pinna is also obtained by diving. Poh, in
his splendid work on the Sicilian Testacea {Parma, 1795,
folio.) gives beautiful representations of the several species and
especially of the Pinna Nobilis*. The folloAvang description of
submarine scenery and operations, is so vivid and pleasing that
we quote it at length.

Finnis hujusmodi abundant prae cceteris htus Trinaerice, sinus Tarentinus,
oraque maritima Crateris Neapolitani, potissinium ultra Fromontorium Fausilypi.
Equidem persimima, adficimur anuni jucunditate, quoties illarum piscationis recor-
damur, quam vere jam inchoato inibi facere iterum iterumque consuevimus. Est
ad Insulam Nisitse, quS, ilia ad septentrioncm vergit, respicitque contra Fausilypi
Fromontorium, araoenissuni maris plaga, quoddam maris ocium. Ibi inter in-
gentes, pulcherrimosque niarinarnm stirpium saltus, quibus plaga ilia undique
virescit, oculosque animumque recreat, Finnaruin greges sponte gignuntur ; quae

* The figure (Fig. 7.) of the Fiima Nobilis, Plate III., is reduced from Plate
XXXrV. in vol. ii.

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. ISl

mari tranquillo, umbrisque ab insulie summitate cadeutibus, ab iis qui cymbis in-
sistunt, ad triginta ferin6 pedum altitudiiieni, subrectae, inquo fuiido arciioso defixte
perspicu^ ceriii possunt. Urinatores igitur, seso mari submcrgentes, illis arripien-
dis destinantur. Quoiiiam vero, ne reiteratis quidem ictibus, ab arena., ubi con-
sitae sunt, educi queunt ; arena etenim, et pondere suo et altissimO, aquarmn mole
sibi incumbente fortiter stipata, urinatorum conatibus valid6 resistit ; hi maris fun-
dum nacti, ibique veluti in solo sedentes, arenam Pinnoe circumjectam nianibus
averrunt, Pinuamque deinceps ambabus nianibus comprehensam divellere conan-
tur. Et si diutius, quam par est, spiritum cohibere nequeunt, ad siumma aequorum
ascendant, suberibusque aquas innatantibus inibi do industria, positis innituntur,
donee tandem aeris haustu recreati, maris fundum iterum petant, operamque pe-
nitus absolvant. r. ii. p. 230, 231.

This species of Pinna is especially abundant on the shores of Sicily, in the
Gulf of Taranto, and in the Bay of Naples, particularly beyond the Cape of Po-
silipo. It always fills my mind with the greatest delight to recollect the manner
of fishing for it, in which I have often taken a part at tliat spot in the com-
mencement of spring. On the northern shore of the Isle of Nisida opposite Po-
silipo, is a most agreeable expanse of water, where the sea appears to be ever at
rest. Here, amidst those vast and most beauteous submarine forests, with which
the coast is decorated in every direction so as at once to charm the mind and re-
fresh the eye, the Pinna grows spontaneously in large groups, and in calm water,
when the shadows fall from the summit of the island, is clearly seen by persons
in boats growing nearly upright and fixed in the sandy bottom at the depth of
about thirty feet. There are divers, whoso business it is to bring it up. But,
since it cannot be loosened even by repeated blows, (for the sand firmly resists
the attempts of the diver, being supported by its own weight and by the super-
incumbent water,) in these circumstances he sits down at the bottom of the sea,
brushes away witli his fingers the earth which encompasses the shell, and then
endeavors to pull it up by seizing it with both hands. If he is thus likely to be
detained at the bottom for a longer time than he can hold his breath, he ascends
to the stirface, supports himself upon corks, which are in readiness for him, and,
when he has sufficiently recovered himself by breathing, he again dives to the
bottom to complete his task.

The specimens of Pinna in the Britisli Museum show not
only the tuft, but also the pearls and the mother of pearl. Poll
found in one specimen of the Pinna Nobihs no less than twen-
ty pearls, of which he has given figures in his splendid work.
Phny (1. ix. c. 35.) mentions the practice of diving for the Pin-
na in the Mediterranean Sea in order to obtain pearls from it :
and Athenaius (1. iii. p. 93 Casaub.) has preserved extracts from
two historical writers, one of whom accompanied Alexander on
his Indian expedition, and who informs us, that the Pinna was
procured in the Indian seas, by diving and for the sake of the
pearls.

182 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

The Italians call the fibres Lana Pcsce or Lana Penna^
i. e. Fish Wool, or Pinna Wool. It is not equally good in all
places. "When the bottom of the sea is sandy, the shell \\\\h
its bunch of fibres may be easily extracted, and they are silky
and of a fine color. But in rushy and muddy Iwttoms so fast
do they stick as to be generally broken in drawing up, and are
of a blackish color without gloss.

The Lana Penna is twice Avashed in tepid water, once in
soap and water, and again in tepid water, then spread on a ta-
ble to dry : while yet moist, it is rubbed and separated \\\\\\ the
hand, and again spread on the table. When quite diy, it is
drawn through a wide comb of bone, and then through a nar-
row one. That which is destined for very fine works is also
drawii through iron combs, called scarde {cards). It is then
spun AA-ith a distaff and spindle.

As it is impossible to procme much of this material of a
good quality, the manufacture is very Umited, and the articles
produced, stockings and gloves, are expensive. They are es-
teemed excellent preservatives against cold and damp, are soft
and very wann, and the finest of a brown cinnamon, or glossy
gold color. The manufacture is chiefly carried on at Taranto,
the ancient Tarentiim* .

The Lana Pemia, having been spun, is now almost uni-
versall}' knit. But, as it does not appear that the ancients
were acquainted with tliis process prior to the second century ;
whatever garments they made of this material must have been
woven.

The first proof we possess of its use among them is in Ter
tuUian, who lived in the second century {De Pallio. iii. p.
115. Rigaltii). Speaking of the materials for weaving, he
says,

Nee fuit satis tiinicam pangere et serere, ni etiam piscari vestitum contigisset
nam et de niari vellera, quo mucosee lanusitatis plautiores conchas co:nant.

Nor was it enough to comb and to sow tlie materials for a tunic. It was ne-

* Riedesel's Travels through Sicily and Gnecia Magna, translated by J. R
Forster, London, 1773, p. 178-180. De Salis, Travels iii the Kingdom of Na-
pies. Keppel Craven, Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of
Naples, p. 185. D'Argenville, Lithol. et Conchologie, p. 183, and Plate 25.

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 183

cossarj- also to fish for one's dress. For fleeces are obtained from the sea, where
shells of extraordinary size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair*. (See Fig. 7,
Plate II.)

Procopius informs us {De Edif. lib. iii. c. 1.), that Armenia
was governed by five hereditary satraps, who received their
insignia from the Roman Emperor. Among these was a
Chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna. {XXa^ii h if iptoyv

mronifihri, oi^ oia riHv TTpoparidiv CKTTCipvxcv, dXA' Ik daXdaarii cvvct^cyiiCfoyv' trii/vuvi tu
^(So Ka\uv vtvo^Uaai, Iv oif »; rwv Ipiwv exipvcts yiVtrai.) This chlaiTiyS WaS

fastened witli a fibula of gold, in which a precious stone was
set, and three hyacinths were suspended from it by golden
chains (.Yov<rarj tc Kai xaAuparj dXiccciv.) Tlic chlauiys was accom-
panied by a silken tunic, adorned ^\'ith sprigs or ''feathers^^ of
gold. It is thus described ;

rXoCjiiiia KaXciv.

With the chlamys and tunic were worn boots of red leatlier,
such as only the emperors of Rome and Persia were allowed to
wear.

St. Basil mentions with admiration " the golden fleece " of
the Pinna, which no artificial dye could imitate. Uudsv rd xp^^o^v

epiov at Tivviit Tplifovcrti'^ oncp ovic'is tuv dvdniiapwv f^ufd'jffuro. — Hcxacm. viL

Whether the tuft of the Pinna was used for weaving before
the time of the authors, who have now been cited, seems
doubtful. As the Pinna is frequently mentioned by earlier
writers, both Greek and Latint, but without any reference to
the use of its tuft, it may be regarded as probable, that this
kind of cloth was not invented before the time of TertuUian.

It is a no less curious question, Whence did the ancients ob-
tain the fibres of the Pinna, and where was the manufacture
of them carried on ?

* In this passage piscnri is rather fancifully opposed to pangere and sercre.
The former of these two terms (pangere) refers to tunics of wool, which was pac-
ta or pexa ; the latter to tunics of cotton and flax, wliich were sata. The epithet
plautiores, (etymologically allied to latiores, and to rAari^,) well describes the
large size and expanded form of the Pinna.

t The passages are collected in Stephani Tliosaurus L. Graecae, ed. Valpy,
p 7579.

184 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK.

It has been commonly said at Tarentum, but apparently
for no other reason than that the Pinna is obtained and the
manufacture principally carried on at Taranto in modern
times. By referring to the authorities above quoted, it will be
seen that none of them makes any allusion to Tarentum.
Consequently we have no direct evidence, that this was the
seat of the ancient manufacture. On the contrary, we have
testimony, that fine cloths of this substance were made in
India, and thence imported into Greece and other countries.

The author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a docu-
ment of an age at least as late as the time of Tertullian, states
that the business of diving for the wool of the Pinna w^as pros-
ecuted near the city called Colchi in the south of India. Dif-
ferent species of Pinna with tufts of fine silk are now no less
abundant in the Indian than the Mediterranean Sea. The
Periplus of the Erythrean Sea presents a sufficient proof, that
this beautiful substance was spun and w'oven by the Indians,
whereas we can only suppose from analogy that the manufac-
ture was carried on in ancient times by the Tai'entines.

CHAPTER XI

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE-APPLE.

Fibres of the Pine Apple — Facility of dyeing— Manner of preparing the fibres for
weaving — Easy cultivation of the i)lant — Thrives where no other plant will
live — Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke's patent process of manufacturing cloth from
the fibres of tiiis plant — Its comparative want of strength — Silken material pro-
cured from the Papyfera — Spun and woven into cloth — Cloth of this description
manufactured generally by the Otaheiteans, and other inhabitants of the South
Sea Islands— Great strength (supposed) of ropes made from the fibres of the
aloe — Exaggerated statements.

This plant, which has hitherto been valued solely as min-
istering to the luxuries of the table, has lately had a new in-
terest attached to it from the discovery of a fibre contained in
its leaves, possessing such valuable properties, that it will, in
aU probability, soon form a new and important article of com-
merce.

The fibres of the pine-apple plant are disposed in fasciculi,
each apparent fibre being an assemblage of fibres adhering to-
gether, of such exceeding delicacy, as only to measure from
— -! — th to T^j^th part of an inch in diameter ; viewed under the
microscope, they bear considerable resemblance to silk, from
their glossy, even, and smooth texture. They appear altogether
destitute of joints, or other irregularities, and are remarkably
transparent, particularly when viewed in water : they are very
elastic, of considerable strength, and readily receive the most
delicate dyes. This last fact appears singular, when we bear
in mind the resistance, if we may be allowed the expression,
which flax offers to dyes. With much trouble, and by long
processes, flax will receive a few dark dingy colors : all light
and brilUant ones it wholly resists ; they do not enter the fibre,
but merely dry upon it externally, and afterwards easily peel,
or rub off,— in short, it may be said to be painted, and not
dyed.

The preparation of the pine-fibre is exceedingly simple. If

24

186 FIBRES, on SILKEN MATERIAL OF TOE PINE APPLE.

a leaf of this plant be examined, it will be found to consist of
an assemblage of fibres running parallel from one extremity of
the leaf to the other, embedded in the soft pabulum. All the
process necessary is to pass the leaf under a " tilt hammer," the
rapid action of which, in a few seconds, completely crushes it,
without in the shghtest degree injuring the fil^re, which re-
mains in a large skein, and then requires to be rinsed out in
soft water, to cleanse it from impurities, and be afterwards dried
m the shade. So simple and rapid is the process, that a leaf, in
a quarter of an hour after being cut from the plant, may be in
a state fit for the purposes of the manufacturer, as a glossy,
white fibre, with its strength unimpaired b}^ any process of ma-
ceration, which, by inducing partial putrefaction, not only ma-
terially injures the strength of flax, but also renders it of a
dingy color.

The pine-plant abounds both in the East and West Indies,
and may be easily propagated from the crown ; ofisetts from
round the base of the fruit, which often amount to upwards of
twenty in number ; and from the young plants which spring
from the parent stem ; its cultivation requires but little care or
expense, and is of such hardy growth, as to be almost indepen-
dent of those casualties of weather, which often prove so detri-
mental to more delicate crops — it is one of those plants which
Nature has scattered so profusely through tropical regions,
whose leaves are thick and liesliy, to contain a large supply of
nourishment, and covered by a thick, glazed cuticle ; admitting
of so little evaporation, that many of them will thrive upon a
barren rock, where no other plant would Uve. Also from the
large portion of oxalic acid which the leaves contain, no animal
will touch them, and are, tlierefore, exempt from the trespasses
of cattle, &c. Indeed no greater proof of the hardiness of the
plant can be given, than the fact, that in many places where
lands have been under tillage, — afterwards abandoned, and al-
lowed to return to a state of nature, the pine-apple plant ex-
hibits the only trace of former cultivation ; every other cultiva-
ted plant has died away before the encroachments of the sur-
rounding w^ood, while they alone remained increasing from year
to year, and spread into large beds.

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PIXE APPLE. 187

Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke obtained a patent in England,
bearing date December 9, 1836, for the following mode of pre-
paring the filaments of this plant, the " BromeUa miancisP
We give the patentee's own description (with sliglit emenda-
tions), as received from the patent office, London, and which is
as follows.

" I (the said Frederick Burt Zincke) do hereby declare that
the nature of my said invention consists — Firstly, in preparing
or manufacturing the leaf of the plant, commonly called the
pine-apple, by bruising, beating, wasliing, and drying the same,
in such manner as to separate the long fibrous parts from the
cuticle pabulum, and other matter comprising the said leaf.
Secondly, in the application of the fibrous substance, so prepa-
red to various manufactures and purposes, for which silk, flax,
cotton, hemp, wool, and other fibrous materials arc now lised.
And further, I describe the manner in which my said invention
is to be performed by the following statement ; For the purpose
of preparing the fibre, I cut the leaves from the pine-apple plant,
at any period from the time of their obtaining their full growth,
till the ripening of the fruit, for I find that if the leaves are
taken before they are full grown, the fibre is less strong, and if
suflTered to remain on the plant, after the ripening of the fruit,
the fibre becomes harsh, and is more difficult to divest of the
extraneous matter. The small thorns having been trimmed
from the edge of the leaves, with a sharp knife, the leaves
should be crushed, so as to disengage the fibre from the other
matter composing the leaf, for which purpose the employment
of a mallet upon a block of wood, will fully answer the intend-
ed purpose. This process of crushing is to be continued until
the fibre appears in an assemblage of long silky filaments,
with more or less of the pulpy and other matter of the leaf ad-
hering to them ; to cleanse them from which they are to be
•well rinsed in soft water, immediately after having- been
crushed or beaten, and then the water should forthwith be
squeezed out of them, by drawing them between the edges of
two pieces of wood, placed parallel to each other, so as to admit
of the fibres being drawn out rather Hghtly l)etween them, for
if the green matter is allowed to dry on the fil)re. it of course

188 FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE APPLl.

becomes more difficult to cleanse. The washing must be care-
fully performed, so as to prevent the fibre from becoming tangled
or knotted. The operation of washing or rinsing must be re-
peated until the fibre be thoroughly cleansed. If it be found
difficult to clean the fibre from the extraneous matter, in conse-
quence of not collecting the leaves from the plant sufficiently
early, or from any other cause, the operation will be facihtated
by boiling the fibre, after it has been beaten, and partially pu-
rified in a solution of soap in soft water. For this purpose the
fibre nmst be regularly disposed in any suitable vessel, so as to
prevent its becoming tangled, with sufficient water to cover it,
in which soap has been dissolved, in the proportion of about
5 lbs. to 50 lbs. of fibre, a light weight being then placed upon it,
to keep the fibre beneath the surface of the liquor ; the whole
is then to be boiled for the space of three or four hours, and af-
ter boiling, to be well rinsed out in soft water, and squeezed as
before directed. The fibre having been cleansed by these pro-
cesses, is to be gradually dried in the shade, and occasionally
shaken out, so as to prevent the too close adhesion of the fila-
ment in drying, which would otherwise take place. The fibre
may be obtained free from the extraneous matter of the leaf
by other modes ; but I prefer that which I have above described.
As to the second part of my said invention, it is only necessary
to observe that from the superiority of this fibre in several re-
upects over those now in common use (?), it is adapted to a
vast number of purposes, in which fibrous materials are now
employed ; it is of a glossy white color, it receives dyes with fa-
cility, it possesses great strength, and is divisible to an exceed-
ing degree of fineness, for upon examination each filament
that appears a single fibre, is, in fact, a bundle of very delicate
fibres, adhering more or less strongly together. These qualities
render it applicable to the manufacture of shawls, drills, dam-
ask-linens, plushes, carpets, rugs, lace, bonnets, paper ; as a
material for rofe, twine, or thread, and a variety of other pur-
poses to which silk, cotton, flax hemp, wool, and other fibrous
materials are now applied. As a material for spinning in the
ordinary method in which flax is now spun through hot water,
this fibre requires to undergo the process generally in use for

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE APPLE. 189

bleaching flax. I find the period at which the bleaching can
be most conveniently peifoimed, is when the fibre is in the
state called technically " a roving ;" for the coarser yarns the
first stages of the bleaching process will be sufficient, but this
operation must be carried fmther, in proportion to the fineness
of the yarn intended to be spun. The efiect of the bleaching
upon the fibre is, to disengage part of the adhesive matter,
which connects the fine filaments together, and render the
yarn susceptible of longation, between the receiving and de-
livering rollers in spinning, after it has passed through the hot
water ; I therefore claim as my invention, the preparing and
manufacturing into the fibres hereinbefore particularly described ;
the leaf of the plant commonly called the pine-apple, by any
mode or modes of preparation, and also the application of the
said fibres, when prepared and manufactured, to the several
pmposes hereinbefore also particularly specified, the same bemg
to the best of my knowledge (information, remembrance, and
belief), now and not heretofore practised."

M. de la Rouverie affirms, that he procured a beautiful veg-
etable silk from the Papyfera or paper mulberry ; cutting the
bark while the tree was in sap, beating it with mallets, and
steeping it in water ; he obtained a thread from the fibres, al-
most equal to silk in quality ; and this was woven into a cloth
the texture of w^hich appeared as if formed of that material.
The finest sort of cloth among the inhabitants of Otaheite, and
other of the South Sea Islands, is made of the bark of this
tree.

According to M. Chevremont, Engineer of Mines, " ropes
made of aloes \\di\efour times the resistance of those of hemp
of the same diameter, and made by the same process(?). The
fibres of the aloe contain a resinous substance which protects
the ropes from the action of moisture : even at sea, and renders
the tarring of them unnecessary. They are lighter than hemp-
en ropes, and lose nothing of their strength by being wet(?).
When plunged into water, they are shortened only two per
cent., so that they become less rigid than ropes made of
hemp(?)."

There appears to be a good deal of exaggeration in regard

190 FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE APPLE.

to the great superiority of the fibres of these plants over cotton,
flax, &c. This is particularly the case in regard to Mr. Zincke,
for although he succeeded in producing some very beautiful
specimens of fabric, in conformity with the foregoing specifica-
tion, yet, the manufacture does not appear to make much prog-
ress, chiefly on account of the inferiority in point of strength
of the cloth, more especially when bleached.

CHAPTER XII.

MALLOWS.

CULTIVATION AND USE OF THE MALLOW AMONG THE ANCIENTS.

TESTIMONY OF LATIN, GREEK, AND ATTIC WRITERS.

The earliest mention of Mallows is to bo found in Job xxx. 4. — Varieties of the
Mallow — Cultivation and use of the Mallow — Testimony of ancient authors —
Papias and Isidore's mention of Mallow cloth — Mallow cloth common in the
days of Charlemagne — Mallow shawls — Mallow cloths mentioned in the Pcri-
plus as exported from India to Barygaza (Baroch) — Calidasa the Indian dram-
atist, who lived in the first century B. C. — His testimony — Wallich's (the In-
dian botanist) account — Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Sacontala
of Calidasa — Valcalas or Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Ramayana,
a noted poem of ancient India — Sheets made from trees — Ctesias's testimony
— Strabo's account — Testimony of Statius Cfficilius and Plautus, who lived 169
B. C. and 184 B.C. — Plautus's laughable enumeration of the analogy of trades
— Beauty of garments of Amorgos mentioned by Eupolis — Clearchus's testi-
mony— Plato mentions linen shifts — Amorgine garments first manufactured at
Athens in the time of Aristophanes.

The earliest mention of mallows is that given in the book
of Job, in the following words. " For want and famine they
were solitary : fleeing into the wilderness in former time deso-
late and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and ju-
nipei'-roots for their meat." — Job xxx. 4.

"We find in ancient authors of a more modern date, distinct
mention of three species of malvaceous plants, which are still
common in the South of Europe. These are, the Common
Mallow, Malva Silvestris, Linn. ; the Marsh Mallow, Althcea
Officinalis, Linn. ; and the Hempleaved Mallow, Althcea Can-
nabina, Linn.

The Common Mallow is called by the Latin writers Malva.
by the Greek MaXd^i, or MoXd;^^.

This plant was used for food from the earliest times. Hesi-
od represents living on Mallows and asphodel as the sign of
moderation, contentment, and simplicity of manners.

192 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS.

JN^i/Trioi, oi6 icraatv oc;,i 7;\ioii iljiiav vavTOi,

OiS' Saov iv fia\d^r;TC Kat aa(puii\w jiCy Svciap. — Op. cl DlCS, 41.

Fools ! not to know how much more the half is than the whole, and how much
benefit there is in mallows and asphodel.

A dish of these vegetables was probably the cheapest of all
kinds of food ; they grew wild in the meadow and by the way-
side, and were gathered and dressed without any labor or
trouble.

Various authors however mention the cultivation of the Com-
mon Mallow in gardens. See Virgil, Morctmii, 73. Pliny,
Hist. Nat. 1. xix. c. 22 and 31. Isidori Orig. 1. xvii. c. 10.
Papiee Vocabular. v. Malva. Geoponica, xii. 1. Palladuis, iii.
24. xi. U.

Dioscorides [1. ii. c. III.) calls it the Garden Mallow. Aris-
tophanes (Phitus 544.) mentions eating the shoots of mallows
instead of bread, intending by this to represent a vile and des-
titute kind of living. Plutarch {Septem Sajnentmn Con-
viviuni) says, " The mallow is good for food, and the Anther-
icus is sweet." According to Le Clerc 6 dvdtpiKOi [Anthericus)
means the scapus of the asphodel : if he is right, this plant was
eaten as we now eat asparagus. It is also remarkable that on
this supposition Plutarch mentions the same two plants, which
are also mentioned together by Hesiod.

According to Theophrastus [Hist. Plant, vii. 7.2.) the mal-
low was not eaten raw, as in a salad, but required to be cooked.
Cicero {Epist. ad Fam. vii. 26.) mentions the highly-seasoned
vegetables at a dinner given by his friend Lentulus. Having
been made ill by them, he says, that he, " who easily abstain-
ed from oysters and lampreys, had been deceived by beet and
mallows." Probaljly the leaves of the mallow were on this oc-
casion boiled, chopped, and seasoned, much in the same way
as spinach is now prepared in France.

Moschus in the following well-known lines refers to the com-
mon mallow together \vith other culinary vegetables :

A?, a\, ToX naXa^ai fiti', tTuv Kara KaTiov iAcoirai,
'H^e ra ^'Kuipa ui\iva, t6 t cvOaXis ovXov avrtdov,
"Yarcpov av ^ojovTi, ko'l c!s Uto; I'iXXo ipvovTi.

Mallows, alas ! die down, and parsley, and flourishing fennel ;

Then they spring up afresh, and live next year in the garden.

FITNESS OF THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 193

This is accurately true of the common mallow, the root of
which is perennial, so that the stems grow up and die down
again every year. Accordingly Theophrastus brings it as an
example of a plant with annual stems*.

Horace in two passages signifies his partiaUty to mallows,
caUing them " leves^'^ light to digest.

Let olives be my food, endive, and mallows light.

Od. I. i. 31. V. IG.

Mallows, salubrious to a frame o'er-filled.

Epod. 2. 57.

Martial recommends this vegetable on account of its laxative
effect:

Utere lactucis, et mollibus utere malvis. (iii. 47.)

Exoneratarus ventrem mihi villica malvas

Attulit, et varias, quas habet hortus, opes. (x. 48.)

Diphilus of Siphnos [as quoted hy AfhcncBus, I. ii; ]?. 5S. E.
Casaub.), after enumerating tlie medical virtues of the Com-
mon Mallow, says, that " the \\Tld was better than the culti-
vated kind."

Without quoting other classical authorities, the ancient prac-
tice may be illustrated by the observations of modern travellers,
who mention that the Common Mallow is still an article of con-
sumption in the same parts of the woild.

BiddiUph, who visited Syria about the year 1600, says, he
" saw near Aleppo many poor people gathering mallows, and
three-leaved grass, and asked them what they did with it, and
they answered, that it was all their food, and that they boiled
it, and did eat it." {Collection of Voyages ayid Travels from
the Library of the E. of Oxford, p. 807.)

Dr. Sibthorp states, that the Malva Silvestris grows Avild
in Cyprus, and is called M6\o,xa. He also sa3's, " The wild mal-
low is very common about Athens : the leaves are boiled and
eaten as a pot-herb, and an ingredient in the Dolma." (ik/e-
moirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey, edited by
Walpole, p. 245.) Dr. Holland mentions both Malva Silves-

* Hist. Plant. 1. vii. c. 8. p. 142. Heinsii. 240. Schneider.

25

194 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS.

tris and AlthcBa Officinalis among the officinal plants, which
he found in Cephalonia. ( Travels in Greece, p. 543, 4^0.).

The Althcca Officinalis, or Marsh Mallow, is called by the
Greek authors 'AXdaia, by the Latin, Hibiscus. Theophrastus
says, that it went also under the name of wild mallow*. Whilst
the Common Mallow, though highly esteemed for its medicinal
virtues, was principally regarded as a substantial article of food ;
the Marsh Mallow, on the contrary, seems to have been rarely
used except as an article of the Materia Medicat ; and, as its
peculiar properties were likely to be more matured in the \vild
than cultivated state, it does not appear to have been grown in
gardenst. Theophrastus describes it by comparing it with the
Common Mallow, and mentions its application, both internally
and externally, as a medicine§. Dioscorides {I. iii. c. 139.) gives
similar details. Besides mentioning the proper name of the
plant in Greek and in Latin, he calls it, " a kind of wild mal-
low." Pailadius (/. xi. p. 184. Bip.) explains " Hibiscus" to
be the same as "Althcca." See also Pliny, I. xx. c 14. ed. Bip.
"Virgil alludes to the use of it as fodder for goats, and as a ma-
terial for iveaviiig basketsW.

The Hemp-leaved Mallow, Althcna Cannabina, is once men-
tioned by Dioscorides [lib. iii. c 141.). Giving an account of
hemp, he distinguishes between the cultivated and the wild.
He says of tire wUd hemp, that the Romans called it Canna-
bis Terminalis'^. After mentioning the medical properties of
the plant, Dioscorides says, that its bark was useful for making
ropes. The truth of this observation wiU be apparent to every
botanist. The plants belonging to the natural order Malva-

* Hist. Plant. 1. ix. cap. 15. p. 188. Heinsii.

t Calpumius (Eclog. iv. 32,) mentions tlie " Hibiscus" as used for food, but
only by persons in a state of great destitution.

t At a later period, however, we find the Althoca Officinalis under the name of
" Ibischa Mis-7nalva" in a catalogue of the plants, which Cliarlemagne selected
for cultivation in the gardens attached to his villas. See Sprengel, Hist. Rei
Herb. i. 220.

§ Hist. Plant. 1. ix. cap. 19, p. 192. ed. Heinsii.

II Eclog. ii. 30. and x. 71. See Servius, Heyuo, and J. H. Voss., ad loc.

T Meaning literally Hedge-hemp.

FITNESS OP THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 195

cecB are all remarkable for the abundance of strong and beau-
tiful fibres in their bark*.

But of the European species there is none superior in the
fineness, the strength, the whiteness, and lustre of its fibres, to
the Common Mallow, the Malva iSilvestris. We have seen
that the ancients were famiUarly acquainted with this plant ;
that it was commonly cultivated in theii" gardens ; and that
they gathered it, when growing wild, to be taken as food or
medicine. In these circumstances they could scarcely fail to ob-
serve the aptitude of its bark for being spun into thread. More
especially in places where they had no other native supply of
fibrous materials ; in Attica, for example, which probably pro-
duced neither hemp nor flax, it seems in the highest degree
probable, that the fitness of the mallow to supply materials for
weaving would not be overlooked.

In producing the evidence, which establishes this as a posi-
tive fact, we shall begm with the latest testimonies and proceed
in a reverse order upward to the most ancient. According to
this plan, the first authority is that of Papias, who wrote his
Vocabulary about the year 1050. He gives the following ex-
planations :

Malbella vestis quae ex malvariun stamine conficitur, quam alii molocinam vo-
cant.

Molocina vestis quae albo stamine sit : quam alii malbellam vocant.

These passages clearly describe a Idnd of cloth made of the
white fibres of the common mallow. Malbella, the same with
Malvella, is a Latin adjective, in the form of a diminutive, from
Malva : Molocina, the same with MoUx^w, is a Greek adjective
from MoUxv, and signifies inade of mallow.

rapias, who seems in compiling his dictionary to have made
great use of Isidore, perhaps derived these explanations in part
from the following passage of the latter author :

* We have the following testimony respecting the actual fabrication of mallow-
cloth in modem times :

" Nous avons vu ft. Madrid, chez le savant phannacien D. Ca.'simir Ortdga, do
Ces tissus, qui nous ont sembld fort remarquables. lis dtaient fails avec I'dcorco
des Altheas officinalis et cannahina, ot avec celle du Malva sylvestris." F6e,
Flore de Virgile, Paris 1822, p. 6G.

196 THE MALLOW. ITS USES BY THE AN'CIENTS.

Melocinia (vestis est), quae malvarum stamine conficitur, quara alii molocinam,
alii malvellam vocant. Isid. Hisp. Orig. xix. 22.

The cloth called Melocinea is made of the thread of mallows, and is called by
some Molocina, by others Malvella.

The passages of Papias cannot be taken as a proof, that mal-
low-clotli Avas woven in his day. But that it was in fashion
as late as the age of Charlemagne appears from the following
line, which is quoted by Du Cange {Glossar. Med. et Inf.
Lat. V. Melocineus) from a poem in praise of that monarch,
attributed to Alcuin :

Tecta melocineo fulgescit femina amictu.
Wrapt m a mallow shawl the lady shines.

The word '■'• fulgescif' aptly describes the lustre of the mate-
rial under consideration. From the Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea* we learn, that cloths made of mallow, were among the
articles of export from India, being brought from Ozene (Ugain)
and Tagara in the interior of the country to the sea-port of
Barygaza (Baroch). P. 146. 169, 170, 171.

The genus Hibiscus, Linn, is very abundant in India. The
bark of a certain species of this genus, especially of H. Tilia-
ceiis and H. Caimahinus, is now very extensively employed
for making cordage, and might unquestionably have been used
for making clotht.

H. Tiliaceus is also represented in Rheede's Hort. Malabari-
cus (vol. i. fig. 30.). It grows about 15 feet high.

Dr. Walhch (Cat. of Indian Woods, p. 18.) mentions two
other species as used for making cordage from the bark.

The late Mr. John Hare, who hved in India a long time,
says, that a coarse kind of cloth, used for making sacks, (fee,
is now woven from Hibiscus bark.

As a further evidence, that the Molochina mentioned in the
Periplus were made from the bark of the Hibiscus, we may

* P. 146. 169, 170, 171. Arriani Op. ed. Blancardi, tom. ii.

t Cavanilles, Tab. 52, fig. 1, represents H. Cannabinus, the leaf of which is
like that of hemp. Tab. 55, fig. 1, represents II. Tiliaceus, in the description of
which we read " cortice in funes ductili ;" and Cavanilles says, the inliabitants
of the South Sea Islands (Auslraliu7n insularum) use in their ships and boats
ropes made from the bark.

FITNESS OF THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 197

refer to that admirable specimen of Eastern taste and ingenu-
ity, the Sacontala of the great Indian dramatist CaUdasa. Sev-
eral passages of this poem make mention of the Valcula, which
tlie Sanscrit Lexicons, themselves of great antiquity, explain as
meaning either bark, or a vesture made from it. We learn
from Dr. WalUch, a celebrated Indian botanist, that many
kinds of Hibiscus had this quahty in an eminent degree, and,
as their bark was in common use for making all kinds of cord-
age, it might undoubtedly be employed for weaving.

The Sacontala is of a date as ancient as the Periplus.- Pro-
fessor Von Bohlen {Das alte Tndien, vol. ii. jy. 477.) asserts,
that the author Calidasa certainly flourished as early as the
first century B. C. Sir William Jones makes him older by
several centuries. ( Works, vol. vi. p. 206.) The place also
agrees as well as the time. The Hibiscus Tiliaceus, according
to Sir J. E. Smith, is " one of the most common trees in every
part of the East Indies, thriving in all sorts of situations and
soils, and cultivated for the sake of its shade even more than
the beauty of its flowers, in towns and villages and by road-
sides. A coarse cordage," he adds, " is made of the bark ; the
wood is light and Avhite, useful for small cabinet-work ; the
mucilage of the whole plant is applied to some medical pur-
poses." The Molochina, montioned in the Periplus, were
brought from Ozene and Tagara, and may have come from
still further North. The hermitage, described in the drama,
was at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains, and near the river
Mahna, and, according to the representations given by the poet,
the Valcalas (translated by Sir W. Jones -^mantles of woven
bark" and by Chezy, " vetemens d^ecorce"\ were worn both
by the hermits and by the beautiful Sacontala. while she was
their imnate*.

" Valcalas" are mentioned in precisely the same manner in
the Ramayana, one of the most noted of the heroic poems of
ancient India. They are represented as coarse garments worn
by ascetics.

* Translation of the Sacontala, Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. vi. pp. 217. 2:25. 269.
Original, ed. Ch^zy, Paris, 1830, p. 7, 1. 10. ; p. 9, 1. 10 ; p. 24, 1. 7. ; p. 1.31, 1. 14.
Ch6zy's translation, pp. 10. 27. 142. 143. See also Heeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 648.

198 THE MALLOW, ITS USKS BY THE ANCIENTS.

If the explanation now given be admitted as applicable to
the Molochina of the Periplus, it may throw light upon some
other passages of ancient authors.

Ctesias, in his Indica*, mentions "sheets made from trees."

Strabo's account of the webs, which he calls Serica, an ac-
count derived from the writings of Nearchus, admiral of Alex-
ander the Great, represents those webs as made from fibres,
which were scraped from the bark of trees. This would apply
exactly to the supposed use of the Hibiscus for making cloth.
The bark must have been fiist stript from the tree, and the
fibres then scraped from the inside of the hark.

To the same source we may, we think, trace the idea ol
Arethas {in Aj)oc. c. 57.), that the Byssus, Rev. xix. 8., was
"the bark of an Indian tree rnade into flax. ''^

Although the date of the following inscription, found at
Rome, is uncertain, it may be conveniently brought in here.
It is published by Muratori, Novus Thesaurus Vet. Inscrip-
tionum, torn. ii. p. 939.

P. AVCTIVS P. L. LYSANDER.

VESTIARIVS. TENVIARIVS.

MOLOCHINARIVS. VOT. SOL.

Muratori in his Note says, that " Vestiarius Tenuiarius" was
the man who made thin garments, and " Molochinarius*^ the
man who made such garments of a mallow color.

The authors, next in regard to antiquity, who make mention
of Molochina, are the writers of the Latin Comedy, Statius
Caecilius, who died 169 B. C, and Plautus, who died 184 B. C.

Nonius Marcellus (/. xvi.) quotes the following hne from the
Pansimachus of the former dramatist :

Carbasina, molochina, ampelina.t

The passage of Plautus is in the Aulularia {Act iii. Sce7ie v.
/. 40.), where we have a ludicrous enumeration, extending

* Cap. 22. Fragmenta, ed. Balir. p. 253. 326.

t See C. C. Statii Fragmenta, a Leonhardo Spengel, Monachii 1829, p. 35
Statius chiefly copied Menander (Gelliiis, ii. c. 16.) ; but it is not certain that
Menander wrote any play called Pausimachus.

FITNESS OF THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 199

tbiough more than ten lines, of all the persons concerned in
the manufacture or sale of garments.

Solearii astant, astant molochineirii.

All the lexicographers and commentators explain Blolochi-
narius to be one who dyes cloth of the color of the mallow.
Lanarius was a woollen-draper ; Coactiliariiis, a dealer in
felts, a hatter ; Lintearius a Unen-draper ; and Sericarius a
silk-mercer. According to the same analogy, Molochinarius
would mean a dealer in Molochma, i. e. in all hinds of cloth
made from mallows.

The class of writers, which will now be produced as afford-
ing testimony respecting the use of the mallow for weaving,
are Greek authors, and who instead of the common Greek
terms employ the Attic term Ajiopyo; and its derivatives.

'Xfiopyoi has been explained by some of the lexicographers
to be a kind of flax (See JuUus Pollux, L. vii. § 74.). Perhaps
by this explanation nothing more was intended than that it
was a plant, the fibres of which were used to spin and weave
into cloth. It is highly probable that it was the Malva Silves-
tris or Common Blallow, and that it was called 'Ajxopyds.

According to the Attic lexicons of Pausanias {apud Eustath.
I. c.) and of Moeris, 'A/.opyof was an Attic term. We now find
traces of it in seven Attic writers, four or five of whom wrote
comedy. These are Aristophanes, Cratmus, Antiphanes, Eu-
polis, Clearchus, jEschines, and Plato.

I. We shall take first Aristophanes, whose comedy called
Lysistrata is frequently quoted by Pausanias and Cratinus, and
being still extant throws considerable light upon the subject. It
was represented in the year 412. B. C. Lysistrata says {L
150),

Kijiv ToT; ^iTuvioiai To7i d^Spyivoti
LV)iva\ naptoificv,

" And if we should present ourselves naked in shifts of amor-
gos ;" showing that these shifts were transparent. Accordingly
Moeris says, that the dfidpytvov was Xtvrdv v^nc/xa, " a thin web." Bi-
setus in his Greek commentary on this play, after quoting the
explanations of Stephanus Byzantinus, Suidas, Eustathius,

200 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS.

and the Etymologicum Magnum, judiciously concludes as fol-
lows : " From all these it is manifest, that dfiSpytvoi x'^^m,
whether they took their name from a place, from their color, or
from the raw material, were a kind of valuable robe, worn by
the rich, fashionable, and luxurious women."

A subsequent passage of the Lysistrata (v. 736-741) still
further illustrates this subject. A woman laments, that she has
left at home her dpLopyis icithout being jjeeled (aXonov), and she
goes to ])eel if (dTroSetptiv). The mallow no less than flax and
hemp, would require the bark to be stript off, and doubtless the
best time for stripping it is as soon as the plant is gathered.

II. Cratinus died about 420 B. C. The following hne, from
his comedy called Ma\eaKo\j represents a person spinning 'A/^opyrfs.

'A-HOpyov tviov [SpVTivriv vf)Qciv Tiva.

Cratina Fragmenta, a RunJcel, p. 29.

III. Julius Pollux, speaking of garments made of 'Ajwpyds (L.
vii. c. 13.) quotes the Medea of Antiphanes thus ; "^Hi- x^to^v
dii6pyivoi. This author was contemporary with Aristophanes.

IV. Eupohs wrote about the same time, and his authority
may be added to the rest as proving that garments of Amorgos
were admired by luxurious persons at Athens*.

V. Clearchus of Solit mentions the use of a cover of Amor-
gos for inclosing a splendid purple blanket. This appUcation
of it is agreeable to the foregoing evidence, showing that the
amorgine wehs were transparent. The sillvy translucence of
the lace-like web of mallow would have a very beautiful effect
over the fine purple of the downy blanket.

VI. ^schines in an oration against Timarchus, the object
of which is to hold up to contempt the extravagancies of this
Athenian spendthrift, in his enumeration of them, he mentions
(p. 118, ed. Reiskii.) that Timarchus took to his house " a wo-
man skilled in making cloths of Amorgos."

* See Harpocration, p. 29. ed. Blancardi. 1683. 4to. Also Plier. et Eupolidis
Fragmenta, a Runkel, p. 150.

t Ap. AlhencBum, L. vi. p. 255, Casaub. Clearclnis probably wrote about 100
years later than the before-mentioned authors, but the circumstances related by
him may have occurred about the time when those authors flourished, and even
at Athens.

FITNESS OF THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 201

VII. Plato ill the 13tli Epistle, addressed to Dionysius, ty-
rant of Syracuse, which, if not genuine, is at least ancient,
proposes to give to the three daughters of Cebes three long
shifts, not the valuable shifts made of Amorgos, but the linen
shifts of Sicily.

The mention of amorgine garments by the writers, who
have now been cited, seems to prove, that the fashion of making
and wearing them first came in among the Greeks at Athens
in the time of Aristophanes, who lived, as the reader will have
observed, in the fifth century before Christ. From them the
fashion may have extended itself into Sicily and Italy, which
will account, if Amorgina were the same with Molochina,
for the striking agreement in this respect between the writers
of Greek and of Latin Comedy. In subsequent ages the man-
ufacture seems so have declined, probably in consequence of
the abundance of silk and other rich and beautiful goods im-
ported from Asia. But the mention of these stuffs in the wri-
tings of Isidore and Alcuin renders it probable, that they were
brought again into use in the fifth and following centuries of
the Christian era.

26

CHAPTER XIII.

SPARTUM, OR SPANISH BROOM.

CLOTH MANUFACTURED FROM BROOM BARK, NETTLE, AND BULBOUS
PLANT. TESTLMONY OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS.

Authority for Spanisli Broom — Stipa Tenacissima — Cloth made from Broom-
bark — Albania — Italy — France — Mode of preparing tlie fibre for weaving —
Pliny's account of Spartiun — Bulbous plant — Its fibrous coats — Pliny's transla-
tion of Theophrastus — Socks and garments — Size of the bulb — Its geuus or
species not sufficiently defined — Remarks of various modem writers on this plant
— Interesting communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass.
to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth.

Pliny says, that " in the part of Hispania Citerior about
New Carthage whole mountains were covered with Spartum ;
that the natives made mattresses, shoes, and coarse garments
of it., also fires and torches ; and that its tender tops were eaten
by animals*." He also says, that it grows spontaneously
where nothing else ^vill grow, and that it is " the rush of a dry
soil."

The question now arises, what plant Pliny intended to de-
scribe. Clusius, who travelled in Spain chiefly with a view to
botany, supposed Pliny's " Spartum" to be the tough grass,
used in every part of Spain for making mats, baskets, &c.,
which Linnaeus afterwards called Stipa Tenacissimaf. It is
not surprising, that the opinion of so eminent a botanist as
Clusius has been generally adopted. It is, however, far
more probable, that the plant, which Pliny intended to speak
of, was the Spartium Junceum, Li7in., so familiarly known
under the name of Spanish Broom.

In the first place, the name Spartum should be considered as
decisive of the question, unless some sufficient reason can be

* L. xix. c. 2. t Clusii Plant. Rar. Historia, L. vi. p. 219. 220.

ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 203

shown for ascribing to it in this passage a sense diflerent from
that which it commonly bore. Spai'tus or tSpca'ttwi, is ad-
mitted to be used by all authors, Greek and Latin, and even
by Pliny himself in another passage*, to denote the Spanish
Broom. We learn from Sibthorp, that the Spanish Broom is
still called Sparto by the Greeks, and that it grows on dry
sandy hills throughout the islands of the Archipelago and the
continent of Greece. Sparto was indeed properly the Greek
name of this shrub, the Latin name being Genista, and the
use of the Greek name in Hispania Citerior may have been
owdng to the Grecian settlements on that coast, colonized from
Marseilles.

Besides the passages of Latin authors referred to by Schnei-
der and Billerbeck, and which it is unnecessary to repeat, the
following from Isidore of Seville appears decisive respecting the
acceptation of the term.

" Spartus frutex virgosus sine foUis, ab asperitate vocatus ;
volumma enim funium, qua ex eo fiunt, aspera sunt."' Orig-
inum Li. x\'ii. c. 9.

This is the definition of a learned and observant author, who
lived m Spain, and who must have been familiar with the
facts. " Frutex virgosus sine foliis''' is a clear and striking
description of the Spanish Broom, the leaves of which are so
small as easily to escape observation!. The Stipa Tenacissi-
ma, on the other hand, is not a shrub with twigs, but a grass,
which grows in tufts, the long leaves being as abundant and
useful as the stems or straws. Clusius himself {I. c.) in lay-
ing down the distinction between the Spartum of the Greeks,
which he supposed to be the Spanish Broom, and the Spartum
of Pliny, which he supposed to be the Stipa Tenacissima, as-
serts that the former is a shrub {frutex), the latter a herb with
grassy leaves {herba graminacea folia j^roferens). It is clear,
therefore, that the inhabitants of Spain in the time of Isidore

* See L. xi. 8. where Pliny says, that bees obtain honey and wax from
" Spartum," and compare this with Aristotle, Hist. Anim. L. x. 40.

t Dioscorides also describes the Spanish Broom to be " a shrub bearing long
twigs without leaves." Isidore's etymology, deducing Spartus from Asper, is mau<
ifestly absurd.

204 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM :

Still used the term Spartus in its original acceptation, viz. to
denote the Spartium Junceum of Linnaeus.

When the Stipa Tenacissima was brought into use for ma-
king ropes and for other purposes, for which the Spanish Broom
was employed, the name of the latter would naturally be ex-
tended to the former, and we may thus account for the fact
that the Stipa Tenacissima is now universally knoMH in Spain
by the name Esparto. Indeed it is possible, that the employ-
ment of the Stipa Tenacissima for these purposes may have
been as ancient as the thiie of Pliny ; and his use of the word
" herba^' in describing it, as well as the locality which he as-
signs to it, the hilly country about Carthage, favors the common
interpretation, and perhaps even authorizes the conclusion, that
his account is the result of confomiding the two plants together,
so that he says of one supposed plant things, which were partly
true of both, and partly appUcable either to the Spanish Broom,
or to the Stipa Tenacissima only. But, even if this be admit-
ted, it is still possible that the plant, from whose fibres the
" pastonim vestis'^ was manufactured, was not the grassy Sti-
pa, but the shrub, the Spanish Broom.

In order to estabhsh this point we now proceed to mention the
evidence respecting the application of it to such uses. It has
been employed for making cloth in Turkey, in Italy, and the
South of France, but in circumstances, which were either spe-
cially favorable to the manufacture, or where flax could not be
cultivated. It is manufactured into shirts in Albania according
to Dr. Sibthorp*. Nearly a century ago. Pope Benedict XIV.
brought a colony of Albanians to inhabit a barren and desolate
portion of his territory on the sea-coast. Here they obtained a
very fine, strong, durable thread from the Broom and the Net-
tle, and used it, when woven, in place of linent. TrombeUi,
who relates this fact, also gives an account of the manufacture
of broom-bark in the vicinity of Lucca, where the hills, called
Monte Cascia, are covered with this plantt '•' Formerly,"' he

* Flora Greeca, No. 671.

t Trombelli, Bononiensis Scient. atque Artium Instituti Commentarii, torn. vi.
p. 118.

X Trombelli calls the pljint Genista, and says it is the kind called by botanists

ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 206

says, " the people derived no other advantage from the shnib
than to feed sheep and goats with it, and to heat their stoves
and furnaces. But their ingenuity and industry have now
made it far more profitable. They steep the twigs for some
days in the thermal waters of Bagno a Acqua near Lucca.
After this process the hark is easily stript off, and it is then
combed and otherwise treated like flax. It becomes finer
than hemp could be made ; it is easily dyed of a)ii/ color, and
may be used for garments of any kmd*." In the \acinity of
Pisa we find that the twigs of the Spanish Broom were in Uke
manner soaked in the thermal waters, and that a coarse cloth
was manufactured from the barkt.

But the manufacture has been carried to a far greater extent
in the South of France. In the Journal de Physique, Tom.
30. Ato. An. 1787. p. 294., is a paper by Broussonet Sur la
culture et les usages ^conomiqiies dn Genet d^Espagne. A
minute and highly curious account is here given of the mode
of preparing the fibres, which is practised by the inhabitants of
all the villages in the vicinity of Lodeve in Bas Languedoc.
The shrub abounds on the barren hills of that region, and all
that the people do to favor its growth is to sow the seed in the
driest places, where scarce any other plant can vegetate. After
being cut, the tAvigs are dried in the sun, then beaten, macera-
ted in water, and treated in the same way as flax or hemp
(See Zincke's process, Chapter XL). The coarser thread is
used to make bags for holding the legumes, corn, &c. ; the
finer for making sheets, napkins, and shirts. The peasants in
this district use no other kind of linen, not being acquainted
with the culture either of flax or hemp. The ground is too
dry and unproductive to suit these plants. The linen made

" Genista juncea flore luteo." This is the Spartium Junceum of Linnoeiis. See
Ray, Catal. Stirp. Europ. and Scopoli, Flora Camiolica, 1772, torn. i. No. 870.

* Bononiensis Scicntianim atque Artium Instituti Commentarii, torn. iv. Bo-
non. 1757, p. 349-351. A similar account of the manufacture of the " Teladi
Ginestia" at Bagno a Acqua is given by Mr. Jolin Strange, who says ho had sent
an account of it to the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, and Com-
merce. Lettera sopra I'Origine della carta naturale di Cortona, Pisa 1764. p. 79.

+ Mem. de i'Acad^mie des Sciences, Paris 1763.

206 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM :

of the Spanish Broom is as supple as that made from hemp ;
it might be even as beautiful as real Unen, if more pains were
taken with it. It becomes wliiter, the oftener it is washed. It
is rarely sold, each family making it for its own use. The
stalks, after the rind has been separated from them, are tied in
small bundles, and sold for Ughting fires.

Let us now see how far Pliny's account of the Spartum
agrees with these representations of the mode of manufactu-
ring Broom-bark. The Spartum, of which he speaks, is " the
rush of a dry soil" a description far more applicable to the
young twigs of the Spanish Broom than to the grassy stems
of the Stipa Tenacissima, or indeed to any other plant. His
Spartum was used for making fires and for giving light {hitic
ignes facesque), purposes for which the Stipa Tenacissima is
not at all adapted, but to both of which the stems and twigs of
the Spanish Broom are appUed. The tender tops of Pliny's
Spartum served as food for animals. According to Trom-
belli sheep and goats feed upon the Spanish Broom in Italy ;
but we cannot find that this is the case with the Stipa Tena-
cissima. Phny's Spartum, after being steeped in water, was
beaten in order to be made useful [Hoc autem timditur, ^it
fiat utile) ; and this process was quite necessary in preparing
the twigs of Spanish Broom, whereas the Stipa Tenacissima
is most commonly manufactured without gomg through any
such process. Clusius indeed states {I. c.) that by macerating
it in water like flax, and then drying and beating it, the Span-
iards of Valencia make a kind of shoes, which they call Alper-
gates, also cords, and other finer articles ; but, at the same
time, he says, that it is made into mats, baskets, ropes, and
cables, merely by being diied, platted, and twisted, without any
other operation. The same account is given by Townsend,
who visited the country as late as 1787, and who further states,
that " the esparto rush" had latterly " been spun into fine thread
for the purpose of making cloth*." It seems, however, that this
had only been done as an experiment, whereas the accounts
which have been quoted show, that the manufacture of cloth

* Journey through Spain, vol. iii. p. 129, 130.

ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 207

from broom-bark had been long established in Albania, Italy,
and the South of France. In the latter district more especially,
the entire dependence of the people on this material as a sub-
stitute for flax and hemp, and the primitive mode in which this
domestic manufacture was carried on in a retired and moun-
tainous region, seem to indicate the high antiquity of the prac-
tice. All the other authors, who mention the use of the Stipa
Tenacissima, certainly give little countenance to the idea of its
fitness to supply a thread for making cloth. Mr. Carter, adopt-
ing the common opinion that the Spartum of PUny is the Stipa
Tenacissima, observes, that " at present the meanest Spaniard
would think clothing made from this grass very rough and un-
comfortable*." We shall only quote one other authority, that
of Lofling, the favorite pupil of Linnseus, who became botanist
to the King of Spain, and whose Iter Hispanicum [Stockholm^
1758.) relates particularly to the plants of that country. He
follows Clusius in supposing the Spartum of Pliny to be the
Stipa Tenacissima of Linnaeus. He mentions, that its stem is
two or three feet high, with leaves so long, thin, tough, and
convoluted, that they are admirably adapted for the purposes
to which they are applied. He adds, " Hispanis nominatur
Esparto. Usus hujus frequentissimus per universam Hispani-
am ad storeas ob pavimenta lateritia per hyemem : ad funes
crassiores pio navibus ad que corbes et aha utensilia pro trans-
portandis fr«ctibus." (p. 119.)

Pliny's remark, that the Spartum, of which he speaks, could
not be so^vn {c[ucb non qiieat scri), is not true of the Spanish
Broom ; but this is of httle importance in the present inquiry,
because it is coupled with the remark, that nothing else could
be so^^^l in the same situation {iiec aliiid ibi seri ant nasci
potest) ; a remark, which is totally imfounded in fact. The
Spanish Broom would unquestionably be propagated by its
seed, which is very abundant.

From these facts, the reader will have no difficulty in form-
ing his decision. Notwithstanding the respect due to the au-
thority of Clusius, into which that of all the subsequent writers

* Carter's Jounicy, vol. ii. p. 414, 415.

208 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM :

seems to resolve itself, it appears to us that the evidence pre-
ponderates against the use of Stipa Tenacissima for making
cloth in ancient times, and points to the conclusion, that the
coarse garments, to which PUny alludes, were fabricated from
the fibrous rind of Spartium Junceum.

One of the most interesting facts in the geography of plants
is the frequent substitution in one country, of a plant of a cer-
tain natural order for another of the same natural order in an-
other country. The Indians have a plant, bearing a very close
and striking resemblance to the Spartium Junceum, which
they employ just as the natives of Bas Languedoc employ that
plant. We refer to the Crotalaria Juncea, called by the natives
Goni, Danapu, or Shanapu, and by us the Sun-plant, or Indian
Hemp. From the bark are made all kinds of ropes, pack-
ing-cloths, sacks, nets, &c. In order to improve the fibre, the
plants are sown as close as possible and thus draw up to the
height of about ten feet. According to Dr. Francis Buchanan,
the plant thrives best on a poor sandy soil, and requires to be
abundantly watered. After being cut down it is spread out to
the sun and dried. The seed is beaten out by striking the
pods with a stick. After this the stems are tied up in large
bundles, about twelve feet in circumference, and are preserved
in stacks or under sheds. When wanted, the stems are mace-
rated during six or eight days. They are known to be ready,
when the bark separates easily &om the pith. " The plant is
then taken out of the water, and a man, taking it up by hand-
fuls, beats them on the ground, and occasionally washes them
until they be clean ; and at the same time picks out with his
hand the remainder of the pith, until nothing except the bark
be left. This is then dried, and being taken up by handfuls,
is beaten with a stick to separate and clean the fibres. The
hemp is then completely ready, and is spun into thread on a
spindle, both by the men and women. The men alone weave
it, and perform this labor in the open air with a very rude
loom." The fabric made from it is a coarse, but very strong
sack-cloth.

" The fibres, when prepared," says Ironside, " are so similar

ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 209

to hemp, that Europeans generally suppose them to be the
produce of the same plant*."

Theophrastust (Hist. PI. viii. 13.) gives the following account
of a bulbous plant, called by him BoXPds epio,p6po{, the root of
which suppUed materials for weaving : — " It grows in bays,
and has the wool under the first coats of the bulb so as to be
between the inner eatable part and the outer. Socks and other
garments are woven from it. Hence this kind is woolly, and
not hairy, like that in India."

It is difficult to determine what plant is meant, though the
description seems accurate and scientific. Billerbeck absurdly
supposes it to be cotton-grassj. By former botanists, men of
great eminence, it was supposed to be Scilla Hyacinthoides.
Sprengel objects, that this species does not grow in Greeces.
Sir James Smith however {article Scilla in Rees's Cyclop.)
represents it as growing in Madeira, Portugal, and the Levant.
If this account be true, Theophrastus may have been acquaint-
ed with it. In another article, Eriophorus, Sir J. Smith doubts
whether either Scilla Hyacinthoides or any other bulb produces
wool of such quaUty and in such quantity as to answer the
description of Theophrastus. But, we learn from other well-

• Account of the culture and uses of the Son- or Sun-plant of Hindostan by
Ironside, m the Phil. Trans., vol. Ixiv. : Dr. F. Buchanan's Joimiey, vol. i. 226,
227, 29L ; vol. ii. 227, 235.: Wissett on Hemp, passim. : Roxburgh's Flora Indica,
vol. iii. p. 259-263.

The genus Lupinus {the Lupin), belonging to the same natural order as Spar-
tium and Crotalaria, might probably afford materials of the same kind. IVlr.
Strange {Letiera, &,c. p. 70.) mentions the filamentous substance of the Lupin aa
adapted for making paper.

t " Theophrastus relates, that there is a kind of bulb growing about the banks of
rivers, and that between its outer rind and the part of it which is eaten there is a
woolly substance, out of which they make certain kinds of socks and cloths. But
in the copies which I have found, he neither mentions in what country this is
done, nor anj'thing else with greater exactness, except that the bulb is called
eriophoros ; nor does he make any mention at all of spartum, although he exam-
ined the whole subject with great care 390 years before my time, as I have ob-
served in another place (Viz., lib. xv. 1.), from wliich circumstance it appears,
that spartum came into use since that time."

t Flora Cla^ica, p. 20.

§ German translation of Theophrastus, Notes, vol. ii. p. 283.

27

210 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM :

informed botanists, that various bulbs have under the outer-
most coats a copious tissue of tough fibres, fully sufficient to
be employed in weaving. This is particularly the case with
the genera Amaryllis, Crinum, and Pancratium, as well as
Scilla. The fibrous coats serve as a protection to the interior
and more vital parts of the bulb.

Hoffmansegg and Link, who travelled in Portugal, in the de-
scription of Scilla Hyacinthoides, say, " Bulbus tomento viscoso
tectus*."

Sonnini says of the Scilla Maritima, "The Greeks of the
Archipelago call it Kourvara-skilla, kourvara signifying proper-
ly 'a tuft of thread' {j)eloton dcjil^)" Does this refer to the
fibres mentioned by Theophrastus ? The size of this bulb,
which is the common squill, used in pharmacy, seems to favor
this supposition. It is often as large as a man's headt. Hoff-
mansegg and Link§ say it grows abundantly on barren hills
in Spain and Portugal; but add, "The name maritima is
iiot quite proper : for the plant is seldom met with near the
sea-shore, and sometimes very remote from it." On the other
hand, it must have been so called, because it was reported by
others to grow on the sea-shore ; and Sir James Smith {in
Rees's Cyclopedia) expressly states, that it grows on " sandy
shores." Redoute says the same.

From the account of Pancratium by Sir James Edward
Smith {in Rees^s Cyclop.), we learn that two species grow in
Greece, viz. P. Maritimum and Illyricum.

The remarks now offered appear to prove, that there certam-
ly may have been a bulb, such as Theophrastus describes,
though we have not sufficient information to decide its genus
and species. It may have been the Scilla Maritima.

It is to be observed, that he refers also to an Indian bulb,
having similar properties. Perhaps he alluded to some plant of

* Annals of Botany, by Konig and Sims, Lond. 1805, vol. i p 101.
+ Voyage en Grfece, torn. i. ch. 14. p. 295.

I " Bulbus ovatus, tunicatus, crassitie fere capitis humani.^' Desfontaines'
Flora Atlantica, torn. i. p. 297.
§ An. of Bot. vol. i. p. 101.

ITS FITA'ESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 211

a kind similar to Agave Vivipara, the leaves of which are ex-
tensively used in India for making cordage*.

We cannot better conclude this part of the subject, than by
giving the following interesting communication of Dr. Daniel
Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass., to the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth,
a gentleman who has, in our opinion, rendered most valuable
services, not only to the people of the United States, but to the
world at large, since his appointment to the office of Commis-
sioner of Patents.

Northampton, Hampshire County, Mass.

" Dear Sir : The favorable notice of silk culture in document
No. 109, from the Patent Office report of February, 1843, is my
apology for presenting the enclosed samples of jJajJer, made of
mulberry fohage and bark. Unfortunately, the external cuticle
of the bark had not been removed ; producing the spots, but
does not injure the paper for the use intended, which was for
the purpose of depositing silk-worms' eggs upon something
dark ; and this being unbleached, is considered adapted to the
habits of the silk-worm, and is now in successfid experiment.

" The four samples are all of one batch ; the darkest, having
more of the outside cuticle, was most buoyant, rose to the top
and came off first.

" A quantity of genuine Canton foliage, which retains its
verdure in greater perfection and later than any other mulberry,
is gathered, dried, and sent to the mill for making paper,
bleached, without spots, fit for cotton paper, as hoped ; and, if
successful, I shall take pleasure in sending you a sample, to be
preserved with the enclosed.

" I began, some ten or twelve years since, to bring sillc cul-
ture into notice among the members of the Hampshire Agricul-
tural Society, believing that if we tried the right kind of trees,
(such as used in China,) we could raise silk, yet could not af-
ford to pay $1 per tree, as then asked for multicauhs ; not re-
flecting how easily they could be propagated by cuttings and
layers. Under this view of the subject, I wrote to the Rev. E.

* Dr. F. Buchanan's Journey in Mysore, &.c. i. p. 36

212 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM :

C. Bridgman, missionary at Canton, China, a native of Hamp-
shire county, with the request that he would procure and for-
ward me some mulberry seed of the most approved kind for
growing in China, for the use of members of the agricultural
society. He promptly attended to the request ; the seed was
forwarded and sown in the spring of 1834 or 1835. It grew
finely, and developed a splendid leaf

'• About tw'O years since, while Dr. Parker, wnth a Chinaman,
was here on a visit, on being shown the Canton foliage, it was
readily recognized. As the trees had grown here very luxuri-
antly, and developed a larger leaf than in China, Dr. Parker
suggested that our soil might be more congenial to the plant
than even China, its native soil.

" Soon after receiving the seed from Canton, a friend sent
me another parcel from the South of Asia, wdth high commen-
dations, that if it would giow here, it w^ould be of essential ben-
efit to the United States for raising silk. It succeeded well, and
is more hardy than the white mulberry, very productive in
small branches, and a good-sized leaf. I named the latter
Asiatic Canton. These two kinds are highly approved of for
feeding silk-worms — the Canton for leaf-feeding, and the Asi-
atic for branch feeding. I have, however, almost every variety
which was cultivated during the mulberry speculation — cover-
ing, altogether, some ten or tw^elve acres, besides a large number
of young Canton and Asiatic seedlings, of this year's sowing,
from seed of my own raising, to enlarge the plantations.

" A few days since, the Rev. William Richards, of the Sand-
wich Islands, with the young prince, called on me. At a for-
mer visit, I had supphed him wuth Canton mulberry-seed, silk-
worms' eggs, and dry mulberry foliage to use in case the eggs
should hatch on the passage ; but this they did not do until his
arrival home. About the same time, other eggs had been re-
ceived there from China; but the cocoons raised from them
were not 07ie quarter as large as the American, and must have
required some 10,000 to 12,000 to make a pound of silk, while
in America 2,400 to 3,000 w^ould make a pound.

" Mr. Titcomb, also a silk-grower in one of the islands, having
the American and Chinese, crossed them : but the crossing

ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 213

produced cocoons so small as to require from 5,000 to 6,000 to
make a pound of silk, while not over 3,000 of the American
would be required to do the same thing(!).

" Mr. Richards was shown several pamphlets^ newspapers^
cap and writing paper, supposed to have been made of mul-
berry bark. He said rags were not used in India*, China, or
the islands, for making paper, but they always make it of some
vegetable leaf; that the bark was too valuable for that, and
was used to make fabrics. (See Chapters XI. and XII. of
this Part. Also Appendix A.)

" We, as Americans, have the appropriate soil and climate for
the Cantou and Asiatic mulberry, with the pea-nut variety of
worms, which, being managed with due care and attention,
together with the skill, ingenuity, and perseverance of Ameri-
cans— and, in addition, and could we have the aid of our country
to encourage new beginners — we might hope to compete with
any nation in the production of silk, their cheap labor and
cheap living to the contrary notwithstanding. There is abun-
dant evidence that worms fed exclusively on the Canton mul-
berry have been larger, and produced heavier cocoons, by one-
third in size of worms and weight of cocoons, than by other

* Abdollatiph who visited E^'pt A. D. 1200, informs us (Chapter iv. p. 188 of
Silvestro de Sacy's French translation, p. 221 of Wahl's German translation.),
" that the cloth, rags, ^c. found in the catacombs, and used to envelope the
mummies, was made into garments, or sold to the scribes to make paper for
shop-keepers." This cloth is proved to be linen (See Part IV. p. 365), and the
passage of Abdollatiph may be considered as decisive proof, which however has
never been produced as such, of the manufacture of linen paper as early as the
year 1200. Professor Tychsen in his learned and curious dissertation on the use
of paper from Papyrus (published in the Commentationes Reg. Soc. Gottingensis
Recentiores, vol. iv. A. D. 1820), has brought abundant testimonies to prove that
Egypt supplied all Europe with this kind of paper until towards the end of the
eleventh century. The u.se of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being em-
ployed instead. The Arabs in consequence of their conquests in Bucharia, had
learnt the art of making cotton paper about the year 704, and through them or
the Saracens it was introduced into Europe in the eleventh Century. Another
fact should not be lost sight of, namely, " that most of the old MSS. in Arabic
and other oriental languages are written on this sort of paper," and that it was
first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain. (For further proof, see
Appendix A. Also Part IV. already referred to.)

214 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM :

feed. I have supplied an order of the peanut variety of eggs,
to go to Guatemala ; and Canton seed, of my own raising, to
go to Rio ; and now have an order for a number of the genu-
ine Canton mulberry trees, roots, or cuttings, to go to Lima,
where the appUcant went on business, a few years since, taking
with him a few multicaules, at $2 each — now multipUed to
50,000 ; who, without any practical knowledge of raising trees,
reeling and manufacturing silk, or having seen a silk-worm or
reel until he introduced them in 1843, has now presented me
with beautiful samples of floss cocoons, reeled and sewing silk,
done by ladies as a diversion, without any assistance, and very
little instruction from him. The silk is of good quality. Sam-
ples had been sent by a mercantile house in Lima to England,
for an opinion of the quaUty ; but no return had been received
when he came away. He has come to this place with a native
Spaniard, to obtain more perfect information in all the branches
of reeling, twisting, coloring(!), &c. ; to procure machinery,
with a view of enlarging operations, so that he might turn off
twenty-five povmds per day of sewings, cords, braids, (fcc. He
represents the cUmate and soil as adapted to the culture of silk,
and could feed every month in the year ; that the necessaries
of living are procured with but httle labor ; that the laboring
population are indolent, the wealthy classes too proud to labor.
He feels confident of success, and that he can introduce habits
of industry by silk culture, that would counteract their natural
indolence ; and he will inform me of his success in due time,
that may be more interesting than speculations upon what he
intends doing. He has engaged several to perfect themselves in
reeling, «fec., to accompany him when he returns to Lima with
his machinery. He has become so satisfied with the superiority
of the genuine Canton mulberry, that he has engaged to take
it on with him for propagation and use.

" I have letters from widely different locations, rendering fa-
vorable accounts of this year's success in growing silk, and in
corroboration of the prevalent opinion that the silk cause will
finally j)revail. I have several letters on this sul)ject — one
from a gentleman presiding over one of our most eminent Uter-

ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 215

ary institutions, under date of June, 1844. Discoursing about
the culture of silk, he writes as follows :

" ' If this earnest waking up to a scientific and practical con-
sideration of the subject be not soon crowned with signal suc-
cess, it will not be for want of enterprize or skill in our country-
men, but merely from the high price of labor here, compared
with the scanty wages given in other silk-growing countries.
Even this consideration, though it may retard for a while the
complete success of tliis department of productive industry, will
not prevent its ultimate triunn'ph^

"Another gentleman, under date of August, 1844, writes
from the far West, ' that the soil and climate of the Western
and South-western States are admirably suited to the growth
of the mulberry and raising silk-worms,' and that ' eventually
the two great staples of the Western and South-western States
will be silk and wooV It is the opinion of competent skilful
silk manufacturers, who have made critical experiments upon
the Pongee-silk (so called) of foreign make, by tests which they
consider satisfactory and decisive, that it is only a vegetable
jjrodnction, and that the material was never operated upon by
the silk-woi'm[l). There can be no reasonable doubt about the
ultimate success of silk-culture in some future years ; but to
accelerate that desirable event, which may constitute an import-
ant American staple for revenue (which might not only enrich
the Government, but reward the labor of personal enterprize),
a bounty is deemed necessary to stimulate and encourage that
portion of the agricultural population whose circumstances or
health disqualifies them for the more laborious exercises of the
fields, to commence operations upon a new and untried crop.
Our extensive imports of raw and manufactured silks are en-
couraged by us as consumers, instead of being producers. We
now contribute to support foreign enterprize and industry, to
produce the article of silk, which we might, with proper encour-
agement, raise ourselves, not only for our own consumption, but
for exportation."

Very respectfully, yours, &c.
Henry L. Ellsworth. Esq., Daniel Stebbins.

Commissioner of Patents.

216 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM.

The amount of silk imported into the United States aiinu>
ally, nearly equals that of linen and woollen together, and is
equal to one half of all other fabrics combined. Is it not then,
an important consideration, that this expenditure be saved to
the nation?

PART SECOND.
ORIGm AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER I.

SHEEP'S WOOL.

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLtTS-

TKATIONS OF THE SCKIPTURES, ETC.

The Shepherd Boy — Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia — Mesopotamia and
Syria — In Idumaea and Northern Arabia — In Palestine and Eg>'pt — In Ethio-
pia and Libya — In Caucasus and Coraxi — The Coraxi identified with the
modern Caratshai — In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &.c. — In Caiia
and Ionia — Milesian wool — Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessuly,
Euboea, and Boeotia — In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris — In Arcadia — Worship
of Pan — Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds — Introduction of iiis worship
into Attica — Extension of the worship of Pan — His dances with the nymphs —
Pan not the Eg>T)tian Mendes, but identical with Faunus — The philosophical
explanation of Pan rejected — Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians
— Polybius on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians — Worship of Mercury
in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade — Present state of Arca-
dia— Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus — Shepherds' dogs — Annual
migration of Albanian shepherds.

THE SHEPHERD BOY.

The rain was pattering o'er the low thatch'd shed
That gave us shelter. There was a shepherd boy,
Stretching his lazy limbs on the rough straw,
- In vacant happiness. A tatter'd sack
Cover'd his sturdy loins, while his rude legs
Were deck'd with uncouth patches of all hues,
Iris and jet, through which his sun-burnt skin
Peep'd forth in dainty contrast. He was a glory
For painter's eye ; and his quaint draperies
Would harmonize with some fair sylvan scene,

28

^^

218 SHEEP BREEDING AND

^^^le^e arching groves, and flower-embroider'd banks.

Verdant with thymy grass, tempted the sheep

To scramble up their height, while he, reclin'd

Upon the pillowing moss, lay listlessly

Through the long summer's day. Not such as he,

In plains of Thessaly, as poets feign,

V7ent piping forth at the first gleam of mom,

And in their bowering thickets dreamt of joy,

And innocence, and lore. Let the true lay

Speak thus of the poor hind : — His indolent gaze

Reck'd not of natural beauties ; his delights

Were gross and sensual : not the glorious sun,

Rising above his hills, and lighting up •

His woods and pastures with a joyous beam,

To him was grandeur ; not the reposing sound

Of tinkling flocks cropping the tender shoots.

To him was music ; not the blossomy breeze

That slumbers in the honey-dropping bean-flower.

To him was fragrance : he went plodding on

His long-accuitomed path ; and when his cares

Of daily duties were o'erpass'd, he ate,

And laugh'd, and slept, with a most drowsy mind.

Dweller in cities, scom'st thou the shepherd boy.

Who never look'd within to find the eye

For Nature's glories ? Know, his slumbering spirit

Struggled to pierce the fogs and deepening mists

Of rustic ignorance ; but he was bound

With a harsh galling chain, and so he went

Grovelling along his dim instinctive way.

Yet thou hadst other hopes and other thoughts,

But the world spoil'd thee : then the mutable clouds,

And doming skies, and glorj^-shedding sun.

And tranquil stars that hung above thy head

Like angels gazing on thy crowded path.

To thee were worthless, and thy soul forsook

The love of beauteous fields, and the blest lore

That man may read in Nature's book of truth.

Despise not, then, the lazy shepherd boy :

For his account and thine shall be made up.

And evil cherish'd and occasion lost

May cast their load upon thee, while his spirit

May bud and bloom m a more sunny sphere.

The inquiry into the origin and propagation of sheep, no less
than of the silk-worm, may be justly regarded as a subject of
the deepest interest. For the management and use of these

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 219

animals has, from the earhest dawn of human history, formed
a striking feature in the condition of man. Of the materials
employed by tlie ancients for making cloth, by far the most im-
portant was the wool of sheep. We are able to trace with great
probability the process of sheep-breeding and of the use of wool
for weaving. Among the bones of quadrupeds, found in an-
cient caves throughout Europe, we cannot find on consulting
the works of Cuvier, Buckland, and De la Beche, that remains
of sheep have ever been discovered. This fact affords some
reason for presuming, tliat the sheep is not a native of Europe,
but has been introduced there by man. *-- —

It appears to have been a general opinion among Zoologists,
that the Argali, or Ovis Amnion of Linnaius, which inhabits
in vast numbers the elevated regions of Central Asia, is the
primitive stock of the whole race of domesticated sheep. Agree-
ably to this supposition we find, that from the earliest times the
inhabitants of Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine,
and the North of Arabia, have been addicted to pastoral em-
ployments. The tribes of wandering shepherds, which fre-
quent those countries, are descended from progenitors, who led
the same life thousands of years ago, and whose manners and
habits are preserved to the present day with scarcely the slight-
est change.

As might be expected, we have little precise information re-
specting the Scythians, who inhabited the elevated plains of
inner Asia. Some of their hordes are distinguished by Herod-
otus, Strabo, and others, under the name of Nomadic or />a5-
toral Scythians ; and that this denomination was understood
to imply, that they tended sheep as well as larger cattle may
be inferred from what Herodotus says of their use of felt (See
Appendix B.). Strabo, moreover, says of a particular tribe of
the Massagetse, that they had " few sheep," which implies that
the rest were rich in flocks ; and of another tribe he says,
"They do not till the ground, but derive their sustenance from
sheep and fish, after the manner of the Nomadic Scythians*.^'
But a much more distinct account of the manners of this people

* Strabo, 1. xi. cap. 8. p. 486. ed. Siebenkees.

220 SHEEP BREEDING AND

is given us by Justin, who says, that they were accustomed to
wander through uncultivated soUtudes, always employed in
tending herds and flocks [armenta et pecora). He, however,
adds, that they were strangers to the use of woollen garments,
being clothed in skins and furs*. Hence it appears, that they
were too rude and ignorant to have acquired the arts of spin-
ning and weaving.

If we may trust to the authority of Strabo, the Medes did
not tend sheep ; for he says of them, '• They eat the flesh of
wild animals ; they do not bring up tame cattlet." Neverthe-
less, their southern neighbors, the Persians, with whom they
were united under one government, had sheep in abundance.
These animals are strikingly represented in the bas-rehefs of
PersepoHs. In one of them, w^hich represents a long proces-
sion sculptured on the wall of a splendid staircase, two rams,
attended by keepers, are accompanied in the same train by
horses, asses, camels, and oxenj, Herodotus, in his account of
the manners and institutions of the Persians (L. i. cap. 133.),
mentions all these animals together in the following passage :
"Of all days they are accustomed to observe most that on
which each individual was born. On this day they set before
their guests a more abundant feast than on any other. The
wealthy provide an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass, roasted
whole in furnaces ; and the poor provide the smaller cattle."
By " the smaller cattle^\ this author always means sheep and
goats.

The superior excellence of the rich plains of Mesopotamia for
the pasture of sheep as well as oxen, is attested by Dionysius
Periegetes§, and his account illustrates in an interesting man-
ner the history of Jacob as contained in the book of Genesis,

* Justin, 1. ii. cap. 2. t Strabo, 1. xi. cap 8. p. 567.

X See Ancient Universal Histor}', vol. vi. plates 6. 8.

f) Oaart 6' 'Eifpfirov, &C. I. 992-996.

In English,

" As for the land, which lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris, called the
land Between the Rivers, the herdsman would not contemn its pastures, nor ho
who tends flocks folded in the fields, and honors with his syrinx Pan who has
horny hoofs."

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 221

the rapid multiplication of the flocks and herds showing how
well the soil and climate were adapted to this pursuit, and how
well the business of tending them was there understood from
the earliest times. Seldom do we find in any ancient author
so beautiful a picture as is presented to us, when Jacob arrives
at Padan-aram, and sees the flocks of sheep and goats assem-
bling from the neighboring pastures in the evening to be wa-
tered at the well. Rachel appears conducting the flock of her
father Laban, which she tended, and Jacob rolls from the
mouth of the well the stone, which was placed to preserve the
water cool and fresh, and assists his relative and future bride
in Avatering her sheep. (Gen. xxix. 1-10.) Also on Jacob's
departure his remonstrance with Laban presents to us an ani-
mated representation of the duties and difficulties of the shep-
herd's life ; " These twenty years have I been with thee ; th)'^
ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the
rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of
beasts I brought not unto thee ; I bare the loss of it : of ray
hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by
night. Thus I was ; in the day the drought consumed me,
and the frost by night ; and my sleep departed from mine
eyes." (Gen. xxxi. 38-40.)

From Ezekiel we learn, that Damascus supplied the Tyrians
with wool*, and Jerome, who well knew the country, says in
his comment on the passage, that this article was still produced
there in his time (A. D. 378.)t. Aristotle, referring to the

* " Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making,
for the multitude of all riches ; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan
also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs : bright iron, cassia, and
calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for
chariots. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in
lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. The merchants
of Shebah and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs
with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Can-
neh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy mer-
chants. These were thy inerchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and
broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of
cedar, jmiong thy merchandise." — Ezekiel xxvii. 18-24.

t " Et lana pnecipua, quod usque hodie cemimus."

222

SHEEP BREEDING AND

sheep of Syria, mentions a variety with tails, which were a
cubit broad* ; and PUny in addition to this circumstance asserts
generally the abundance of the Syrian woolf. Probably the
part of Syria appropriated more especially to the breeding of
sheep, was the eastern part, which bordered on Arabia, and
was distinguished by the same natural features.
^ In no part of the ancient world docs sheep-breeding appear
to have been more cultivated than in that which we are now
approaching. Here were the Moabites, among whom it was a
royal occupation^ and, as it appears, the chief source of the
revenues of the sovereign : for it is said in 2 Kings iii. 4.
" Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep-master, and rendered unto
the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs and an hun-
dred thousand rams with the wool." Here on occasion of a
war, which the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of
Manasseh, whose territory was to the east of Jordan, carried on
against the Hagarites, they obtained as part of their booty
250,000 sheep. ^' (I. Chron. v. 21.) Here was Idumsea, in a
part of which Job is represented to have dwelt, being possessed
of 7,000, and afterwards of 14,000 sh?ep (Job i. 3. xhi. 12.) :
and we have a beautiful allusion to the pastoral habits of the
same country in the language of consolation employed b}- the
prophet Micah (ii. 12.) ; " I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all
of thee ; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel ; I will
put them together as the sheep of Bosrah, as the flock in
the midst of their fold : they shall make great noise by
reason of the multitude of men." Here also were the Midian-
ites, whose flocks were so vast, that the sheep taken from them
by Moses after his victory amounted to 675,000. (Num.
xxxi. 32.) Jethro, the priest of Midian, was himself the owner
of a numerous flock, tended by his seven daughters, whom
Moses assisted in watering them, when the neighboring shep-
lierds rudely attempted to drive them from the well. He after-
wards married one of them, and was employed by the father as
his shepherd ; and, having occasion according to the practice of

* Hist. Animalium, 1. viii. cap. 28.

t Plinii Hist. Nat. 1. viii. c. 75. ed. Bipoiit. See Appendix A.

PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 223

the country to conduct the flock from the plains to pasture upon
the mountains of Horeb, he was thence called to undertake his
extraordinary mission for the deliverance of his nation. (Exod.
ii. 15 — iii. 1.)

The Arabs appear from the earliest times to the present day
to have bestowed no less attention upon sheep than upon
horses. Isaiah also records the excellence of the sheep of Ara-
bia in the following terms addressed by the Almighty to his
people (Ch. Ix. 7) : " All the flocks of Kedar shall Ijc gathered
together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto
thee : they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I
will glorify the house of my glory." The habits of the Neba-
taei, or Arabs of Nebaioth, are depicted as follows by Diodorus
Siculus : " They Uve in the open air, and call a land their
country, which is destitute of habitations, and has neither rivers
nor copious fountains, such as could satisfy an army of inva-
ders. Their law forbids them on pain of death either to sow
corn, to plant fruit-trees^ to nse wijte, or to build houses.
They submit to this law, because they think, that those who
enjoy such conveniences may for the sake of them be readily
compelled by the powerful to do what they command. Some
of them rear camels, and others sheep, which they pasture in
the wilderness*."

Various ancient authors mention that extraordinary variety
of sheep among the Arabs, the tail of which giew to so great a
size as to require to be supported on a wooden carriage, which
was dragged after the wearerf.

We have no reason to believe, that tlie Phoenicians employed
themselves in the breeding and pasture of sheep. The narrow
strip of territory, which they occupied at the eastern extremity
of the Mediterranean Sea, was in general too densely peopled
to be adapted for this purpose. Their activity, intelligence,

* Diod. Sic. 1. xix. 94. p. 722. ed. Steph.

Strabo (1. xvi. cap. 4. p. 460. ed. Siebenkees.), speaking apparently of another
division of the Nebattei, says they have large oxen, camels, and white sheep.

t The passagee of ancient authors relating to this variety, with various confir-
mations from modern travellers, are quoted with his usual accuracy by Bochart,
Ilieroz. 1. ii. cap. 45. p. 494-197. Ed. Leusden. Lug. Bat. 1692.

224 SHEEP BREEDING AND

and enteiprize were directed into other channels, and they sup-
plied themselves from foreign countries with wool for their cele-
brated manufactures.

On the other hand, the Hebrews, who were the immediate
neighbors of the Phoenicians, were altogether an agricultural and
pastoral people. The history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, presents to us beaujtiful images of the kind of hfe,
which still continues with little variation among the Bedouins,
or wandering Nomads of Arabia. Not only was David a
shepherd hoy ; but, when he had ascended the throne, he had
numerous herds and flocks superintended by distinct officers.
" And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sha-
ronite : and over the herds that were in the valleys was Sha-
phat the son of Adlai. Over the camels also was Obil the Ish-
maelite : and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite :
and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were
the rulers of the substance which was king David's." (I.
Chron. xxvii. 29-31. The reader cannot fail to call to mind
David's frequent allusions in the Psalms to those employments,
which were no less familiar to his own mind than to the rest
of his countrymen, and which supplied to them the most touch-
ing comparisons for the expression of their deepest religious
convictions. The passage " The Lord is my shepherd : I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he
leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou
art with me ; thy rod (or crook) and thy staff", they comfort
me" (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2, 4.). " He shall feed (i. e. tend) his
flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with his arm,
and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that
are with young" (Is. xl. ii.). " The pastures are clothed with
flocks," an expression denoting the vast multitudes of sheep,
which overspread the mountains and plains (Ps. Ixv. 13.).
" Be thou diUgcjit," says Solomon, " to know the state of thy
flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy
clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field ; and thou
shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy
household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens" (Prov.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 225

XKvii. 23. 26, 27.). We would particularly refer the reader to
the thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet, repri-
manding the rulers of Israel under the character of shepherds,
makes some allusion to every circumstance cormccted with the
care of sheep and goats. Language very similar is employed
by our Saviour in John x, where he speaks of himself as " the
good shepherd.^^ The whole system and historj^ of the sacri-
fices both before and after the giving of the Mosaic law, might
be produced to prove the pastoral habits of this people from the
earliest times. The districts of Bashan and Carmel, seem to
have attained the highest reputation in respect to the breeding
of sheep. Bashan, which lay to the east of the Jordan in the
country adjoining that of the Hagarites and Moabites, ahready
mentioned, and Carmel, the mountainous range near the Dead
Sea in the south of Judea. In the latter district Nabal kept
his flocks, and as he is said to have been " very great," and we
are at the same time informed that " he had 3000 sheep and
1000 goats" (I. Sam. xxv. 2.), these numbers afford us a pre-
cise idea of the wealth of a considerable proprietor in this re-
spect. That the " rams of the breed of Bashan," were particu-
larly celebrated, we learn from Deut. xxxii. 14 ; and Ezekiel
mentions with distinction (ch. xxxix. 18.) a sacrifice " of rams,
of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of
Bashan."

It is impossible to conceive a more striking diflference in
manners and institutions, than that which must have presented
itself to the traveller in very ancient times, when on crossing the
Isthmus of Suez he passed from the deserts of Arabia and Idumaea
to the richly cultivated and populous plains of Egypt. According
to the statement already quoted from an ancient historian the
wandering tribes of Nabaioth were forbidden by a positive law
to till the ground or to construct settled habitations, and they
lived on the produce of their flocks, which they continually led
from place to place in pursuit of pasture adapted to the season of
the year. The Egyptians, on the contrary, appear to have
been originally under a prohibition of exactly the opposite kind,
since they cultivated the ground with care, excelled most other
nations in all the arts of Ufe, and produced the most splendid

29

226 SHEEP BREEDING AND

proofs of their architectural skill, but were not allowed to keep
flocks of sheep and goats. That this was the case at the time,
when Jacob took his family to sojourn in Egypt, is evident from
their application to Pharaoh on arriving in the land of Goshen,
which was on the eastern border of Egypt adjoining Palestine
and Arabia, to be permitted to remain there on the ground, that
from their youth they had been accustomed to tend flocks,
whereas '-every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyp-
tians*."

It appears that the Nabatsean law was far more efiectual
towards the attainment of its object than the Egyptian. For,
whereas the pastoral tribes of Arabia have retained their inde-
pendence and their national pecuharities even to the present
day ; the Egyptians, on the other hand, became a prey to for-
eign invasion, and among other changes in their customs we
have to notice the introduction of the management of sheep.
Even as early as the time of Moses the practice had commen-
ced ; for in the account of the effects of the murrain in Exodus
ix. 3, we find mention of sheep, and indeed it is remarkable,
that the domestic animals there enumerated, viz. horses, asses,
camels, oxen, and sheep, are exactly the same, which, as we
have before shown, were bred by the ancient Persians!. Later
historians afford distinct testunony to the same fact. Thus
Diodorus Siculus says, that " upon the subsidence of the waters
after the inundation of the Nile the flocks were admitted to
pasture, and the produce of the soil was so abundant, that the
sheep were not only shorn twice, but also brought forth young
twice in the year." Herodotus also plainly supposes, that sheep
and goats were bred in Egypt, when he contrasts the inhab-
itants of the Theban Nome, who worshipped Amnion, with
the inhabitants of the Mendesian Nome, who worshipped
Mendes. The former, he says, " all abstain from sheep, and
sacrifice goats ;" the latter " abstain from goats, which they
hold in veneration, and sacrifice sheep." He, however, men-

* Gen. xlvi. 28. — xlvii. 6. Compare Josephus, Ant. ii. 7. 5.
t It should be obsen'^ed, that the Hebrew word translated sheep in Ex. ix. 3.
included goats.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 227

lions that the Thebans slew a ram once a year on occasion of
a particular ceremony, which he describes (ii. 42. 46.). The
testimony of Strabo and Plutarch, though differing in some
particulars from that of Herodotus, is to the same general ef-
fect. Aristotle {I. c.) mentions, that the sheep of Egypt were
larger than those of Greece.

But, although these passages show, that sheep were bred in
Egypt, we think it evident that their number was very limited.
Egyptian wool cannot have been of the least importance as an
article of commerce. What was produced must also have been
consumed in the country. For, although the chief material for
the clothing of the Egyptians was linen, and they were forbid-
den to be buried in woollen or to use it in the temples, yet He-
rodotus (ii. 81.) states, that on ordinary occasions they wore a
garment of white wool over their hnen shirt. They also used
wool for embroidering. According to PUny* the Egyptian wool
was coarse and of a short staple. Tertullian records a saying
of the Egyptians, that Mercury invented the spinning of wool
in their countryt.

Strabo in an instructive manner contrasts the Ethiopians with
tlie Egyptians. Having observed, that the boundary between
the two nations was the smaller cataract above S3^ene and
Elephantine, he says, that the Ethiopians led for the most part
a pastoral Ufe without resources, both on account of their in-
temperate climate and the poverty of their soil, and also because
they were remote from the civilized world ; whereas the Egyp-
tians had always Uved in a refined manner and under a regu-
lar government, settled in fixed habitations, and cultivating
philosophy, agriculture, and the artst Thus do we find the
nomad life recurring immediately to the south of Egypt. Stra-
bo further states, that the Ethiopian sheep were small, and in-
stead of being woolly were hairy like goats, on which account
the people wore skins instead of woollen cloth §. That these

• Hist Nat. I. viii. 73. See Appendix A. t Do Pallio, c. 3.

X Strabo, 1. xvii. c. 1. § 3. p. 476, 477. ed. Siebenkees.

§ Cap. 2. § 1. 3. p. 621. 626. Strabo's account is illustrated and confirmed by
the traveller, Dr. Shaw, who describes a variety of sheep m the interior of Africa

228 SHEEP BREEDING AND

sheep were held in some estimation by the Egyptians is, how-
ever, manifest from the fact, that in the splendid procession ex-
hibited at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, there were 130
sheep from Ethiopia, 300 from Arabia, and 20 from Euboea*.
Also, that the pastoral habits of the Ethiopians were known to
the Romans may be inferred from the allusion, which Virgil
makes to them in his Tenth Eclogue (1. 64-68.) :

No toils of ours can change the cruel god,
Though we should flee him through each new abode ;
Whether we drink, where chilling Hebrus flows,
And winter reigns amid Sithonian snows ;
Or, where the elms beneath hot Cancer bend,
Our Ethiopian sheep we fainting tend.

We find, that the people of Libya had attained to some dis-
tinction in the management of flocks. What Diodorus says of
the Egyptian sheep is asserted by Aristotle of those of Libya,
viz. that they produced young twice in the yeart. That sheep-
breeding had extended hither in very early times appears from
a passage in the Odyssey, which, however, in consequence of
the remoteness of the situation and the imperfect knowledge of
geography in the time of the writer, is mixed with fable, inas-
much as it represents, that the ewes brought forth not only
twice, but even three times in the year, and tliat the lambs
were immediately provided with hornst.

That happy clime ! where each revolving year
The teeming ewes a triple ofFspring bear,
And two fair crescents of translucent horn
The brows of all their young increase adorn ;
The shepherd swains, with sure abundance blest,
On the fat flock and rural dainties feast ;
Nor want of herbage makes the dairy fail,
But every season fills the foaming pail.

Pope's Translation.

Pindar [Pyth. ix. 11.) distinguishes Libya by the epithet
rov^irixoi, " abouuding in flocks." To the same district of iVfrica,

with " fleeces as coarse and hairy as those of the goat." — Travels in Barbary,
part iii. chap. 2. § 1.

* Callixenus Rhodius, apud AthensEum, 1. v. p. 201. ed. Casaub.

t Aristot. Problem, cap. x. sec. 46. X Odyse. iv. 85-89.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS 229

Virgil alludes in the following passage of the Georgics, which
is surpassed by few as a happy example of the art of the poet
in describing the various modes of pastoral life.

Wliy should I sing of Libya's artless swains ;
Her scatter'd cottages and trackless plains?
By day, by niglit, without a destined home,
For many a month their flocks all lonely roam •,
So vast th' unbounded solitude appears.
While, with his flock, his all the shepherd bears,
Ills arms, his household god, his homely shed,
His Cretan darts, and dogs of Sparta bred.

Georg. iii. 339-345. — Warton's Translation.

It is to be observed, that, although the Libyan shepherd ac-
cording to Virgil's description led a migratory life, conducting
his sheep from place to place in search of pasture, yet the scale,
upon which he carried on his operations, was widely different
from that which has always characterized the nomadic tribes
of Asia. The poet represents the Libyan shepherd as a soli-
tary wanderer, bearing with him all his arms and implements,
just as a Roman soldier (1. 346.) carried his miUtary accoutre-
ments. On the other hand, as we have seen, the Syrian or
Arabian shepherd goes in a kind of state, with camels and
horses to carry his wife and children, his tents, and the rest of
his equipage ; and he is followed by thousands, instead of hun-
dreds or perhaps scores, of sheep and goats.

Let us now pursue the progress of this employment in an-
other direction, viz. towards the north-west, and across the Eux-
ine Sea and the straits connected with it into Europe.

Near the eastern extremity of the Euxine Sea we meet with
a very remarkable instance of the attention paid to the produce
and manufacture of wool in a tribe called the CoraxL Strabo
alludes to the value of their fleeces in a passage which we shall
produce in speaking of the wool of Spain, to which it more di-
rectly refers. At present w^e shall only consider the following
evidence preserved by Joannes Tzetzes.

'Epjn ra MiXfjirtu xaWiara yap riav iravToiv,
K^v cjffi Twv Kopa|t»(wi' <pcpovTa ScvrepcTa*.

* Jo. Tzetzes, Chiliad, x. 348-350, in Lectii Corp. Poetarum Graecorum.

230 SHEEP BREEDING AND

"Anciently Miletus was famed for carpets: for of all fleeces the Milesian were
the most beautiful, although the Coraxic bore the second prize.''

Tlepl Tuiv MiA»)(7-|<3v i^av rraXXoi tpioiv
rifp! tpi'ojv Kopifajv iv TtpuiTUi Si 'Ia^;3a5
'iKTToJva^ ovTdJi etpriKC, Iti^p^i) ^wXoJV 'Lif</?a)v,

" Of the Milesian fleeces many have spoken: and to the Coraxic Hipjwnax
has alluded in his Choliambic measure, where he mentions ' a woman enveloped
in a Coraxic shawl.' "

Hipponax, who is here cited by Tzetzes, was a satirical poet
of Ephesus, and flourished about 540 B. C. In confirmation
of his testimony it may be proved, that his countrymen and
contemporaries had constant intercourse with a port in the
vicinity of the Coraxi. We learn from Pliny (1. vi. cap. 5.)t,
that the Coraxi were situated near Dioscurias, which, though
deserted in his time, had been formerly so illustrious that 300
nations, speaki7ig different languages, resorted to it. As we
learn from other authorities, Dioscurias was a colony of Mile-
tus and one of its chief settlements. Miletus also in the time of
Hipponax had risen to the summit of its prosperity, and was the
greatest commercial city in the world next to Tyre and Car-
thaget Its chief trade was towards the north and as far as the
extremity of the Euxine Sea. Among the numerous Asiatic
tribes, which were accustomed to bring their productions to Dios-
curias and exchange them for Grecian merchandise, the Coraxi
were, as we may conclude from the evidence now produced, a
nation of superior enterprize and intelligence, who sent to the
shores of the ^gean in the vessels of Miletus their fine wool,
as well as the caiyets and shaivls, which they made from it.

If we had no more exact information than that which has
been already cited, we might infer, that the Coraxi occupied
part of the modern Circassia, a mountainous region admirably
adapted to the breeding of sheep. The Circassians of the pres-
ent day have numerous herds of cattle and vast flocks of sheep
and goats. Their vallies are distinguished by beauty and fer-
tility. A late traveller says, that from whatever country you

* lb. 378-381. t See Appendix A.

t Heeren, Handbuch, iii. 2. 2. p. 185. Mannert, Geographic, 6. 3. p. 253, &c.

PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 231

enter Ciicassia, " you are at once agreeably impressed with
the decided improvement in the ajypearance of the popida-
tion^ the agriculture, and the beauty of their flocks and
herds*." With respect to Dioscurias. we are informed, that
" the memory of its ancient name is still preserved in the pres-
ent appellation of Iskouriaht." Sir John Chardin, who visited
it and calls it Isgaour, commends its safety in summer as a road
for ships, but says that it is a complete desert, where he could
obtaui no provisions, the traders who anchor there being obUged
to construct temporary huts and booths of the boughs of trees
for their accommodation, whilst awaiting the arrival of the na-
tives of Mingrelia and Caucasust.

But, besides the general inference that the Coraxi occupied
part of the modern Circassia, we are able to determine their
abode with still greater precision, and even obtain some insight
into their distinctive characters as a nation.

At the south-eastern extremity of Chirkess, or Circassia, on
the northern declivity of Mount Elborus, and about the sources
of the Kuban, the ancient Hypanis, we find a mountain clan,
consistmg of rather more than 250 famiUes, which appeal's to
retain not only the manners and habits, but even the very
name of the Coraxi. Julius von Klaproth, to whom we are
principally indebted for our knowledge of them, calls them the
Caratshai*. From him we learn the following particulars re-
specting their appearance, manners, and employments. They

* Travels in Circassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol. ii. p. 355.
Julius von Klaprotli, in the work quoted below, says, (p. 582.), that the wealth
of the Circassians consists principally in their sheep, from whose wool the woman
make coarse cloth and felt. In tiie summer they drive their sheep into the moun-
tains, but feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains.

t Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. i. p. 1 1 0.
See also Major Rennell's Map of Western Asia.

t Cliardin's Travels, vol. i. p. 77. 108. of tlie English Translation. London, ''086.

§ Eeise in den Caucasus, cap. 24. The aullior thus spells the name in German
characters, Ckaratschai. Father Lamberti, a missionary from the Society of the
Propaganda at Naples, who remained twenty years in tliat part of Asia in the
seventeenth century, calls them " i Caraccioli," in which name we observe the
addition of an Italian termination. See his Relatione delia Colchide, hoggi delta
Mengrclia, Napoli, 1654, cap. 28. p. 196.

232 SHEEP BREEDING AND

are among the most beautiful of the inhabitants of Caucasus,
and more like the Georgians than the wandering Tartars of
the Steppe. They are well formed, and have fine features,
which are set off hy large black eyes and a ichite skin.
Their language resembles that of the Nogay-Tartars. They
Uve in very neat houses, built of pine. Their children are
strictly and well educated ; and in general it may be said of
them, that they are the most cultivated nation in Caucasus,
surpassing all their neighbors in refinement of manners. They
are very industrious, and subsist chiefly by agriculture. Their
soil is productive, and, besides various kinds of grain, yields
abundance of giass for pasture. The country around them is
covered with woods, which abound with wild animals, such as
bears, wolves, wild goats, hares, and wild cats, whose skins are
much prized, and martins. Their dress is cliiefly made of
woolleii cloth, lohich they weave themselves from the inoduce
of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole
of Caucasus. They sell their cloth, called by them Shal*,
their felt for carpeting, and their furs, partly to the Nogay-
Tartars and Circassians, from whom they purchase articles of
metal; and partly at Souchom-Kale, a Turkish fort on the
Black Sea, which contains shops and ware-houses, and carries
on a considerable trade with the Western Caucasus. They re-
ceive here in return goods of cotton and silk, tobacco and to-
bacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. ^Vhile the men
are employed out of doors, the Avomen stay at home, make
gold and silver thread, and sew the clothes of their fathers and
brothers.

Such is the account given by a recent and most competent
witness of the actual condition of^this interesting nation, who,
though now perhaps reduced in number, occupy probably after
the lapse of 2500 years their original seat at the distance of
from forty to eighty miles to the north-cast of the same coast,
to which they have alwa)'s resorted for commercial purposest.

* Tlie orig-in of the English shawl.

+ Souchom-Kal6 is only twelve miles from Iscuria, a single promontory inter-
vening between the bay and river of the fonner harbor and those of the latter.
See Spencers Travels, vol. i. p. 295-297, and his :\Iap at p. 209.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 233

We cannot survey the now deserted Iscuria without observ-
ing, what a mournful contrast the Euxine presents under the
sway of both Russia and Turkey to the useful energy, which
more than 2000 years ago promoted life and the arts of Ufe,
and brought into close and peaceful contact the most refined
and the most uncultivated nations, under the direction of the
lonians of Miletus. The beauty, the bravery, the activity,
and the independence of a highland clan still represent the skill
and enterprize of the ancient Coraxi ; but the commerce,
which rewarded their industry, and extended their reputation
through the civilized world, has sunk into insignificance.

Besides the above notices of the Coraxi in Strabo and Tzet-
zes we find little said concerning the breeding of sheep in this
part of Asia. Aristotle, however, mentions the sheep of " Pon-
tus near Scythia," and says that they were without horns*.
The Melanchlseni also, who are mentioned by Herodotus in his
account of the Scythian tribes, and who Uved to the north of
the Coraxi, were so called, because they wore black palls.

There can be no doubt, that the use and management of
sheep were known from the earliest times throughout nearly
the whole of Asia Minor, and that some nations in this region
had attained to a superiority in the art before the settlement in
it of the Grecian colonists.

The imagery of the Homeric poems (supposed to be written
about 900 B. C.) affords abundant evidence of these facts.
They continually mention shepherds, who had the care of
sheep, as well as goat-herds, who managed goats. They speak
of the folds, in which the flocks were secured at night to pre-
serve them from the attacks of wild beasts. The dangers to
which the flocks were exposed from both wolves and lions, are
in accordance with similar expressions and incidents in the
Scriptures of the Old Testament, arising from the existence of
the same ravenous and destructive quadrupeds in Palestine.
Also, the language both of the Scriptures and of the Homeric
poems is precisely the same, in which the king ruling his peo-
ple is compared to the shepherd tending his flock, or to the

* Hist. Anim. viii. 28.

30

234 SHEEP BREEDING AND

strong and large ram, which leads the sheep*. It is to be ob-
served, that the geographical knowledge expressed in the Ho-
meric poems extended as far as the promontory of Carambia
on the south coast of the Euxme Sea, and included all Phrygia,
Ionia, and the western half of Asia Minor.

The Greek mythology affords similar evidence. The well-
known story of Paris, adjudging the golden apple, is founded on
the pastoral scenes of Ida. Blarsyas also was a shepherd on
mount Idat: the river Marsyas, famed for his contest with
Apollo, was among the Phrygian mountainst

The historical evidence to which we now proceed, though re-
ferring to times much posterior to the mythological, is more ex-
act as well as more entitled to absolute credit.

According to Strabo the branches of Mount Taurus in
Pisidia were rich in pastures "for all kinds of cattle§." The
chief town of this region was Selge, a very flourishing city,
and hence Tertidlian, in a passage, mentions " oves Selgicse,"
Selgic sheep, among those of the greatest celebrity. The su-
perior whiteness of the fleeces of Pamphylia is mentioned by
Philostratus.

We have reason to believe, that the Lydians and Carians
bestowed the greatest attention on sheep-breeding and on the
wooUen manufacture before the arrival of the Greek colonists
among them. The new settlers adopted the employments of
tlie ancient inhabitants, and made those emplopnents subser-
vient to a very extensive and lucrative trade. Pliny (viii. 73.

* See Bochart's Hierozoicon, I. ii. cap. 44. De Gregum Pastoribus.

+ Hyginus, Fab. 165.

X It appears not impossible, that, when Theocritus in Idyll, iii. 4G, represents
Adonis as " tending flocks upon the mountains," ho may have referred to the
mountains of Phrygia or of Ionia. For in another Idyll, (i. 105-110,) he seems
to connect the love of Venus for Adonis with her love for Anchiscs, as if the
scene of both were in the same region. Among the various accounts of Adonis,
one makes him the offspring of SmjTna; and Cinyras, the father of Adonis, ia
said to have founded the city of Smyrna in Ionia, calling it by that name af-
ter his daughter. (Hyginus, Fab. 58 and 275.) This supposition accounts most
Batisfactorily for the production of the beautiful elegy on the death of Adonis by
Bion, who was a native of Smyrna.

§ Lib. xii. c. 7, § 3.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 235

ed. Bip.) mentions the wool of Laodicea (See Appendix A.) in
Caria; and Strabo (xii. c. 7. p. 578. Casaub.) observes, that
the country about this city and Colossae, which was not far from
it, produced sheep highly valued on account of the fineness and
the color of their fleeces.

Aristophanes mentions a pall, made " of Phrygian fleeces* :"
and Varro asserts, that in his time there were many flocks of
wild sheep in Phrygiat.

The passages above quoted from Strabo and Joannes Tzetzes
allude to the very great celebrity of the wool of Miletus and
of the articles woven from it.

The passages, which will now be produced from both Greek
and Latin authors of various ages, conspire to prove the distin-
guished excellence of the wool of Miletus, although in many
of them the epithet Milesian may be employed only in a pro-
verbial acceptation to denote wool of the finest quality. The
animals, which yielded this wool, must have been bred in the
interior of Ionia not far from Miletus.

Ctesias describes the softness of camels'-hair by comparing it
to Milesian fleecest A woman in Aristophanes (Lysist. 732.)
says, she must go home to spread her Milesian fleeces on the
couch, because the worms were gnawing them. In a fragment
of a Greek comedy, called Procris, of a somewhat later age
(ap. Athen. 1. xii. p. 553), a favorite lap-dog is described, lying
on Milesian fleeces ;

QvKOvv v7ro(TTopuTe naXaKus tu kvvi'

'Epton'.
Therefore make a soft bed for the dog: throw down for him Milesian fleeces.

The Sybarites wore shaivls of Milesian wool§. Palaephatus
explains the fable of the Hesperides by saying, that their father
Hesperus was a Milesian, and that they had beautiful sheep,
such as those which were still kept at Miletusll. Eustathius
says, the " Milesian carpets^^'' had become proverbial. Virgil

* Aves, 492. t De Re Rusticfl, ii. 1.

X Ctesise fragmenta, a Biihr, p. 224.

§ TimcBus apud Athenajuni, xii. p. 519. B. 1| De Incred. § 19.

T la Dionysium, v. 823.

236 SHEEP BREEDING AND

represents the nymphs of Cyrene spinning Milesian fleeces,
dyed of a deep sea-green color :

The nymphs, around her placed, their spindles ply,
And draw Milesian wool, of glassy dye.

Georg. iv. 334.

He also alludes to the high price of Milesian fleeces in the
following passage :

Let rich Miletus vaunt her fleecy pride,

And weigh with gold her robes in purple dyed.

Georg. iii. 306. — Sotheby's Translation.

The comment of Servius on the latter passage is as follows :

Milesian fleeces, most valuable wools ; for Miletus is a city of Asia, where the
best wools are dyed.

The ancient Greek version of Ezekiel (xxvii. 18.) enume-
rates Milesian fleeces among the articles of Tyrian importa-
tion.

Columella (vii. 2.) and Pliny (viii. 48.) assert the celebrity of
the flocks of Miletus in former times, although in their time
they were surpassed by the sheep of some other countries.

In soft Milesian wool as fine as possible. — Hippocrates, vol. i. p. 689. ed. Fcesii.

Ye are hairs of sheep,' although Miletus may boast of you, and Italy be in high
repute, and though the hairs be guarded under skins. — Clemens AlexaudrinuB,
Pffid. ii. 30.

Lying on Milesian carpets. — Aristoph. Ranae, I. 548.

Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus and Selge and Altinum, nor of those,
for which Tarentum and Baotica are famous, and which are colored by nature.
— Tertullian de Pallio, 3.

If, from the beginning the Milesians were occupied in shearing sheep, the Se-
res in spinning the produce of trees, the Tyrians in dyeing, the Phrygians in
embroidering, and the Babylonians in weaving. — Tertullian de Habitu Muliebri.

We may now notice Samos, as being near the Ionic coast.
Atheneeus (xii. p. 540. D.) cites two ancient authors who assert
that, when Polycrates was introducing into Samos the most ex-
cellent of the different breeds of animals, he chose the dogs of
Laconia and Molossis, the goats of Scyros and Naxos, and the
sheep of Miletus and Attica.

Respecting the breeding of sheep in Samos it may be proper
to quote the remark of ^Uan (Hist. Anim. xii. 40.), that the

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS.

237

Samians gave some religious honor to this animal, because a
consecrated utensil of gold, which had been stolen from one of
their temples, was discovered by a sheep.

It appears probable, that the shepherd life was estabUshed in
Thrace as early as in any part of Europe ; for in the Homeric
poems it is caUed " the mother of flocks" (II. v. 222.). In a
much later age the sheep of Thrace are montioned by Nicander
(Nicand. Ther. 50.). We learn from Plato (De Legibus, 1. vii.
p. 36. ed. Bekker) that in Thrace the flocks were entrusted to
the care of the women, who were there compelled Uke slaves to
work out of doors.

Aristotle speaks of the sheep of Magnesia, and says that
they brought forth young twice a year*.

A little further south we find sheep from the earliest times in
Thessaly near the river Amphrysus. Here was Iton, which
Homer also calls " the mother of flockst." It was celebrated
for a temple of Minerva, who was called from it Itonis, or
Itonial, and whose worship was transferred from hence to
Boeotia.

That Eubcea was famous for sheep we know from the testi-
mony of two different authors cited by Athenseus. That of
Callixenus Rhodius has been already produced ; and that of
Hermippus occurs in his metrical enumeration of the most ex-
cellent and characteristic productions of different countries§.

BcEOtia appears from very early times to have been rich in
flocks. The tragic history of CEdipus supposes, that his father
Laius, the king of Thebes, had flocks on Mount Cithaeron. Ac-
cording to Sophocles ((Ed. Tyr. 1026-1140.) CEdipus was deliver-
ed to one of the royal shepherds to be there exposed, and this
shepherd through pity committed him to another, and thus saved
his lifeil. Seneca in his free version of Sophocles ((Ed. Act. iv.
V. 815-850.) has added a circumstance, as it appears, from the

» Problem, cap. x. sec. 46. + H- B- 696.

X Strabo, I. ix. c. 2. § 29. p. 458 ; and c. 5. § 14. p. 614. ed. Siebenkees. Apol-
lonius Rliodius, Argon, i. 551 ; and Schol. ad locum. Alctei Reliqui®, a Math-
thuE, No. 54.

§ Athen. Deip. 1. i. p. 27. D.

II This transaction is represented in Plate VIII. Fig. 5.

238

SHEEP BREEDING AND

practice established in other cases. He says, that the shepherd
of Laius, whom he calls Phorbas, had many others under him.
But, although it may be doubted whether the flocks of Laius were
so numerous as to require a head shepherd placed over many
others, we learn that his possessions of this description excited
contest and warfare among his descendants. Their country-
man, Hesiod, represents them fighting at the gates of Thebes
" for the flocks of CEdipus" (Op. et Dies, 163.), an expression,
which must at least be understood to imply, that sheep consti-
tuted a principal part of the king's wealth.

Among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum we have an
interesting inscription relating to a contract made between the
city of Orchomenos in Boeotia and Eubulus of Elatea in Phocis,
according to ivhich Eubulus was to have for four years the
right of pasturage for 4 cows, 200 mares, 20 sheep, and
1000 goats. In the opinion of Professors Bockh* and Ottfried
Miillert this inscription may be referred to the time of the Pel-
oponnesian war. The supposed effect of the waters of the
Melas and Cephisos on the fleeces of sheep is a testimony of a
much later date, but proves that sheep, both black and white,
U'^ere bred in that country!. Varro (De Re Rust. ii. 2.) mentions
the practice of covering sheep with skins in order to improve
and preserve their fleeces. The Attic sheep, thus clothed with
skins, are mentioned by Demosthenes under the name of " soft
sheep§." The hilly part of Attica was of course particularly
adapted for sheep as well as goats ; and accordingly a letter of
Alciphron (iii. 41.) describes flocks of them at Decelia near
Mount Parnes about fifteen miles to the north of Athens. The
fame of the Attic wool is also alluded to by Plutarch (De au-

* Corpus Inscrip. GrsEcar., vol. i. p. 740. t Orchomenos, p. 471.

X Vitruvius, viii. 3. p. 218. ed. Schneider. See also Dodwell's Tour, vol. i. p.
242. It was imagined that the water of the Melas rendered the wool black, and
that of the Cephisos white.

Dr. Sibthorp, in crossing the plain of Bccotia near Platoea in November A. D.
1794, says, " Flocks of sheep, whose fleeces were of remarkable blackness, were
feeding in the plain ; the breed was considerably superior in beauty and size to
that of Attica." — Walpole's Memoirs on Eur. and As. Turkey, p. 65.

§ Contra Everg. et Mnesid. p. 1155. ed. Reiske.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 239

diendo, p. 73. ed. Steph.), and by the Roman poet Laberius,
who died in the year 43 B. C.

No matter whetlier in soft Attic wool,
Or in rougli goats'-hair you be clothed*.

We learn from Theocritus, that the shepherds of Acharnae,
one of the Attic demi, excelled in playing on the pipet.

In the adjoining country of Megaris was a temple of great
antiquity in honor of A'V?'-'!? MaXo.^<spof, It was said, that Ceres
was worshipped under that title, The bringer of flocks,
by those who first kept sheep in the country!. Theognis (v.
55.) mentions, that the people of Megaris used before his time
to wear goat-skins, which shows the late introduction of the
growth and manufacture of wool. Here, as in Attica, it was
usual to protect the sheep with skins ; and, as the hoys were
sometimes seen naked after the Doric fashion, Diogenes, the
cynic, said in reference to these practices, he would rather he
the ram of a Megarensian than his sonh.

In the Peloponnesus, Arcadia was always remarkable for
the attention paid to sheep.

Arcadia claims our especial consideration, because in it the
shepherd life assumed that peculiar form, which has been the
subject of so much admiration both in ancient and modern
times. Here the Uvely genius and imaginative disposition
common to the Greek nation were directed to the daily contem-
plation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties of moun-
tain and woodland scenery, and hence their employments, their
pleasures, and their religion, all acquired a rustic character,
highly picturesque and tasteful, and, as it appears to us, gene-
rally favorable to the development of the domestic and social
virtues. To attempt a full investigation of this subject, and to
show in what degi-ee the want of higher attainments in relig-
ious knowledge and moral cultivation was supplied by the pe-
cuhar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, would lead us too
far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring forward

* Apud Non. Marcellum. t Idyll, vii. 7). t Paus. i. 44. 4.

§ Diog. Laert. vi. 41. iEliani Var. Hist. xii. 56.

240 SHEEP BREEDING AND

the principal facts and authorities, and to give a succint ac-
count of the genuine Arcadian system of rehgion and manners
without attempting to refute at length the opposite views,
which have been adopted by ancient and modern writers.

The peculiar Divinity of Arcadia, whose worship had a con-
stant and manifest reference to the principal employments of
the inhabitants, was Pan. Hence he is called by Virgil and
Propertius " the God of Arcadia*." According to Herodotus
(ii. 145.), Pan, the son of Mercury (who was born at Cyllene
in Arcadia, where Mercury was previously worshipped,) first
saw the light after the Trojan war, and about 800 years before
his own time. Thus we are able to refer the supposed birth of
Pan, and consequently the commencement of his worship to
about the year 1260 B. Ct.

The circumstances of the birth of this divinity, with his hab-
its and employments, are described as follows in the most an-
cient document which we have relating to him, \dz. Homer's
H}Tnn to Pan. Mercury tended rough flocks at Cyllene in
the service of a mortal man, being enamored of a beautiful
njTnph. In the course of time she bore him a son, having the
feet of a goat, tico horns upon his forehead, a long shaggy
heard, and a bewitching smile. This was Pan, who became
the god of the shepherds, and the companion of the mountain
nymphs, penetrating through the densest thickets, and inhabit-
ing the most wild, rough, and lofty summits of the sylvan Ar-
cadia. There it is his business to destroy the wild beasts ;
and whe?i, having returned from hunting, he drives his
sheep into a cave, he plays upon his reeds a tune sweet as
the song of any bird iii spring. The nymphs, delighting in
melody, listen to him when they go to the dark fountain, and
the god sometimes appears among them, wearing on his back
the hide of a lynx, which he has lately killed, and he joins with
them in the choral song and dance upon a meadow variegated
with the crocus and the hyacinth. He is beloved by Bacchus,

* Virg. Buc. X. 26. and Georg. iii. 385. See also Propert. i. 17
t Hist. d'Herodote, par Larcher, tome vii. p. 359. 582.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 241

and is the delight of his father Mercury, and he celebrates their
worship beyond that of all the other gods.

Callimachus (Hymn, in Dianam, 88.) represents Pan at his
fold in Arcadia, feeding his dogs with the flesh of a lynx, which
he has caught on Ma^nalus. It is to be observed, that tlie care
of dogs to guard the flock was an indispensable part of the pas-
toral office. Philostratus, in his Second Book of Pictures*, sup-
poses the nymphs to have been reproving Pan for his want of
grace in dancing, telling him that he leapt too high and like
a goat, and offering to teach him a more gentle method. He
pays no attention to them, but tries to catch hold of them.
Upon this they surprise him sleeping at noon after the toils of
the chase ; and he is represented in the picture with his arms
tied behind him, and enraged and struggling against them,
while they are cutting off his beard and trying to transform
his legs and to humanize him.

In the Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil we find frequent invo-
cations to Pan as the god of shepherds, the guardian of flocks,
and the inventor of the syrinx, or Pandean pipes.

Ipse, nemus linquens patrium, saltusque Lycoei,
Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Msenala curae,
Adsis, O Tegeaee, favens.

Georg. i. 16-18.

God of the fleece, whom grateful shepherds love,
Oh, leave Lycaens and thy father's grove ;
And if thy Mienakis yet claim thy care,
Hear, Tegeaean Pan, tli' invoking prayer.

Georg. 1. 16-18.

Delightful Mtenalus, 'mid echoing groves,
And vocal pines, still hears the shepherds' loves ;
The rural warblings hear of skilful Pan,
Who first to tune neglected reeds began.

Bucol. viii. 22-24. — Warton's Translation.

O that you lov'd the fields and shady grots,
To dwell with me in bovvers and lowly cots,
To drive the kids to fold, the stags to pierce ;
Then shouldst thou emulate Pan's skilful verse,

* Philostrati Senioris Imag. 1. ii. c. 11.

31

242 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Warbling with me in woods : 'twas mighty Pan
To join with wax the various reeds began.
Pan, the great god of all our subject plains,
Protects and loves the cattle and the sweiins :
Nor thou disdain thy tender rosy lip
Deep to indent with such a master's pipe.

Bucol. ii. 28-34. — Warton's Translation.

Besides the four places in Arcadia, which are referred to in
the above-cited passages of Yirgil, Pausanias informs us of sev-
eral others, in which he saw temples and altars erected to Pan.
He says*, that Mount Meenalus was especially sacred to this
deity, so that those who dwelt in its vicinity asserted, that
they sometimes heard him flaying on the syrinx. A con-
tinual fire burnt there near his temple.

Herodotus gives a very curious account of the introduction
of the worship of Pan into Atticat. He says, that before the
battle of Marathon the Athenian generals sent PhiUppides as
a herald to Sparta. " On his return PhiUppides asserted, that
Pan had appeared to him near Mount Parthenius above Te-
gea, had addressed him by name and with a loud voice, and
commanded him to ask the Athenians why they did not pay
any regard to him, a god, who was kind to them, who had
been often useful to them and would be so in future. The
Athenians, believing the statement of Philippides, when they
found theiBselves prosperous, erected a temple to Pan lielow
the Acropolis, and contuiued to propitiate him by annual sacri-
fices and by carrying the torch." From various authorities we
know, that this temple was in the cave on the northern side of
the Acropolis below the Propyleeat.

* L. viiL c. 36. 5. and c. 37. 8. t Lib. vi. c. 105.

t Eurip. Jon. 492-504. 937. Pans. i. 28. 4. Stuart's Ant. of Athens. Ilob-
house's Travels, p. 336. Dodwell's Tour, vol. i. p. 304.

In Sir R. Worsley's collection of Antiques at Appledurcombo in the Isle of
Wight is a bas-relief, in which Pan is reclining as if after the chase near the
mouth of this cave. He holds the syrinx in the left hand, a drinking-horn in the
right. A train of worshippers are conducting a ram to the altar within the cave.
See Museum Worsleianum, Lon. 1794. plate 9. In the vestibule of the Univer-
sity Library at Cambridge is a mutilated statue of Pan clothed in a goat-skin
and holding the syrinx in his left hand. This statue was discovered near the

PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 243

In later times a cave near Marathon was dedicated to Pan,
the stalactitio incrustations within it being compared to goats,
and to their stalls and drinking-troughs*.

Chandler and Dodwell in their Travels describe another
cave larger than that at Marathon and containing more varied
stalagmitic concretions. It is near the summit of Mount Rap-
sana between Athens and Sunium. IIANOC is inscribed on
the rock near the entrance, proving that it was considered
sacred to Pan. It is no doubt the Panion mentioned by
Strabot.

The Corycian cave on Mount Parnassus was dedicated by
the surrounding inhabitants to Pan and to the Nymphst.
Theocritus also (Idyll, viii. v. 103.) speaks of Homole, a moun-
tainous tract in the south of Thessaly, as belonging to Pan.
Altars were dedicated to Pan on the race-course at Olympia in
EUs§, as we may presume, out of respect to the Arcadians, who
resorted to the Olympic games. Pindar statesll, that he had
near his door a statue of Pan. Here, as his able commentators
Heyne and Bockh observe, his daughters with other Theban
virgins sung hymns in honor of the god.

same cave, and from its style, (the ^ginetic,) may be supposed to have been
carved soon after the battle of Marathon. See Dr. E. D. Clarke's Greek Mar-
bles, p. 9. No. xi. Wilkins's Magna Grcecia, p. 71, and Dodw^ell's Tour, vol. i.
p. 304.

» Paus. 1. i. 32. G. Dodwell's Tour, vol. ii. p. 163. Mapat, p. 330 of Mem. on
Eur. and As. Turkey, edited by Walpole.

t L. ix. cap. 1. § 21. It was consecrated to the Nymphs as well as to Pan,
this association of the Nymphs with that deity being universally practised. Dod-
well's Tour, vol. i. p. 550-555. " The countryman and shepherd, as well as the
sportsman, has often repaired, it is likely, to this cave, to render the deities pro-
pitious by sacrificing a she-goat or lamb, by gifts of cakes or fruit, and by liba-
tions of milk, oil, and honey ; simply believing, that this attention was pleasing
to them, that they were present though unseen, and partook without diminisliing
the offering ; their appetites as well as passions, caprices, and employments rcsem-
Wing the human. At noon-day the pipe was silent on the mountains, lest it
might happen to awake Pan, then reposing after the exercise of hunting, tired
and peevish." Chandler's Travels in Greece, c. 32. p. 155.

t Paus. 1. X. 32. 5. Strabo, I. ix. cap. 3. § 1. p. 488. ed. Siebenkees Raikea's
Journal in Memoirs edited by Walpole, p. 311 — 315.

§ Paus. I. v. c. 15. § 4. II Pyth. iii. 137-139.

244 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Time has spared the traces of hymns performed on such oc-
casions, of which the following SchoUon is the most entire spe-
cimen.

^£2 ITav, 'ApxaSias fitiiov KXcevvSs,
dpy^^riara fipojiiais (JjracJt vifiipaii,
ytXderttaj, (j Iloi', lit' Ifiaii
evijipoaCvaii, doiiats KC^nprifjiCVOi*.

O Pan, Arcadia's sovereign lord,
Dancing and singing with the nymphs ;
Smile, Pan, responsive to my joys,
O shout, delighted with my songs.

On a vase of Greek marble in the Royal Museum at Naples
(This vase was first described in Bayardi, Catalogo degliantichi
monumenti dissottarretti da Ercolano. Napoli, 1754, p. 290.
No. 914.), we see Pan dancing Avith the nymphs exactly as he
is represented in the preceding song. The sculpture is in that
very ancient style, which is called Etruscan. Pan is here ex-
hibited with goats' feet and horns (Horn. Hymn, in Pana, 1. 2.).
He wears the skin of an animal, and employs his right hand in
drawing it up towards his left shoulder. In his left hand he
holds the crook or pastoral staff, which is one of his usual em-
blems. Pan and the three females, with whom he is dancing,
form a distinct group by themselves. They are moving round
a large stone, and the artist probably imagined them to be
moving first in one direction, and then in the opposite, as if
performing the Strophe and Antistrophe around an altar. We
learn from Mr. Dodwell, that the modern Greeks in their circu-
lar dances hold each other with a handkerchief, and not by the
handt.

That the Romans considered Pan and Faun to be the same,
using the two names indiscriminately, the one as the Greek,
the other as the Latin form, is evident from such passages as
the following :

Pan from Arcadia's hills descends
To visit oft my Sabine seat,

* Athenasus, 1. xv. 50. 1547. ed. Dindorf. Pindari Op. a Bockh. ii. 2 p. 592.
Brunck, Analecta, vol. i. p. 156 ; and vol. iii. Lect. et. Emend, p. 27.
t Dodwell's Tour, vol. ii. p. 21, 22.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 245

And hero my tender goats defends
From rainy winds and summer's heat.

For when the vales, wide-spreading round,

The sloping hills, and polish'd rocks,
With his harmonious pipe resound.

In fearless safety graze my flocks.

Hor. Od. 1. i. c. 17. v. 1-12.

The names Pan and Faun, scarcely differ except in this,
that the one begins Avith P, the lenis, and the other with F,
which is its aspirate : in the second place, both were conceiv-
ed to have not only the same form and appearance, but the
same habits, dispositions, and employments : thirdly, the goat
was sacrificed to Pan in Greece* and to Faunus in Italyt, be-
cause the Arcadian and Roman deity was conceived to be the
guardian of goats as well as sheep, but this animal was not
sacrificed to the Egyptian Mendes, because

In safety through the woody brake

The latent shrubs and thyme explore,
Nor longer dread the speckled snake,

And tremble at the wolf no more.

Francis's Translation, abridged.

in Egypt the goat itself was supposed to be Mendes, an incar-
nation of the god ; and lastly, it is recorded as an historical fact,
that the worship of Faunus was brought to Rome from Arcadia,
whereas the supposition of the introduction of the same wor-
ship into Arcadia from Egypt, though found in the pages of
an historian, is not given by liim as a matter of history, but
only as a matter of opinion. The account of the origm of the
worship of Faunus at Rome, is as foUows : Evander, the Ar-
cadian, introduced a coloiiy of his countrymen into Italy,
and established there the rights of Mercury and of the Ly-
cean Pan on the hill, lohich was afteru-ards called the Pal-
atine Mount and became part of the city of Rome. A cave

* Longi Pastor. 1. ii. c. 17. In an epigram by Leonidas of Tarentum (No.
xx.\. Bnmckii Analecta, torn. i. p. 228.) Bito, an aged Arcadian, dedicates offer-
ings to Pan, to Bacchus, and to the Nymphs. To Pan he devotes a kid.

t Ovid. Fasti, ii. See also Hor. Od. 1. i. 4. v. ii.

246 §HEEP BREEDING AND

at the base of the hill was dedicated to Pan, as we have seen
was the case some centuries afterwards at Athens*.

In the preceding observations we have endeavored to give a
correct representation of the real sentiments and practices of
the Arcadians in regard to the proper divinity of their country ;
and from this account we are naturally led to inquire what in-
fluence this pecuhar beUef and worship had upon their manners
and their social life. Whilst the elegant simplicity and inno-
cence of the Arcadian shepherds, their graceful chorusses, their
dance and song, their love for their fleecy charge, which they
delighted and soothed with the melody of the pipe, have been
the theme and ornament of poetry and romance from the ear-
liest times, the question is highly important and interesting,
whether these ideal visions are realised by historical testimony ?
whether the shepherds of the ancient Arcadia were so entirely
and so favorably distinguished from men of the same class and
employment in almost all other times and countries? One
modern writer denies this fact. He says, " The refined and
almost spiritualized state of innocence, which we call the pas-
toral life of Arcadia, was entirely unknown to the ancients :"
and he quotes in support of this assertion several expressions,
used by Philostratus and other writers, and denoting contempt
for the Arcadians as a rude, ignorant, stupid race of peoplet.
Polybius, who was an Arcadian, confidently asserts, that they
had throughout Greece a high and honorable reputation, not
only on account of their hospitality to strangers and their benev-
olence towards all men, but especially on account of their pie-
ty toioards the divine being ! It is true they make no figure
in Grecian history, because they were too wise to take part in
the irrational contests, which continually embroiled the sur-
rounding states. Their division into small independent com-
munities, each presenting a purely democratic constitution,
rendered it impossible for them to acquire celebrity in legis-

* Dionys. Halicam. Hist. Rom. I. i. p. 20, 21, ed. R. Steph. Paris 1546. Strabon
1. V. cap. iii. § 3. Aur. Victor, Origo Gentis RomanoB. Livii 1. i. c. 5. Pausanias,
viii. 43. 2. Virg. iEu. viii. 51-54. 342-344. Ileyno's E.\cursuB ad loc. Ovidii
Fasti, ii. 268^52. v. 88, &c.

t J. H. Voss, Virgil's Landliche Gedichte, torn. ii. p. 353.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 247

lation ; and yet we are infornied of some of the citizens of Ar-
cadia, who were reputed excellent lawgivers for the sphere in
which they acted*. It appears to be no inconsiderable evidence
of their progress in the art of government ujwn republican prm-
ciples, that in the choice of magistrates at Mantinea they
•proceeded upon the plan of a double election^. We have
the most decisive proofs of their public spirit in the splendid
cities, which they erected, and which were adorned with thea-
tres, temples, and numerous other edifices. We are informed
by Pausaniasi, that of all the temples in Peloponnesus the most
beautiful and admirable were those of Minerva at Tegea and
of Apollo at Phigalia ; and tliese were both cities of Arcadia.
Now it should be observed, that the taste and splendor of their
public edifices are the more decisive proofs of their national en-
thusiasm, when it is considered, that among them property
was exceedingly subdivided ; that they had no overpower-
ing aristocracy, no princes or great landed gentry, who might
seek for renown or court popularity by bestowing their wealth
upon public institutions ; but that the noble temples, the sculp-
tures, and other works of art, which ornamented their cities
and were subservient to purposes of common interest, could
have been produced only by the united deUberations and con-
tributions of the mass of the inhabitants. They seem there-
fore to prove the universal prevalence both of a liberal patri-
otic feeling, and of a cultivated taste for the beautiful and the
sublime.

Virgil bears his testimony to their superior skill in vocal and
instrumental music.

Arcadian swains,
Ye best artificers of soothing strains.

Bucol. X. 32. — WartoTi's Translation.

This must of course be understood as referring only to music
and poetry of the pastoral kind. To the composition of the
higher sj^ecies of poetry, by which the Greeks of other coun-
tries laid a foundation for the instruction and deliffht of all suc-

» Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterthumskunde, i. L p. 180 ; i. 2. p. 305.

t Aristot. Polit 1. vi. 2. 2. t L. viii. c. 41. 5. p. 429, ed. Siebel.

248 SHEEP BREEDING AND

ceeding ages, the Arcadians never aspired. At the same time
there can be no doubt that they bestowed great care upon the
exhibition of dramatic compositions, though they did not at-
tempt to write them : of this fact we have sufficient proof in
the remains of the theatres found upon the sites of their prin-
cipal cities, and especially of the theatre of Megalopolis, which
was the greatest in all Greece*.

But with respect to their cultivation of music and its influ-
ence on their national character, we have upon record the full
and explicit testimony of one of their most distinguished cit-
izens, the historian Polybius, whose remarks will appear espe-
cially deserving of the reader's attention, when it is considered,
tliat he must himself have gone through the whole course of
discipline and instruction which he describes. Having had oc-
casion to mention the turbulent character as w^ell as the cruel
and perfidious conduct of the Cynsetheans, who occupied a city
and district in the north of Arcadia, he pro}x>ses to inquire why
it was that, although they were indeed Arcadians, they had
acted in a manner so entirely at variance with the usual habits
and manners of the Greeks, and he then proceeds ^Wth earnest-
ness and solemnity to explain upon the following principles the
cause of this extraordinary contrast. It was, as he states, that
the Cynsetheans were the only inhabitants of Arcadia who had
neglected to exercise themselves in music ; and he then gives
the following accomit of the established practice of the rest of
the Arcadians in devoting themselves to the study of real
music, by which he means the united arts of music, poetry, and
dancing, of all those elegant and graceful performances, over
which the Muses were supposed to preside. He informs us
that the Arcadians, whose general habits were very severe,
were requii'ed by law to go on improving themselves in music,
so understood, until their thirtieth year. " In childhood," says
he, " they are taught to sing in tune hymns and paans in
honor of the domestic heroes and divinities. They afterwards
learn the music of Philoxenus and Timotheus. They dance to
the pipe in the theatres at the annual festival of Bacchus ; and

* Pausauias, 1. viii. 32. 1. Leake's Travels in the Morea,vol. ii. p. 32. 39, 40.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 249

they do this with great emulation, the boys performing mock-
fights adapted to their age, and the young men the so-called
manly fights. In like manner throughout the whole of life
their pleasure at feasts and entertainments consists, not in lis-
tening to singers hired for the purpose, but in singing them-
selves in their turns when called upon. For, although a man
may decUne any other performance on the ground of inability
and may thereby bring no imputation on himself, no one can
refuse to sing, because all have been obliged to learn it, and to
refuse to take a part, when able, is deemed disgraceful. The
young men also unite together to perform in order all the mil-
itary steps and motions to the sound of the pipe, and at the
public expense they exhibit them every year before their fellow-
citizens. Besides these ballets, marches, and mock-fights, the
men and women unite in great public assembhes and in nume-
rous sacrifices, to which are to be added the circular or choral
dances by the boys and virgins." Polybius adds, that these
musical exercises had been ordained as the means of communi-
cating softness and refinement to the otherwise rough and la-
borious life of the Arcadians, and he warns them by the exam-
ple of the half-savages of Cynaethoe never to abandon such
wholesome institutions*. With how great benefit to our own
social character might we adopt this counsel ! How greatly
might we contribute both to the innocent enjoyment and to the
more improved and elevated tastes of our rustics and artisans,
if well-regulated plans were devised, by which graceful recrea-
tions, providing at the same time exercise for the body, amuse-
ment for the imagination, and employment for the finer and
more amiable feeUngs, were made to relieve the degrading and
benumbing monotony of their protracted labors, whether in the
factory or in the field !

It will be readily perceived, that the education here described,
and the tastes and habits which it produced, were immediately
associated with the popular reUgion, and especially witii the
notions and rites entertained towards the pecuUar god of the
shepherds. Other deities indeed, such as Apollo, Diana, and

* Polyb. L iv. c. 20, 2L

250 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Minerva, who were also worshipped in Arcadia, may have con-
tributed to the same effect ; and especially this may have been
the case with Mercury, perhaps the only one of the higher Greek
divinities, who was conceived to have a benevolent character,
who was the father of Pan, and was himself reported to have
been born in a cave of the same mountain in Arcadia, on which
he was worshipped. He was a lover of instrumental music,
having invented the lyre, and he was frequently represented on
coins and gems, riding upon a ram, or with his emblems so
connected with the figures of sheep, and more rarely of goats
and of dogs, as to prove that in his character as the god of gain
the shepherds looked up to him together A\'ith his offspring to
bless the flocks and to increase their produce*. Hence Homer,
in order to convey the idea that Phorbas was remarkably suc-
cessful in the breeding of sheep, says that he was beloved by
Mercury above all the other Trojanst. The inhabitants of one
territory even in Arcadia, viz. the city of Phineos, honored
Mercury more than all the other gods, and expressed this sen-
timent by procuring a statue of him made by a celebrated

* Buonaroti (Osservazioni sopra alcuiii Jledaglioni Antichi, p. 41.) has exhibit-
ed brass coins, in one of which INIercury is riding on a sheep ; in a second the
sheep is seen with Mercurj-'s bag of money on its back ; and in a third the ca-
duceus is over the sheep, and two spikes of com, emblems of agricultural pros-
perity, spring out of the ground before it. Among the gems of the Baron de
Stosch, now belonging to the Royal Cabinet at Berlin, No. 381. Class II. repre-
sents Mercury sitting upon a rock with a dog by his side : Winckelmann ob-
serves, that " the dog is the sjTnbol of Mercury as the protector of shepherds."
Nos. 392, 393, 396-402, in the same collection, represent him with sheep, and
one of them (399.) exhibits him standmg erect in a chariot drawn by four rams,
and holding the bag or purse in his right hand and the caduceus in his left.

Some of the coins of Sicily appear to refer in like maimer to the character of
IVIercury as the promoter of the trade in wool.

The Honorable Keppel Craven (Excursions in the Abrazzi, London, 1838, vol.
i. ch. 4. p. 109.) mentions a temple at Arpinum, a city of Latium, which was
dedicated, as appears from an inscription found on its site, toMERCURIUS LA-
NARIUS. This title evidently represented INIercury as presiding over the
growth of wool and the trade in it.

Perhaps the very ancient idea of Mercurj' making the fleece of Plirj-xus
golden by his touch may have originated in the same view. See ApoUonius
Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 11. 1144, and Scholion ad locum.

t II. xiv. 490. See also Hom. HjTnn to Mercurj', 569. Hesiod, Theog. 444.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 251

sculptor in iEgina, in which he was represented carrying a ram
under his arm, and which they placed in the great temple of
Jupiter at Olympia*. At Corinth there was a brazen statue of
Mercury in a sitting posture with a ram standing beside him.
According to Pausanias (ii. 3, 4.) the reason of this representa-
tion was, that of all the gods Mercury was thought most to
take care of flocks and to promote their increase. But, as the
Corinthians had httle or nothing to do with the tending of
sheep and were devoted to commerce, we may ask what inter-
est had they in this attribute of Mercury? It is very evident
that it could only be an interest arising from the part which Cor-
inth took in the wool-trade. That the Arcadians did not
themselves consume their wool is manifest. How could they
have built cities, which were so large, numerous, and handsome
in proportion to the extent of their country, and have lived
even in that degree of elegance and luxury, to which they at-
tained, unless they had been able to dispose of the chief prod-
uce of their soil in a profitable manner 7 It is probable
therefore, that the representation of Mercury or of his emblems
in conjunction with the figure of the sheep on the coins of Cor-
inth and Patrce may be regarded as an intimation, that the
Arcadians disposed of their wool in those cities for exportation
to foreign countries.

But, notwithstanding the important share, which Mercury
had in the religious sentiments and observances of the Arca-
dians, the proper god of the shepherds of Arcadia was Pan, and
we have already had abundant evidence to suggest the convic-
tion, that their songs and dances were performed principally in
honor of him, and were supposed to be taught, guided, and
animated by him.

Arcadia has for many centuries exhibited a most melancholy
contrast to that condition of hardy and yet peaceful independ-
ence, of rustic simplicity united with tasteful elegance, of so-
cial kindness and domestic enjoyment undisturbed by the proj-
ects of ambition, which has supplied many of the most beauti-
ful pictures to the writers of poetry and romance. The great

* Paus. 1. V. 27. 5. and 1. viii. 14. 7.

252

SHEEP BREEDING AND

natural features of the country are unalterable. The pine-for-
ests of Lycaeus, its deep glens continually refreshed with spark-
ling streams and cataracts, its savage precipices where scarce
even a goat can climb, remain in their original beauty and
grandeur. This region also affords pasture to flocks of sheep
more numerous than those which feed in any other part of
Greece*. But whatever depends on the moral nature of man
is changed. The valleys, once richly cultivated and tenanted
by an overflowing population, are scarcely kept in tillage.
The noble cities are traced only by their scattered ruins. The
few descendants of the ancient Arcades have crouched beneath
a degrading tyranny. The thick forests and awful caverns
but a few years ago served to shelter fierce banditti ; and the
traveller startled at the sound of theh fire-arms instead of being
charmed with the sweet melody of the syriuxt. But a new
dynasty has been estabhshed under the sanction of the most
powerful and eiihghtened nations of Europe. It remains to be
seen whether this or any other part of Greece will again be-
come wise, virtuous, and renowned. The philanthropist, who
amidst the gloom and desolation of the moral world depends
with confidence upon an all-wise and all-disposing Providence,
may console himself with the hope, that that great Being who
bestowed such inestimable blessings upon Arcadian shepherds in
their ignorance, wiU not abandon those of their descendants,
who with superior means of knowledge, aim at corresponding
attainments in the excellencies of poUtical, social, and private life.
Accordmg to the representation in the Odyssey (xiv. 100.)

* Bartholdy, Bruchstiicke ziir Kenntniss des heut. Griechenlands, p. 238.

t Dodwell's Tour, vol. ii. p. 388-393. Leake's Travels in the Morea, vol. i. p.
486-490. The latter author gives the following account of a visit wliich he paid
to the family of a shepherd, consisting of twelve or fifteen individuals, who lived
together in a tent on Mount LycsEus : — " Milk and misithra (a preparation made
by boiling milk and whey together) is their usual food. ' We have milk in plen-
ty,' they tell me, ' but no bread.' Such is the life of a modem Arcadian shep-
herd, who has almost reverted to the balanephagous state of his primitive ances-
tors (Orac. Pyth. ap. Pausan. Arcad. c. 42.). The children, however, all look
healthy cmd are handsome, having large black eyes and regular features with
very dark complexion." •

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 253

Ulysses had twelve flocks of sheep, and as many of goats on the
continent opposite to Ithaca. At a much later period Neoptol-
emus, a king of Molossis, in possession of flocks and herds,
which were superintended by a distinct officer appointed for the
purpose*. In Macedonia also the king, though Uving in a state
of so little refinement that his queen baked the bread for the
whole household, was possessed at an early period of flocks of
sheep and goats together with horses and herds of oxen,
which were entrusted to the care of separate officers. We are
informed that three Argive brothers, having taken refuge in the
upper part of Macedonia bordering upon Illyria, became hired
servants to the king, one of them having the custody of the
horses, another of the oxen, and a third of the sheep and
goatst. Here then we find in Europe a state of society analo-
gous to that which, as we have seen, existed in Palestine
under David. Indeed we may observe, that all the countries
bordering on Macedonia were contrasted with Attica and Arca-
dia in tliis respect, that, while the Athenians and Arcadians
were in general small landed proprietors, each shepherd tending
his flock upon his own ground, Phrygiat, Thrace, Macedonia,
Epirus, and even Boeotia belonged probably to an aristocracy,
the richest and most powerful individuals of which became
shepherd kings, their landed possessions giving them a superi-
ority over the rest of their countrymen, and leading to the em-
ployment of numerous persons as their servants engaged in
tending their cattle and in other rural occupations.

Respecting the attention paid to sheep-breeding in Epirus
we have the testimony of Varro in his treatise De Re Rustica.
He informs us (ii. 2.) that it Avas usual there to have one man
to take care of 100 coarse-wooled sheep {oves hirtoi), and two
men for the same number of " oves pellitce" or sheep which
wore skins. The attention bestowed upon dogs is an indirect
evidence of the care which was devoted to flocks. It is worthy

* Plutarchi Pyrrhus, p. 705. ed. Steph.
t Herod, viii. 137.

t Theopompus, as quoted by Servius on Virgil, Buc. vi. 13, makes mention of
the shepherds, who kepVthe flocks of Midas, king of Phr}'gia.

254 SHEEP BREEDING AND

of remark, that the dogs used to guard the flocks in the modern
Albania, appear to be the genuine descendants of the ancient
" canes Molossici," being distinguished by their size as well as
by their strength and ferocity*. Further notices respecting
them may be found in Virgil's Georgics, 1. iii. 404-413, and in
the Notes of his editors and translators, Heyne, Martyn, and
J. H. Voss. See also iElian de Nat. An. iii. 2. and Plautus,
Capt. 1. i. 18.

There is another important circumstance, in which probably
the habits of the modern shepherds of Albania are similar to
those of the ancient occupants of the same region, viz. the an-
nual practice of resorting to the high grounds in summer and
returning to the plains in winter, which prevails both here and
in most mountainous countries devoted to sheep-breeding. The
following extract from Dr. Holland's Travels in the Ionian Isles,
Albania, (fee. {p. 91-93.), gives a hvely representation of this
proceeding :

" When advanced eight or nine miles on our journey (from Cinque Pozzi to
Joannina; October 31st, 1813,) and crossing another ridge of high and broken
land, we were highly interested in a spectacle, which by a fortunate incident oc-
curred to our notice. We met on the road a community of migrating shepherds,
a wandering people of tiie mountains of Albania, who in tho summer feed their
flocks in these hilly regions, and in the winter spread them over the plains in the
vicinity of the Gulph of Arta and along other parts of the coast. The many
large flocks of sheep we had met the day before belonged to these people, and
were preceding them to the plains. The cavalcade we now passed through was
nearly two miles in length with few interruptions. The number of horses with
the emigrants might exceed a thousand ; they were chiefly emploj^ed in carrying
the moveable habitations and the various goods of the community, which were
packed with remarkable neatness and uniformityt. The infants and smaller chil-
dren were variously attached to the luggage, while the men, women, and elder
children travelled for tho most part on foot ; a healthy and masculine race of peo-
ple, but strongly marked by the wild and uncouth exterior connected with their
manner of life. The greater part of the men were clad in coarse white woollen
garments ; the females in the same material, but more curiously colored, and
generally with some ornamented lacing about the breast." lie then adds,
" These migratory tribes of shepherds generally come down from the moun-
tains about the latter end of October, and return thither from the plains in April,

* Holland's Travels, p. 443. Hughes's Travels, vol. i. p. 483, 484. 49G.
t No one has described this pastoral migration more minutely or more beauti-
fully, than Mr. Charles Fellows, in his Discoveries in Lycia.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 255

after disposing of a certain proportion of their sheep and horses. In travelling,
they pass the night on the plains or open lands. Arrived at the place of their
destination, they construct their little huts or tents of the materials they carry
with them, assisted by the stones, straw, or earth, which they find ou the spot."

According to Dr. Sibthorp {in WalpoWs Me7?ioirs, p. 141.),
" a wandering tribe of Nomads" on the other side of Greece
drive tlieir flocks from the mountains of Thessaly into the
plains of Attica and Boeotia to pass the winter. " They give
some pecuniary consideration to the Pasha of Negropont and
Vaivode of Athens. These people are much famed for their
woollen manufactures, particularly the coats or cloaks worn by
the Greek sailors."

CHAPTER II.

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS
—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, &c.

Sheep-breeding in Sicily — Bucolic poetrj" — Sheep-breeding in South Italy — An-
nual migration of the flocks — The ram employed to aid tiie shepherd in con-
ducting his flock — The ram an emblem of authority — Bells — Ancient inscription
at Sepuio — Use of music by ancient shepherds — Superior quality of Tarentine
sheep — Testimony of Columella — Distinction of the coarse and soft kinds —
Names given to sheep — Supposed effect of the water of rivers on wool — Sheep-
breeding in South Italy, Tarcntum, and Apulia — Brown and red wool — Sheep-
breeding in North Italy — Wool of Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Padua-^Ori-
gin of sheep-breeding in Italy — Faunus the same with Pan — Ancient sculptures
exhibiting Faunus — Bales of wool and the shepherd's dress — Costmne, appear-
ance, and manner of life of the ancient Italian shepherds.

Still shall o'er all prevail the shepherd's stores,
For numerous uses known ; none yield such warmth,
Such beauteous hues receive, so long endure ;
So pliant to the loom, so various, none. — Dyer.

We now pass over to Sicily. The pastoral life of the Sicil-
ians was marked by peculiar characters as well as that of the
Arcadians. The bucoUc poems of Theocritus represent many
of its circumstances in the most lively colors ; and, while their
dramatic spirit and vivacity are unrivaUed, they seem to be
most exact copies of nature, the dialogues which they contain
being in the style, the language, and the precise dialect of the
Sicilian shepherds, and indeed only differing from their real
conversation by being composed in hexameters. It is to be
observed, that the mountains and pastures of Sicily were
browsed by goats and oxen as Avell as by sheep. These ani-
mals were, however, under distinct keepers, called respectively
Shepherds, Goatherds, and Herdsmen. But the tastes, manner
of life, and the superstitions of these three classes of rustics ap-
pear to have been undistinguishable. They were probably not
always independent proprietors of the soil, but in many cases
the servants of a landed aristocracy who lived in Syracuse and

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 257

Other splendid cities. They appear, however, to have enjoyed
far greater comforts and advantages than the corresponding
class of hired laborers in the countries to the north of the Pelo-
ponnesus and of Attica. In composing pastoral verses and in
playing on the pipe and the syrinx they probably equalled the
Arcadians. Whilst they were watching their flocks and herds,
it was a frequent amusement with them for two persons to con-
tend for a stipulated prize, such as a goat, a carved wooden
bowl, or a syrinx, which was to be awarded by an appointed
judge to him who most excelled either in instrumental music,
or in singing alternate and extemporaneous verses*.

That this elegant recreation was of Sicilian origin we have
clear and abundant evidence. Bion [Idyll vii. 1.) calls pasto-
ral {X)etry " a Sicihan strain ;" which certainly implies, that of
all places where the Greek language was used Sicily was the
most noted for it, and that in fact it properly belonged to Sicily.
So Moschus [Idyll iii.) speaks of " the Sicilian muses ;" and
throughout this Idyll, which is the lament of Moschus on the
death of Bion, he repeatedly speaks of the pastoral poetry, such
as Bion cultivated, as proper to Sicily. In Virgil's Bucolics we
find frequent allusions to the same acknowledged fact. Thus
he says.

* According to the learned German traveller, Baron Riedesel, the custom was
not extinct in his time ; for in his Travels through Sicily, page 148 of Forster's
English translation, he says, " The shepherds still sing with emulation to gain the
crook or the purse, which is the prize of the beet performer." Nevertheless, the
modern can be only a very faint imitation of the ancient practice ; for thus the
same author speaks in other passages.

" Here I had an opportunity of pitying the wretched situation of modem Sicily
in comparison with what it was in former ages. Many towns and different na-
tions are destroyed ; immense riches are dissipated ; the whole island can at pres-
ent scarce show 1,200,000 inhabitants, the number which Syracuse alone for-
merly had. Many beautiful spots, which used to produce com and fmits, are now
deserted for want of laborers ; many spacious ports are witliout any ships for want
of trade ; and many people want bread, ichilst the nobility and the monks are in
possession of all the lands." p. 112, 113.

'• To conclude, the climate, the soil, and the fmits of the country are as perfect
as ever. But the precious Greek liberty, population, power, magnificence, and
good taste, are now not to be met with as in former times, and the present inhab-
itants can only say, Fuimus Troes." p. 151

33

258 SHEEP BREEDING AND

" I will set my verses to the tune of a Sicilian shepherd."

Buc. X. 51.

The historian Diodorus, himself a Sicilian, who hved about
the commencement of the Christian sera, supposes bucolic poet-
ry and music to be the peculiar invention and exercise of }iis
own country, and says, that it continued in use at his time and
was held in the same estimation as formerly*. In less than
200 years fiom this period the art lost much of its original sim-
plicity. Maximus Tyrius (Diss, xxi.) says, that " the Dori-
ans of Sicily became, to use the mildest term, mo7'e weak in
understanding ^^^ {more dissolute) " when instead of the simple
Alpine music, which they used to employ in the presence of
their flocks and herds, they began to love the times of the Syb-
arites, and a style of dancing adapted to them, such as was re-
quired by the Ionic pipe."

But, although the rustic Dorians of Sicily had the full credit
of this invention and were never surpassed in the practice of it
by any other people, yet the imitation of it was attempted in
various instances by the pastoral inhabitants of other countries.
More especially, it appears to have been adopted in the neigh-
boring district of Magna Greecia ; for it is near Syharis that
Theocritus has placed the scene of his Fifth Idyll, in which, a
shepherd having staked a lamb and a goatherd a kid, they
contend in alternate verses, whilst a wood-cutter, whom they
have called from his labor, listens as judge, and awards the
prize to the goatherd, who hereupon joyfully sacrifices his new-
ly acquired lamb to the Nymphs.

In the Seventh Idyll [v. 12, 27, 40.) Theocritus mentions
the goatherd, Lycidas of Crete, who was his contemporary,
and also his predecessors and supposed instructors, Asclepiades
of iSamos, and Philetas of Cos, as distinguished for skill in
pastoral music.

The bucolic poems of Theocritus prove, that the Arcadian
belief in the attributes of Pan had extended itself into Sicily
and the South of Italy, so that the rustics of those countries
not only invoked him by name, but even sometimes offered

* L. iv. c. 84, p. 283.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 259

sacrifices to him. Thus, in Idyll v. 58, the Lucanian goatherd
already referred to says, that he will set aside for Pan eight
dishes of milk and six of honey.

But besides importing the belief in Pan from Arcadia the
Sicilians recognized two demigods of native origin, who con-
tributed, if not to excite feelings allied to religion, at least to
amuse their imagination and to contribute greatly to the va-
riety and UveUness of their poetry. These were the shepherd
Polyphemus, who was horridly deformed, and the herdsman
Daphnis, who was endowed with the most surpassing beauty.

Polyphemus was the son of Neptune. Notwithstanding his
forbidden aspect he is represented as susceptible of some tender
emotions, and it is his misfortune to be deeply enamored of the
beautiful Nereid or Mermaid Galatea, whom he sees sporting
in the green waves, while he surveys the coast from the sum-
mit of a mountain and plays upon the syrinx for the amuse-
ment of himself and his flock*.

The Sicilian Daphnis, like the Arcadian Pan, was the son
of Mercury and of a mountain nymph, and excelled in playing
on the syrinx ; but his form was entirely human and the most
beautiful that could be imagined.

The guardian of fair kine, himself more fair.

Virg. Buc. V. 44.

He tended his cattle upon the picturesque Herman mountains
to the north of ^Etna, and did not mix in the society of men.
At the time when the beard was beginning to grow on his up-
per lip, the nymph Echenais became enamored of him, and
enjoined him upon pain of losing his eye-sight not to approach
any other female. He consented, and for some time persisted
m obeying her ; but at length a Sicilian princess, having in-
toxicated him with wine, accomphshed her purpose. He shared
the fate of Tharayras, the Thracian, and was thus punished
for his folly t. He then pined away, and died of hopeless love

* Theocritus, Idyll vi. and xi. Lucian, Dial. Doridis et Galatete. Ovid, Met
L. xiii. 739-870.

t TimsEUS, author of the Hist, of Sicily, as quoted by Parthenius, c. 29. iElian,
Van Hist. L. x. c. 18. Died. Sic. L. iv. c. 84. p. 283.

260 SHEEP BREEDING AND

for the nymph, whom he had offended*. According to Virgil
{Buc. V. 56-71.) he was raised to the stars, and sacrifices
were offered to him by the shepherds.

Daphnis was the frequent subject of pastoral poetry, being
regarded as an ideal representation of the perfection of the
shepherd's culture and manner of life. Of this we have a
proof in the epigram of Callimachus on the death of Astacides,
and which concludes thus : " We (shepherds) wiU no longer
sing of Daphnis, but of Astacides." The poet's design was to
extol Astacides, by comparing him with Daphnis. According
to vElian [I. c.) the first bucohc poems related to the blindness
of Daphnis and its cause ; and the first poet, who composed
verses upon this subject, was Stesichorus of Himera in Sicily.
In Theocritus the allusions to the beautiful story of Daphnia
are very frequentt, and his sad fate is described at length by
contending shepherds or goatherds in the First and Seventh
Idylls. We shall quote only his dying words, where he calls
on Pan to leave the great Maenalus and the long ridges of
Lycaeus, and to come to Sicily in order to receive from his own
hand the syiinx, on which he had been accustomed to play.

*Ei/9' (Lva^j Koi Tavic (pip' ciiraKTOto fie\iiTvovv
'Ef KTipoi avpiyya KoKav^ vcpX p^trAoj LXiKTaV
'H yap lyujv vtt' tpcJToj £j aSSv e^KOfiai iifrj.

Come, mighty king, come, Pan, and take my pipe,
"Well join'd with wax and fitted to my lip ;
For now 'tis useless grown. Love stops my breath,
I cannot pipe, but must be mute in death.

Creech's Translation.

PHny informs us, that in his time the wool of Apulia was
in the highest repute ; that throughout the South of Italy the
best sheep were bred in the vicinity of Tarentum and Canu-
sium ; and that the wool of Tarentum was admired for its
tinge of black, and that of Canusium for its fine brown or yel-
low colorl.

* Theocritus, Idyll i. 66-141. and vii. 72-77.

t Idyll V. 20. See also v. 80. In Idyll vi. Daphnis is one of the performers,
and gives a description of Galatea,
t See Appendix A.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 261

The directions for the management of sheep, given by Var-
ro, Columella, Virgil, and other writers on rural affairs, all tend
to show the pains taken by the Romans to improve the breed
of sheep, and especially to produce wool of the finest quaUty.

The first of these authors {De Re Rustica, L. ii. Prcef.)
mentions his own flocks of sheep in Apulia. It appears from
his account that every man was obliged to report the number
of his sheep to the publican and to have them inscribed in a
register, the earliest allusion, to a code of laws, which may
probably have been in some respects similar to that now called
" La Mesta" in Spain. Varro further speaks expressly of the
summer and winter migrations of the flocks ; and to show the
great distances to which they were conducted on these occa-
sions, he states that the sheep of Apulia were taken every
year to pass the summer in the mountains of Samnium, and
sometimes even in those of Reate*.

Of the nature and circumstances of these annual migrations
we are enabled to form some judgment, not only from the ani-
mated description already quoted from Dr. Holland in relation
to Albania, but still more distinctly from the following accounts
by the Honorable Keppel Craven, one of which relates to the
first group of mountains mentioned by Varro, the other to the
second.

In the year 1S18 Mr. Craven visited a large farm a few
miles to the south of Foggia, and consequently not far from the
site of the ancient Arpi in ApuUa. He mentions the follow-
ing particulars.

" Above 200 persons were employed, and resided on the spot. The stock of
sheep consisted of 8000, divided into several flocks ; to which those of cows, goats,
and buffaloes, together with a set of brood mares and a suitable quantity of ponl-
try, bore an equivalent proportion. All the cattle are guarded by large milk-white
dogs of the Abruzzo breed. These animals are very handsome and resemble the
Newfoundland species, but have sharper noses ; they are very intelligent and
equally fierce. The flocks are tended by natives of Abruzzo, who also undertake
the care of milking them, as well as making the cheese, &c. ; they are assisted
by their wives and children, who accompany them in their yearly migrations to
and from the mountains. These shepherds are clothed in the skins of the animals

» De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. 1. p. 161. ed. Bip. See also, c. 2. p. 167.

262 SHEEP BREEDING AND

which they watch, and are reckoned a quiet, attentive, frugal, and trust-worthy
race." Tour through the southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, by the
Honorable Keppel Craven, p. 80.

The scene of the following extract is the valley of the
Aternus, descending from the region of the highest Apennines,
the " montes Reatini" of Varro, not very remote from the ruins
of his farm and villa, (These ruins are described at page 45 of
the volume from which this passage is extracted.), and proceed-
ing towards the sites of the modern Aquila and of the ancient
Amdternum.

" One of the broad tratturos, or cattle-paths, runs in the same line with the
high-road to Aquila ; and I was so fortunate as to see it occupied by a very ex-
tended line of flocks, which slowly passed by the carriage for the space of a mile
or more. The word ' fortunate ' adapted to such a spectacle, may excite a smile
in my readers ; but I own that I never beheld one of these numerous animal con-
gregations plodding across the flats of Capitanata, or the valleys of Abruzzo, as
far as the eye could reach, without experiencing a sensation of a novel and exci-
ting kind, nearly alUed to that of enjoyment, but which I shall not attempt to
account for.

" One shepherd heads each division of cattle, of which he has the peculiar care
and direction. Armed with liis crook, he walks some paces in advance of liis
flock, followed by an old ram termed il manso ; which word, meaning tame or
instructed, has undoubtedly a more apposite signification than that of our bell-
wether, though he is, as well as ours, furnished with a large deep-toned bell.

" The sheep march in files of about twelve in each ; and every battalion, if I
may so call it, is attended by six or eight dogs, according to its number ; these
accompanying the herd, walking at the head, middle, and rear of each flank.
The beauty and docility of these animals, which are usually white, has often been
described, and their demeanor is gentle as long as the objects of their solicitude
are unmolested, but at night they are so savage, that it would be dangerous to
approach the fold they guard.

" The goats, wliich bear a very small proportion to the sheep, and are in gen-
eral black, wind up the array, and evince their superior intelligence by lying down
whenever a temporary halt takes place. The cows and mares travel in separate
bodies. A certain number of these flocks, commonly those belongmg to the same
proprietor, are under the immediate management and inspection of an agent, en-
titled faftore, who accompanies them on horseback, armed with a musket, and
better clad than the shepherds, who, both in summer and winter, wear the large
sheep-skin jacket, and are in other respects provided with substantial though
homely attire, including good strong shoes.

" These Fattores are all natives of Abruzzo, an Apulian never having been
known to undertake the profession : the former, through particular habits and the
repeated experience of years, are looked upon as so peculiarly fitted for the caro
required by cattle, and indeed animals of all kinds, that all the helpers in the sta-

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 263

bles of the capital aro natives of these provinces, or of the adjoining county of
Molise. In addition to theae qualifications, they are esteemed an abstemious and
honest race.

" When following the calling of shepherds, and occupied, as I saw them, in the
duties of their charge in travelling, their countenances aro almost invariably
marked by the same expression, which combines mildness and sagacity with im-
movable gravity, and, it is painful to add, a look of deep-seated sadness ; tho
whole caravan, animal as well as human, exhibiting, at least while engaged in
one of those tedious peregrinations, a general appearance of suffering and de-
pression, distinguishable in every individual that composes it. Tho shepherd that
opens the march, the independent manso jingling his brazen bell, the flocks that
follow, tho dogs that watch over their security, and even the Fattore who directs
the procession, all appear to be plodding through a wearisome existence of monot-
ony and toil. The extreme slowness of their progress, the downcast expression of
every head and eye, and, above all, the indications of exhaustion and fatigue
whicli are but too perceptible after a journey of more than a month's duration,
may well account for this impression.

" Tlie animals suffer greatly from heat until they reach their summer dwelling,
and full as much from lameness, which, when it has reached a certain pitch, be-
comes the signal for destruction. I saw a mule bearing no other load than the
skins of those that had perished in this manner.

" Several other beasts of burden follow the rear of the herds, laden with the va-
rious articles necessary for them and their guardians during their protracted
march : these consist in the nets and poles requisite to pen the folds at night, the
coarse cloth tents for the use of the shepherds, and a limited stock of utensils for
milking, and boiling the produce of the flock. Among these are to be noticed
some portable jointed seats of very ingenious though simple construction, com-
posed of the stems of the giant fennel, a substance remarkable for its light and
compact texture.

" The cattle which I thus met near Aquila were within two days' journey of
their resting-place, which is generally in some of the valleys placed on tho lower
flanks of the mountain ridges, but sufficiently elevated above the larger plains to
aiTord fresh and abundant herbage and a cooler temperature.

" The duration of their abode in these regions is regulated by the rapid or slow
progression of the summer season ; in the course of which they shift their quar-
ters, as the heat increases, till they reach the highest spots, which are the last di-
vested of the deep snows, in which they have been buried during three quarters
of the year. Here large tracts of the finest pasture, rills of the coldest and purest
water, and shady woods of considerable extension, are occupied by them during
the remainder of the fine weather, and aflwrd the ne plus ultra of enjoyment al-
lotted to an existence of such restricted variety." Excursions in the Abruzzi by
the Honorable Keppel Craven. London, 1838, vol. i. p. 259-264.

The account, given in the second paragraph of this extract,
of the shepherd marching at the head of his battalion of sheep
illustrates in a striking manner the remark made respecting

264

SHEEP BREEDING AND

the comparison of kings to shepherds, and to their leading rams
in Homer and in the Scriptures.

The Greek word KnXof, originally an adjective, corresponds
exactly to the Italian vianso. It appears to have been apph-
cable to all trained tame animals. Hence it was used specially
to denote the large and powerful ram, which was instructed to
assist the shepherd in disposing the sheep in proper order and
in leading them to and from their daily pasture as well as du-
ring their long migrations. In the third book of the Iliad [I.
196-198), where Priam is described surveying the Greek troops
from the Scsean gate, after the account of Agamemnon, who
was considered as their shepherd, we find Ulysses, who was
inferior to him both in rank and in stature, represented as his
manso, that is, as the ram, which immediately follows the shep-
herd and aids him in conducting the flock. The same image
is repeated in the thirteenth book [1. 492, 493), where Pope's
translation, though very paraphrastic, is an admirable repre-
sentation of the real circumstances.

In order follow all th' embodied train,

Like Ida's floclis proceeding o'er the plain :

Before his fleecy care, erect and bold,

Stalks the proud ram, the father of the fold ;

With joy the swain surveys them, as he leads

To the cool fountains, through the well-known meads.

Propertius presents us with a sunilar picture in the following
lines ;

Comiger Idtei vacuam pastoris in aulam

Dux aries saturas ipse reduxit oves. Lib. iii. El. 13.

The fold receives the sheep on Ida fed,

By the great ram, their homed chieftain, led.

Aristotle calls these rams " the leaders of the sheep," and he
states, that the shepherds provided for each flock such a leader,
which, when called hy name hy the shepherd, placed himself
at the head of the flock, and was trained to execute this office
from an early age*. The employment of the manso was prob-
ably the ground, on which many of the Orientals adopted the

* Hist. Animal, viii. 19.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 265

ram as the emblem of military authority*. According to this
supposition it would rather denote secondary than supreme
command ; and if so, tJie representation of the king of Persia
by the symbol of a rain in the Sth chapter of Daniel is the
more expressive, because it indicated that he was the agent
of the supreme Deity. Probably also the same sentiment was
intended to be conveyed by the enthusiastic Sapor, or Shah-
poor II., King of Persia in the fourth century, when he rode
to battle in front of his army wearing instead of a diadem a
ram's head wrought in gold and studded with precious stonest.

Any one, who has seen the collection of ancient bronze bells
in the Museum at Naples, and compared them with those now
worn in Italy about the necks of sheep and other cattle, will be
struck with their similarity. We know also from various an-
cient laws and other evidence^ that the shepherds fastened bells
upon their sheep as they do at the present day.

There is a striking correspondence bctAveen the words of
Varro, "crates, retia, ceeteraque utensilia," and Craven's ac-
count of the provision of nets, &c. for making folds, and of the
other necessary utensils.

At Sepino, the ancient Sapinum, situated in the highest part
of the mountains of Samnium near the source of the Tamarus,
Mr. Craven saw over the Eastern gate the remains of a very
remarkable inscription referring to the same practice §. This
inscription has been accurately pubhshed by Muratorill. It
clearly distinguishes between the " fattores" [conductores gre-
gum oviaricorum) and the shepherds who were under them
{pastores quos conductores habent). These were molested
by the magistrates of Sapinum and the neighboring to^\^l of
Bovianum, and by the " stationarii" or soldiers, who, instead
of being ready to protect them in case of need, charged them
with being fugitives and with cattle-stealing, and under this

* E. F. K. RosenmuUer, Bibl. Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 83.
t Ammianus Marcell. xix. 1.

i See note of Sweertius on the treatise of Hieron. Magius de Tintinnabulis,
cap. viii.

§ See Excursions in the Abruzzi, vol. ii. p. 135, 136.
II Nevus Thesaurus Vet. Inscriptionum, p. dcvi.

34

266 SHEEP BREEDING AND

pretence drove back even those sheep which belonged to the
emperor {oves quoque dominicas) and thus greatly injured his
revenue. These grievances were consequently represented to
an officer at Rome who kept the emperor's accounts [Cosjnus,
Augusti Lihertus a Rationibiis) ; and he writes in the terms
of the inscription to Basseus Rufus and Macrinus Vindex, offi-
cers of rank in the army, in order that the evil might be reme-
died. This inscription must have been erected about the com-
mencement of the Christian tera. As Mr. Craven remarks,
'•' It not only corroborates what was already known, that the
periodical migration of the herds from Apulia is of most ancient
origin, but it proves, that they observed the same hue of route
which they follow to the present day ; the road, that runs from
the east to the western gate of this inclosure, falling into the
line of the tratturos, or sheep-paths, exclusively allotted to the
use of the flocks in their annual journeys."

Whilst we discover these numerous points of resemblance
between the ancient and the modern practice, it is probable that
in other respects there was a greater diversity. If the author
whose observations have been cited had witnessed a similar pro-
cession in very ancient times, he would have seen less reason to
deplore its toilsome and melancholy aspect. Music was then
probably of no little service in animating both the shepherds
and their flocks. The sonorous bagpij^e may have contribu-
ted to this effect*. At least Mr. Craven's account of a modern
pastoral march is strikingly contrasted with the following de-
scription by Apollonius Rhodius, in which he compares the
ship Argo and the music of Orpheus, followed by multitudes of
fishes, to a shepherd playing on the syrinx and followed by his
sheep.

'S2s 6' &7r(5r' dypavXoio nar' <;y^i'ta arjjiavTrjpiis ,

fivpia fir\\' iipcTTOVTai aSrjv KeKoprjj.iit'a woirji
£i{ av\iv, b Si T tiai Trapof aipiyyi Xiyci'ij
KoXa fiiXi^ofievoi vojiiov jiiXoi' wf apa rui yt
coudprevv' nrjv J' aliv inaatniTcpos ij)iptv ovpas.

Argon, L. i. 575-579.

* According to Montfaucon (Ant. Expliqu6e, Suppl. Tom. iii. p. 188.) the bag-
pipe was seen under the arm of a shepherd in the collection of Cardinal Albani
at Rome.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 267

As sheep in flocks thick-pasturing on the plain
Attend the footsteps of the shepherd-swain,
His well-known call they hear, and fully fed,
Pace slowly on, their leader at their head ;
Who pipes melodious, as he moves along.
On sprightly reeds his modulated song :
Thus charm'd with tuneful sounds the scaly train
Pursued the flying vessel o'er the main.

Fawkes's Translation.

The testimony aflbrded by Varro relative to the management
of the South- ItaUan sheep, having been given and illustrated,
it is to be deplored that Italy, once so renowned for its sheep,
can now boast httle of this ])roduction of her bounteous clime.
The Romans, whose dress was woollen, cultivated in an espe-
cial degree the fineness of the fleece ; and it was not until the
days of the Empire that the silk and cotton of the East began
to supersede the ancient raiment of the Roman people. The
finest wools of ancient Italy were produced in Apulia and Cala-
bria, being the eastern parts of the present kingdom of Naples*.

We now proceed to the other writers on Rural Affairs, viz.,
Columella and PaUadius.

The first attests the high estimation in which the sheep of
Calabria and ApuUa were held by the Romans, especially be-
fore his own time, and he says that among them the Tarentine
sheep were the best of all. In speaking of the practice so prev-
alent in this district of covering them with skins, he shows,
that these " oves pellitse" were also called " soft" {molles), and
" covered" {tecta). Indeed he makes the great distinction of
sheep to be into the ^' genus molle,'^ i. e. the soft kind, and the
"genus hirsutum," or "hirtum," i. e. the coarse kind. We
further learn that the soft sheep were called by the Romans
•Greek sheep, because they were bred in Grsecia Magna, and

* It appears from the following passage of Varro, that the Apulian was sold at
a higher price than some other kinds of wool which were equally beautiful, be-
cause it wore better. By lana GuUirana in this passage we must understand
the wool of Gallia Cisalpina, of which we shall next treat.

Sic enim lana Gallicana et Appula videtur imperito similis propter speciem,
oum peritus Appulam emat pluris, quod in usu firmior sit.

De Lin. Lot., lib. ix. 28. p. 484. ed. Spengel.

268 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Taientine, because the best of all were bred at Tarentum.
According to Palladius they were abo sometimes called Asiatic
{AsiancB). It is to be observed that by Asia, Palladius and
his contemporaries would understand the celebrated sheep-
country of which Miletus was the centre* ; and considering the
frequent, long-established, and very friendly intercourse be-
tween Miletus and Tarentumt, we may infer that the Milesi-
ans unported into Tarentum their fine breed of sheep, and at
the same time introduced the art of dyeing and preparing the
wool. The same sheep, which were called Greek by the Ro-
mans, were called Italian by the Egj^tians and others, to
whom the word Greek would not have been distinctive. Col-
umella (vii. 4.) insists particularly on the great pains and care,
which it was necessary to bestow upon tliis description of sheep,
the '■ covered" or '■'• soft," in regard to food, warmth, and cleanli-
ness, and he says that they were principally brought up in the
hoiiset.

As there was in general a great affinity between the manners
and ideas of Sicily and South Italy, we might infer that the
pastoral habits of these two districts were in many respects
similar. Theocritus accordingly lays the scene of some of his
Idylls on the coast opposite to Sicily. The fifth Idyll describes
a contest between a shepherd and a goatherd, who are sup-
posed to have been employed as hired servants in the vicinity
of Sybaris. The shepherd, observing some of his sheep to be
feeding on an oak, which could not be very good for them, ut-
ters the followmg exclamation, sho^^^ng that it was customary
to give proper names to sheep, and thus confirming the fact,

* Cellarii Ant. Orbis Notitia, iii. 1. 7, 8, 9.

t Herod, vi. 21. ajid Wesseliiig ad locum.

X According to Bochart (Hieroz. cap. 45. p. 486, ed. Leusden), the Talmud and
another rabbinical book, lambs soon after their birth were invested with garments
fastened upon them with thongs or buckles.

In the sheep-breeding countries of Europe the practice seems to have been
very general. Besides South Italy, Attica, Megaris, and Eplrus, in regard to
which countries positive evidence has been produced, we find that soft sheep, or
" eves pellitse" were kept by an inhabitant of Cpiethae in Arcadia (Polybius, L.
ii. c. 17.), by the Roman settlers in the North of Gaul and in Spain.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 269

that in ancient times they were regarded as the objects of affec-
tion, and not of profitable speculation merely :

OvK dvo Tai Jpvoj ovros b Kojvapot, 3 re l\.vvai9a'
Xourti PoanriatXadc -kot avTo\ai, u>s h ^dAapoj,

Ho ! Sharphorn, Browning, leave those hurtful weeds,
And come and graze this way, where Colly feeds.

Creech's Translation.

The passage has often been cited in illustration of the follow-
ing verses from the Gospel of St. John. Our Savior, describing
himself as a shepherd, here alludes to various indications of
care and attachment, which distinguish the owner of a flock
from the hireling, who, being engaged to tend the sheep only
for a season, could not be so well known by them, nor so much
interested in their security and welfare.

" Ho calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he
putteth forth (from the fold) his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him ; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but
will fiee from him : for they know not the voice of strangers." — John, x. 3-5.

In reference to this passage of Scripture the following remarks
of a late traveller are instructive :

" I asked my man if it was usual in Greece to give names to sheep. He in-
formed me that it was, and that the sheep obeyed the shepherd when he called
them by their names. This morning {March 5, 1828), I had an opportunity of
verifying the truth of this remark. Passing by a flock of sheep, I asked the
shepherd the same question which I put to my servant, and he gave me the same
answer. I then bade him to call one of his sheep. He did so, and it instantly
left its pasturage and its companions, and ran up to the hand of the shepherd,
with signs of pleasure and with a prompt obedience which I had never before ob-
served in any other animal. It is also true of the sheep in this countrj', that a
stranger toill they not follow, but will fiee from him; for they know not the
voice of the strangers. The shepherd told me that many of his sheep are still
WILD ; that they had not yet learned their names ; but that by teaching they
would all learn them. The others, which knew their names, he called t.*.me." —
Researches in Greece and the Levant, by the Rev. John Hartley, p. 321.

The city of Sybaris stood between two rivers, the Sybaris
and the Crathis. The ancients asserted tliat the sheep which
drank of the Crathis, were white, and those which drank of the

270 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Sybaris, black. They attributed similar virtues to other
streams in various parts of the world*.

According to Strabo (L. vi. cap. 3. § 9. p. 303. ed Siehenkees)
the hilly promontory of Garganus was particularly celebrated
for its sheep. He says, that their wool was softer than the
Tarentme, but less shining.

The Roman poets allude in various instances to the excel-
lence of the Apulian wool, and especially to that of Tarentum.
Horace in the following stanza expresses his predeliction for this
celebrated city, and mentions its " soft" or " covered" sheep.
He had been, asserting his wish to end his days at Tibur, the
modern Tivoli.

But, should the partial Fates refuse

That purer air to let me breathe,
Galesus, thy sweet stream I'll choose.

Where flocks of richest fleeces bathe :
Phalanthus there his rural sceptre sway'd,
Uncertain offspring of a Spartan maid.

Od. I. ii. 6. — Francis's Translation.

Martial alludes to the celebrity of the Tarentine wool in no
less than five of his epigrams.

Spartan Galesus did your toga lave,
Or from a flock select fair Parma gave.

L. ii. ep. 43. I. 3, 4.

The poet intended here to describe a toga of the most ex-
pensive and fashionable kind.

You give, O Chloe, to Lupercus,
Your tender favorite, lacemas
Of Spanish, Tyrian, scarlet fleeces,
And togas wasli'd in warm Galesus.

L. iv. ep. 28. I. 1-3.

Thou wast more sweet, O lovely child !
: Than song of aged dying swans :

Thy voice, thy mien were soft and mild
As Phalantine Galesus' lambs.

L. v. ep. 37. I. 1, 2.

The last Unes w^ere written by Martial on the death of Ero

* .aSUan, Nat. Anim. xii. 36. Plinii Hist. Nat. xxxi. 9. Kruse's Hellas, i. p.
369. (See Appendix A.)

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 271

tion in her sixth year. He describes her interesting qualities
by comparing her to a lamb of the soft Tarentine breed, always
clothed and usually kept in the house and hence remarkably
tender and delicate.

The following epigram (L. viii. ep. 28.) was written on the
receipt of a handsome toga from the wealthy and munificent
Parthenius, chamberlain to the emperor Domitian. In express-
ing his admiration of it, the poet enumerates the places from
which the Romans of his time oljtained the best and most
fashionable garments of this description. He next proceeds to
extol its whiteness ; and in conclusion observes how ridiculous
he would appear wearing his old lacerna over this new and
snowy garment, and he thus conveys a hint to Parthenius how
acceptable and suitable would be the present of a lacerna in ad-
dition to the toga.

De Partheniana toga.
Die, toga, facundi gratum niihi munus amici,

Esse velis ciijus fama, decusque gregis?
Appula Leda-i tibi floruit herba Phalantiii,

Qua, saturat Calabris cuita Galesus aquis?
An Tartessiacus stabuli luitritor Iberi

Btetis in Hesperia te quoque lavit aqua ?
An tua multifidum numeravit lana Timaviim,

Quern prius astrifero Cyllarus ore bibit ?
Te uec Amyclaeo decuit livere veneno ;

Nee Miletus erat vellere digna tuo.
Lilia tu vincis, nee adhuc dilapsa ligustra,

Et Tiburtino nionte quod albet ebur.

Spartanus tibi cedet olor, Pliaphioeque columboe :

Cedet Erythrmis eruta gemma vadis.
Sed licet Iibbc primis nivibus sint semula dona,

Non sunt Parthenio candidiora suo.
Non ego praetulerim Babylonica picta superbfe

Texta, Semitainia quaj variantur acu.
Non Athamantico potius mo mirer in auro,

jEolium dones si mihi, Phryxe, dccus.
O quantos risus pariter spectata movebit

Trita Palatina nostra lacerna toga !

Say, grateful gift of mine ingenious friend,
What happy flock shall to thy fleece pretend ?
For thee did lierb of famed Phalantus blow,
Where clear Galesus bids his waters flow ?

272 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Did thy wool count the streamlets, more than seven,

Of him, who slaked the warrior horse of heaven?

Or did Tartessian Guadalquiver lavo

Thy matchless woof in his Hesperian wave ?

Thou didst not need to taste Amyclaj's bane,

And wouldst have tried Milesian art in vain.

With thee the lily and the privet pale

Compared, and Tibur's whitest ivory fail.

The Spartan swan, the Paphian doves deplore

Their hue, and pearls on Erj'threan shore.

But, though the boon leave new-fall'n snows behind,

It is not purer than the donor's mind.

I would prefer no Babylonian vest,

Superbly broider'd at a queen's behest ;

Nor better pleased should I my limbs behold,

Phryxus, in webs of thine ./Eolian gold.

But O ! what laughter will the contrast crown.

My worn lacema on th' imperial gown I

It may be observed, that in this ingenious epigram, as well
as in two of the preceding, w^hich relate to togas, Martial sup-
poses the Tarentine wool to be white : for the Roman toga was
of that color except in mournmg, and one object of the last-cited
epigram is to praise the whiteness of the particular toga, which it
describes. The Tarentines therefore must have produced both
dark-colored and white fleeces.

The fifth passage of Martial (xii. 64.), which mentions the
sheep of the Galesus, more directly refers to those of Spain, and
will therefore be quoted under that head.

Besides the epigrams, now cited, in which Martial commends
the wool of Tarentum in particular, we find others, in which
he celebrates that of Apulia in general. In Book xiv. Ep. 155.
he gives an account of the principal countries, which yielded
white wools, and informs us that those of the first quality were
from Apuha.

White Wools.
The first Apulia's ; next is Parma's boast ;
And the third fleece Altinum has engrost.

Elphinston's Translation.

Also in the following Unes Martial alludes to the large and nu-
merous flocks of Apulia, and to the whiteness of their wool.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 273

Of white thou hast to clothe a tribe suiRcient stock,
The produce fair of more than one Apulian flock.

L. ii. Ep. 46. I. 5, 6.

On the other hand the wool from the vicinity of Canusium
was no less esteemed for its dark colors, whether incUning to
brown or to red. These saved the expense of dyeing. The
testimony of Pliny to their value has been already produced.
In the two following Epigrams (/. xiv. 127 and 129.) Martial
alludes to the pecidiar recommendations and uses, first of the
brown, and secondly of the reddish variety.

This Canusine lacerna, it is true,
Looks muddy : but it will not change its hue*.
Rome in the brown delights, gay Gaul in red :
Tills pleases boys, and whose is blood to shed.

On referring to the passages produced from Pliny, Columella,
and Martial, it will be seen that the Romans ascribed a very
high value to the white wool of Gallia Cisalpina, i. e. of North
Italy, or the region about the Po. Parma was considered sec-
ond only to Apulia for the whiteness of its wool. Besides the
two epigrams of Martial akeady cited, he refers to Parma as a
great place for sheep-breeding in the following passage, address-
ed to the wealthy Callistratus ;

And Gallic Parma shears thy num'rous flocks.
L. V. ep. 13.

Columella speaks moreover {I. c.) of the superiority of the
wool of Mutina, now Modena; and Martial (/. v. ep. 105.)
mentions the circumstance of a. fuller, or clothier, in that city
having exhibited a show to the public, which is a presumptive
evidence that he had a great business in manufacturing the
produce of the surrounding country.

Strabo in his account of the productions of Cisalpine Gaul
divides the wool into three kinds ; First, the soft kind, of which
the finest varieties were grown about Mutina and the river

* It appears from this epigram that, when shaken, it had the color of the brown
wool of Canusium, a kind of drab. The lacenia was a mantle, which the Ro-
mans wore out of doors over their white toga, with which it was well contrasted,
whether it was purple, scarlet, or brown ; but the last color, though less showy at
first, must have had the advantage of durability. See Appendix A.

35

274 SHEEP BREEDING AND

Scutana, which is the modern Sciiltenna, a tributary of the
Po, rising in the Apennines ; Secondly, the coarse kind, grown
in Liguria and the country of the Insubres, which was very
much used for the common wearing apparel of the Italians ;
and Thirdly, the middle kind, grown about Patavium (now
Padua) and employed for making valuable carpets and various
descriptions of blankets*. By comparing the statements of
this author with those of Columella and Martial it will appear,
that the whole region watered by the parallel rivers Parma,
Gabellus, and Scultenna, and known by the name of Macri
Ca??ipi, or the Barren Plains, was esteemed for the production
of the fine white wool.

That the tending of both sheep and goats was a principal
occupation of the people of Mantua w^e learn from Virgil, a
native of that city, who places the scene of most of his pasto-
rals in its vicinity. His First and Ninth Eclogues more particu-
larly relate to the calamities, which the Mantuans were com-
pelled to sustain, w^hen Augustus seized on their lands to re-
ward his veteran soldiers after the battle of Philippi. These
eclogues mention flocks both of sheep and goats, and show that
those who had the care of them cultivated music and poetry
after the manner of the SiciUans. The commencement of the
Seventh Eclogue is especially instructive, because it gives us
reason to believe, that while many of the Arcadians left their
country in consequence of that excess of population, to wdiich
mountainous regions are subject, in order to become foreign
mercenaries, others, on the contrary, entered into foreign service
as sliepherds and goatherds, and in this condition not only
made themselves useful by their experience, skill, and fidelity,
but also introduced at the same time their native music to-
gether with that refinement of manners and feelings which it
promoted. The poet thus describes two such individuals, who
had been employed in tending flocks upon the banks of the
Mincius (Z. 12, 13), and who were either born in Arcadia, or
were at least of Arcadian origin.

Two blooming swains had joiuM their flocks in one,
Thyrsis his sheep, and tuneful Corydon

* Strabo, L. v. c. 1. § 12. p. 119. ed. Siebenkees.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANXIENTS. 275

His goats, which bore their treasur'd milk along ;
Arcadians both, both skill'd in amoebean song.

At a considerable distance to the North-East of Mantua lay
Altinum, which is mentioned by Columella*, Teitullian, and
Martial, £is one of the principal places for the produce of white
wool. Martial says, that it ranked in this res^pect next to Par-
mat, and we must understand him as referring to the same
region in Book viii. Epig. 28, where he asks, " Did thy wool
count the many streams of the Timavus, which Cyllarus pre-
viously drank with his starry mouth ?" The Timavus was
indeed a considerable way still further towards the North-East,
and must have been very insignificant in connection with the
sheep-breeding of the Altinates. The poet introduces it here
only on account of its picturesque and mythological interest,
just as we have seen that the Galesus, a small, though clear and
very beautiful stream, is repeatedly named in order to designate
the pastoral region about Tarentum. It may also be observed,
that in this epigram, where Martial alludes to three of the prin-
cipal places for the growth of white wool, he indicates each of
them by its river, the three rivers being the Galesus, the Beetis,
and the Timavus ; and he probably did so on account of the sup-
posed effect of the waters of these rivers in improving the wool.

We can make no question, after what we have seen of the
universal practice of both ancient and modern times, that the
sheep, which in the winter were pastured in the plains and
lower grounds about Altinum, were taken to pass the summer
in the vallies of the Carinthian ^Vlps about the sources of the
Brenta, the Piave, and the TagUamento. We njay also trace
the wool, after it was manufactured, in its progress towards
Rome, where was the chief demand for garments of this de-
scription. For Strabo says, that Patavium {Padua), which
was situated at no great distance from Altinum on the way to
Rome, was a great and flourishing mart for all kinds of mer-
chandize intended to be sent thither, and especially for every
kind of clotht. It appears, therefore, that the wool-growers

* L. vii. cap. 2. t L. xiv. Ep. 155.

t L. V. cap. 1. § 6, 7. Strabo alludes to the pastoral occupations of the territory
about Altinum and the Timavus.

27G SHEEP BREEDING AND

and clothiers of the country to the North-East of Padua, the
modern Trevisano, employed that city as an entrepot where
they disposed of their goods to the Roman dealers. At the
same tmie we learn, that tliis place served as a market for car-
pets and blankets made of a stronger and more substantial
material, which, according to the same authority*, was produced
in its more immediate vicinity.

In the North- Western portion of Cisalpine Gaul the wool
was generally coarse, and according to Strabo (/. c.) the gar-
ments made of it were used by the Italians for the ordinary
clothing of their domestic establishments. Nevertheless, black
wool of superior value was grown at Polentia, now Polenza, on
the §tura, which is a tributary of the Pot. The following two
Epigrams of Martial (/. xiv. 157 and 158.) allude to the use of
the dark wool of Polentia for mourning and for the dress of in-
ferior domestic sen^ants.

Polentine Wools.
1. Not wools alone, that wear the face of woe ;

Her goblets once did proud Polentia show.
2. Our sable hue to croplings may belong,
That tend the table, not of primal throng.

Elphinstons Translation.

The country people about Modena and in other parts of the
Northern Apennines still wear tindyed woollen cloth of a gray
color. Muratori quotes from the statutes of the city of Modena,
A. D. 1327, a law to prevent the makers of such cloth from
tnixiug with their gray loool the hair of oxen, asses, or other
animals*.

Before quitting Italy we may properly inquire, whence and
how came the practice of sheep-breeding into Great Britain.
It has already been observed that the very improved state of
the art at Tarentum may be in part ascribed to the intercourse

* Strabo.

t Pliny, L. viii. Columella, vii. 2. To these testimonies may be added Silius
Italicus de Bello Punico, 1. viii. 597.

t Dissertazioni sopra le Antichiti Italiane, Diss. .30. tomo ii. 48, 49, 4to edition.
This author in hLs 2lst Dissertation endeavors to assign reasons for the decline
of the modern Italians in the growth and manufacture of wool.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANXIENTS. 277

of its inhabitants with the Milesians. The reader will have
noticed the fact that the worship of Pan was introduced into
Italy from Arcadia by Evander, from which circumstance it
may be reasonably inferred, that improvements in the manage-
ment of sheep were also introduced at the same time. Accord-
ing to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Evander with his compan-
ions was said by the Romans to have migrated to Latium about
sixty years before the Trojan war*. The same historian al-
leges that this colony taught in Italy the use of letters, of in-
strumental music and other arts, established laws, and brought
some degree of refinement instead of the former savage mode
of life. The stor)' of the birth of Romulus and Remus sup-
poses sheep-breeding to have been practiced at the period of that
event, and in a state of society similar to that which we have
found prevailing further eastward ; for it is stated, that Faus-
tulus, who discovered them, kept the king's flocks. He was
" magister regii pecorist."

According to Pausanias [l. viii. c. 3. § 2.) the first Greek col-
ony, which went into Italy, was from Arcadia, being conducted
thither by CEnotrus, an Arcadian prince+. This was several
centuries before the expedition under Evander, and the part of
Italy thus colonized was the southern extremity, afterwards oc-
cupied by the Bruttii§. If with Niebuhr we regard this tradi-
tion only in the light of a genealogical table, designed to indicate
the affinities of tribes and nations, still the simple fact of the
colonization of South Italy by Arcadians certainly authorizes
the conjecture, that Arcadia was one of the stepping-stones, by
which the art of sheep-breeding was transported from Asia into
Europe.

* Hist. Rom. 1. i. p. 20, 21. ed. R. Stephani, Par. 1546. folio.

As it has been a frequent error with nations to push back their annals into a
higher antiquity than was consistent with fact, this may liave been tlie case in
the present instance. For it is to be observed, that according to Herodotus the
worship of Pan did not arise in Arcadia until after the time when according to
this latter statement it was introduced from Arcadia into Latium.

i Livii 1. i. c. 4.

\ As further evidence for tliis tradition see Pherecydis Fragmenta, a Sturtz, p.
190. Virg. .,En. i. 5S2, and iii. 165. Compare Ileyne, Exciu^us vi. ad JEn. 1. iii.

§ Heyne, Excursus xxi. ad Ma. 1. i. Niebuhr, Rom. Geschichte, i. p. 57.-

278

SHEEP BREEDING AND

The reader will have perceived from the observations already
made on the worship of Faunus in Italy, that the Roman Fau-
nus was the same with the Arcadian Pan. It seems no suffi-
cient objection to this hypothesis, that a few Roman authors
have supposed Faunus to be either the son of Mars*, or of Picus
and the grandson of Saturn, thus connecting him with their
native mythology, or that his oracle was held by them in high
reputet. It is here sufficient to remark, that we find him ex-
tensively recognized in Italy as a pastoral divinity.

Stretch'd on the springing grass, the shepherd swaiu

His reedy pipe with rural music fills ;
The god, who guards his flock, approves the strain,

The god, who loves Arcadia's gloomy hills.

Horat. Carm. iv. 12. 9-12. — Francis's Translation.

The above stanza occurs in a description of the beauties of
spring, and the poet no doubt alludes to the pastoral habits of
his Sabine neighbors.

From ancient monuments as well as from the language of
the poets we find, that the worship of other divinities was asso-
ciated with that of Faunus in reference to the success of all
agricultural pursuits including that of sheep-breeding. Bois-
sard, in the Fourth Part of his Antiquitates Romanae, has pub-
lished somewhat rude engravings of the bas-reliefs upon two
altars, one of them (No. 130) dedicated to Hope, the other (No.
134) to Silvamis. The altar to Hope was erected, as the in-
scription expresses, in a garden at Rome by M. Aur. Pacorus,
keeper of the temple of Venus. He says, that he had been ad-
monished to this deed of piety by a dream ; and, if the repre-
sentation in the bas-relief was the image thus presented to liis
mind, his dream was certainly a very pleasant one. Hope,
wearing on her head a wreath of flowers, places her right hand
upon a piUar and holds in her left popp)'-heads and ears of corn.
Beside her is a bee-hive on the ground, and on it there is also
fixed a bunch of poppy-heads and ears of corn. Above these
emblems of the fruitfulness of the field and of the garden is the
figure of a bale of wool.

* Appian apud Photium.

t Virgil, Mn. vii. 48, 81-105, and HejTie, Eecursus v. ad loc.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 279

The altar to Silvanus exhibits that divinity crowned with
the cones and foHage of the pine. A pine grows moreover be-
side his terminal statue, bearing the large cones, which were
used for food at entertainments and carried in bacchanalian
processions. Faunus, or Pan, sits at the foot of the pine, the
syrinx and the double pipe being placed at his feet. In his
right hand he holds an olive branch, while a young winged
genius advances towards him as if to receive it, and another
genius of the same kind appears to be caressing him and whis-
pering into his ear. On the other side of the terminal statue
of Silvanus we see the caduceus of Mercury and the bale of
wool, manifest indications of success in the wool trade. In this
sculpture the bale is surrounded with cords, which are twisted
round one another where they cross. In the former instance
the compression of the wool appears to be effected by the use
of thongs instead of cords*. There is also introduced the figure
of a shepherd of the same country. This statue was found in
the vicinity of Rome and is now preserved in the Vatican!.
The extremities are in part restorations. A cameo in the Flor-
entine Museumt represents the shepherd Faustulus sitting
upon a rock, and contemplating the she-wolf, which is suckling
Romulus and Remus. It is of the Augustan age, and no doubt
exhibits the costume and general appearance of a Roman shep-
herd of that period. He wears a tunica cucuUata, i. e. a tunic
of coarse woollen cloth with a cowl, which was designed to be
drawn occasionally over the head and to protect it from the in-
juries of the weather. This garment has also sleeves, which
Columella mentions [tunica manicata) as an additional com-
fort. On his feet the shepherd wears high shoes, or boots,
which, as we may suppose, were made of leather.

The appearance of the shepherds, who are represented in
these ancient works of art, is, doubtless, adapted to produce the

* The bas-relief on the first altar is copied from Boissard by Montfaucon, Ant.
Expliqu^e, tome i. p. 332. and that on the second, tome ii. p. 275. The latter is
also represented by the Rev. Henry Moses, Collection of Antique Vases, &,c.
Plate 52.

t Museo Pio-Clementino, tomo iii. tav. 34 and p. 44.

% Museum Florentinum. Gemmte Antiquae a Gorio illustratae, tav. ii. No. 10.

280 SHEEP BREEDING AND

impression, that their condition, even if it were that of slaves,
was nevertheless one of comfort and respectabihty. Neither
their garb, nor their attitude, suggests the idea of anything
base or miserable. On the contrary, the countenance of each
indicates trust- worthiness, steadiness, and care. That many
of the agricultural laborers of ancient Italy had this character
may be inferred also from wTitten testimonies.

In reference to this subject, and with a view to illustrate at
the same time the habits and employments of the ancient
farmer among the Sabine or Apidian mountains, we will here
quote some parts of Horace's Second Epode, in which he de-
scribes the pleasures of a country life.

Like the first mortals blest is he,
From debts, and usury, and bus'ness free,
With his own team who ploughs the soil,
Which grateful once confess'd his father's toil.

The sounds of war nor break his sleep,

Nor the rough storm, that harrows up the deep ;

lie shuns the courtier's hauglity doors.

And the loud science of the bar abjures.

Either to poplars tall he joins
The marriageable offspring of his vines ;
Or lops the useless boughs away.
Inserting happier as the old decay :

Or in a lonely vale surveys

His lowing herds, safe-wand'ring as tliey graze ;

Or stores in jars his liquid gold

Prest from the hive, or shears his tender fold.

* # * *

And, if a chaste and prudent wife
Perform her part in the sweet cares of life,
Of sun-burnt charms, but honest fame,
Such as the Sabine or Apulian dame ;

If, when fatigued he homeward turns.

The sacred fire, built up with faggots, burns ;

Or if in hurdles she inclose

The joyful flock, whence ample produce flows ;

Though imbought dainties she prepare,
And this year's wines attend the homely fare ;
No fish would I from foreign shore
Desire, nor relish Lucrino oysters more.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 281

Olives, fresli gather'd from the tree ;
Mallows, the frame from heaviness to free*;
A kid snatch'd from the wolf, a lamb
To Terminus with due devotion slain ;

Such is the meal, his labor o'er ;

No bird from distant climes I'd relish more.

Meanwhile how pleasant to behold

His sheep well fed, and hasting to their fold ;

To see his wearied oxen bow

Their languid necks, and drag th' inverted plouo^h ;

And then his num'rous slaves to view

Round his domestic gods their mirth pursue.

* See chap. xii. p. 191.

36

CHAPTER III.

SHEEP BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE AN-
CIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, &c.

Sheep-breeding in Germany and Gaul — In Britain — Improved by the Belgians
and Saxons — Sheep-breeding in Spain — Natural dyes of Spanish wool — Golden

• hue and other natural dyes of the wool of Boetica — Native colors of Baetic
wool — Saga and chequered plaids — Sheep always bred principally for the
weaver, not for the butcher — Sheep supplied milk for food, wool for clothing —
The moth.

According to Tacitus*, the ancient Germans had abundance
of cattle, although we have no reason to suppose that they had
acquired any of that skill in sheep-breeding, by which their
successors in Silesia and Saxony are now distinguished. On
the contrary, we are informed by the same author that the
only woollen garment, which they commonly wore, was the
Sagum, a term implying the coarseness of the materialt.

We find almost as httle in any ancient author in favor of the
wool of Gallia Transalpina, the modern France. Pliny men-
tions a coarse kind, more like hair than wool, which was pro-
duced in the neighborhood of Pezenas in Provencet. Martial's
account of the Endromis Sequanica, coarse, but useful to keep
off the cold and wet, bears upon the same point ;

The frousy foster of a female hand ;
Of name Laconian, from a barb'rous land ;
Though rude, yet welcome to December's snow,
To thee we bid the homely stranger go :

*****

That into glowing limbs no cold may glide,
That baleful Iris never drench thy pride :

* Terra pecorum fecunda, sed plerumque improcera. — Germania, v. 2.

+ Nudi, aut sagnlo leves.— Germania, vi. 3. Tegumen omnibus sagum. xvii. 1

X See Appendix A.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 283

This fence shall hid thcc scorn tlie winds and showers ;
The Tyrian lawn pretends no equal powers.

ElpJiiustoii's Translation.

In the following epigram of Martial (vi. 11.), addressed to his
friend Marcus, we observe a similar opposition between the fine
and fashionable cloth of Tyre, and the thick coarse " sagum"
produced in Gaul.

Proud Tyrian thine, gross Gaulish mine array :
In purple thee can e'er I love in gray ?

Juvenal gives exactly the same account of the woollen man-
ufactures of Gaul. In the following passage the needy depend-
ant of a rich man is speaking of tlie lacernas from that coun-
try, which were sometimes presented to hhn by his patron.

Some coarse brown cloaks perhaps I chance to get,
Of Gallic fabric, as a fence from wet.

Satir. ix. v. 30. — Owen's Translation.

To the same effect are several passages in the Epistles of
Sidonius Apollinaris, who was Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne
in the fifth century. He mentions, for example, that the at-
tendants on Prince Sigismer at his marriage wore green iSaga
with red borders, and he describes a friend of his own as wear-
ing the Endromis*. Also in an account of his own villa he _
speaks of the pipe with seven holes, as the instrument of the
shepherds and herdsmen, who used to entertain themselves du-
ring the night with musical contests, while their cattle were
grazing with bells upon their necks.

All these passages are confirmed and illustrated by the testi-
mony of Strabo. According to him Gaul produced cattle of all
kindst. The Belgae, who occupied the most northern part, op-
posite to Britain, excelled (he rest of the Gauls in their manu-
factures. Nevertheless their wool was coarse, and was spun
and woven by them into the thick Saga, which were both worn
by the natives of the country and exported in great quantities
to Rome and other parts of Italy. The Roman settlers, indeed,

* Viridantia saga limbis marginata puniceis. L. iv. Ep. 20. Tu endromida-
tus exterius. L. iv. Ep. 2.

t L. iv. cap. i. § 2. p. 6. ed. Siebenkees.

284 SHEEP BREEDING AND

in the most northern parts had flocks of covered sheep, and their
wool was consequently very fine*.

Here also maybe produced the evidence of Eumenius, who in
his Oration, which will be quoted more fully hereafter, intimates
the abundance of the sheep on the western banks of the Rhine
by saying, that the flocks of the Romans were washed in every
part of the streamt-

Caesar informs us, that the ancient inhabitants of Britain had
abundance of cattle {pecoris magniis niimerus) ; under the
word (pecus) "cattle," sheep must no doubt be understood to
be included. It also appears, that in his time the Celts, or
proper Britons, hved to the North of the Thames, the Belgians
having expelled them and taken possession of the part to the
South, called Cantiiim or Kent. These last were by far the
most civilized inhabitants of the island, not much differing in
their customs from tlie Gauls. With respect to the others,
Caesar says, that for the most part they did not sow any kind
of grain, but lived upon milk and flesh, and clothed themselves
with skinst.

It appears therefore, that before our aera, sheep, and probably
goats, were bred extensively in England, their mUk and flesh
being used for food, and their skins with the wool or hair upon
them for clothing ; and that the people of Kent, who were of
Belgic origin, and more refined than the original Britons, had
attained to the arts of spinning and weaving, although their
productions were only of the coarsest description.

Eumenius, the Rhetorician, who was a native of Augustodu-
num, now called Autun, delivered his Panegyric in praise of
the Emperors Constantius and Constantino in the city of
Treves about A. D. 310. In the following passage he con-
gratulates Britain on its various productions, and also on the

* L. iv. cap. iv. § 3. pp. 56-59. ed. Siebenkees.

t Arat illam tcrribilem aliqiiando ripam iiiermis agricola, et toto nostri greges
flumine bicorni morsantur. p. 152.

X Ex his omnibus longfe sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt ; qum regio
est maritinia omnis ; neque multum a Gallicil differunt consuetudine. Interiores
plerique frumenta non serunt ; sed lacte et came vivunt, pellibusqe sunt vestiti.
De Bello Gallico, 1. v. cap. 10.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 285

circumstance, that Constantine had been recently declared Em-
«!• pcror at York on the death of his father :

O fortimate Britain, now the happiest country upon earth ; for thou hast been
the first to see Constantine made Emperor. It was fit that on thee Nature should
bestow every blessing of climate and of soil. Suffering neither from the excessive
severity of winter, nor the heat of sunmier, tliy harvests are so fruitful as to sup-
ply all the gifts both of Ceres and of Bacchus ; thy woods contain no savage
beasts, thy land no noxious serpents, but an iimmnerablo miUtitude of tame cattle,
distended with milk, and loaded with fleeces*.

The improvements in sheep-breeding which were first intro-
duced into England by the Belgians, appear to have been ad-
vanced still further by the Saxons.

The only country, which now remains to be sur^'eyed in re-
lation to the production of sheep's wool, is Spain ; and, as this
kingdom retains its pre-eminence at the present dayt, so we
find none, in which sheep-breeding was carried to a greater ex-
tent in ancient times.

Of all the countries in Europe, says Mr. Low, Spain has
been the longest distinguished for the excellence of its wool.
This fine country, more varied in its surface and natural pro-
ductions than any other region of the like extent in Europe,
produces a great variety of breeds of sheep, from the larger ani-
mals of the richer plains, to the smaller races of the higher moun-
tains and arid country. Besides the difference produced in the
sheep of Spain by varieties of climate and natural productions ;
the diversity of character in the animals may be supposed to
have been increased by the different races introduced into it : —
first, from Asia, by the early Phoenician colonies ; secondly,
from Africa by the Carthaginians, during their brief possession ;
thirdl}', from Italy by the Romans, during then dominion of
six hundred years ; and fourthly, again from Africa, by tho
Moors, who maintained a footing in the country for nearly eighl
centuries. The large sheep of the plains have long wool, often

» Panegyric! Veteres, ed. Cellarii, Hate Magd. 1703. pp. 147, 148.

+ For accounts of the state of sheep-breeding in modem Spain, including tho
annual migration of the flocks, which is conducted there as in Italy, the reader
is referred to " Travels through Portugal and Spain in 1772, 1773, by R. Twiss,'*
pp. 72-82 ; and to De la Borde's View of Spain, vol. iv. pp 45-61, English
Translation. London, 1809.

286 SHEEP BREEDING AND

colored brown or black. The sheep of the mountains, downs,
and arid plains have short wool, of different degrees of fineness,-
and different colors. The most important of these latter breeds
is the merino, now the most esteemed and widely diffused of all
the fme-wooled breeds of Europe.

Pliny not only refers in general terms to the various natural
colors of the Spanish wool, but mentions more particularly the
red wool produced in the district adjoining the river Baitis, or
Guadalquiver*.

Among the natural colors of the Baltic avooI, Columella, a
native of Cadiz, (vii. 2.) mentions, as has been already stated,
gray and hrown. The latter is what we call drab, and the
Spaniards yV^5Co. It is now commonly worn by the shepherds
and peasants of Spain, the wool being made into clothes with-
out dyeing.

Nonius MarceUus {cap. 16. n. 13), explaining the word pul-
lus, whicli was called a native color, because it w^as the natural
color of the fleece, also show^s, that this was a common quality
of the Spanish wool. Another testimony is that of Tertullian.

The sheep of Tarentum w^ere imported into this part of
Spain, and there also their fleeces were protected by clothing.
Columella (L. vii. 2.) gives a very interesting account of the
experiments made by his uncle, a great agriculturalist of Ba^tica,
in crossing his Tarentine breed with some wild rams of an ex-
traordinary color, which had been brought from Africa to Cadiz.
(See latter part of next chapter.)

We have a further evidence of the pains taken to improve
the Spanish breed in the circumstance, that Italian shepherds
passed into Spain, just as we have formerly seen, that they mi-
gi-ated into Italy from Arcadia. In the following lines of Cal-
purnius (Eel. iv. 37-49.), Corydon, a young shepherd, tells his
friend and patron, Meliba;us, that he should have been trans-
ported into Baitica, had not the times improved, and his mas-
ter's favor enabled him to remain in Italy.

Through thee I rest secure beneath the sliade,
Such plenty hath thy generous bounty made,

* See Appendix A.

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 287

But for thy favor, Meliboeus, sent

Where Bcetis' waves the w^estern plains indent,

Plains at the earth's extremest verge, expos'd

To the fierce Moors, which Geryon once inclos'd.

There had I now been doom'd to tend for hire

Iberian flocks, or else of want expire :

In vain I might liave tun'd my seven-fold reed :

Mid thickets vast no soul my strains would heed :

Not even Pan on that far-distant shore

Would lend his vacant ear, or bo my solace more.

Juvenal in his Twelfth Satire {I. 37-42.) describes a mer-
chant overtaken by a dreadful storm, and to save the ship
throwing his most valuable goods into the sea. It will be ob-
served, that the poet attributes the excellence and fine natural
color of the woollen cloth of Ba^tica to three causes, the rich
herbage, the occult properties of the water, and those of the air.

" Over with mine," he cries ; " be nothing spar'd ;"
To part with all his richest goods prepar'd ;
His vests of Tyrian purple, fit to please
The softest of the silken sons of ease.
And other robes, which took a native stain
From air and water on the Boetic plain.

Owen''s Translation.

Strabo (iii. 144. p. 385. ed. Sieb.) gives the following account
of the wool of Turdetania.

IloXXi) il xaX ca9!]i KpSrepov i'lp^ero' fCi/ Ic. xal tpta ^aX\ov riSv Ktij5a|ajr, Kal vTTcpffoXfj
Tif fffri Tov KaWovi' ra\avTiaiovi yovv wvuvvrat rovi npiovs di ris o^eiai, irrtp/JoXi) 6i koI
TtSv X«?rraiv ti^ao'^druJ', aircp o'l HaXTirJTai KaraaKCVa^ovaty.

" Much cloth used formerly to come from this countrj". Now also fleeces com©
from it more than from the Coraxi ; and they are exceedingly beautiful, so that
rams for breeding are sold for a talent each. Also the fine webs are very famous,
which Jire made by the Saltiatce." — Yatcs^s Translation.

The reader will please to remark, that this is the passage of
Strabo, formerly referred to as containing evidence respecting
the Coraxi.

Martial, a Spaniard by birth, frequently alludes to the sheep
of Beetica and especially to the various natural colors of their
wool, which were so much admired, that it was manufactured
without dyeing. Two of his epigrams (iv. 28. and viii. 28.)

288

SHEEP BREEDING AND

have been already quoted, as they refer also to the sheep of
Tarentum : to these the seven following may be added.

In the Tartessian lands a house appears,
Where Cordova o'er placid BsBtis rears
Her wealthy domes ; and where the fleeces show
Metallic tints, like hving gold that glow.

ix. 62.
Corduba, more joyous far

Than Venafrum's unctuous boast ;
Nor inferior to the jar,

That renowns glad Istria's coast :
Who sunnount'st the fleecy breed.
That the bright Galesus laves ;
Nor bidd'st lying purple bleed
O'er the hue, that nature craves.

xii. 63. — Elphinston^s Translation.
Baetis, with wreaths of unctuous olive crown'd,
For Bacchus' and for Pallas' gifts renown'd ;
Whose waters clear a golden hue impart
To fleeces, that require no further art ;
Such wealth the Ruler of the waves conveys
In ships, that mark with foam thy liquid ways.

xii. 99.

Lacemas from Bsetica.
My wool disdains a lye, or caldron hue.
Poor Tj're may take it : me my sheep imbue.

xiv. 133. — Elphinston's Translation

Charmhig Ero's golden lock
Beat the fleece of Bajtic flock.

v. 37. See § 21.— lb.
Bsetic fleeces, many a pound.

xii. 65. 1. 5.
Let him commend the sober native hues ;
Of Beetle drab, or gray, lacemas choose,
Who thinks no man in scarlet should appear.
And only women pink or purple wear.

i. 97.

The numerous passages, which have now been produced
relative to the native colors of the Spanish wool, explain the
following Une of Virgil, in which he describes the clothing of a
warrior ;

With broider'd chlamys bright, and Spanish rust.

iEn. ix 582

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE A^'CIENTS. 289

The poet probably intended to describe an outer garment, a
[chlaniys, made of undyed Spanish wool of a clear brown or
yellowish color, resembling that of rust ; and afterwards en-
riched with embroidery.

Ramirez de Prado, the Spanish commentator on Martial
(4^0. Paris, 1607.), says, that two native colors were connnon
in Spain in his time, the one a golden yellow, the other more
brown or ferruginous.

In the North of Spain the Celtiberi wore saga made of a
coarse wool like goats'-hair {Diod. Sic. v. 33. torn. i. j). 35G.
WcsseUng.), and woven double according to Appian*.

At Salacia in Lusitania, according to Pliny, a chequered pat-
tern was employed in the manufacture of the coarse wool. This
was in all probability the same as the shepherd's plaid of the
Scotch, the weaver taking advantage of the natuial difference
of the white and black wool to produce this variety of appear-
ance. (See Appendix A.)

Estremadura, a part of the ancient Baetica, is still famous for
its wool. There the Spanish flocks hybernate, and under the
direction of a peculiar code of laws, called La Mesta, are con-
ducted every spring to pasture in the mountains of Leon and
Asturias. Other flocks are led in the same season from great
distances to the heights of the Sierra Morena, lying to the east
of the ancient Baetica, where the vegetation is remarkably fa-
vorable to the improvement of their wool.

As bearing directly upon the present inquiry it may be ob-
served, that sheep have always been bred principally for the
weaver, not for the butcher, and that this has been more espe-
cially the case in ancient times and in eastern countries.

If we may judge from the following epigram of Martial, the
Romans regarded with feelings little short of aversion the act
of killing a sheep for food except on solenni or extraordinary
occasions.

The Ram's head.
Hast pierc'd the neck of the Phrj-xean lord,
Who oft )iad shelter'd thine ? O deed abhorr'd !

xii. 211. — Elphinston's Translation.

* Appiani Hist. Rom. 1. vi. de Rebus Hispan., vol. i. p. 15L ed. ScliweighiLuser.

37

290 SHEEP BREEDING AND

The customs of the shepherd tribes in the East are in this
respect remarkably Hke those of the ancients.

" The Arabs rarely diminish their flocks by using them for
food, but live chiefly upon bread, dates, milk, butter, or what
they receive in exchange for their wool. They however sell
their sheep to the people in the towns. A lamb or kid roasted
whole is a fav orite dish at Aleppo, but seldom eaten except by
the rich*." When the Arabs have a sheep-shearing, they per-
haps kill a lamb, and treat their relations and friends with it
together with new cheese and milk, but nothing more. Among
the Mohammedans sheep are sacrificed on certain days as a
festive and at the same time a religious ceremony ; these cere-
monies are of great antiquity and derived from Ai'ab heathen-
ism. On the pilgrimage to Mecca every one is required to sac-
rifice a sheep at a certain place near Meccat.

By the Law of Moses the sheep w^as a clean animal, and
might consequently be eaten or sacrificed. A lamb or kid,
roasted whole, was the principal and characteristic dish at the
feast of the passover. The rich man kills a lamb to entertain
his guest in the beautiful parable of Nathan. (2 Satii. xii. 4.)
Sheep were killed on the festive occasion of shearing the very
numerous flocks of Nabal. (1 Sam. xxv. 2. 11. 18.) An ox
and six choice sheep were sacrificed daily for the numerous
guests of Nehemiah, while he was building the w^all of Jeru-
salem. {Neh. V. 17, 18.) Immense numbers of sheep and oxen
were sacrificed at the dedication of Solomon's temple. (1 Kings,
viii. 5. 63.) The prophet Ezekiel (xxxiv. 3.) describes the bad
shepherd as selfishly eating the flesh and clothing himself Anth
the wool of the sheep, without tending them with due care and
labor.

In the Suovetaurilia among the Romans a hog, a sheep, and
a bull, their principal domestic animals, were sacrificed. A
sheep was killed every day for the guards, who w^atched the
tomb of C}Tus. {Arrian^ vol. i. j)- ^38, Blancardi.) In the

* Harmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 393. ed. Clarke,
t Hanner, p. 39.

Pallas (Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasc. xi. p. 79.) speaks of the beautiful Iamb-skins
from Bucharia, as being admired for their curled gray wool.

>

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 291

Odyssey {p. 180-182.) a sacrifice is made and a feast prepared
of sheep, goats, hogs, and a cow. Also in Od. v. 3. 250. sheep
are sacrificed and furnish part of a feast. In order to ratify a
treaty between the Greeks and Trojans, the former sacrificed a
lamb of the male sex to Jupiter ; the latter one of the male
sex and white to the Sun, and another of the female sex and
black to the Earth. (II. y. 103, 104.) Sheep are sacrificed to
Apollo at Delphi in Euripides, Ion, I. 230. 380. The rare in-
stances of the use of sheep for food or sacrifice by the Egyptians
have been already noticed.

But, although sheep, both old and young, male and female,
were sacrificed to the objects of rehgious worship and on other
festive occasions were eaten, especially by the rich and great,
yet their chief use was to supply clothing, and the nourishment
they yielded consisted in their milk and the cheese made from
it, rather than in their flesh.

This fact is illustrated by the words of Solomon, formerly
quoted, and in which he speaks of lambs for clothing and
goat's 7nilk for food. In hke manner St. Paul says (1 Cor. ix.
7.), "Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit
thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of
the flock ?"

Varro thinks, that sheep were employed for the use of man be-
fore any other animal on account of their usefulness and placid-
ity, and he represents their use to consist in supplying cheese and
milk for food, fleeces and skins for clothing*. In Uke manner
Columella in his account of the use of sheep (vii. 2.) says, they af-
forded the chief materials for clothing. In treating of their use
for food, he mentions only their milk and cheese. Pliny refers
to the employment of sheep both for sacrifices and for clothing.
He also remarks, that as the ox is principally useful in obtain-
ing food, to wit, by ploughing and other agricultural processes,
the sheep, on the other hand, supplies materials for clothingt.

The fact, that wool was among the ancients by far the most
common material for making clothes, accounts for the various

* De Re Rustica, 1. ii. cap. i. t See Appendix A.

292 SHEEP BREEDING AND

expressions in scripture respecting the destructiveness of the
moth, y'

" Your garments are moth-eaten." James v. 2. '• He, as a
rotten tiling, consumetii, as a garment tliat is moth-eaten." —
Job xiii. 28. " They all shall wax old as a garment, the moth
shall eat them up." — Is. 1. 9. " The moth shall eat them up
like a garment, and the worms shall cat them hke wool." Is.
h. 8. " From garments cometh a moth." Eccles. xlii. 13.
" Treasures, where moth and rust corrupt." Matt. vi. 19.

But it is to be observed, that the sacred writers mention not
the moth, but the minute worm, which changes into a moth,
and which alone gnaws the garments. In the passages which
have been quoted, the word " moth" must be understood to sig-
nify the larva* of the clothes-moth [PhalcBna Vestianella,
Linn.), or of some insect of the same kind.

* When an insect first issues from the egg, it is called by naturalists larva.

«

CHAPTER lY.

GOATS-HAIR.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIP-
TURES, ETC.

Slicep-brecding and Goats in China — Probable origin of sheep and goats — Sheep
and goats coeval with man, and always propagated together — Habits of Gre-
cian goat-herds — He-goat employed to lead the flock — Cameo representing a
goat-herd — Goats chiefly valued for their milk — Use of goats'-hair for coarse
clothing — Shearing of goats in Phrygia, Cilicia, &c. — Vestes caprina, cloth of
goats'-hair — Use of goats'-hair for military and naval purposes — Curtains to
cover tents — Etymology of Sack and Shag — Symbolical uses of sack-cloth —
The Arabs weave goats'-hair — Modern uses of goats'-hair and goats'-wool —
Introduction of the Angora or Cashmere goat into France — Success of the
project.

The inquiry into the origin and propagation of the Goat, no
less than that of the sheep, may justly be considered a subject
for interesting investigation. Goats were no less highly prized
by the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy than by the
modern. We have seen, that the great value of sheep always
consisted in its fleece. The goat, on the contrary, was more
valued for the excellence and abundance of its milk, and for its
suitableness to higher and more rugged and unproductive land*.

We observe a clear allusion to this distinction between the
principal uses of sheep and of goats in the twenty-seventh
chapter of the book of Proverbst. The management and use

* Virgil, Georg. iii. 305-3i21.

t " Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field ; and thou
ehalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for
the maintenance of thy maidens." Prov. xxvii. 23, 2G, 27.

Bochart has quoted a great variety of ancient testimonies to the value of goats'-
railk in his Hierozoicon, 1. ii. cap. 51. pp. 629, 630. ed. Leusden.

294 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

of goats has from time immemorial formed a striking feature in
the condition of man, and especially of those nations which be- ,
long to the Caucasian, or, as Dr. Prichard more properly de-
nominates it, the Iranian or Indo- Atlantic variety of our race*.
Their habits of sheep-breeding seem no less characteristic than
the form of their countenances, a no less essential part of their
manner of life than any other custom, by which they are dis-
tmguished : and, as all the circumstances, which throw any
light upon the question, conspire to render it probable, that the
above-mentioned variety of the human race first inhabited part
of the high land of central Asia, so it is remarkable, that our
domestic sheep and goats may with the greatest probability be
referred to the same stock with certain wild animals, which
now overspread those regions. The sheep, as has been already
observed in chapter I., is regarded as specifically the same with

* See Prichard's Researches into the Physical Historj' of Mankind, third edi-
tion, vol. i. pp. 247. 257-262. 303, 304. These nations are characterized by the
oval form of the skull. Their distribution over the face of the earth may be seen
in the Map, Plate VII.

The only remarkable exception to this limitation of ancient sheep-breeding, is
the case of the Chinese. It would appear from the following evidence, that they
had both sheep and goats in ancient times.

The Chinese character for a sacrifice is a compound of two characters, one
placed above the other ; the upper one, Yang, is the character for a lamb, the
lower is the character {or fire ; so that a lamb on the fire denotes a sacrifice. See
Morison's Chinese Dictionary, vol. iii. part i.

According to the mythology of the Chinese, which as well as their written
characters is of high antiquity, one of the four rivers, which rise in Mount Kaen-
lun and run towards the four quarters of the globe, is called the Yang-Choui, i. e.
the Lamb-River. Thomas Stephens Davies, Esq. in Dr. Robert Thomson's Brit-
ish Annual for 1837, p. 271. 277.

Yang-Ching, i. e. Sheep-city, was an ancient name of Canton. Morison, p.
55. There is a character for the Goat, which means the Yanir of the mountains,
Yang being a general term like the Hebrew "JN*!, including both sheep and
goats. lb. p. 61, 62.

In the following passage of Rufus Festus Avienus, who flourished about A. D.
400, we have a distinct testimony, that the ancient Seres, the probable ancestors
of the Chinese, employed themselves in the care of sheep at the same time that
they were devoted to the production of silk.

Gregibus permixti oviumque boumque,
Vellera per silvas Seres nemoralia carpunt.

Descriptio Orbis Terne, 1. 935, 936

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 296

the Argali ; and in the opinion of PaUas, which has been very
»A generally adopted by zoologists, the goat is the same with the
iEgagrus, a gregarious quadruped, which occupies the loftiest
parts "of the mountains extending from the Caucasus to the
South of the Caspian Sea, and thence to the North of India*.
Indeed the history of these animals is so interwoven Avith the
liistory of man, that those naturaUsts have not reasoned quite
correctly, who have thought it necessary to refer the first origin
of either of them to any wild stock at all. They assume, that
these quadrupeds first existed in an undomesticated state, that
is, entirely apart from man and independent of him ; that, as
he advanced in civiUzation, as his wants multiplied, and he be-
came more ingenious and active in inventing methods of sup-
plying them, the thought struck him, that he might obtain
from Wse wild beasts the materials of his food and clothing;
and that he therefore caught and confined some of them and
in the course of time rendered them by cultivation more and
more suitable to his purposes.

We have no reason to assume, that man and the two lesser
kinds of horned cattle were originally independent of one an-
other. So far as geology supplies any evidence, it is in favor
of the supposition, that these quadrupeds and man belong to
the same epoch. No properly fossil bones either of the sheep or
goat have yet been found, and we have no reason to believe,
tliat these an'imals were produced until the creation of man.
But, as we must suppose, that man was created perfect and
full-grown, and with those means of subsistence around him,
which his nature and constitution require, there is no reason
why the sheep and the goat may not have been created in such
a stale as to be adapted immediately both for clothing and for
food, or why it should be considered more probable that they
were at first entirely wild. They may have been produced
originally in the same abode, which was occupied by that va-
ne ty of the human race, to whose habits and mode of life the
use of them has always been so essential ; and, if we assume,

» Pallas, Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasciculus xi. pp. 43, 44. See also Bell's His-
tory of British Quadrupeds, London, 1837, p. 433.

296 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

that this abode w£is somewhere in the elevated land of central
Asia, in the region, for example, of Arinenia, we adopt an hy-
pothesis, which explains in the most simple and satisfactory
manner the apparent fact of the propagation not only of men,
but of these quadrupeds with them, from that centre over im-
mense regions of the globe.

With regard to historical evidence, it is certaiidy very defec-
tive. No express testimony assures us of the facts included in
the above-named hypothesis. One thing, however, is certain,
and it appears very deserving of attention, viz. that the sheep
and the goat have always been propagated together. We find
great nations, which had no acquaintance with either of these
quadrupeds, but depended for their subsistence upon either
oxen or horses. We find others, on the contrary, to whose
mode of life the larger quadrupeds were of much less impor-
tance than the smaller ; but we find none, which were accus-
tomed to breed sheep without goats, or goats without sheep.

The reader will find numerous illustrations of this fact on
reviewnng the evidence contained in the preceding chapters.
General terms were employed in the ancient world to include
both sheep and goats*. Where more specific terms are used,
we still find " rams and goats," " ewes and she-goats" mentioned
togetlier. Sheep and goats were offered together in sacrifice,
and the instances are too numerous to mention, in which the
same flock, or the wealth of a single individual, mcluded both
these animals.

In consequence of this prevailing association of sheep and
goats, they are often represented together in ancient bas-reliefs
and other works of art. Of this we have a beautiful example
in the Rev. Robert Walpole's collection of " Travels in various
countries of the East." At the end of the volume is a plate
taken from a votive tablet of Pentelic marble dedicated to Pan,
and representing five goats, two sheep, and a lamb. As the
goats are in one group, and tlie sheep and lamb in another, the
artist probably designed to represent a flock of each. For,

* It should be observed, that the Hebrew word traBslated sheep in Ex. ix. 3.

included Goats.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 297

though sometimes mixed in the same floclc, the two kinds of
animals were generally kept apart ; and to this circumstance
our Savior alludes in his image of the shepherd dividing the
sheep from the goats*.

A sheep and a goat are seen reposing together in a Roman
bas-relief in the Monumenta Mattha^iana, vol. iii. tab. 37. lig. 1.

Rosselini gives two paintings from Egyptian tombs, which ex-
hibit both sheep and goatst ; and he mentions an inscription on
the tomb of Ranni, according to which that person had 120
goats, 300 rams, 1500 hogs, and 122 oxen.

In the account given in chapter II. of the Sicilian Daplmis, an
epigram by Callimaciuis on Astacides, who was a goatherd in
Crete, was partially quoted, probably remarkable for his beauty
and his immature death. The translation of the passage will
now be given.

' A-TTaKiSn" TOf Kpiira, tov ahoXov, "ipiTa(TC Nv/z^j;

'E» opeos' xal viiv lepd; 'A-aTUKiirj;
OiVtt AiKTairiJtv iird ipv(xiv' ovkLti Aaipviv
Uoiiiii/es, 'AcTTaKiSrjv 6' allv dei(76iteOa.
A nyrnph has snatch'd Astacides away ;

Beneath Dictoean oaks our goatherd lies :
Shepherds ! no more your songs to Daplinis pay ;
For now with him the sacred Cretan vies.

Yates's Translation.

Theocritus [Idyll, vii. 12-20.) describes a goatherd of Gydon
in Crete, named Lycidas ; and from the account which he
gives of his attire, we may judge of that commonly used in
ancient Greece by the same description of persons. He wore
on his shoulders the dun-colored hide of a shaggy goat, and an
old shawl was fastened about his breast with a broad girdle.
In his right hand he held a crook of wild olive.

The same author [Idyll, iii. 5.) mentions a fine strong

* " When the Son- of man shall come in his glorj', and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glor>' : and before him shall be gath-
ered all nations : and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on the left."— Matt. xxv. 31-3.3.

t Monumenti dell' Egitto, parte ii. Mon. Civili, tomo i. cap. iii. § 2. tavola xxviii.
zxix.

38

298 AXCIEXT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

he-goat, which was brought from Lybia to Sicily. The de-
sign of its transportation was, no doubt, to improve the breed.
Probably Chromis, the Lybian [Idijll. i. 24.), who resided in
Sicily, had migrated there to undertake the management of
goats and to improve their quahty.

Maximus Tyrius {Diss, xxvii.) seems to suppose, that a
flock of goats could not even exist without the music of the
syrinx. " If you take away," says he, " the goatherd and his
syrinx, you dissolve the flock of goats ; in like manner, if you
take away reason from the society of men, thus deprinng them
of their leader and guide, you destroy the flock, which by na-
ture is tame, but may be injured by a bad superintendence."

The he-goat was employed to lead the flock as the ram was
among sheep. The following passages of scripture allude to
this custom. " Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go
forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats
before the flocks." Jer. 1. 8. " Mine anger was kindled against
the shepherds, and 1 punished the goats." Zech. x. 3. In
Proverbs xxx. 31., according to the Septuagint version, we read
of '• the goat wliich leads the flock." Juhus Pollux (Lib. i. cap.
12. sect. 19.) says, that '• The he-goat leads the goats*."

On a cameo in the Florentine Museum tliere is a represen-
tation of an ancient goatherdt. The goatherd holds the syrinx
in his left hand, and a young kid in his right. A goat stands
beside him, and his dog appears partially concealed within a
kennel fonned in the rock, upon which the goatherd is seated.
The herdsman is represented sitting mider an aged ilex. At
least this supposition accords with the language of Tibullus al-
ready quoted.

A modern authoress, who spent some of the summer months
in the year 1S19 among the mountains east of Rome, notices
o-oats in the following terms as part of the stock of the farmers
in that countr5^

'• "We frequently walked to one of these little farms, to meet
the ffoats coming in at night from the mountain. As the

* See also ^lian, Hist. Anim. vi. 42. and Pausanias, ix. 13. 4.

t Mus. Florentinum. Gemmae antiquce a Gorio illustratse. tab. xc. No. 7.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 299

flock crowded down the broken road leading to the fold, follow-
ed by their grotesque-looking shepherd and his rough dogs, the
pet-kids crowding round their master and answering to his
call, we could not help thinking of the antique manners de-
scribed by the poets, and represented in the pictures of Hercu-
laneum and Pompeii.

" The goats are the most useful domestic animals. Here no
other cheese or milk is tasted. Besides, the ricotta, a kind of
curd, and junkets, are made of goats'-milk, and, with bread
serve many of the country people for food*."

From Athenseust we learn the superior excellence of the goats
of Scyros and Naxos.

Virgil (/. c.), after mentioning the use of goats for food, goes
on to show thek contributions to the weaver.

Cloth'd in their shaven beards and hoary hair.
Fence of the ocean spray and nightly air,
The miserable seaman breasts the main,
And camps uninjur'd press the marshy plam.

Sotheby's Translation.

The last line of this passage of Virgil is quoted by Columella
(L. vii. 6.) in speaking of the utility of the he-goat ;

For he himself is shorn " for the use of camps and to make coverings for
wretched sailors."

Virgil, moreover, has here followed Varro, who writes thus ;

As tlie sheep yields to man wool for clothing, so the goat furnishes hair for the
use of sailors, and to make ropes for military engines, and vessels for artificers.
***** The goats are shorn in a great part of Phrygia, because there
they have long shaggy hair. Cilicia (i. e. hair-cloths), and other things of the
same kind, are commonly imported from that country. The name Cilicia is

* Three Months passed in the Mountains cast of Rome, by Maria Graham
(Lady Calcott), p. 36. 55, 5G.

The same writer says, that " black sheep are rather encouraged here for the
wool," and that " tlie clothing of the friars is of this imdyed wool." p. 55.

t Quoted in Chapter I. p. 236. jElian bears testimony to the same fact, observ-
ing, that the cows of Epirus were said to yield the greatest quantity of milk, and
the goats of Scyros. Hist. Anim. 1. iii. cap. 33.

From Tournefort, Sonnini, and other modem travellers we learn, that both
ScjTos and Naxos are very rocky and mountainous, and that they still produce
goats. See also Dapper, Description des Isles de I'Archipel, p. 256. 350.

300 ANCIEXT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

said to bo derived from tlie circumstance, tliat in Cilicia goats were first shorn
for this purpose. De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. ii. p. 201. ed. Bip.

The language of Varro in this passage indicates, that the fe-
male goat was shorn as well as the male ; and that the excel-
lence of goats'-hair, which was used only for coarse articles,
consisted in its length. Columella mentions the long biistly
hair of the Cilician goats*.

Aristotle says, " In Lycia goats are shorn, as sheep are in
other countries." Hist. Anim. viii. 28. This testimony of
Aristotle agrees with that of his nephew and pupil, Gallisthenes,
who says {ap. jElian. de Nat. Anim. xvi. 30.), " that in Lycia
goats are shorn just as sheep are everywhere else ; for that they
have a very thick coat of excellent hair, hanging from them in
locks or curls ; and that this hair is twisted so as to make ropes,
which are used in navigation instead of cables."

Pliny, in his account of goatst, says, " In Cilicia and about
the Syrtes they are covered with hair, which admits of being
shorn." From this it may be inferred, in conformity with the
testimonies akeady cited from Varro and Virgil, that the long-
est and best goats'-hair was obtained in Cilicia, and on the coast
of Africa opposite to Sicily and JNIalta, the modern Tripoli. It
is remarkable, that Virgil, in order to designate the latter dis-
trict, refers to the romantic river Cinyps, which flowed through
it, observing the same practice, which we have seen to be so
common with the poets in regard to the covmtries noted for the
produce of the most excellent wool. In the interior and more
hilly portion of this district of Africa both sheep and goats are
still reared+.

The geographer A-vdenus asserts that goats'-hair was obtain-
ed for the purpose of being icoveii in the country of the Cynetas
in Spain§. Isidore of Seville, in his enumeration of the differ-
ent kinds of cloth ( Orig. xix. 22.), uses the .following expres-

* Setosum, quale est in Cilicia. De Re Rustica, 1. i. Pnef. p. 20 ed. Bip.

t L. viii. 0. 76. See Appendix A.

X Proceedings of the Expedition to explore the Northern Coast of Africa from
Tripoli Eastward, by Beechey, ch. iv. p. 73. In the same chapter, p. 52. 62-68,
is an account of the Wad' el Khahan, the ancient Cinyps.

k Rufi Festi Avieni Ora Maritima, I 218-221.

ANCIENT HISTORY OP THE GOAT. 301

sions : " Fibrini (vestis est) tramam de fibii lana habens : ca-
prina." Thus the text now stands, evidently defective. The
writer no doubt alluded to a kind of cloth called caprina, be-
cause goats'-hair was used in the manufacture of it. Beckmann
{History of Inventions, Eng. Trans., vol. iv. p. 224.) proposes
to read, " tramam de fibri lana habens, stamen de caprina," i. e.
" having the woof of beaver-wool, the warp of goats'-wool." But
the ancients were unacquainted with the fine wool of certain
goats, and it is highly improbable, that they used goats'-Aatr
in the case referred to, since the " Vestes Fibrin®" were of great
value, as will soon be shown, and not made in any part of coarse
materials.

The cloth of goats'-hair would be suitable for sailors, both on
account of their hardy mode of life, and because it was better
adapted than any other kind to bear exposure to water.

Its use as clothing to express mourning and mortification
wall be noticed presently.

The employment of goats'-hair for military and naval pur-
poses was far more extensive, and is proved by the following
passage from the Geoponica (xviii. 9.) in addition to the former
testimonies.

ilpoiJoSovi Si6(i}aiv OVK 6\!ya;, ra; djro y^^'^"''""! ""■'■ Tvpov Kal (cripKoj)" npd; SI rovTOts
ra; drro riji Tpi')(6i. fj 6i Opl^ dvayxaia Tp6s re a^xpivovi KaX cukkov^, koI ra tovtoi;
jrapaffXiJCTia, koI si's vavrtKus iiTr}pcaias, ovTe KOirroiiSva paSiojij oxire o-ijTro^tva (pvciKcos, iav
ftj) \iav KaroXtyupriBij,

The goat yields no small profit from its milk, cheese, and (flesh). It also yields
a profit from its hair, which is necessarj- for making ropes, sacks, and similar ar-
ticles, and for nautical purposes, since it is not easily cut, and does not rot from
natural causes, unless it bo much neglected. — Yates's Translation.

Cicero {in Verrem, Act i.) mentions Cilicia together with
hides and sacks, and Asconius Pedianus in his Commentary
on the passage {j). 95. ed. Crenii.) gives the following expla-
nation : " Cilicia texta de pilis in castrorum usum atque nauta-
rum." Servius on Virgil, Georg. iii. 313. says, that these Cili-
cia, or cloths of goats'-hair, were used to cover the towers in
sieges, because they could not be set on fire.

The reader is referred to the Poliorcetica of Lipsius, L. iii.
Dial. 3. p. 158. for evidence respecting the use of hair ropes for

302 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

military engines, and to L. v. Dial. ix. for passages from Thu-
cydides, Arrian, Ammianus, Suidas, Vegetius, Curtius, and
others, proving, that the besieged in cities hung Cilicia over
their towers and walls to obviate the force of the various weap-
ons hurled against them, and especially of the arrows, which
carried fire.

From Exodus we learn*, that the Israelites in the wilderness
among their contributions to the Tabernacle gave goats'-hair,
and that it was spun by w^omen. The spun goats'-hair was
probably used in part to make cords for the tent ; but part
of it at least was woven into the large pieces, called in the Sep-
tuagint " curtains of goats'-hair." Such curtains, or Saga, of
spun goats'-hair seem to have been commonly used for the cov-
ering of tentst.

Cloths of the same kind were used for rubbing horsest The
term for goats'-hair cloth in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syraic, is
pn or pm, i. e. Shac, or Sac, translated SAKKOS in the Septua-
gint, and Saccus in the Vulgate version of the Scriptures. The
Latin Sagum, appears to have had the same origin. In Eng-
lish we have Sack and Shag; scarcely differing from the orien-
tal and ancient terms either in sound or sense.

* " And thou shalt make curtains of goats'-liair to be a covering upon the tab-
ernacle : eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be
thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits : and the eleven curtains
shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves,
and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the fore-
front of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of tlie one
curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain
which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put
the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And
the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that re-
maineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one
side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the
curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on thb side and
on that side, to cover it." — Ex. xxvi. 7-13.

t " And he made curtains of goats'-hair for the tent over the tabernacle : eleven
curtains he made them. The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four
cubits was the breadth of one curtain : the eleven curtains were of one size." —
Ex. xxxvi. 14, 15.

X Vegetii Ars Veter. I. i. c. 42.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 303

Cilice, the modern French term for a hair-shirt, is immedi-
ately derived from Cilicium, the origin of which has been ex-
plained*.

This Idnd of cloth, which was black or dark brown, the goats
of Syria and Palestine being chiefly of that color even to the
present day, is alluded to in the sixth chapter of Revelations!,
and in Is. 1. 3. " I clothe the heavens with blackness and make
sack-cloth their covermg." It was w'orn to express mourning
and mortification. In Jonah we have a very remarkable case,
for on this occasion blankets of goats'-hair were put on the
bodies lx)th of men and beasts^ and one was worn even by the
king of Nineveh himselft. When Herod Agrippa was seized
at Csesarea with the mortal distemper mentioned in Acts xii.
(See chap. vi. p. 93.), the common people sat down on hair-
cloth according to the custom of their country, beseeching God
on his behalf — Josephiis, Ant. Jud. I. xix. cap. 8. p. 872.
Hudson. So according to Josephus [Ant. Jud. I. vii. cap. 7.
p. 299.), David fell down upon sack-cloth of the same descrip-
tion and lay on the ground praying for the restoration of his
son.

Hence the use of the hair-shirt by devotees in more recent
times. St. Basil, Bishop of Ceesarea in the fourth century, in
answer to the question, Whether a monk ought to have besides
his night-shirt {p)ost nocturnam tiinicmn) a Cilicium or any
other, says, " Cilicii quidem usus habet proprium tempus. Non
enim propter usus corporis, sed propter afflictionem carnis inven-
tum est hujuscemodi indumentum, et propter humilitatem ani-
m8e§." He then adds, that as the word of God forbids us to

* Menage, Diet. Etym. v. Cilice.

t " And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great
earthquake ; and the sun became as black as sack-cloth of hair, and the moon
became as blood." — Rev. vi. 12.

X " So the people of Nineveh believed God, cind proclaimed a fast, and put on
sack-cloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The word camo
unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from
him, and covered him with sack-cloth, and sat in ashes." — Jonah iii. 5, 6. In
V. 5. we should translate " put on hair-cloths ;" for the word is plural in the He-
brew.

II From the ancient version of Rufinus, p. 175. ed. 1513.

304 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

have two shirts, we ought not to have a second except for the
purpose here mentioned. From this it is clear, that tlie Cili-
cium \vas not commonly worn by the monks, but only at par-
ticular times for the sake of humiUation.

Dr. Sibthorp {in Memoirs, edited hy Walpole,) informs us,
that in the present day the shepherds of Attica " shear the
goats at the same time with the sheep, about April or May,"
and that the hair is made into sacks, bags, and carpets, of
which a considerable quantity is exported. In modern as in
ancient times, the inhabitants of Greece subsist in a great
measure upon goats'-milk and the cheese made from it*.

The wives of the Arabian shepherds still weave goats'-hair
for their tents. This hair-cloth is nearly black, and resembles
that of which our modern coal-sacks are madet. The Arabs
also hang bags of the same cloth, containing barley, about the
heads of their horses to supply them with foodt.

The goat, as is the case with some other quadrupeds, if con-
fined to a country, which is hot in summer and very cold in
\vinter, is always protected in the latter season by an additional
covering of fine wool beneath its long hair. A specimen of the
Syrian goat in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow shows both
the hair and the wool. In Kerman and Cashmere this very
fine wool is obtained by combing the goats in the spring, when
it becomes loose ; and, having been spun into yarn, it is used to
make the beautiful shawls brought from those countries.

We will now conclude this chapter with the following inter-
esting communication from Mr. E. Riley, being the substance
of a paper lately read before the Society of Arts, London,

Mr. Riley " in 1825 and 1828 transported to that territory
two flocks of the finest sheep procurable throughout Germany,

* Dodwell's Tour, vol. i. p. 144.

t Banner's Observations, ch. ii. Obs. 3G. Dr. Shaw's Travels, Part iii. ch. 3.
4 6. E. F. K. Rosenmuller, Biblische Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 89.

The use of goats'-hair for making cloth among the Moors is mentioned by
Rauwolff, Travels, part ii. ch. 1, p. 123 of Ray's Translation. The herdsmen on
the wide plains about Smyrna live in tents of " black goats'-hair." — C. Fellows's
Discoveries in Lijcia, p. 8.

X D'Arvieux and Thevenot, ap. Harmcr, ch. v. Obs. 9.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 305

my father had also long contemplated introducing there the
celebrated Cashmere goat, anticipating that the fulfilment of
his views would, in proving advantageous to himself, become
also of ultimate benefit to the colony ; in which expectation, he
has been encouraged from the results that have attended the
importation of the Saxon breed of sheep into their favored cli-
mates, the wools of New South Wales, and in proportion to
their improvement, those also of Van Dieman's Land being
now eagerly purchased by the most intelligent manufacturers
in preference to those of equal prices imported from any part of
Europe.

" With this object in view, he subsequently, during an agricul-
tural tour on the Continent, directed my attention to the Cash-
mere flocks of Mons. Ternaux, and in October 1828, I met this
distinguished man at his seat at St. Onen (Mons. Ternaux is
a great shawd manufacturer and a Peer of France,) where he
preserved the elite of his herds ; the animals were a mixture of
various sizes and colors, from a perfect white to brown, with
scarcely any stamped features as if belonging to one race ex-
clusively ; they were covered with long coarse hair, under which
so small a quantity of soft short down was concealed, that the
average produce of the whole collection did not exceed three
ounces each ; therefore, under these unfavorable circumstances,
my father deferred for a time his intention of sending any of
them to Australia.

" I was then advised by the Viscomte Perrault de Jotemps,
to see the stock of M. Polonceau at Versailles, he having, by a
happily selected cross, succeeded in increasing the quantity and
value of the qualities of the Cashmere goat beyond the most san-
guine anticipations, and in consequence of his enhghtened taste
for agricultural pursuits, was also honored with the directorship
of the model farm at Grignon. He became among the first to
purchase a chosen selection of the original importation of the
Cashmere goat from M. Ternaux, and some time after seeing,
at one of the estates of the Duchesse de Beri, an Angora buck
with an extraordinary silkiness of hair, having more the char-
acter of long coarse but very soft down, he solicited permission
to try the effects of a union with this fine animal and his own

39

306 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

pure Cashmeres. The improvement even m the first drop was
so rapid that it induced him to persevere, and when I first saw
his small herd they were in the third generation from the males
produced solely by the first cross ; the unwillingness however
of M. Polouceau to part with any number of them at this pe-
riod (the only alienation he has made from the favorite products
of his solicitude being two males and two females to the King
of Wirtemherg, for the sum of 3400 francs,) caused my father
again to postpone his intentions until my return from the Aus-
tralasian Colonies, judging that M. Polonceau would then prob-
ably be enabled to dispose of a sufficient number, and that the
constancy and properties of the race woidd by that time be
more decidedly determined.

" On my arrival in England at the close of 1S31, he again
recurred to his favorite project of introducing these animals into
our colonies, for which purpose I went to France with the in-
tention of purchasing a small flock of M. Polonceau, should I
find all his expectations of the Cashmere Angora breed verified,
which having perfectly ascertained, I at length succeeded in
persuading M. Polonceau to cede to me ten females in kid, and
three males, and I fortunately was able to convey the whole in
health to London, with the intention of proceeding as speedily as
possible with them to Port Jackson, looking sanguinely forward
not only to their rapid increase but also to crossing the co7nmon
goats of the country with this valuable breed, in full expecta-
tion that they may, exclusive of their own pure down, become
thus the means of forming a desirable addition to the already
much prized importations fi'om New South Wales and Van
Dieman's Land. I am led to the conclusion that the latter re-
sult may be accompUshed, as M. Polonceau, who has tried the
experiment with the native goat of France, has obtained ani-
mals of the second cross very little inferior to the breed that has
rendered his name so distinguished. He has also crossed the
common goat with the pvue Cashmere, but only obtained so
tardy an amelioration, that it required eight or ten generations
to produce a down simply equal to their inferior quantity and
quality when compared to the produce of the Cashmere An-
gora."

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 307

Mr. Polonceau has unremittingly persevered in the improve-
ment so immediately effected, and has proved during the seve-
ral years which have elapsed since the first experiment in the
year 1822, that an entire satisfactory result in the union of the
most essential qualities of down, abundcmce, lengthy fineness^
lustre^ and softness, was accomplished by the first cross, with-
out any return having ensued to the individual characters of
either of the primitive races, and in consequence, he has since
constantly propagated the produce of that cross among them-
selves, careful only of preserving animals entirely white and of
employing for propagation those bucks which had the down in
the greatest quantity and of the finest quaUty with the smallest
proportion of hair.

In 182G ; the " Societie Royale et Centrale d'Agriculture de
Paris"' acquainted with the interesting result of M. Polonceau's
flock, being at that time in the third generation, and considering
that the down of this new race was more valuable titan that
of the East, and that it was the most beautiful of filaceous
materials known, as it combines the softness of Cashmere with
the lustre of silk, awarded him their large gold medal at their
session, 4th April, 1826, and nominated him a member of their
society in the following year.

In 1827, at the exhibition of the produce of National Indus-
try, the jury appointed to judge the merits of the objects ex-
posed, also awarded him their medal.

At present the animals are in the twelfth generation, their
health and vigor, the constancy of their qualities, and abun-
dance of their down without any degeneration, prove that this
new race may be regarded as one entirely fixed and established,
requiring solely the care that is generally observed with valua-
ble breeds ; that is to say, a judicious choice of those employed
for their reproduction, and in such a climate as New South
Wales it may be reasonably expected that the brilliant (jualities
of their down may yet be improved as has been so eminently
the case with the ^yool of the merino and Saxon sheep unported
there.

M. Polonceau has goats that have yielded as many as thirty
ounces of the down, in one season, and he states that the whole

308 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT.

of his herd produce from twelve to twenty ounces ; thus show-
ing the astonishing advantages this new breed has over the
uncrossed CasJmiere, which never yield more than four ounces
and seldom exceed two ounces each.

This gentleman also states, that, the Cashmere Angora goats,
are more robust and more easily nourished than the common
goat, and that they are less capricious and more easily managed
ill a flock ; and from the experience he has already had, he
finds them much more docile than even sheep. They prefer
the leaves of trees, as do all other goats, but they thrive either
on hay or straw, or green fodder, or in meadows ; they also
feed wth equal faciUty on heaths, and on the most abrupt de-
clivities, where the sheep would perish ; they do not fear the
cold, and are allowed to remain all the winter in open sheds.
For the first year or two of M. P.'s experiments he thought it
prudent to give them aromatic herbs, from time to time, but
during the last six years he has not found it necessary. He
knows not of any particular disease to which they are subject,
his flock never liaving had any. M. P. arranges they should
kid in March, but occasionally he takes tico falls from those of
sufficient strength during the year.

The down commences to grow in September, and developes
itself progressively until the end of March, when it ceases to
grow and detaches itself, unless artificially removed.

To collect the down, he waits the period when it begins to
detach itself, and then the locks of down which separate from
the skin with little force are taken oflT by hand ; the down is
removed from the animals every three or four days ; in general
it first begins to fall from the neck and shoulders, and in the
following four or five days from the rest of the body ; the col-
lection is completed in the space of eight or ten days. Some-
times the entire down can be taken from the animal at one
shearing, and almost in an unbroken fleece, when it begins to
loosen. The shearing has the advantage of preserving more
perfectly the parallelisms of the individual filaments, which
much increase the facility of combing and preparing the down
for manufacturing purposes.

CHAPTER V.

BEAVERS-WOOL.

Isidorus Hispalensis— Claudian— Beckmann — Beavere'-wool— Dispersion of Bea-
vers through Europe — Fossil bones of Beavers.

The passage quoted from Isidore of Seville, in the last chap-
ter, shows that the ancients made a cloth, the woof of which
was of Beavers'-wool {defihri land), and which was therefore
called Vestis Fihrina. By lana he must have meant the
very fine wool, which, agreeably to the observation in the last
paragraph, grows under the long hair of the beaver. Isidore in
the same Book, observes, " Fibrinum lana est animalium, quae
fibros vocant : ipsos et castorcs existimant."

The following Epigram of Claudian seems intended, as
Beckmann (iv. ;;. 223.) supposes, to describe "a worn-out
beaver dress, which had nothing more left of that valuable fur
but the name."

ON A BEAVER MANTLE.
The shadow of its ancient name remains :
But, if no nap of beaver it retains,
A Beaver Mantle it can scarce be nam'd.
The price, however, proves its claim : it cost
Six pounds. Hence, though all lustre it has lost,
Yet, bought so dear, as beaver let it still be fam'd.

Sidonius Apollinaris calls those who used this costly apparel
castorinati. Lib. v. Epist. 7. /?. 313. Paris, 1599, Ato.

Gerbert, or Gilbgrt, sumamed the Philosopher, and afterwards
Pope Silvester II., commenting on the quaUties of a good
Bishop according to 1 Timothy iii. 1., says in reference to the
word "ornatum :"

" Quod si juxta sensum literjB tantCim respiciamus, non aUud, sacerdotes, quam
■ amictum quieremus clariorem ; verbi gratia, castorinas qutpremus et sericas ves-
tes: et ille se inter episcopas credet esse altiorem, qui vestem induerit clariorem.
Sed S. Apostolus taUter se intelligi non vult, quia non carne, &c."— Pe Informa-
tione Episcoporum, seu De Dignitate Sacerdotali, in ed. Benedict. 0pp. S.
Ambrosii, torn. ii. p. 358.

310 BEAVERS-WOOL.

" An upper garment of this cloth was worn by the Emperor
Nicephorus II. at his coronation in the year 936." — Beckmaii7i,
I. c. § 31.

"This method of manufacturing beavers'-hair," observes
Beckmann, " seems not to have been known in the time of
PUny ; for, though he speaks much of the castor, and mentions
pellis jibrina three times, he says nothing in regard to man-
ufacturing the hair, or to beaver-fur."

It seems probable, that the Greeks and Romans did not use
cloth of beavers'-wool until the 4th centmy. In an earlier age
the furs and drugs supplied by beavers were obtained from the
countries to the North of the Euxine Sea. But in the period
now under consideration the intercourse of the Romans with the
West of Europe would open a much more extended sphere for
procuring the Testes Fibrinae, since we have traces of the ex-
istence of beavers in ahnost all parts of Europe. Their appear-
ance in Wales, Scotland, Germany, and the North of Europe
generally, is attested by Giraldus Cambrensis*.

Dr. Patrick Neill, in a valuable paper on this subject,t has
given an account of the bones of recent beavers found in Perth-
shire and Berwickshire. They have also been found in Cam-
bridgeshire+. We learn from the life of Wulstan§. that heaver-
furs, as well as those of sables, foxes, and other quadrupeds,
were used by the Anglo-Saxons in very early times for lining
their garments. Other modern authors speak of their occur-
rence in Austria, Hungary, and the North of Italy II. They
are still found in Sweden.^ Strabo informs us, that in his time
they frequented the rivers of Spain**.

Buffon says {Hist. Nat. tome 26. p. 98.), " There are bea-
vers in Languedoc in the islands of the Rhone, and great num-

* Topographia Hibemife, c. 21, and Itinerarium Carnbrife, 1. ii. c. 3.
t Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 177-187.

t Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. i. part i. p. 175.
§ See Extracts in Henrj-'s Historj- of Britain, vol. iv.

II Muratori, Antichiti Italiane, tomo ii. p. 110. Napoli, 1783. The autliors,
cited by Muratori, are Gervase of Tilbury, and Mathioli.
IT Travels in Sweden, by Dr. Thomas Thomson, p. 411.
*• Lib. iii. 163. vol. i. p. 737, ed. Siebenkees.

BEAVERS-WOOL.

311

bers of them in the North of Europe." " But as human popu-
lation extends," he observes, " beavers, hke other animals, are
dispersed, become soUtary, fugitive, or conceal themselves in the
ground : they cease to unite in bands, to engage in building or
other undertakings."

'•We have been unable to ascertain," says Cuvier*, "after the
most scrupulous comparisons, if the Castors or Beavers, which
burrow along the Rhone, the Danube, and the Weser, are dif-
ferent in species from those of North America, or if they are
prevented from building by the vicinity of man." The same
distinguished author in his work on Fossil Bones says, " The
greater part of our European rivers having formerly supported
beavers, and some of them doing so still, viz. the Gardon and
the Rhone in France, the Danube in Bavaria and Austria, and
several small rivers in Westphalia and Saxony, we cannot be
surprised to find their bones preserved in our mosses, or turba-
ries." He then mentions instances of the heads and teeth of
beavers, in the valley of the Somme in Picardy, in the valley of
Tonnis-stein near Andermach, and at Urdingen on the Rhine
in Rhenish Prussia!.

» Rfegne Animal, vol. iii. p. 65. of Griffith's Translation.

t Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, tome v. partie Ifere, p. 55. ; partie 2nde, p. 518.
See also Annales du Museum d'Hist. Naturelle, tomo xiv. p. 47.

CHAPTER VI.

CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR.

Camels'-wool and Camels'-hair — Ctesia's account — Testimony of modem travel-
lers— Arab tent of Camels'-hair — Fine cloths still made of Camels'-wool — The
use of hair of various animals in the manufacture of beautiful stuffs by the ancient
Mexicans — Hair used by the Candian women in the manufacture of broidered
stuffs — Broidered stuffs of the negresses of Senegal — Their great beauty.

We are informed by Ctesias, in a fragment of the 10th Book
of his Persic History, that there were camels in a part of Persia,
whose hair, soft as Milesian fleeces, was used to make gar-
ments for the priests and the other potentates*.

John the Baptist wore a garment of camels'-hair ; but this
must be supposed to have been coarse. [Matt. ill. 4., Mark i.
6.)t. This passage of scripture is illustrated by Harmer in the
following observation^ :

" This hair, Sir J. Chardin teUs us (in his MS. note on 1
Sam. XXV. 4.) is not shorn from the camels Uke wool from
sheep, but they pull off this woolly hair, which the camels are
disposed to cast off; as many other creatures, it is well known,
change their coats yearly. This hair is made into cloth now.
Chardin assures us the modern dervishes wear such garments."

Campbell, the poet, mentions a tent of camels'-hair cloth,
which he saw at an Arab encampment between Oran and Mas-
cara in the kingdom of Algiers. It was 25 feet in diameter
and very lofty. {Letters from the South, 1837, vol. ii. p.

* Apollonii Mirabilia xx. .iElian, Hist. An. xvii. 34. Ctesite Fragmenta, a
Biihr, p. 224.

t " And the same John had his raiment of camels'-hair, and a leathern girdle
about his loins ; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." — Matt. iii. 4, also in
Mark:

" And John was clothed with camels'-hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his
loins ; and he did eat locusts and wild honey. ' — Mark i. 6.

X Ch. xi. Obs. 8.3. vol. iv. p. 416. ed. Clatke.

CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR. 313

212.) He also mentions [vol. i. j). 161.) that the Kabyles or
Berbers, who live in the vicinity of Algiers, and are descended
from the original occupants of the country, dwell in " tents of
camels'-hair." We are informed that the Chinese make car-
pets of the same material*. Coverlets of goats' or camels'-hair
are used by the soldiers in Turkey to sleep undert. " The Cir-
cassians, when marching, or on a journey, always add to their
other garments a cloak made from camel or goats'-hair, with a
hood, which completely envelopes the whole person. It is im-
penetrable by rain ; and it forms their bed at night, and pro-
tects them from the scorching sun by dayl."

Fortunatus, in his hfe of St. Martin (1. iv.), describes a gar-
ment of such cloth ; but it may be doubted whether he took
his description from actual knowledge of the use of it, or only
from the account in Matthew of the dress of John the Baptist
already quoted.

Camels'-hair of annual growth would vary in fineness ac-
cording to circumstances, and might be used either for the
coarse raiment of prophets and dervises, or for the costly
shawls, to which Ctesias alludes. Fine wool, adapted to the
latter purpose, might also grow, as in the goat and beaver, be-
neath the long hair of the camel. It has been doubted
whether cloth so fine and beautiful as Ctesias asserts, could pos-
sibly be obtained from camels. The following accounts by
modern travellers illustrate and justify the statement of the
suspected ancient.

Marco Polo, who travelled in the 13th century, in his account
of the city of Kalaka, which was in the province of Tangut
and subject to the Great Kahn, says§, " In this city they manu-
facture beautiful camelots, the finest known in the world, of the
hair of camels and likewise of fine wool." According to Pallas,
(Travels, vol. ii. § 8.,) " From the hair of the camel the Tartar
women in the plains of the Crimea manufacture a narrow

* China, its Costume, Arts, Manufactures, &c., by Bertin : translated from
the French. London, 1812, vol. iv.

t Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer, vol. i. p. 202.

t Ibid. vol. ii. p. 219.

§ Book i. ch. 52. p. 235. of Marsden's Translation.

40

314 CAMELS'-WOOL AND CAMELs'-HAIR.

cloth, which is used in its natural color, and is extremely warm,
soft, and light." According to Prosper Alpinus, {Hist. Nat.
JEgypti, I. iv, c. 7. p. 225.) the Egyptians manufactured from
the hair of their camels not only coarse cloth for their tents,
but other kinds so fine as to be worn not only by princes but
even by the senators of Venice.

Elphinstone, in liis account of Cabul (p. 295. j, mentions,
tliat " Oormuck, a fine cloth made of camels'-wool," is among
the articles imported into Cabul from the Bokhara country.
This countiy Ues North of the Oxus, and East of the Southern
extremity of the Caspian Sea, and is probably the country, to
which Ctesias more especially referred. A still more recent au-
thority is that of Moorcroft, who informs us, that " Cloth is now
made from the wool of the wild camels of Khoten in Chinese
Tartary," and that " at Astrakhan a fine cloth is manufactured
from the wool of the camel foal of the first year*."

* Journal of the Royal Geograpliical Society, vol. i. p. 241, 242.

It is customary in many parts of the East, as it was in Mexico in the time of
Cortes (See Part Third, Chapter I.) to use the hair of various animals in em-
broidering garments. The Candian women even embroider with their own hair,
as well as that of animals, with which they make splendid representations of
flowers, foliage, &c. : they also iiisert the skins of eels and serpents.

According to M. de Busson, the negreeses of Senegal, embroider the skins of
various beasts, representing figiu"es, flowers, and animals, in every variety of
color.

V-' 15;.

;^

^

PART THIRD.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

CHAPTER I.

GREAT ANTIQUITY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE
IN INDIA — UNRIVALLED SKILL OF THE INDIAN
WEAVER.

Superiority of Cotton for clothing, compared with linen, both in hot and cold cli-
mates— Cotton characteristic of India — Account of Cotton by Herodotus,
Ctesias, Theophrastus, Aristobulus, Nearchus, Pomponius Mela — Use of Cot-
ton in India — Cotton known before silk and called Carpasus, Carpasum, Car-
basum, &c. — Cotton awnings used by the Romans — Carbasus applied to linen
— Last request of Tibullus — Muslin fillet of the vestal virgin — Linen sails, Sec.
called Carbasa — Valerius Flaccus introduces muslin among the elegancies in
the dress of a Phrj'gian from the river Rhyndacus — Prudentius's satire on prido
— Apuleius's testimony — Testimony of Sidonius ApoUinaris, and Avienus —
Pliny and Julius Pollux — Their testimony considered — Testimony of Tertullian
and Philostratus^Of Martianus Capella — Cotton paper mentioned by The-
ophylus Presbj^er — Use of Cotton by the Arabians — Cotton not common an-
ciently in Europe — Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville's testimony of the
Cotton of India — Forbes's description of the herbaceous Cotton of Guzerat —
Testimony of Malte Bran — Beautiful Cotton textures of the ancient Mexicans
— Testimony of the Abbe Clavigero — Fishing nets made from Cotton by the
inhabitants of the West India Islands, and on the continent of South Amer-
ica— Columbus's testimony — Cotton used for bedding by the Brazilians.

Among all the materials which the skill of man converts into
comfortable and elegant clothing, that which appears likely to
be the most extensively useful, though it was the last to be
generally diffused, is the beautiful produce of the cotton-plant.

The properties of cotton strongly recommend it for clothing,
especially in comparison with linen, botli in hot and cold coun-
tries. Linen has, indeed, in some respects the advantage ; it
forms a smooth, firm, and beautiful cloth, and is very agreeable
wear in temperate climates j but it is less comfortable than cot-

316 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

ton, and less conducive to health, either in heat or in cold.
Cotton, being a bad conductor of heat, as compared with hnen,
preserves the body at a more equable temperature. The func-
tions of the skin, through the medium of perspiration, are the
great means of maintaining the body at an equable temper-
ature amidst the %icissitudes of the atmosphere. But hnen,
hke all good conductors of heat, freely condenses the vapor of
perspiration, and accumulates moisture upon the skin : the
wetted linen becomes cold, chills the Ijody, and checks perspira-
tion, thus not only producmg discomfort, but endangering
health. Cahco, on the other hand, like all bad conductors of
heat, condenses Uttle of the perspiration, but allows it to pass
off in the form of vapor. Moreover, w hen the perspiration is
so copious as to accumulate moisture, calico A\-ill absorb a great-
er quantity of that moisture than linen. It has therefore a
double advantage, — it accumulates less moisture, and absorbs
more.

From the above considerations, it is evident that in cold ch-
mates, or in the nocturnal cold of tropical chmates, cotton
clothing is much better calculated to preserve the warmth of
the body than hnen. In hot chmates, also, it is more conducive
to health and comfort, by admitting of freer perspuation*.

Wool, as we have seen, was principally used for weaving in
Palestine and Syria, in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy and Spain ;
hemp in the Northern countries of Europe ; flax in Egypt
(The history of the two last, hemp and flax, is given in Part
IV. to which the reader is referred.) ; silk in the central regions
of Asiat. In like manner cotton has always been charac-
teristic of India. We find this circumstance distinctly noticed
by Herodotust. Among the valuable products, for which India
was remarkable, he states, that " the wnld trees m that country
bear fleeces as their fruit, surpassing those of sheep in beauty
and excellence ; and the Indians use cloth made from these

* Bains's " Histon' of the Cotton Manufacture," p. 12.
+ See Map Plate VII. attho end of Part IV.
X L. iii. c. 106.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 317

trees." In the same book (c. 47.) Herodotus says, that the tho-
rax or cuirass sent by Amasis, king of Egypt, to Sparta, was
'•' adorned with gold and with fleeces from trees." These sub-
Btances were perhaps used in the weft to form the figures (<ua),
which were woven into the thorax ; but it appears equally
probable that the gold only was thus employed, the cotton
being used as an inside lining or stuffing : and in this case it is
possible, that the down of the Bombax Ceiba, a tree allied to
the Cotton-plant (Gosst/piitm), may have been used, since,
though not fitted for spinning or weaving, it has long been used
in India for the stuffing of pillows and similar purposes, and
would be included under the phrase employed by Herodotus,
" ivooF or ^^ fleeces froon trees." The thorax may have been
made in Egj-pt ; but the materials, used to enrich it, were prob-
ably imported : for we have no proof, that either gold or cotton
of any kind was found in that country as a native product in
the time of Amasis.

Ctesias, the contemporary of Herodotus, seems also to have
known the fact of the use of a kind of wool, the produce of
trees, for spijming and weaving among the Indians. It is evi-
dent that Ctesias referred exclusively to cotton cloths, as may
be inferred from the testimony of Varro, as we find it in Servius
[Comm. in Virgilii j^n. i. 649.). "Ctesias ait in India esse
arbores, quae lanam ferant."

The expedition of Alexander the Great into India contribu-
ted to make the Greeks better acquainted than before with cot-
ton. Hence it is distinctly mentioned by Theophrastus, the
disciple of Aristotle. He says, "The trees, from which the
Indians make cloths, have a leaf like that of the Black Mul-
berry ; but the whole plant resembles the dog-rose. They set
them in the plains arranged in rows, so as to look like vines at
a distance*." In a succeeding part of the same book (c. 7. p.
143, 144. ed Schneider) he notices the growth of cotton, not
only in India, but in Arabia, and in the island called Tylos,
which he places in the Arabian Gulf, although it was probably

* Hist. PL iv. c. 4. p. 132. ed. Schneider.

318 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

in the Persian Gulf, near the Arabian coast*. According to his
account in the latter passage, " The wool-bearing trees, which
grew abundantly in this island, had a leaf hke that of the vine,
but smaller ; they bore no fruit, but the capsule cantaining the
wool, was, when closed, about the size of a quince, when ripe,
it expanded so as to emit the wool, which was woven into
cloths, either cheap, or of great value."

Sprengel in his German translation {p. 150. vol. ii.) sup-
poses the Broussonetia Papyrifera to be meant in the former
passage. But he gives no good reason for this supposition, and
he admits, that the Broussonetia Papyrifera grows in China,
not in India. The expression of Theophrastus, wartp i.\txBr,, which
he employs in the latter passage (c. 9. p. 144. ed. Schneider)^
clearly proves, that he is speaking of the same plant in
both passages, and Sprengel himself {p. 164.) supposes the
Gossypium Arboreum of Linnaeus, the Cotton Tree, to be
meant in the latter, though not in the former. The description
of Theophrastus is remarkably exact, if we consider it as ap-
plying, not to the Cotton Tree ( Gossypium Arboremn), but to
the Cotton Plant ( G. Herbaceum), from which the chief sup-
ply of cotton for spinning and weaving into cloth has always
been obtained.

Aristobulus, one of Alexander's generals, made mention of
the cotton-plant under the name of the AYool-bearing Tree, and
stated that its capsule contained seeds, which were taken out, and
that what remained was combed like woolf.

The testimony of Nearchus, who was the admiral of Alexan-
der, is also preserved to the following effect ; " that there were
in India trees bearing, as it were, flocks or bunches of wool;
that the natives made Unen garments of it, wearing a shirt,
which reached to the middle of the leg, a sheet folded about
the shoulders, and a turban rolled round the head ; and that
the linen made by them from this substance was fine and
whiter than any other." It is to be observed, that Nearchus, or

* See the Map, — Plate vii. at the end of Part iv. Bochart, Geogr. Sacra, p.
7GG. Cadomi, 1651. lieeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 214-219.
+ Strabo, L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi. p. 43. ed. Siebenkees.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 319

rather the two later authors who quote him, viz. Arrian and
Straboj use the terms for hnen in a general sense, as including
all fine Ught cloths made of vegetable substances*.

We read in the account of India by Pomponius Mela (L. iii.
c. 7.), that the woods produced wool, used by the natives for
clothing. He distinctly mentions the use of flax likewise. It
has been conjectured, that he may have taken his account from
Nearchus, or some other Greek writer, and that he may have
intended to speak only of the use of cotton. But in reply to
this it is to be observed, that Pomponius Mela here mentions
flax in opposition to cotton, and that his assertion, so understood,
was probably true, since we have other evidence to show that
flax grows in India as well as cotton. (See Part IV.) Never-
theless it seems necessary to understand other authors of the
same period as meaning cotton by the term rivov, or limim.
Thus Dyonisius Periegetes {L 1116), speaking of the employ-
ments of the Indians, says, 0\ Se Iotovs vip6o>ai T^mpycas, which prol>
ably meant " some weave muslins." In the same manner we
must interpret the assertion of Q,uintus Curtius, " Terra lini
ferax, unde plerisque sunt vestes ;" i. e.. The land produces
flax, from which the greater part obtain garments. Soon after
this Curtius says in terms more strictly proper.

Corpora usque pedes carhaso velant, soleis pedes, capita linteis vinciunt.
They cover their bodies from head to foot with carhasits ; they bind shoes about
their feet, linen cloths about theu- heads.

Again, speaking of the dress of the King, he says,

Distincta sunt auro et purpura, carhasa, quoB indutus est. L. viii. 9.
The carhasa which he wore, were spotted with purple and gold.

In like manner, Lucan, describing the Indian nations, says.

Who drink sweet juices from the tender cane.
With dyes of crocus stain their hair, and fix
With color'd gems the flowing carbasus.

L. iii. V. 239.

Strabo says, (L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi. j). 153. ed. Sieb.)

That the Indians use white raiment, and fine white cloths and carpasa.

* Arriani Rer. Indie, p. 522. 539. ed. Blancardi. Strabo, L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi.
p. 40. ed. Sieb.

320 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

Also the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea states, that the re-
gion about the Gulf of Barygaza in India was productive " of
Carpas}is and of the fine Indian cloths made of it*." These
were what we now call India Qniislins. These muslins we
are informed by Dr. Vincent, were imported into Egypt, and
accordingly Pacatust represents Antony's ariuy as wearing cot-
ton in that country.

The term Carbasus, is evidently used by the five last-cited
authors to signify cotton ; for they employ it in describing the
common dress of the Indians. As the Greeks and Romans be-
came acquainted with cotton much earlier than with silk, we
find that Cai'pas, the proper Oriental name for cotton, was
also in use among them at a comparatively early period ; and
we shall now endeavor to trace the progress of this term from
India, Westward. With little variation it is found in the same
sense in the Sanscrit, Arabic, and Persic languages^.

This word occurs once in the Hebrew Scriptures, viz. Esther,
i. 6., and there evidently as a foreign term. The hangings,
used to decorate the court of the royal palace at Susa on occa-
sion of the great feast given by Ahasuerus, are thus described
in the common version of the Scriptures : —

"Where were white, ^een, and bhie hangings, fastened with cords of fine
linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble : the beds were of gold and
silver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble."

The word, corresponding to ''green" in the original is Carpas
(tis^i). It has been translated "green" by the authors of
the common version on the authority of the Chaldee Para-
phrase.

The earliest instance of the use of the oriental name in any
classical author is the line fiom Statins Caecilius, who died 1G9
B. C. as quoted by Nonius Marcellus (Z. xvi.) from the Pau-
simachus of Statins :

* Arriani 0pp. v. ii. p. 165. ed. Blancard. t Paneg. Theodosii, c. 33.

I Celsii Hierobot. vol. ii. p. 159. Sir W. Jones, in As. Researches, vol. iv. p.
226. London Edition. Schlegel, Indische Ribliotek, ii. p. 393. E. F. K. Ro-
Benmiiiler, Biblische Alterthumskunde, 4. 1. p. 173.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 321

Carbasina, molochina, ampelina*.

As these words are all three Greek, and the play, in which the
verse occurred, was also called by a Greek name, we cannot
doubt, that Statins translated it according to his usual custom
from one of the writers of the New Comedy. We may there-
fore infer with some confidence from this expression, that the
Greeks made use of muslins or calicoes, or at least of cotton
cloths of some kind, which were brought from India as early
as 200 years B. C.

After some time the oriental custom of using cotton as a
protection from the sun's rays was adopted also by the Romans.
Cotton was not only a clieaper and commoner article than silk,
but it was particularly adapted for this purpose on account of
its hghtness, as well as its beauty and fineness ; and, besides the
instance already cited from the book of Esther, we may ob-
serve also, that where the Latin authors mention the use of
" Carbasa," it is sometimes for purposes of this kind. " Taber-
nacula carbaseis intenta velis," i. e. " Tents with coverings of
cotton," were among the expensive novelties which contributed
to the luxury of Verres, when Praetor in Sicilyt. The same
species of ornament was first displayed at Rome in the mag-
nificent fcdileship of P. Lentulus Spinther, at the Apollinarian
games and in the year 63 B. C.

" At a later period awiiings of linen were used to keep out the sun, but original-
ly in the theatres only, which contrivance was first adopted by Q. Catulus, when
he dedicated the capitol. After this Lentulus Spinther is said to have first intro-
duced cotton awnings in the theatre at the Apollinarian games. By and by
Cffisar the Dictator covered with awnings the whole Roman forum, and the sacred
way, from his own house even to the ascent of the Capitoline hill, which is said
to have appeared more wonderful than the gladiatorial exhibition itself. After-
wards, without exhibiting games, Marcellus the son of Octavia, sister of Augustus,
when he was jEdile and his uncle consul the cleventli timet, on the day before

* See C. C. Statii Fragmenta, a Leonhardo Spengel, Monachii 1829, p. 35.

Statins chiefly copied from Menander {Gellius ii. c. 16.) ; but we cannot find,
that Menander wrote any play called Pausimachus.

t This was about the year 70 B. C. Cic. in Verrem, Act. ii. 1. v. c. 12.

X The following are the dates of the display of awnbgs on the several occasions
referred to : —

41

322 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

the Kalends of August, protected the forum from the rays of the sun, tliat the
persons engaged in lawsuits might stand with less injury to then- health. What
a change from the manners which prevailed under Cato the Censor, who thought
that the forum should even be strewed with caltrops I Of late sky-blue awnings,
spotted with stars, have been extended by means of strong ropes, even in the am-
phitheatre of the Emperor Nero. Red awnings are used to cover the atria of
houses, and they defend the moss from the sun. As for the rest, wliite linen has
always remained in favor. This plant was honored in the Trojan war. For
why should it. not perforin its part in battles as well as in shipwrecks ? Homer
testifies, that a few of his warriors fought in linen cuirasses. The tackle of his
ships was also of flax, according to some of his more learned interpreters, who ar-
gue that by the term spuria he meant sata, or things that are so^vn." — Pliny,
Lib. xix. chap. vi.

Lucretius apparently refers to the introduction by Lentulus
Spinther of the cotton awnings above mentioned (vi. lOS.), when
he is theorising on the cause of thunder, and compares the
clouds spread over the sky to the a^^^lings of calico, which
veiled the theatres and sheltered the spectators from the sun :

Carbasus ut quondam magnis intenta theatris
Dat crepitum, malos inter jactata trabeisque.
As flaps the cotton, spread above our heads
In the vast theatres from meist to beam.

TVe now find frequent mention of cotton by the poets of the
Augustan age and by many subsequent writers. As in the
case of silkj these authors introduce cotton, not only historically,
but for the purpose of embellishment ; and, considering Carba-
sus as a poetical term, they often b}^ a catachresis employ it
where they mean to speak of Imen. Also as was before oli-
served in regard to silk (Part I. chapter II.), it may likcAvise be
noticed here, that the wars against Mithridates and the Par-
thians may have contributed to make the Romans famihar
with the use of cotton, although their chief supply of it was
more probably through Egypt, than through Persia and Baby-
lonia.

Linen awnings first used in the theatre at the dedication of the temple

of Jupiter by Catulus 69 B. C.

Cotton awTiings first used in the theatre by Lentulus Spinther, July 6th, 63 B. C.
Linen used to cover the forum and Via Sacra at the gladiatorial show

by Julius CiEsar - - - - - - - - -46B. C-

Linen awnings extended over the forum by Marcellus, July 31st - 23 B. C

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 323

Catullus (64.), speaking of the black sail Avliich iEgeus fur-
nished for the ships of his son Theseus, calls it " Carbasus
Ibera,^^ " an Iberian sail." As, on the one hand, he here uses
the proper term for cotton, without intending to describe the sail
as cotton, so on the other hand he calls the sail Iberian merely
because Iberia was a country adjoining Colchis, and from Col-
chis (as will be shown in Part LV.) the Greeks and Romans
obtained a great supply of flax and sail-cloth.

TibuUus, or Lygdamus, entreats (iii. 2. 17.), in the contem-
plation of his death and funeral, that after his bones have been
washed, first with wine, and then with milk, they may be dried
" carbaseis velis," with linen napkins. Although he uses the
proper term for cotton, he probably did not intend to denote any
preference for cotton rather than linen. His bones, after being
wiped, were to be deposited in a marble urn.

Propertius seems to have aimed at a display of knowledge on
these subjects (see Part First, chapter II.) ; and in the follow-
ing passage (iv. 3.) he probably used Carhasa in its proper
sense, as he is referring to Eastern habits :

Raptave odorata carbasa lina duci.

Muslins taken among the spoils from a scented general
In the last Elegy of the same Book he refers to the story of
the young Vestal virgin, who, when the flame was extinguished
upon the altar committed to her care, and when the scourge
appeared to await her for her neglect, threw upon the ashes a
fillet of muslin from her head, and saved her life by its ignition,
which was supposed to be effected by the favor of the goddess :

Vel cui, commissos cum Vesta rcposceret ignes,
Exhibuit vivos carbasus alba focos.
The fire had died, and Vesta urged her claim,
When the while cotton show'd a living flame.

The story is related by Valerius Maximus (i. 7.). Although
we are not informed of the date of the event, it appears from
his language that the fillet was of fine muslin : '•' Cum carha-
sum^ quam optimam hahehat, foculo imposuisset, subito ignis
emicuit." This description is well suited to the nature of cot
ton, than which nothing was more easily ignited.

The passage in Virgil's Georgics, which mentions cotton, has

324 THE COTTOX MANUFACTURE.

been already quoted (See Part I. chapter II. p. 24.). By the
-Ethiopians, whose groves were " white with soft wool," he
probably intended those of Arabia ; and we may suppose him to
have referred to accounts, not so much of the Gossypium Her-
baceum, to which the word '•' groves"' {iiemora) would not apply,
as to groves of Gossypium ^Vrboreum and Bombyx Ceiba. In
the following passages of ^neid he mentions cotton under its
proper name, though probably not intending to distinguish ac-
curately between cotton and linen, and only using the term for
the sake of ornament : —

Jamque dies, alterque dies processit, et anras

Vela vocunt, tumidoque inflatur ceirbasns austro. iiL 356.

Two days were past, and now the southern gales

Call US aboard, and stretch the swelling sails.

Pitt's Translation.
Vocat jam carbasus auras ;
Puppibus et laBti nautae imposuere coronas, iv. 417.
The flapping sail invites the gales ; the poops
By the glad seamen are already crown'd.

Eum (Jluvium Tiherim) tenuis glauco velabat amictu
CarbEisus, et crines umbrosa tegebat arundo. viii. 33.
Thin muslin veils him with its sea-green folds ;
His head a copious shade of reeds sustains.

Turn croceam chlamydem, sinusque crepantes
Carbaseos fulvo in nodum collegerat auro. xi. 775.
His saffron chlamys, and each rustling fold
Of muslin was confined with glittering gold.

This last passage is part of the description of the attire of
Cliloreus, the Phrygian, whose muslin chlamys may have rus-
tled in consequence of being interwoven with gold.

OVID.
Totaque raalo
Carbasa deducit, venientesque excipit auras. — Met. xi. 477.
The active seamen now unfurl the sails,
And spread them wide to catch the coming gales.

Carbasa mota sonant, jubet uti navita ventis. xiii. 420.
The flapping sails resound ; the captain bids advance.
Cum dabit aura viam, prsebebis carbasa ventis. — Epist. vii. 171.
When the gale favors, give the wind your sails.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 325

Sed non, quo dederas a litore carbasa, vento

Utendiini, medio cum potiare freto. — Art. Am. ii. 357.
The wind to which you give your sails on shore,
In the mid ocean will assist no more.

Diunque parant torto subducero carbasa lino. — Fast. iii. 587.
They now witli twisted ropes let down the sails.

In all these passages Ovid uses carbasa in the improper sense :
it was an easy transition from the idea of a cotton awning,
witli which the Romans had become famiUar, to apply the
term to the sail of a ship. To these examples we may add the
following :

Et sequitur curvus fugienta carbasa delphin.

Seneca, (Ed. ii. prope fin.
The dolphin curved pursues the fljing sails.
Strictaque pendentes deducunt carbasa nautaj. — Lucan, ii. 697.
The mariners confine the sails with cords,
And, clinging to the mast, they take them down.

Recto deprendit carbasa malo. ix. 324.

The mast stands upright ; he takes down the sails.

Jamque adeo egressi steterant in littore prime,
Et promota, ratis pendentibus arbore nautis,
Aptabant sensim pulsanti carbasa vento.

Silius Italicus. Pun. iii. 128.

They leave the port and reach the shore : aloft

They hang upon the mast, and by degrees

They fit the sails to catch the beating wind.

Festinant trepidi substringere carbasa nautae.

Martial, 1. .xii. ep. 29.
The trembling seamen haste to reef their sails.
PrimsB, carbasa ventilantis, auriE. — Statius, Sylv. iv. 3. 106.
Of the first gale, which breathes upon the sails.

Statins also mentions " Carbasei sinus," the folds of cotton in
the chlamys of a Bacchanal [Theb. vii. 65S.).

iEstivos penetrent oneraria carbasa fluctus. — Rutilius, i. 221.
Postquam tua carbasa vexit — Oceanus. — Val. Flaccus, i.
Necdum alite viderunt carbasa terras. — Ibid.

Valerius Flaccus also introduces muslin among the elegan-
ces in the dress of a Phrygian from the river Rhyndacus.

326 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

Tenuai non ilium candentis carbasa lini,
Non auro depicta chlamys, non flava galeri
Caesaries, pictoque juvant subtemine braccte. vi. 228.

No aid to him his chalmys white as snow,
Muslin with gold enrich'd, his yellow curls
Of artificial hair, a.ud figured pantaloons.

(See Part 1, chap. iii. p. 59.)

Also Prudentius, the Christian poet (See Part 1, chap. iii. p.
59.), in an elaborate account of Pride, depicts her in a garment
of the same kind :

Carbasea ex humeris summo collecta coibat

Palla sinu, teretem nectens a pectore nodum. — Psychom. 186.

A muslin kerchief by a knot compress'd,
Pass'd o'er her shoulders, and adorn'd her breast.

Tanta, tamque multiplici fertilitate abundat rerum omnium Cyprus, ut nullius
externi indigens adminiculi, indigenis viribus, a fundamento ipso cariuae ad supre-
mos usque carbasos aedificet onerarium navem, omnibusque armamentis instructam
mari committat. — Amm. Marcellinus, xiv. 8.

Apuleius mentions carbasina in conjunction with homhycina
and other kinds of cloth*. He may consequently be presumed
to use the word in its proper sense, to wit, as denoting calico or
muslin. In the same manner cotton is distinguished from silk
by Sidonius Apollinarist. Also we may presume that cotton
and not linen sails are to be understood in the following line of
Avienus :

Si tamen in Boream flectantur carbasa cymbae.

Descr. Orbis, 799.

Here the writer not only professes to give geographical informa-
tion, but he is describing the Indian seas and islands ; and as
in the present day, so also in ancient times, the sails used in the
navigation of those seas were probably made of cotton.

Strabo uses the word Kapixaaivai in describing the official dress of
a certain class of priestesses among the Cimbrit Although it

* Metamorphoseon 1. viii. p. 579, 580. ed. Oudendorpii. (Quoted in Part
First, Chapter ii. p. 35.)

t L. ii. Epist. 2. (Quoted in Part First, Chapter iii. p. 61.).
\ L. vii. cap. 2. § 3. p. 336. ed. Siebenkees.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 327

is possible, that muslin may have been conveyed to them to Ije
ujcd on solemn occasions, it appears more probal)le that fine
linen or cambric, which was manufactured at no great distance
among the Atrebates, ought here to be understood.

Pliny mentions cotton in four different passages of his Nat-
ural History. Two of them are translated with some inaccu-
racies from the passages of Theophrastus. To his translation
of one of these passages Pliny annexes the remark, derived
perhaps from some other source, that the inhabitants of Tylos
called their Cotton Trees gossympins^ and that an island
which was called the smaller Tylos, distant ten miles, was still
more fertile in cotton than the larger island of the same name.

The third passage introduces cotton under its proper name,
Carljasa. It would imply that cotton was first grown or man-
ufactured at Tarraco in Spain, than which assertion nothing
can be more inaccurate and groundless.

The fourth passage is also contrary to all previous evidence,
inasmuch as it represents cotton to be the native growth of
Egypt It calls the Cotton Plant gossypion^ and hence the
name has been given to it by modern botanists. Supposing
this last passage to be genuine, still we know not on what au-
thority Pliny depended, or from what source he derived his in-
formation, nor can we tell to what extent he allowed himself to
be inaccurate in transcribing or translating. Taken by itself
therefore, it appears to us that this passage is no better proof of
the growth of cotton anciently in Egypt than the third passage
is of its first discovery in Spain.

In Upper Eg^ypt, towards Arabia, there grows a shrub, wliieh some call gos-
sypium, and others xylon, from which the stuffs are made which we call xylina.
It is small, and bears a fruit resembling the filbert, within which is a downy wool,
which is spun into thread. There is nothing to bo preferred to these stull's for
whitenetss or softness : beautiful gajments are made from tiiem for the j)riest3 of
Eg\'pt.*

This passage seems however deserving of more consideration,
when taken in conjunction with the following from the Ono-
masticon of JuUus Pollux, who wrote 100 years later than
Phny :—

» Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xix. c. 1. (Delph. Ed. c. 2.)

328 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

There are also Bj-ssina ; and Byssus, a kind of flax. But among the Indians,
and now also among the Egyptians, a sort of wool is obtained from a tree. The
cloth made from this wool may be compared to linen, except that it is thicker.
The tree produces a fruit most nearly resembling a walnut, but three-clefl.
After the outer covering, which is like a walnut, has divided and become dry, the
substance resembling wool is extracted and is used in the manufacture of cloth
for woof, the warp being linen.

The description here given of the Cotton Tree or Cotton
Plant, whichever was meant, is remarkably correct ; indeed
more correct than any account obtained since the time of the
expedition of Alexander. The circumstance of the pericarp
being three-cleft is agreeable to the fact, and is not noticed by
any earlier writer. The comparison of it to a walnut in re-
gard to size and form is also accurate. From this account, and
from those of Theophrastus, Aristobulus, and Nearchus, we
gather the following particulars, which are agreeable to the
fact : that the cotton-plants are set in the plains, and in rows
like vines ; that the plant is three or four feet high, and is
branched, spreading, and flexible, like a dog-rose ; that the leaf
is palmated like that of the vine ; that the capsule is three-
valved, about the size of a walnut, and, when it bursts, emits the
cotton, resembling flocks of wool, in which the seeds are imbedded.

On the other hand, w^e have had no previous evidence re-
specting the use of cotton in the manufacture of cloth for the
woof only, and it is doubtful whether this piece of information
is correct, because we have no reason to suppose that cotton
was used for weaving in any country in which Jiax was also
spun and woven.

Tertullian in the third Chapter of his treatise De Pallio,
enumerates nearly all the raw materials which were spun for
weaving. He mentions the class of vegetable substances (cot-
ton and flax) in the following terms :

Et arbusta vestiunt, et lini herbida post virorem lavacro nivescunt.
Both thickets supply clothing ; and crops of flax, after being green, are ren-
dered by washing white as snow.

Philostratus, who wrote in the third century, makes distmct
mention of cotton in two passages*.

* Vita Appollonii, I. ii. cap. 20. Ibid. /. iii. cap. 15.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 329

Martianus Capella [l. ii. § 4. p. 99. ed. Goctz.) makes dis-
tinct reference to a tunic and shawl white as milk, and made
either of cotton or fine Unen.

Theophilus Presbyter, wlio wrote probably about A, D. 800,
describes the use of cotton-paper for making gold-leaf. He
calls it " Greek parchment, made of tree-wool, Pergamena, or
Parcamena GrcBca, qucefit ex land ligni*.

From the travels of the two Arabians who visited China in
the ninth century, w^e learn that at that time the ordinary dress
of their countrymen was cotton : for they remark, that " the
Chinese dressed, not in cotton, as the Arabians did, but in
silkt." Probably the use of imported cotton might by this time
have become not uncommon in Egypt, Syria, and other oriental
countries ; but we apprehend, that it was never generally em-
ployed in Europe either for clothing, or for any other purpose,
until very lately.

It is unnecessary to further discuss the question as to wheth-
er cotton was or was not cultivated in Egypt in ancient times.
This vexed question having been lately set at rest, by a discov-
ery which reduces a great deal of the learning that has been
expended upon it to the character of old lumber. The diffi-
culty of ascertaining whether the mummy-cloths (of which the
specimens are exceedingly numerous) were made of linen or
cotton, has at length been overcome ; and though no chemical
test could be found out to settle the question, it has been deci-
ded by that important aid to scientific scrutiny, the microscope.
(See Chapters I. and II. Part IV.)

The following observations of Dr. Robertson in his " Histor-
ical Disquisition concerning the knowledge which the Ancients
had of Indiat," appear very just and important.

If the use of the cotton manufactures of India had been common among the
Romans, the various kinds of them would have been enumerated in the Law De
Publicanis et Vectigalibus, in the same manner as the different kinds of spices and

* De Omni Scientia Picturoe Artis, c. 21. quoted in Lessing's Schriften, vol. iv.
p. 63. ed. 1825, 12mo., and in Wehr's vom Papier, p. 132. (See Appendix B )

t See the Travels as published by Renaudot, and translated from liis French
into English.

i Note XXV. p. 370. Second ed. 1794.

42

330 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

precious stones. Such a specification would have been equally necessarj' for the
direction both of the merchant and of the tax-gatherer.

In confirmation of these remarks it may be observed, that the
passages collected in this chapter represent cotton cloth as an
expensive and curious production rather than as an article of
common use among the Greeks and Romans. Among the an-
cients linen must have been far cheaper than cotton, whereas
the improvements in navigation, the discovery of the passage
to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and still more the discovery
of America, have now made cotton the cheaper article among
us, and have thus brought it into general use,

India produces several varieties of cotton, both of the herba-
ceous and the tree kinds. Marco Polo mentions that " cotton
is produced in Guzerat in large quantities from a tree that is
about six yards in height, and bears during twenty years ; but
the cotton taken from trees of this age is not adapted for spin-
ning, but only quilting. Such, on the contrary, as is taken
from trees of twelve years old, is suitable for muslins and other
manufactures of extraordinary fineness*." Sir John Mande-
ville, on the other hand, who travelled in the fourteenth centu-
ry, fifty years later than Polo, mentions the annual herbaceous
cotton as cultivated in India : he says — " In many places the
seed of the cotton, (cothon,) which we call tree-wool, is sown
every year, and there springs up from its copses of low shrubs,
on which this wool growst." Forbes also, in his Oriental Me-
moirs, thus describes the herbaceous cotton of Guzerat : — " The
cotton shrub, which grows to the height of three or four feet,
and in verdure resembles the currant bush, requires a longer
time than rice (which grows up and is reaped in three months)
to bring its delicate produce to perfection. The shrubs are
])lanted between the rows of rice, but do not impede its growth,
or prevent its being reaped. Soon after the rice harvest is over,
the cotton bushes put forth a beautiful yellow fiower, with a
crimson eye in each petal ; this is succeeded by a green pod,
filled with a white stringy pulp ; the pod turns brown and
hard as it ripens, and then separates into two or three divisions

* Book 'ii. chap. 29. t Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 169.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 331

containing the cotton. A luxuriant field, exhibiting at the
same time the expanding blossom, the bursting capsule, and
the snowy flakes of ripe cotton, is one of the most beautiful ob-
jects in the agriculture of Hindostan*."

The following general statement concerning the cotton of
India, is from the geographical work of Malte Brun : — " The
cotton-tree grows on all the Indian mountains, but its produce
is coarse in quality : the herbaceous cotton prospers chiefly in
Bengal and on the Coromandel coast, and there the best cotton
goods are manufactured. Next to these two provinces, Madure,
Mara war, Pescaria, and the coast of Malabar, produce the finest
cottont." He elsewhere says—" Cotton is cultivated in every
part of India : the finest grows in the light rocky soil of Guze-
rat, Bengal, Oude, and Agra. The cultivation of this plant is
very lucrative, an acre producing about nine quintals of cotton
in the yeart"

On the discovery of this continent by Columbus, Cotton
formed the principal article of clothing among the Mexicans.

We are informed by the Abbe Clavigero that " of cotton the
Mexicans made large ivebs, and as delicate and fine as those
of Holland, which were, with much reason, highly esteemed in
Europe. They wove their cloths of different figures and
colors, representing different animals and flowers. Of feath-
ery interwoven with cotton, they made mantles and bed-cur-
tains, carjyets, gowns, and other things, not less soft than
beautiful. With cotton also they interxDOve the finest hair of
the belly of rabbits and hares, after having sjnot it into
thread : of this they made most beautiful cloths, and in par-
ticular Avinter waistcoats for their lords§." Among the pres-
ents sent by "Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, to Chailes V.,
were " cotton mantles, some all white, others mixed with white
and black, or red, green, yellow, and blue ; waistcoats, handker-
chiefs, counterpanes, tapestries, and carpets of cotton ; and the

* Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 405.

t Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 30. t Ibid. vol. iii. p. 303.

^ Clavigero's History of Mexico, book vii. sect. 57, 66.

332 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. .

colors of the cotton were extremely fine*." That the Mexicans
should have understood the art of dyeing those beautiful colors
referred to in the above extract, is not to be wondered at when
we consider that they had both ijidigo and cochineal among
their native productions.

Columbus also found the cotton plant gi-owing wild, and in
great abundance, in Hispaniola, and other West India islands,
and on the continent of South America, where the inhabitants
wore cotton dresses, and made their fishing nets of the same
material! ; and when Magellan went on his circumnavigation
of the globe, in 1519, the Brazihans were accustomed to make
their beds of this vegetable downt.

* Clavigero's History of Mexico, book vii. sect. 58.

t Sommario dell' Indie Occidentali del S. Don Pietro Martire, in Ramusio's
Collection, torn. ii. pp. 2, 4, 16, 50. (See Appendix D.)

I Vincentino's Viaggio atorno il Mondo, (with Ferd. Magellan,) in Ramusio,
torn. i. p. 353.

CHAPTER II.

SPINNING AND WEAVING— MARVELLOUS SKILL
DISPLAYED IN THESE ARTS.

Unrivalled excellence of India muslins — Testimony of the two Arabian travellers
— Marco Polo, and Odoardo Barbosa's accounts of the beautiful Cotton tex-
tures of Bengal — Cassar Frederick, Tavernier, and Forbes's testimony — Extra-
ordinary fineness and transparency of Dacca muslins — Specimen brought by Sir
Charles Wilkins ; compared with English muslins — Sir Joseph Banks's experi-
ments— Extraordinary fineness of Cotton yam spun by machinery in England —
Fineness of India Cotton yarn — Cotton textures of Soonergong — ^Testimony of
R. Fitch — Hamilton's account — Decline of the manufactures of Dacca ac-
counted for — Orme's testimony of the universal diffusion of the Cotton manu-
facture in India — Processes of the manufacture — Rude implements — Roller gin
— Bowing. (Eli Whitney inventor of the Cotton gin — Tribute of respect paid
to his memory — Immense value of Mr. Wliitney's invention to growers and man-
ufacturers of Cotton throughout the world.) Spinning wheel — Spinning without
a wheel — Loom — Mode of weaving — Forbes's description — Habits and remuner-
ation of Spinners, Weavers, &c. — Factories of the East India Company — Mar-
vellous skill of the Indian workman accounted for — Mills's testimony — Principal
Cotton fabrics of India, and where made — Indian commerce in Cotton goods —
Alarm created in the woollen and silk manufacturing districts of Great Britain
— Extracts from publications of the day — Testimony of Daniel De Foe (Au-
thor of Robinson Crusoe.) — Indian fabrics prohibited in England, and most
other countries of Europe — Petition from Calcutta merchants — Present con-
dition of the City of Dacca — Mode of spinning fine yarns — Tables showing
the comparative prices of Dacca and British manufactured goods of the same
quality.

The antiquity of the cotton manufacture in India ha\ang
been noticed in the last chapter, the present one will give some
account of the remarkable excellence of the Indian fabrics, —
the processes and machines by which they are wrought, — the
condition of the population engaged in this department of in-
dustry,- the extensive commerce formerly carried on in these
productions to every quarter of the globe, and the causes that
have tended to destroy it.

The Indians have in all ages maintained an unapproached

334 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

and almost incredible perfection in their fabrics of cotton. In-
deed some of their muslins miorht be thouo^ht the work of
fairies or insects, rather than of men ; but these are produced in
small quantities, and have seldom been exported. In the same
province from which the ancient Greeks obtained the finest
muslins then known, namely, the province of Bengal, these
astonishing fabrics are manufactured to the present day*.

We learn from two Arabian travellers of the ninth century,
that " in this country (India) they make garments of such ex-
traordinary perfection, that nowhere else are the like to be seen.
These garments are for the most part round, and wove to that
degree of fineness that they may be drawn through a ring of
moderate sizet." Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, men-
tions the coast of Coromandel, and especially Masulipatam, as
producing " the finest and most beautiful cottons that arc to be
found in any part of the worldt ;" and this is still the case as to
the flowered and glazed cottons, called chintzes, though the
muslins of the Coromandel coast are inferior to those of Bengal.

Odoardo Barbosa, one of the Portuguese adventiners who
visited India immediately after the discovery of the passage by
the Cape of Good Hope, celebrates " the great quantities of cot-
ton cloths admirably painted, also some white and some striped,
held in the highest estimation," which were made in Bengal§.
Caesar Frederick, a Venetian merchant, who travelled in India
in 1563, and whose narrative is translated by Hakluyt, de-
scribes the extensive traffic carried on between St. Thome (a port
150 miles from Negapatam) and Pegu, in " biimhast (cotton)
cloth of every sort, painted, which is a rare thing, because this
kind of cloths show as if they were gilded with divers colors,
and the more they are washed, the livelier the colors will be-
come ; and there is made such account of this kind of cloth,
that a small bale of it will cost 1000 or 2000 ducatsi!.''

* Bains's " History of the Cotton Manufacture," p. 55.

t Anciennes Relations des Indes et de la Chine, de duex Voyageurs Mahome-
tans, qui y allerent dans le neuvieme siecle, p. 21.

I Travels of Marco Polo, book iii. c. 21, 28.

§ Ramusio's " Raccolto delle Navigationi et Viaggi," torn. i. p. 315.

II Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 366. Edition of 1809.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 337

Tavernier, who, like Marco Polo, Barbosa, and Ficdcih'?
was a merchant as well as a traveller, and tlicrefore accustomed
to judge of the qualities of goods, and wlio travelled in the mid-
dle of the seventeenth century, says — "The white calicuts,"'
(calicoes, or rather muslins, so called from the great commercial
city of Calicut, whence the Portuguese and Dutch first brought
them) " are woven in several places in Bengal and MoguUstan,
and are carried to Raioxsary and Baroche* to be whitened, be-
cause of the large meadows and plenty of lemons that grow
thereabouts, for they are never so white as they should be till
they are dipped in lemon-icater. Some calicuts are made so
fine, you can hardly feel them in your hand, and the thread,
when spun, is scarce discerniblet." The same writer says,
" There is made at Seconge (in the province of Malwa) a sort
of calicut so fine that when a man puts it on, his skin shall
appear as plainly through it, as if he loas quite naked ; but
the merchants are not permitted to transport it, for the governor
is obliged to send it all to the Great Mogul's seraglio and the
principal lords of the court, to make the sultanesses and noble-
men's wives shifts and garments for the hot weather ; and the
king and the lords take great pleasure to behold them in these
shifts, and see them dance with nothing else upon themt"
Speaking of the turbans of the Mohammedan Indians, Taver-
nier says, " The rich have them of so fine cloth, that twenty-

* " At the town of Baroche, in Guzerat, Forbes describes the manufacture as
being now in nearly the same state as when Arrian's Periplus was written (about
A. D. 100.). He says — " The cotton trade at Baroche is very considerable, and
the manufactures of this valuable plant, from the finest musliu to the coarsest
sail-cloth, employ thousands of men, women, and children, in the metropolis
and the adjacent villages. The cotton clearers and spinners generally reside in
the suburbs, or poorahs, of Baroche, which are verj' extensive. The weavers'
liouses are mostly near the shade of tamarind and mango trees, under which, at
Bun-rise, they fi.x their looms, and weave a variety of cotton cloth, with very fine
baftas and muslins (See Plate V.). Surat is more famous for its colored chintzes
and piece goods. The Baroche muslins are inferior to those of Bengal and Madras,
nor do the painted chintzes of Guzerat equal those of tlie Coromandel coast." —
Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 222.

t Tavernier's Travels, contained in Dr. Harris's Collection of Voyages and
Travels, vol. i. p. 811.

X Ibid. vol. i. p. 829.

'^'^'* ANCIENT HISTORY OF

^Ve or thirty ells of it put into a turban will not weigh four
ounces*."

An English writer, at the end of the seventeenth century, in
a remonstrance against the admission of India musUns, for
which, he says, the high price of thirty shillings a yard was
paid, unintentionally comphments the delicacy of the fabric by
stigmatizing it as " only the shadow of a commodityf."

Tlie late Rev. William Ward, a missionary at Serampore,
informs us that " at Shantee-pooru and Dhaka, muslins are
made which sell at a hundred rupees a piece. The ingenuity
of the Hindoos in this branch of manufacture is wonderful.
Persons with whom I have conversed on this subject say, that
at two places in Bengal, Sonar-ga and Yilkrum-pooru, muslins
are made by a few families so exceedingly fine, that four
months are required to weave one piece, which seUs at five hun-
dred rupees. "When this mushn is laid on the grass, and the
dew has feUen upon it, it is no longer discernihleX.''^

After such statements as the above, from sober and creditable
witnesses, the Oriental hyperbole which designates the Dacca
muslins as " wehs of woven windj'^ seems only moderately po-
etical.

Sir Charles Wilkins brought a specimen of Dacca mushn
from India in the year 1786, which was presented to him by
the principal of the East India Company's factory at Dacca, as
the finest then made there. Like all Indian muslins, it has a
yellowish hue, caused by imperfect bleaching. Though the
worse for many years' exposure in a glass case, and the hand-
ling of visiters, it is of exquisite dehcacy, softness, and trans-
parency ; yet the yam of which it is woven, and of which Mr,
Wilkins also brought a specimen, is not so fine as some which
has been spun by machinery in England. The following
minute, made by Sir Joseph Banks on a portion of this yarn,
thirty or forty years since, appears at the India House in his
own Avriting, together Adth a specimen of the muslin : —

* Tavemier's Travels, Harris's Collection, vol. i. p. 833.
t The Naked Truth, in an Essay upon Trade, p. II.

\ View of the History, Literature, and Mythology' of the Hindoos, by William
Ward ; vol. iiL p. 127. 3d edition.

THE COTTON MANTTFACTURE. 337

" The portion of skein which Mr. Wilkins gave to me
weighed 34^ grains : its length was 5 yards 7 inches, and it
consisted of 196 threads. Consequently, its whole length was
1018 yards and 7 inches. This, with a small allowance for
fractions, gives 29 yards to a grain, 203,000 to a pound avoir-
dupoise of 7000 grains; that is, 115 miles, 2 furlongs, and 60
yards."

Cotton yarn has been spun in England, making three hun-
dred and fifty hanks to the lb. iveight, each hank measuring
840 yards, and the w'hole forming a thread of 167 miles in
length*. This, however, must be regarded merely as showing
how fine the cotton can possibly be spun by machinery, since
no such yarn is or could be used in the making of muslins, or
for any other purpose. The extreme of fineness to which
yarns for muslins are ever spun in Great Britain is 250 hanks
to the lb., which w^ould form a thread measuring 119^ miles;
but it is very rarely indeed that finer yarn is used than 220
hanks to the lb., which is less fine than the specimen of Dacca
muslin above mentioned. The Indian hand-spun yarn is soft-
er than mule-yarn, and the muslins made of the former are
much more durable than those made of the latter. In point
of appearance, however, the book-muslin of Glasgow is very
superior to the Indian muslin, not only because it is better
bleached, but because it is more evenly woven, and from yarn
of uniform thickness, whereas the threads in the Indian fabric
vary considerably.

It is probable that the specimens brought by Wilkins, though
the finest then made at the city of Dacca, is not equal to the
most delicate muslins made in that neighborhood in former
times, or even in the present. The place called by the Rev.
Mr. Ward Sonar-ga, and, by Mr. Walter Hamilton, Sooner-
gong, a decayed city near Dacca, has been said to be unrivalled
in its muslins. Mr. Ward's testimony has been quoted above.

* Pliny, in speaking of linen yam, gives us an account (L. xix. cap. 2.) of the
cuira.»is of the Egyptian king Amasis, which is preserved in the temple of Minerva
in Rhodes. " Each thread," says he, " is shown to consist of 365 fibres, which
fact Mucianus, being a third time Consul, lately asserted at Rome." — Mucianus
was Consul the third time A. D. 75.

43

338 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

Mr. Ralph Fitch, an English traveller, in 1583, spoke of the
same place when he said — " Sinnergan is a town six leagues
from Serrapore, where there is the best and finest cloth made of
cotton that is in all India*." Mr. Hamilton says — " Soonergong
is now dwindled down to an inconsiderable village. By Abul
Fazel, in 1582, it is celebrated for the manufacture of a beau-
tiful cloth, named cassas (cossaes,) and the fabrics it still pro-
duces justify to the present generation its ancient renownt".
But it seems that there has been a great decUne in the man-
ufacture of the finest muslins, which is both stated and ac-
counted for by Mr. Hamilton in the following passage on the
district of Dacca Jelulpoor : —

" Plain mushns, are distinguished by different names, accord-
ing to the fineness or closeness of the texture, as well asjloicer-
ed, striped, or chequered mushns, are fabricated chiefly in this
district, where a species of cotton named the banga grows, ne-
cessary, although not of a very superior quality, to fijrm the
stripes of the finest muslins, for which the city of Dacca has
been so long celebrated. The northern parts of Benares furnish
both plain and flowered mushns, which are not ill adapted for
common use, though incapable of sustaining any competition
with the beautiful and inimitable fabrics of Dacca.

" The export of the above staple articles has much decreased,
and the art of manufacturing some of the finest species of mus-
hns is in danger of being lost, the orders for them being so few
that many of the famihes who possess by hereditary instruc-
tion the art of fabricating them have desisted, on account of
the difficulty they afterwards experience in disposing of them.
This decline may partly be accounted for from the utter stag-
nation of demand in the upper provinces since the downfall of
the imperial government, prior to which these delicate and
beautiful fabrics were in such estimation, not only at the court
of Delhi, but among all classes of the high nobility in India, as
to render it difficult to supply the demand. Among more re-

* Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 390 ; edit. 1809.

t A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan, by Wal-
ter Hamilton, Esq. vol. i. p. 187— (1820.)

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 339

cent causes also may be adduced the French vevokition, the de-
gree of perfection to which this pecuUar manufacture has late-
ly been brought in Great Britain, the great diminution in the
Company's investment, and the advance in the price of cotton."

With respect to the peculiar species of cotton of which the
Dacca musUns are made, the following statement was given to
a committee of the House of Commons, in 1830-31, by Mr.
John Crawfurd, for many years in the service of the East India
Company, and author of the " History of the Indian Archipelago :"

" There is a fine variety of cotton in the neighborhood of
Dacca, from which I have reason to believe the fine muslins of
Dacca are produced, and probably to the accidental discovery
of it is to be attributed the rise of this singular manufacture ;
it is cultivated by the natives alone, not at all known in the
Enghsli market, nor, as far as I am aware, in that of Calcutta.
Its growth extends about forty miles along the banks of the
Megna, and about three miles inland. I consulted Mr. Cole-
brook respecting the Dacca cotton, and had an opportunity of
perusing the manuscripts of the late Dr. Roxburgh, which con-
tain an account of it ; he calls it a variety of the common herba-
ceous annual cotton of India, and states that it is longer in the
staple, and affords the material from which the Dacca musUns
have been always made."

The cotton manufacture in India is not carried on in a few
large towns, or in one or two districts ; it is universal. The
growth of cotton is nearly as general as the growth of food ;
everywhere the women spend a portion of their time in spin-
ning ; and almost every village contains its weavers, and sup-
phes its own inhabitants with the scanty clothing they require*.
Being a domestic manufacture, and carried on witli the rudest
and cheapest apparatus, it requires neither capital, mills, or an

* Orme, in his Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, says, " On the
coast of Coromandel and in the province of Bengal, when at some distance from
the high road or a principal town, it is difficult to find a village in which every
man, woman, and child is not employed in making a piece of cloth. At present,
much the greatest part of the whole provinces are employed in this single manufac-
ture." (p. 409.) " The progress of the cotton manufacture includes no less than
a description of the live8 of hali the inhabitants of Indostan." (p. 413.)

340 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

assemblage of various trades. The cotton is separated from
the seeds by a small rude hand-mill, or gin, turned by women.
The mill consists of two rollers of teak wood, fluted longitudi-
nally with five or six grooves, and revolving nearly in contact.
The upper roller is turned by a handle, the lower being carried
along with it by means of a perpetual screw at the axis. The
cotton is put in at one side, and drawn through by the revolv-
ing rollers ; but the seeds, being too large to pass through the
opening, are torn off and fall down on the opposite side from
the cotton*.

* To the efforts of Eli Whitney, America is indebted for the value of her great
staple. While the invention of the cotton gin has been the chief source of the
prosperity of the Southern planter, the Northern manufacturer conies in for a
large share of the benefits derived from this most important offspring of American
ingenuity.

Eli Whitney, who may with justice be considered one of the most ingenious
and extraordinary men that ever lived, was born in Westborough, Worcester
County, Massachusetts, December 8th, 17G5. His parents belonged to that re-
spectable class in society, who, by the labors of husbandry, manage, hy vniforin
industry, to provide well for a rising family, — a class from whom have risen most
of those who, in New England, have attained to high eminence and usefulness.

Although Mr. Whitney's machines have benefited the people of this countrj',
and the world at large, millions upon millions, yet, it is to be lamented that he
did not reap that reward which his ingenuity and industry, as well as virtuous
course of conduct so richly merited, but died much involved in debt, while thou-
sands who had conspired to defraud him of his just and lawful rights, were en-
riched by the use of his machines.

" If we should assert," said Judge William Johnson, " that the benefits of this
invention (the Cotton gin) exceed ^100,000,000, we can prove the assertion by
correct calculation."

Who is there that, like him, has given his country and the world a macliine —
the product of his own skill — which has furnished a large part of its population,
from childhood to age, with a lucrative employment ; by which their debts have
been paid off; their capitals increased ; their lands trebled in value ?

Mr. Whitney died on the 8th of January 182.'S, and is buried in the cemetery
of New Haven, Connecticut. His tomb is after the model of Scipio's at Rome.
It is simple and beautiful, and promises to endure for years. It bears the follow-
ing inscription.

ELI WHITNEY.

THE INVENTOR OF THE COTTON GIN.

OF USEFUL SCIENCE AND ARTS, THE EFFICIENT PATRON AND IMPROVER.

IN THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF LIFE, A MODEL OF EXCELLENCE.

WHILE PRIVATE AFFECTION WEEPS AT HIS TOMB, HIS COUNTRY HONORS HIS MEMORY,

BORN DECEMBER 8tH, 17G5. — DIED JAN. 8tII, 1825.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 341

The next operation is that of bowing the cotton, to clear it
from dirt and knots. A large bow, made elastic by a complica-
tion of strings, is used ; this being put in contact with a heap
of cotton, the w^orkman strikes the string with a heavy wooden
mallet, and its vibrations open the knots of the cotton, shake
from it the dust and dirt, and raise it to a downy fleece. The
hand-mill and bow have been used immemorially throughout
all the countries of Asia, and have their appropriate names in
the Arabic and other languages : they were formerly used in
America, whence the term, still applied in commerce, " bowed
Georgia cotton^'' The hatters of Great Britain still raise their
wool by the bow. The cotton being thus prepared, without
any carding, it is spun by the women ; the coarse yarn is spun
on a one-thread wheel, and very much resembling those used
at the present day by the peasantry in the west of Ireland.

The finer yarn is spun watli a metallic spindle, and some-
times without a distaff; a bit of clay is attached as a weight to
one end of the spindle, which is turned round with the left
hand, whilst the cotton is supplied with the right ; the thread is
wound upon a small piece of wood. The spinster keeps her

The convention of American Geologists and Naturalists who met at New Ha-
ven in May last (1845. )j were invited, together with their ladies, by Mrs. Whit-
ney, the widow of the inventor of the Cotton gin, to attend an evening party at
her house, wliicli was accepted, where they had an elegant supper and conver-
sazione.

" It is melancholy," says Mr. Bains in his Historj' of the Cotton Manufacture,
p. 114, "to contrast with the sanguine eagerness of inventors, the slowness of
mankind to acknowledge and reward their merits, — to observe how, on many oc-
casions, genius, instead of realizing fame and fortune, has been pursued by disas-
ter and opposition, — how trifling difficulties have frustrated the success of splendid
discoveries, — and how those discoveries, snatched from the grasp of their broken-
hearted authors, have brought princely fortunes to men whose only talent was in
making money. When inventors fail in their projects, no one pities them ; when
they succeed, persecution, envy, and jealousy are their reward. Their means
are generally exhausted before their discoveries become productive. They plant
a vineyard, and either starve, or are driven from their inheritance, before they can
gather the fruit."

Would it not be greatly to the credit of the cotton manufacturing interest in
this country and in Europe, to present Mrs. Whitney with some token of their
respect and veneration for the memorj- of the inventor of the Cotton gin?

342 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

fingers dry by the use of a chalky powder. (See Part First,
Chapter I, pp. 17 and 18.)

The yarn, having been reeled and warped in the simplest
possible manner, is given to the weaver whose loom is as rude
a piece of apparatus as can be imagined. It consists merely of
two bamboo rollers, one for the warp and the other for the web,
and a pair of headles. The shuttle performs the double office of
shuttle and lay, and for this purpose is made like a large net-
ting needle, and of a length rather more than the breadth of the
web*. This apparatus the weaver carries to a tree, under
which he digs a hole (which may be called the treadle-hole)
large enough to contain his legs and the lower tackle. He then
stretches his warp by fastening his bamboo rollers at a proper
distance from each other by means of wooden pins. The
headle-jacks he fastens to some convenient branch of the tree
over his head (See Plate V.) : two loops underneath, in which
he inserts his great toes, serve instead of treadles ; and his
long shuttle, which also performs the office of lay, draws the
weft through the warp, and afterwards strikes it home to the
fell. " There is not so much as an expedient for roUing up the
warp : it is stretched out to the full length of the web, which
makes the house of the weaver insufficient to contain him.
He is therefore obliged to work continually in the open air ; and
every return of inclement weather interrupts himt."

Forbes describes the weavers in Guzerat, near Baroche, as
fixing their looms at sun-rise under the shade of tamarind and
mango trees. In some parts of India, however, as on the
banks of the Ganges, the weavers work under the cover of their
sheds, fixing the geer of their looms to a bamboo in the roof
(See Plate V.). They size their warps with a starch made

* The shuttle is not always of this length. Hoole, in his " Mission to India,"
represents it as requiring to be thrown, in which case it must be short ; and a
drawing of a Candyan weaver, in the Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge, shows the shuttle of the same size as our modern shawl
shuttle. Indeed we have abundant evidence that the Indians employed shuttles
of this latter description from time immemorial. The Chinese also use shuttles
of the same description. (See Chinese loom, Plate I.)

t Mill's History of British India, book ii. ch. 8.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 343

from tlie root called kandri. When chequered muslins are
wrought, three persons are employed at each loom.

Some authentic particulars concerning the habits and remu-
neration of the Hindoos engaged in the making of cotton cloth,
are contained in an unpublished account of the districts of
Purani3a (Purneah,) Patna, and Dinajpur, by Dr. Francis
Hamilton, better known as Dr. F. Buchanan, (he having taken
the name of Hamilton,) the author of the " Journey from Ma-
dras to Mysore, Canara, and Malabar." This account of the
above-named provinces near the Ganges is in several manu-
script volumes in the library of the India House, in London.
We learn from his elaborate survey that the spinning and
weaving of cotton prevails tlnoughout these provinces. The
fine yarns are spun with an iron spindle, and without distafl*
generally by women of rank ; no caste is disgraced here by
spinning, as in the south of India ; the women do not employ
all their time at this work, but only so much as is allowed by
their domestic occupations. The coarse yarns are spun on a
small wheel turned by the hand. The hand-mill is used to
free the cotton from its seeds, and the bow to tease it. The
following capital is required for the weaver's business : a loom,
2^ rupees ; sticks for warping and a wheel for winding, 2 anas ;
a shop, 4 rupees ; thread for two ready money pieces, worth 6
rupees each, 5 rupees; — total 11 rupees 10 anas; to which
must be added a month's subsistence. The man and his wife
warp, wind, and weave two pieces of this kind in a month, and
he has 7 rupees (14 shillings stg.) profit, deducting, however,
the tear and wear of his apparatus, which is a trifle. A person
hired to weave can in a month make three pieces of this kind,
and is allowed 2 anas in the rupee of their value, which is 2\
rupees {^s. 6d.) a month. The finest goods cost 2 rupees a
piece for weaving. Dr. Hamilton, in his observations on an-
other district, states the average profit of a loom engaged in
weaving coarse goods to be 28 rupees (£2. lG,s.) a year, oi
something less than I3d. a week. At Puraniya and Dinajpur
the journeymen cotton-weavers usually made from 2 to 2 1 ru-
pees (from 45, to 55.) a month. At Patna a man and his wife
made from 3 to 4 rupees (from 65. to 85.) a month by beating

344

ANCIENT HISTORY OP

and cleaning- cotton ; and each loom employed in making che-
quered muslins, has a profit of IO82 rupees a year (£10. 16s.),
that is, is. Ad. a week for each of the three persons who work
the loom. The average earnings of a journeyman weaver,
therefore, appear to be from 1.9. to Is. 4d. per week. At Ban-
galore, and in some other parts of southern India, this author
states that weavers eain from 3d. to 8d. a day, according as
they are employed on coarse or fine goods* ; but this is so much
above the usual remuneration for labor in India, that, if the
statement is not erroneous, it must be of extremely limited ap-
phcation. On the same authority, a woman spinning coarse
yarn can earn If </. per dayt.

A fact is mentioned by Dr. Hamilton, in his unpublished ac-
count of Patna, which affords a striking indication as to the
national character of the Hindoos — " All Indian weavers, wlio
work for the common market, make the woof of one end of the
cloth coarser than that of the other, and attempt to sell to the
unwary by the fine end, although every one almost, who deals
with them, is perfectly aware of the circumstance, and although
in the course of his life any weaver may not ever have an op-
portunity of gaining by this means, yet he continues the prac-
tice, with the hope of being able at some time or other to take
advantage of the purchaser of his goods."

The East India Company has a factory at Dacca, and also
in other parts of India, — not, as the American use of the word
" factory" might seem to imply, a mill, for the manufacture is
entirely domestic— but a commercial establishment in a manu-
facturing district, where the spinners, weavers, and other work-
men are chiefly employed in providing the goods whicli the
Company export to Europe. This establishment is under the
management of a commercial resident, who agrees for the
kinds of goods that may be required, and superintends the ex-
ecution of the orders received from the presidencies. Such is
the poverty of the workmen, and even of the manufacturers
who employ them, that the resident has to advance beforehand

* Buchanan's Journey through Mysore, vol. i. pp. 216-218.
+ Ibid. vol. iii. p. 317.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 345

the funds necessary in order to produce the goods. Tlie con-
sequence of this system is, that the manufacturers and their
men are in a state of dependence ahnost amounting to servi-
tude. The resident obtains their labor at his own price, and,
being supported by the civil and military power, he estabUshes
a monopoly of the worst kind, and productive of the most preju-
dicial effects to industr)^ The Act of 1833, which put an end
to the commercial character of the Company, will of course
abolish all the absurd and oppressive monopolies it exercised.

It cannot but seem astonishing, that in a department of in-
dustry, where the raw material has been so grossly neglected,
where the machinery is so rude, and where there is so little
division of labor, the results should be fabrics of the most exqui-
site deUcacy and beauty, unrivalled by the products of any
other nation, even those best skilled in the mechanic arts.
This anomaly is explained by the remarkably fine sense of
touch possessed by that effeminate people, by their patience and
gendeness, and by the hereditary continuance of a particular
species of manufacture in families through many generations,
wdiich leads to the training of children from their very infancy
in the processes of the art. Mr. Orme observes — " The women
spin the thread destined for the cloth, and then deliver it to the
men, who have fingers to model it as exquisitely as these have
prepared it. The rigid, clumsy fingers of a European would
scarcely be able to make a piece of canvass with the instru-
ments which are all that an Indian employs in making a piece
of cambric (muslin). It is further remarkable, that every dis-
tinct kind of cloth is the production of a particular district, in
which the fabric has been transmitted perhaps for centuries
from father to son, — a custom which must have conduced to
the perfection of the manufacture* P The last mentioned
fact may be considered as a kind of division of labor.

Mr. Mill thus explains the unequalled manual skill of the In-
dian weaver : — " It is a sedentary occupation, and thus in har-
mony with his predominant inclination. It requires patience,
of which he has an inexhaustible fund. It requires little

* Ormes's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 413.

346 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

bodily exertion, of which he is ahvays exceedingly sparing;
and the finer the production, the more slender the force which
he is called upon to apply. But this is not all. The weak and
delicate frame of the Hindu is accompanied with an acuteness
of external sense, particularly of touch, which is altogether un-
rivalled ; and the flexibihty of his fingers is equally remarkable.
The hand of the Hindu, therefore, constitutes an organ adapt-
ed to the finest operations of the loom, in a degree which is al-
most or altogether peculiar to himself*."

It is, then, to a physical organization in the natives, admi-
rably suited to the processes of spinning and weaving ; to the
possession of the raw material in the greatest abundance ; to
the possession also of the most hrilUant dyes for staining and
printing the cloth ; to, a climate which renders the colors lively
and durable ; and to the hereditary practice, by particular
castes, classes, and families, both of the manual operations and
chemical processes required in the manufacture ; — it is to these
causes, with very little aid from science, and in an almost bar-
barous state of the mechanical arts, that India owes her long
supremacy in the manufacture of cotton.

Bengal is celebrated for the production of the finest muslins ;
the Coromandel coast, for the best chintzes and calicoes ; and
Surat, for strong and inferior goods of every kind. The cottons
of Bengal go under the names of casses, cimdns, and garats ;
and the handkerchiefs are called Burgoses and Steinkirkes.
Table cloths of superior quality are made at Patna. The
basins, or basinets, come from the Northern Circars. Condaver
furnishes the beautiful handkerchiefs of Masulipatam, the fine
colors of which are partly obtained from a plant called chage,
which grows on the banks of the Krishna, and on the coast of
the Bay of Bengal. The chintzes and ginghams are chiefly
made at Masulipatam, Madras, St. Thome, and Paliamcotta.
The long cloths and fine pullicats are produced in the presi-
dency of Madras. The coarse piece-goods, under the name of
baftas, doutis, and pullicats, as well as common mushns and
chintzes, are extensively manufactured in the district of which

* Mill's History of British India, book ii. c. 8.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 347

Surat is the port. Besides all these, there is an endless variety
of fabrics, many of which are known in the markets of Europe,
Asia, and Africa.

The commerce of the Indians in these fabrics has been ex-
tensive, from the Christian era to the end of the last century.
For many hundred years, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Abys-
sinia, and all the eastern parts of Africa, were supplied with a
considerable portion of their cottons and muslins, and Avith all
which they consumed of the finest qualities, from the marts of
India. This commerce existed in the last age, and is described
by the Abbe Raynal* and Legoux de Flaix. The blue calicoes
of Guzerat were long bought by the English and Dutch for
their trade with Guinea. The great marts of this commerce
on the west coast of India were Surat and Cahcut, the former
of which is near to Baroche, the manufacturing capital of Gu-
zerat, in which province a considerable part of the exported cot-
tons of India were made ; and on the east coast, Masulipatam,
Madras, and St. Thome, whence the varied and extensive
products of the Coromandel coast are exported.

Owing to the beauty and cheapness of Indian muslins,
chintzes, and cahcoes, there was a period when the manufac-
turers of all the countries of Europe were apprehensive of be-
ing ruined by their competition. In the seventeenth century,
the Dutch and English East India Companies imported these
goods in large quantities ; they became highly fashionable for
ladies' and children's dresses, as well as for drapery and furni-
ture, and the coarse cahcoes were used to hne garments. To
such an extent did this proceed, that as early as 1678 a loud
outcry was made in England against the admission of Indian
goods, which, it was maintained, were ruining the woollen
manufacture, — a branch of industry which for centuries was
regarded with an almost superstitious veneration, as a kind of
palladium of the national prosperity, and which was incompa-
rably the most extensive branch of manufactures till the close
of the eighteenth century. A few extracts from pamphlets

• Hisloire Philosophique et Politique des Etablissements du Commerce des Eu-
ropeans dans les deux Indes, torn. ii. liv. iv. ch. 4.

348 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

published in the seventeenth and at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, will not only afford amusement, but will
show the wonderful commercial revolution which has since
been effected by machinery. In the year 1678, a pamphlet
was issued under the title — " The Ancient Trades Decayed
and Repaired again," in which the author thus bewails the in-
terference of cotton with woollen fabrics.

" This trade (the woollen) is very much hindered by our own
people, who do wear many foreign commodities instead of our
own ; as may be instanced in many particulars ; viz. instead of
green sey, that was wont to be used for children's frocks, is now
used painted and Indian-stained and striped calico ; and instead
of a perpetuana or shalloon to Une men's coats with, is used
sometimes a glazed cahco, which in the whole is not above 12c?.
cheaper, and abundantly worse. And sometimes is used a
Bangale that is brought from India, both for hnings to coats,
and for petticoats too ; yet our English ware is better and
cheaper than this, only it is thinner for the summer. To rem-
edy this, it would be necessary to lay a very high impost upon
all such commodities as these are, and that no calicoes or
other sort of linen be suffered to be glazed." — pp. 16, 17.

The writer, with equal wisdom, recommends the prohibition
of stage coaches^ on account of their injuring the proprietors of
the inns on the road, by conveying the passengers too quickly,
and at too little expense to themselves. A pamphlet entitled
" The Naked Truth, in an Essay upon Trade," published in
1696, informs us that —

"The commodities that we chiefly receive from the East
Indies are calicoes, muslins, Indian wrought silks, pepper, salt-
petre, indigo, &c. The advantage of the Company is chiefly
in their muslins and Indian silks, (a great value in these com-
modities being comprehended in a small bulk,) and these be-
coming the general wear in England." — p. 4. "Fashion is
truly termed a witch ; the dearer and scarcer any commodity,
the more the mode ; 30^. a yard for muslins, and only the
shadow of a commodity when procured." — p. 11.

So sagacious and far-sighted an author as Daniel de Foe
(Author of Robinson Crusoe) did not escape the general notion,

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 349

that it was not merely injurious to the woollen and silk manu-
factures, but also a national evil, to have clothing cheap

FROM abroad rather THAN TO MANUFACTURE IT DEAR

AT HOME. In his Weekly Review, which contains so many
opinions on trade, credit, and currency far beyond the age. he
thus laments the large importations of Indian goods.

" The general fancy of the people runs upon East India goods
to that degree, that the cimitz and painted calicoes, which
before were only made use of for carpets, quilts, &c., and to
clothe children and ordinary people, become now the dress of
our ladies ; and such is the power of a mode as we saw our
persons of quahty dressed in stuffs which but a few years before
their chambermaids would have thought too ordinary for them :
the chintz was advanced from lying upon their floors to their
backs, from the foot-cloth to the petticoat ; and even the queen
herself at this time was pleased to appear in China silks and
calico. Nor was this all, but it crept into our houses, closets,
and bed-chambers ; curtains, cushions, chairs, and at last beds
themselves, were nothing but cahcoes or Indian stuffs ; and in
short, almost everything that used to be made of wool or silk,
relating eitlier to the dress of the women or the furniture of our
houses, was supplied by the Indian trade."

"Above half of the (woollen) manufacture was entirely lost,
half of the people scattered and ruined, and all this by the
intercourse of the East India trade." — Weekly Review, Janu-
ary 31st, 1708.

However exaggerated and absurd De Foe's estimate of the
injury caused to tlie woollen manufacture, as manifested by the
small value of the whole importations of Indian fabrics, at that
time, as well as (much more decisively) by the experience of
recent times, when the woollen manufacture has sustained the
incomparably more formidable competition of the English cotton
manufacture, it is evident from his testimony, and that of other
writers, that Indian calicoes, muslins, and chintzes, had become
common in England at the close of the seventeenth century.
De Foe's complaint was not of an evil existing in 1708, when
lie wrote, but of one a few years earlier ; for he says in another
place, that the " prohibition op Indian goods" had " avert-

350 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

ED THE RUIN OF ENGLISH MANUFACTURES, AND REVIVED

THEIR PROSPERITY." This prohibition took place by the Act
11 and 12 William III. cap. 10., (1700,) which forbid the intro-
duction of Indian silks and printed calicoes for domestic use,
either as apparel or furniture, under a penalty of £200 on the
wearer or seller, and as this Act did not prevent the continued
use of the goods, which were probably smuggled from the con-
tinent of Europe, other Acts for the same purpose were passed
at a later date.

A volume published in the year 1728, entitled "A Plan of
the English Commerce," shows that the evil of a consumption
of Indian manufactures still prevailed, and that it was ascribed
to a cause for which the writer saw no remedy, namely, the loill
of the ladies^ or, in his own words, their " passion for their
fashion:'' The other countries of Europe are represented as
equally suffering from Indian competition and fo7nale 'perverse-
ness, and as attempting in the same way to find a remedy in
legislative prohibition. Holland was an honorable exception.
The author says —

"The calicoes are sent from the Indies by land into Turkey,
by land and inland seas into Muscovy and Tartary, and about
by long-sea into Europe and America, till in general they are
become a grievance, and almost all the European nations but
the Dutch restrain and prohibit them." — p. ISO.

"Two things," says the writer, "among us are too un-
governable, viz. our passions and our fashions.

" Should I ask the ladies whether they would dress by law,
or clothe by act of parUainent, they would ask me whether
they were to he statute fools, and to be made pageants and
pictures of? — whether the sex was to be set up for our jest, and
the parliament had nothing to do but make Indian queens of
them ? — that they claim liberty as well as the men, and as they
expect to do what they please, and say what they please, so
they will wear what they please, and dress how they please.

" It is true that the liberty of the ladies, then' passion for
their fashion, has been frequently injurious to the manufac-
tures of Great Britain, and is so still in some cases ; but I do
not see so easy a remedy for that, as for some other things of

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 351

the like nature. The ladies have suffered some Httle restraint
that way, as in the wearing East India silks, instead of Eng-
lish ; and calicoes and other things instead of worsted stuffs
and the like ; and we do not see they are pleased with it." —
p. 253.

It appears, then, that not more than a century ago, the cot-
ton fabrics of India were so beautiful and cheap, that nearly all
the governments of Europe thought it necessary to prohibit
them, or to load them with heavy duties, in order to pro-
tect THEIR OWN manufactures. How surprising a rev-
olution has since taken place ! The Indians have not lost
their former skill ; but a power has arisen, which has robbed
them of their ancient ascendancy. The following document
furnishes superabundant proof how a manufacture which has
existed without a rival for thousands of years, is withering un-
der the competition of a power which is as it were but of yes-
terday : it would be well if it did not also illustrate the very
different measure of protection and justice which governments
usually afford to their subjects at home, and to those of their
remote dependencies.

PETITION OF NATIVES OF BENGAL, RELATIVE TO DU
TIES ON COTTON AND SILK.

" Calcutta, 1st. Sept. 1831.

" To the Right Honorable the Lords of His Majesty's
Priviy Council for Trade, cj'c.

"The humble Petition of the undersigned Manufacturers
and Dealers in Cotton and Silk Piece-goods^ the fabrics of
Bengal ;

" Sheweth — That of late years your Petitioners have found
their business nearly superseded by the introduction of the fab-
rics of Great Britain into Bengal, the importation of which
augments every year, to the great prejudice of the native man-
ufactures.

" That the fabrics of Great Britain are consumed in Bengal,
without any duties being levied thereon to protect the native
fabrics.

352 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

" That the fabrics of Bengal are charged with the following
duties when they are used in Great Britain —

" On manufactured cottons, 10 per cent.
" On manufactured silks, 24 per cent.

" Your Petitioners most humbly implore your Lordships' con-
sideration of these circumstances, and they feel confident that
no disposition exists in England to shut the door against the
industry of any part of the inhabitants of this great empire.

" They therefore pray to be admitted to the privilege of Brit-
ish subjects, and humbly entreat your Lordships to allow the
cotton and silk fabrics of Bengal to be used in Great Britain
free of duty, or at the same rate which may be charged on
British fabrics consumed in Bengal*.

" Your Lordships must be aw^are of the immense advantages
the British manufacturers derive from their skill in constiiicting
and usmg machinery, which enables them to undersell the
unscientific manufacturers of Bengal in their own country : and,
although your Petitioners are not sanguine in expecting to
derive any great advantage from having their prayer granted,
their minds would feel gratified by such a manifestation of your
Lordsliips' good will towards them ; and such an instance of
justice to the natives of India would not fail to endear the
British government to them.

" They therefore confidently trust, that your Lordships'
righteous consideration will be extended to them as British
subjects, without exception of sect, country, or color.

" And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray."
[Signed by 117 natives of high respectabihty.]

Dacca, notwdthstanding its present insignificance as com-
pared wuth its former grandeur, may nevertheless still be classed
among second rate cities. It has a population of 150,000 in-
habitants, which is nearly a third more than the city of Balti-

* This reasonable request was not complied with, the duty on India cotton be-
ing still 10 per cent. The extra duty of 3i(/. per yard on printed cottons was
taken off when the excise duty on English prints was repealed, in 1831. Eng-
lish cottons imported into India only pay a duty of 2J per cent.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 353 ♦

more contains. Some new brick dwellings have silently sprung
up here and there, it may also be observed, within the last few
years ; and this city can now boast an Oil Mill driven by steam,
and an Iron Suspension Bridge. Three more steam engines
are in the course of erection*. On the whole, an increase may
be looked for, rather than the contrary, in the wealth, population,
and importance of the city of Dacca.

It would be curious to compare the gradual decrease of the
population, with the falling off of the manufacture of those
beautiful cotton fabrics, for which this city was once without a
rival in the worldf. The first falling off in the Dacca trade,
took place so far back as 1801, previous to which the yearly
advances made by the East India Company, and private traders,
for Dacca muslins, were estimated at upwards of twenty-five
lacs of rupeesj. In 1807, the Company's investment had fallen
to 595,900, and the private trade to about 560,200. In 1813,
the private trade did not exceed 205,950, and that of the Com-
pany was scarcely more considerable. And in 1817, the Enghsh
commercial residency was altogether discontinued. The French
and Dutch factories had been abandoned many years before.
The division of labor was carried to a great extent in the manu-
facture of fine musUns. In spinning the very fine thread, more
especially, a great degree of skill was attained. It was spun
with the fingers on a " Takwa^'' or fine steel spindle, by young
women, who could only work during the early part of the
morning, while the dew was on the ground ; for such was the
extreme tenuity of the fibre, that it would not bear manipula-
tion after the sun had risen. One retti of cotton could thus be
spun into a thread eighty cubits long ; which was sold by the
spinners at one rupee, eight annas, per sicca weight. The
" Raffugars," or Darners, were also particularly skilful. They
could remove an entire thread from a piece of muslin, and

* Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii.

t If Providence should continue to bless the work of our hands, and our life and
health be preserved, we indulge the hope of being able, at no very distant period,
to investigate this subject more fully.

t Lac of rupees is one hundred thousand rupees, which at 55 cents each
amount to fiftv-five thousand dollars, or at 2*. 6d. sterling, to X12,500.

45

354 ANCIENT HISTORY OP

replace it hy one of a finer texture. The cotton used for the
finest thread, was grown m the immediate neighlDorhood of
Dacca, more especially about Sunergong. Its fibre is too short,
however, to admit of its being worked up by any except that
most wonderful of all machines — the human hand. The art
of making the very fine musUn fabrics is now lost — and a pity
it is that it should be so.

In 1820, a resident of Dacca, on a special order received from
China, procured the manufacture of two pieces of muslin, each
ten yards long by one wide, and weighing ten and a half sicca
rupees. — The price of each piece was 100 sicca rupees. In
1822, the same individual received a second commission for two
similar pieces, from the same quarter ; but the parties who had
supphed him on the former occasion had died in the mean time,
and he was unable to execute the commission.

The annual investment, called the " Malbus Khas," for the
royal wardrobe at Delhi, absorbed a great part of the finest fabrics
in former times : the extreme beauty of some of these mushns,
was sufficiently indicated by the names they bore : such as,
" Abroioan" running water ; " Siebnem^' evening dew, &c.
The cotton manufacture has not yet arrived at anything like
this perfection with us, and probably never will.*

* The memufacture of fine muslin, was attempted both in Lancashire and at
Glasgow, about the year 1780, with weft spun by the jenny. The attempt
failed, owing to the coarseness of the yam. Even with Indian weft, muslins
could not be made to compete with those of the East. But when the mule was
brought into general use, in 1785, both weft and warp were produced sufficiently
fine for muslins ; and so quickly did the weaver avail himself of the improvement in
the yam, that no less than 500,000 pieces of muslin were manufactured in Great
Britain in the year 1787. In a " Report of the Select Committee of the Court
of Directors of the East India Company upon the subject of the Cotton Manu-
facture of this Country," made in the year 1793, it is said, that " every shop of-
fers British muslins for sale equal in appearance, and of more elegant patterns
than those of India, for one-fourth, or perhaps more than one-third, less in
price." " Muslin began to be made nearly at the same time at Bolton, at Glas-
gow, and at Paisley, each place adopting the peculiar description of fabric which
resembled most those goods it had been accustomed to manufacture ; and, in
consequence of this judicious distribution at first, each place has continued to
maintain a superiority in the production of its owti article. Jaconets, both coarse
and fine, but of a stout fabric, checked and striped muslins, and other articles of
the heavier description of this branch, are manufactured in Bolton, and its neigh-

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

355

Coarse cotton piece goods still continue to be manufactured
at Dacca, though from the extreme cheapness of Ei^glish cloths,
it is not improbable that the native manufacture will be alto-
gether superseded ere long.

In 1823-4, cotton piece goods, mostly coarse, passed the
Dacca Custom House, to the value of 1,442,101. In 1829-30,
the value of the same export was 909,952 only. There was a
similar falling off in silk and embroidered goods during the
same period.

In the export of the articles of cotton yarn again, there has
been an increase. In 1813, the value was 4,480 rupees only ;
whereas in 1821-22, it amounted to 39,319 rupees. From
that period it has, however, decreased ; and in 1829-30, the
value of the native cotton yarn exported from Dacca, amount-
ed to 29,475 rupees only.

Annexed are two statements — one showing the comparative
prices of mushns now manufactured at Dacca, and of the same
description of cloth, the produce of British looms. — The other,
the comparative prices of Dacca cloths, manufactured from
yarn spun in the country, and from British cotton yarn.
These cannot fail to be interesting at the present moment, and
their general accuracy may be relied on.

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF MUSLINS MANUFACTURED
AT DACCA, AND THE PRODUCE OF THE BRITISH LOOMS.

ASSORTMENTS.

Jamdani, with small spot, 1st sort

" " 2nd ditto

Jaradaiu, Mabiposh,

" Diagonal pattern,

Jaconet Muslin, 40^, corresponding ) . 1st ditto
witli Jungle Cossas, .... \ . 2nd ditto

Nyansook, 40 to 2^

Cambric, corresponding with Camiz Cossas, . . .

Jamdani blue or red sprigs,

Jamdani Saris,

Book Muslin, corresponding with MulmuUs, ....

Sahun, 48 by 3,

Manufac-

Produce of

tured at

the British

Dacca.

Looms.

25

8

16

5

27 to 28

G

12 to 13

4 to 4i

38 to 40

20 to 22

24 to 25

9 to 10

8 to 9

5 to 6

13 to 14

6 to 9*

15 to 16

4 to 5

12 to 13

5 to 5i

10 to 11

7 to 8

28 to 30

14 to 15

borhood. Book, mull, and leno muslins, and jaconets of a lighter fabric than those
made in Lancashire, are manufactured in Glasgow. Sewed and tambored muslins
are almost e.\clusively made there and in Paisley." — Encyclopedia Britannica.

356

ANCIENT HISTORY OP

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF DACCA CLOTHS, MANTT-
FACTURED WITH COTTON YARN SPUN IN THE COUNTRY, AND FROM
BRITISH COTTON YARN.

ASSORTMENTS.

Mulrauls, 40 by 2, 1st sort

2nd ditto
3rd ditto

Sablams, 40 by 2, 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto
4th ditto
5th ditto

Sarbans, 40 cubits 1st ditto

2nd ditto

Allabalis Adi, 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto
4th ditto

Tarindans, 40 cubits, Ist ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto
4th ditto

Sari, per pair, 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto

Dhotis, per pair, 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto
4th ditto
5th ditto
6th ditto

Sheraganj Cossas, 40 cubits, ... 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto
4th ditto
5th ditto

Sheraganj Hamam, 40 by 3, . . . 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto
4th ditto
5th ditto
6th ditto

Jamdan Dhotis, 10 cubits, ... 1st ditto

2nd ditto
3rd ditto

DACCA MCSLISS.

Manufactured
with Country
Cotton Thread.

8 to 9

10 to 12
14 to 15

4 to 4i
5ito 6

11 to 12
14 to 15
17 to 18

3
3ito 3|

5 to 5i

7 to 7i

8 to 9

9 to 10
4i to 5
6ito 7
11 to 12

13 to 14

5

5 to 5i
9 to 10

5

6 to 6i

7 to 7i

8 to 8i
10 lOi to 11

9 to 11

4

5

5^10

7 to

8 to

5

6 to

7^ to

9 to 9i
11 to 12

14 to 15
5i to 6
6i to 7
7i to 8

Manufactu-
red with Eu-
rope Cotton
Yarn.

5i
6i

3 to 4
5 to 6
9 to 10

2i

3

6

8
10 to 11

H

ll

3

4

5 to

6 to

3
4

7 to 8
10 to 11

3
3i to 4
5ito 6

3

3i

5

6

8 to 8i

7 to ll

2|

H

4

5

6

H

4

5

6 to 7

8 to 9
10 to 11

4

^

5

The manufacture of cotton, as we have seen, was general in
India and had attained high excellence in the age of the first
Greek historian, that is, in the fifth century before Christ, at

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 357

which time it had akeady existed for an unknown period ; yet
eighteen centuries more elapsed before it was introduced into
Italy or Constantinople, or even secured a footing in the neigh-
boring empire of China. Though so well suited to hot cUmates,
we have seen that cottons were known rather as a curiosity
than as a common article of dress in Egypt and Persia, five
centuries after the Greeks had heard of the " wool-bearing
trees" of India : in Egypt, as has been shown, the manufacture
never reached any considerable degree of excellence, and the
muslins worn by the higher classes have always been imported
from India*. In Spain the manufacture, after flourishing to
some degree, became nearly extinct. In Italy, Germany, and
Flanders, it had also a Ungering and ignoble existence.

* In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came gradually
into use ; and the manufacture was spread, by the commercial activity and enter-
prise of the early followers of Mohammed, throughout the extended territories
subdued by their arms. " It is recorded of the fanatical Omar, the immediate
successor of the Arabian impostor, that he preached in a tattered cotton gown, torn
in twelve places ; and of Ali, his contemporary, who assumed the caliphate after
him, that on the day of his inauguration, he went to the mosque dressed in a thin
cotton gown, tied round him with a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slip-
pers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff." — Crick-
ton's History of Arabia, vol. i. pp. 397, 403.

PART FOURTH.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MxlNUFACTURE.

CHAPTER I.

FLAX.

CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF FLAX BY THE ANCIENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Earliest mention of Plax — Linen manufactures of the Egj'ptians — Linen worn by
the priests of Isis — Flax grown extensively in Egypt — Flax gathering — Envel-
opes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies — Examination of mummy-cloth —
Proved to be Linen — Flax still grown in Egj-pt — Explanation of terms — Bys-
sus — Reply to J. R. Forster — Hebrew and Egj^ptian terms — Flax in North
Africa, Colchis, Babylonia — Flax cultivated in Palestine — Terms for flax and
tow — Cultivation of Flax in Palestine and Asia Minor — In Elis, Etruria, Cis-
alpine Gaul, Campania, Spain — Flax of Germany, of the Atrebates, and of the
Franks — Progressive use of linen among the Greeks and Romans.

The earliest mention of flax by any author occurs in the ac-
count of the plague of hail, which devastated Lower Egypt,
Ex. ix. 31. The Hebrew term for flax in this and various
other passciges of the old Testament is nnirs ; the correspond-
ing word in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic versions is xsna
Aii-ov, LXX. Linum, Jerome.

In Isaiah xix. 9, according to King James's Translators and
Bishop Lowth, mention is made of those " that work in fine
fiax^'^ and which was one of the chief employments of the
Egyptians. According to Herodotus (ii. 37, 81.) tlie Egyptians
universally wore linen shirts, which Were Iringed at the bottom.
The fringe consisted of the thrums, or ends of the webs.
Thrums used for this purpose may be seen in the cloths which
are found in Egyptian mummies.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 359

Besides the linen shirt the priests wore an upper garment of
linen, more especially when they officiated in the temples.
This garment was probably of the exact form of a modern
linen sheet. The distinction between the shirt and the sheet
worn over it, as well as the reason why hnen was used for all
sacred purposes, is clearly expressed in the two following pas-
sages from Apuleius and Jerome.

Etiamnfe cuiquam minim videri potest, cui sit ulla memoria religionis, hominem
tot mysteriis DeCim cousciiiin, qucedam sacrorum crepundia domi adversare, alque
ea lineo texto involvere, quod purissiumm est rebus divinis velamentum? Quippe
lana, scgnissirai corporis excrementum, pecori detracta, jam iude Orphei et Pyth-
agoriB scitis, profanus vestitus est. Sed euim mundissima lini seges, inter optimas
fruges terrJl exorta, iion niodo indutui et amictui sanctissimis iEgj^tiorum sacer-
dotibus, sed opertui quoque in rebus sacris usurpatur.

Apuleii Apolog. p. 64. ed. Priccei.

Can any one impressed with a sense of religion wonder, that a man who haa
been made acquainted with so many mysteries of the gods, should keep at home
certain sacred emblems and wrap them in a linen cloth, the purest covermg for
divine objects? For wool, the excretion of a sluggish body, taken from sheep,
was deemed a profane attire even according to the early tenets of Orpheus and
Pythagoras. But flax, that cleanest and best production of the field, is used, not
only for the inner and outer clothing of the most lioly priests of the Egj'ptians,
but also for covering sacred objects. — Yates's Translation.

Indutus was the putting on of the inner , amictus of the
outer garment.

Vestibus lineis utuntur ^Egyptii sacerdotes non solum extrinsecus, sed et intrin-
secus. — Hieron. in Ezek. 44. folio 257.

The Egyptian priests use linen garments, not only without, but also within.

Plutarch says*, that the priests of Isis wore Unen on account
of its purity, and he remarks how absurd and inconsistent would
have been their conduct, if they had carefully plucked the
hairs from their own bodies, and yet clothed themselves in
wool, which is the hair of sheep. He also mentions the opinion
of some who thought that flax was used for clothing, because
the color of its blossom resetnbles the etheiial blue which
surrounds the world; and he states, that the priests of Isis
were also buried in their sacred vestments. According to

* De Iside et OsLride, prope init. 0pp. ed. II. Stephajii, Par. 1572, torn, i
p. G27, 628.

360 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

Stiabo, Panopolis was an ancient seat of the linen manufac-
ture*.

Celsius in his Hierobotanicon {vol. ii. p. 287-291.), and Fors-
ter in his treatise De Bysso Antiquorum {p. 65-68.) have
quoted other passages from ancient authors, which concur to
show the abundance and excellence of the flax gTO%\Ti anciently
in Lower Egypt, and more particularly in the vicinity of Pelu-
sium, the general employment of it among the inhabitants for
clothing, and the exclusive use of linen cloth for the garments
of the priesthood and for other sacred purposes, and especially
for the worship of Isis and Osiris. From the same authorities
we learn, that the Egyptian flax and the cloth woven from it
were shipped in great quantities to all the ports of the Mediter-
raneanf.

In connection with these statements the reader is referred to
what has already been advanced (See Part Second, Chap. I.)
on the use of wool for clothing by the Egyptians ; and it may
be also observed, that when we find it stated by ancient au-
thors, that the priests wore linen only, the term ought not to be
so strictly understood as to exclude the use of cotton, which
would probably be considered equally pure and equally adapted
for sacred purposes with linen, and which was brought in an-
cient times from India to Egypt ; and the term limini was un-
doubtedly often employed in so general a sense as to include
cotton.

These testimonies of ancient authors are confirmed in a very
remarkable manner by existing monuments. The paintings
in the Grotto of El Kab represent among other scenes a field
of corn and a crop of flax, the latter distinguished by its infe-
rior height, by its round capsules, and by being pulled up by
the roots instead of being reaped. The mode of binding the
flax in bundles is also exhibited, and the separation of the
"bolls," or capsules, containing the lin-seed, from the stalk,
by the use of a comb, or " ripple." («S'ee Description de

* L. xvii. § 41. p. 586. ed. Siebenkees.

+ " Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn" (nipta) : 1
Kings X. 28. 2 Chron. i. 16.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 361

VEgyjite : Antiqiiites ; Planches, tome i. pi. 68. mid the
Plates to Hamilton's jEgi/ptiaca, xxiii.)

In Plate VI. is inserted so much of the painting as relates to
our present subject. Five persons are employed in plucking up
the flax by the roots, viz., four men and one woman. The
woman wears a shift reaching to her ancles, but transj)arent*.
The four men wear shirts which reach to their knees, and are
not transparent. Another man binds the flax into sheaves : a
sixth carries it to a distance : and a seventh separates the seed
from the stem by means of a four-toothed ripple. The back of
the ripple rests on the ground ; its teeth being raised to the
proper elevation by a prop, as shown in the drawing. The man
sets his foot upon the back to keep the instrument firm, and,
taking hold of a bunch of flax near the root, draws it through
the comb. This method is now employed in Europe. At the
left-hand corner of the Plate lies a bundle of flax stript of its
capsules, and underneath the ripple is the heap of seed which
has been separated from the stem.

Evidence equally decisive is presented in the innumerable
mummies, the fabrication of successive ages through a period
of more than two thousand years, which are found in the cata-
combs of Egypt. It is indeed disputed, whether the cloth in
which they are enveloped is linen or cotton.

It was believed to be linen by all writers previous to Rouelle.
More especially, this opinion was advanced by the learned
traveller and antiquary, Professor John Greaves, in his Pyra-
midographia, published A. D. 1646. He speaks of the " linen
shroud " of a mummy, which he opened, and he says, " The
ribbands" {or fillets) " by what I observed, were of hnen, which
was the habit also of the Egyptian priests." He adds, '' of
these ribbands I have seen some so strong and perfect as if
they had been made but yesterday."

Rouelle's dissertation on Mummies is published in the M€-
moires de V Academic R. des Sciences for the year 1750. He
there asserts {-p. 150), that the cloth of every mummy which

* This circumstance is adapted to illustrate the mention of " transparent gar-
ments" in Isaiah iii. 23. Lowth's Translation.

46

362 A^-CIENT history of

he had an opportunity of examining, even that of embahned
birds, was cotton.

Dr. Hadley, however, who wrote a few years after Rouelle
{Phil Transactions for 1764, vol. 54.), seems to adhere to the
old opinion. He calls the cloth of the mummy, which he ex-
amined, " linen." He says, it was in fillets of diiferent breadths,
but the greater part 1^ inches broad. " They were torn longi-
tudinally : those few that had a selvage, having it on one side
only."

But the opinion of Rouelle received a strong support from
Dr. John Reinhold Forster, to whom it appeared at first almost
incredible, although he afterwards supported it in the most
decided manner. He determined to take the first opportunity
of settling the question by the inspection of mummies, and
examined those in the British Museum, accompanied by Dr.
Solander. Both of these learned and acute inquirers were con-
vinced, that the cloth was cotton, deriving this opinion from the
inspection of all those specimens, which were sufficiently free
from gum, paint, and resins, to enable them to judge*. Larcher
informs us, that he remarked the same thing in these mummies
in 1752, when he was accompanied by Dr. Matyt. It is to be
observed, however, that neither Larcher, Rouelle, nor Forster
mentions the criterion which he employed to distinguish Uneu
from cotton. They probably formed their opinion only from its
apparent softness, its want of lusti'e, or some other quality, which
might belong to Hnen no less than to cotton, and which there-
fore could be no certain mark of distinction.

The opinion of Larcher, Rouelle, and Forster appears to have
been generally adopted. In particular we find it embraced by
Blumenbach, who in the Philosophical Transactions for 1794
speaks of the '• cotton bandages'' of two of the small mummies,
which he opened in London*. In his Beitrdge {i. e. Contri-
butions to Natural History, 2nd 'part, p. 73, Gottingen,

* Forster, De Bysso Antiquorum, London 1776, p. 70, 71.
t Ilerodote, par Larcher. Ed. 2nde, Par. 1802, livre ii. p. 357.
X On the authority of this paper the mummy-cloth is supposed to be cotton by
Heeren, Ideen, i. 1. p. 128.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 363

1811) he says, he is more firmly convinced than ever, that the
cloth is universally cotton. He assigns also his reasons in the
following terms. " I ground this my conviction far less on my
own views than on the assurance of such persons as I have
questioned on the subject, and whose judgment in this matter I
deem incomparably superior to my own or to that of any other
scholar, namely, of ladies, dealers in cotton and linen cloth,
weavers and the like." He also refers to the cultivation of
cotton in Egypt, which he assumes probably on the authority
of Forster ; and to the fable of Isis enveloping in " cotton"
cloth the collected limbs of her husband Osiris, who had been
torn in pieces by Typhon. The latter arguments are founded
on the supposition, that the ancient term Byssus meant cotton,
and not linen. But the question as to its meaning must in
part be decided, as we shall see hereafter, by previously settling
the present question as to the materials of the mununy cloth.
The opinion of ladies, tradesmen, and manufacturers, though
it may be better than that of the most learned man, if derived
from mere touch and inspection, is quite insufficient to decide
the question. If those whom Blumenbach consulted thought
that the cloth was always cotton, many others of equal expe-
rience and discernment have given an opposite judgment ; and
the fact is, that linen cloth, which has been long worn and often
washed, as is the case with a great proportion of the munmiy
cloth, and which is either ragged or loose in its texture, cannot
be distinguished from cotton by the imassisted use of the exter-
nal senses.

Relying, however, on the same evidence of ocular inspection,
another distinguished author, who travelled in Egypt and pub-
Ushed his remarks about the same time, says, "As to the
circumstance of cotton cloths having been exclusively used in
the above process, an inspection of the mummies is sufficient
evidence of the fact*."

M. Jomard, one of the authors of the great French work on
Egypt, pubUshed about 1811, paid great attention to this sub-
ject. He concluded, that both linen and cotton were employed

» ^gyptiaca, by William Hamilton, Esq. F. R. S. London, 1809. p. 320.

364 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

in the bandages of mummies, grounding his opinion partly on
their appearance and touch, and partly on the testimony of
Herodotus, whom he misinterpreted m the manner, which will
hereafter be mentioned*.

Another of these authors, M. Costaz, who contributed the
memoir on the grotto of El Kab, asserts that the mummy cloth
is found on examination to be cottont.

An important paper on the same subject appeared in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1825. In this Dr. A. B. Gran-
ville describes a mummy, which he opened. He dwells more
particulary on the circumstances, which h&ve reference to ana-
tomical and surgical considerations, and expresses very strongly
his admiration of the skill and neatness employed in folding the
cloth, so as to present an example of every kind of bandage
used by modern surgeons, and to exhibit it in the most perfect
manner.

The passages which are connected with the present inquiry,
will be quoted at length. Dr. Granville observes {p. 272.),

The principal rollers appear to be made of a very compact, yet elastic linen,
some of them from four to five yards in length, without any stitch or seam in any
part of them. There were also some large square pieces thrown around the head,
thorax, and abdomen, of a less elastic texture. These pieces were found to alter-
nate with the complete swathing of the whole body. They occurred four distinct
times ; while the bandaging, with rollers and other fasciae, was repeated, at least,
twenty times. The numerous bandages, by which the mummy was thus envel-
oped, were themselves wholly covered by a roller 3^ inches wide and 11 yards
long, which after making a few turns around both feet, ascended in graceful spi-
rals to the head, whence descending again as far as the breast, it was fixed there.
The termination of this outer roller is remarkable for the loose threads hanging
from it in the shape of a fringe and for certain traces of characters imprinted on
it similar to those described and delineated by Jomard in the Description de
V Egypte. One or two of these characters have corroded the linen, leaving the
perforated traces of their form.

Dr. Granville gives a fac-simile of these characters, and in
the same Plate he represents the exact appearance of the exter-
nal rolls of cloth on the mummy. He then says {p. 274.),

I have satisfied myself, that both cotton and linen have been employed in the
prepeiration of our mummy, although Herodotus mentions only cotton (hyssus)

* Description de I'Egypte. M^moires. — Sur les Hypog^es, p. 35.
t Ibid. tom. i. p. 60.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 365

as the material used for the purpose. Most mummies have been described as

wholly enveloped in linen cloth, and some persons are disposed to doubt the exist-
ence of cotton cloth in any, not excepting in the one now under consideration.

But with respect to the last point, a simple experiment has, I think, set the
question at rest. If the surface of old linen, and of old cotton cloth be rubbed
briskly and for some minutes with a rounded piece of glass or ivory, after being
washed and freed from all extraneous matter, the former will be found to have
acquired considerable lustre ; while the latter will present no other difference than
that of having the threads flattened by the operation. By means of this test I
selected several pieces of cotton cloth from among the many bandages of our
mummy, which I submitted to the inspection of an experienced manufacturer,
who declared them to be of that material.

Besides the appeal to the senses of " an experienced manu-
facturer," Dr. Granville here proposes a new test, that of rub-
bing in the manner described. But, although cotton cloth in
all circumstances has less lustre than Unen, still this cannot be
considered a satisfactory criterion.

The ingenious John Howell of Edinburgh* paid some atten-
tion to this question, having a few years since obtained and
opened a valuable mummy. He and the friends, whom he
consulted, and who were weavers and other persons of 'practi-
cal experience, most of them thought that the cloth was alto-
gether hnen : some however thought that certain specimens of
it were cotton.

This curious and important question was at length decisively
settled by means of microscopic observations instituted by James
Thomson, Esq. F. R. S. of Clitheroe, one of the most obser-
vant and experienced cotton-manufacturers in Great Britain.
He obtained about 400 specimens of mummy cloth, and em-
ployed Mr. Bauer of Kew to examine them with his microscopes.
By the same method the structure and appearance of the ulti-
mate fibres of modern cotton and flax were ascertained ; and
were found to be so distinct that there was no difficulty in deci-
ding upon the ancient specimens, and it was also found that
they were universally hnen. About twelve years after Mr.
Thomson had commenced his researches he published the re-
sults of them in the Philosophical Magazine!, and he has ac-

* Author of an Essay on the War Galleys of the Ancients, Edmburgh 1826, 8vo.
t Third Series, vol. v. No. 29, November 1834

366 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

companied them with a Plate exhibiting the obvious difference
between the two classes of objects. The ultimate fibre of cotton
is a transparent tube without joints, flattened so that its inward
surfaces are in contact along its axis, and also twisted spirally
round its axis (See A. Plate VI.) : that of flax is a transparent
tube jointed like a cane, and not flattened nor spirally twisted
(See B. Plate VI.). To show the difference two specimens of
the fibres of cotton, and two of the fibres of mummy cloth are
exhibited, all of the specimens being one hundredth of an inch
long, and magnified 400 times in each dimension. Any per-
son, even with a microscope of moderate power, may discern
the difference between the two kinds of fibres, though not so
minutely and exactly as in the figures of Mr. Bauer.

The difference, here pointed out, will explain why hnen has
greater lustre than cotton : it is no doubt because in linen the
lucid surfaces are much larger. The same circumstance may
also explain the different effect of linen and cotton upon the
health and feelings of those who wear them (See Part Third,
Chap. I.). Every linen thread presents only the sides of
cylinders : that of cotton, on the other hand, is surrounded by
an innumerable multitude of exceedingly minute edges.

Mr. Pettigrew, in his "History of Egyptian Mummies"
[London 1834, p. 95.), expresses the opinion that the bandages
are principally of cotton, though occasionally of linen. He has
since arrived at the conclusion that they are all of linen : and
his opinion appears to be established on the following evidence,
which he gives in a note to the above mentioned work [p. 91.).

Dr. Ure has been so good as to make known to me that which I conceive to
be the most satisfactorj' test of the absolute nature of flax and cotton, and m the
course of his microscopic researches on the structure of textile fibres he has suc-
ceeded in determining their distinctive characters. From a most precise and ac-
curate examination of these substances he lias been able to draw the following
statement : — The filaments of flax have a glassy lustre when viewed by day-light
in a good microscope, and a cylindrical form, which is very rarely flattened.
Their diameter is about the two-thousandth part of an inch. They break trans-
versely with a smooth surface, like a tube of glass cut with a file. A line of light
distinguishes their axis, with a deep shading on one side only, or on both sides,
according to the direction in which the incident rays fall on the filaments.

The filaments of cotton are almost never true cylinders, but are more or less
flattened and tortuous ; so that when viewed under the microscope they appeeir

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 367

in one part like a riband from the one-thousandth to the twelve-hundredth part
of an inch broad, and in another like a sharp edge or narrow line. They have a
pearly translucency in the middle space, with a dark narrow border at each side,
hke a hem. When broken across, the fracture is fibrous or pointed. Mummy
cloth, tried by these criteria in the microscope, appears to be composed both in its
warp and woof-yarns of flax, and not of cotton. A great variety of the swathing
fillets have been examined with an excellent achromatic microscope, and they
have all evinced the absence of cotton filaments.

Mr. Wilkinson considers the observations of Dr. Ure, and
Mr. Bauer as decisive of the question*.

With regard to the evidence from mummies it should be
further remarked, that, as they are partly wrapped in old linen
(shirts, napkins, and other articles of clothing and domestic fur-
niture being found with the long fillets and the entire webs),
they prove the general apphcation of linen in Egypt to all the
purposes of ordinary life.

Even to the present day flax continues to be a most impor-
tant article of cultivation and trade in Egyptf. The climate
and soil are so favorable, that it there grows to a height, which
it never reaches in Europe. It must no doubt, become coarser
in proportion to its size, and this circumstance may account for
the use of it in ancient times for all those purposes, for which
we employ hemp, as for making nets, ropes, and sail-cloth.
The fine linen of the ancient Egyptians must have been
made from flax of lower growth and with thinner stems ; and
the mummies testify, that they made cloth of the finest as well
as of the coarsest texture.

The following remark of Hasselquist respecting the soft and
loose texture of the linen made in Egypt in his time agrees re-
markably with the appearance of that found in mummies.
" The Egyptian hnen is not so thick," says he, " as the Eu-
ropean, being softer and of a looser texture ; for which reason
it lasts longer and does not wear, out so soon as ours, which fre-
quently wears out the faster on account of its stifihess." He
also observes, " The common people in Egypt are clothed in

* Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London 1837, vol. iii
p. 115.

t Browne's Travels in Africa, p. 83.

368 AK^CIENT HISTORY OF

linen only, dyed blue ^^^th indigo ; but those of better fortune
have a black cloak over their linen shirt."

The coarse linen of the Ancient Egyptians was called ^oiiruv.
It was made of thick flax, and was used for towels {uovdipia, Ju-
lius Pollux, vii. c. 16.), and for sails (^oiainoi'as, Lycophi'on, v.
26.)*. ^<c<Toiv may be translated canvass, or sail-cloth.

Fine linen, on the other hand, was called 'Oedpr,. This term,
as well as the preceding, was in all probabiUty an Egyptian
word, adopted by the Greeks to denote the commodity, to which
the Egyptians themselves applied it. It seems to correspond,
as Salmasiust, Celsiust, Forster§, and Jablonskil! have observed,
to the c'^ns-a tvjx, " Fine linen of Egypt," in Proverbs vii. 16.
For trjx, put into Greek letters and with Greek terminations,
becomes oddi/ri and dedvwr. Hesychius states, no doubt correctly,
that odorr, was appUed by the Greeks to any fine and thin cloth,
though not of linenl". But this was in later times and by a
general and secondary application of the teim.

It appears also that in later times 6e6vr, was not restricted to fine
linen. It is used for a sail by Achilles Tatius in describing a
storm (1. iii.), and by the Scholiast on Homer, 11. a.

Agreeably to the preceding remarks, the Ae6vai mentioned in
the two passages of the Iliad may be supposed to have been
procured from Egypt. Helen, when she goes to meet the sen-
ators of Ilium at the Scaean Gate, wraps herself in a white
sheet of fine hnen (II. y. 141.). The women, dancing on the
sliield of Achilles (II. r. 595.), wear thin sheets. These thin
sheets must be supposed to have been worn as shawls, or girt
about the bodies of the dancers. Helen would wear hers so as
to veil her whole person agreeably to the representation of the

* Jabloiiski Gloesariiun Vocura jEg)-ptiarum, in Valpy's edition of Steph. The-
saur. torn. i. p. ccxcv.

t Salmasius in Acliill. Tat. 1. viii. c. 13, dd6vtis ;^ircJ»'.

t Celsii Hierobotanicon, t. ii. p. 90.

§ Forster, De Bysso, p. 74.

II Ubi supra, p. ccxvii.

IT The ancient Scholia (published by Mai and Butmann) on Od. rj. 107, state
that dSovai were made both of flax and of wool. The silks of India are called
'066vai aitpiKo.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 369

lady, whom Paulus Silentiarius addresses in the following
line, written evidently with Homer's Helen before his mind :

You conceal your flowing locks with a snow-white sheet. — Brunck, Analecta,
vol. iii. p. 81.

Perhaps even the sheets, spread for Phoenix to he upon in the
tent of Achilles, and for Ulysses on his return to Ithica from
the country of the Pheeacians*, though not called by the Egyp-
tian name, should be supposed to have been made in Egypt.
In the time of Homer (900 B. C.) the use of linen cloth was
certainly rare among the Greeks ; the manufacture of it was
perhaps as yet unknown to them.

The term Hi^JoJi' (iSindon), was used to denote linen cloth still
more extensively than desvr,, inasmuch as it occurs both in Greek
and Latin authors!. According to Julius Pollux this also was
a word of Egyptian origin, and Coptic scholars inform us that
it is found in the modern jSheiito, which has the same significa-
tion+.

Serapion was called Sindonites, because he always wore
hnen (Palladii Hist. Latisiaca, p. 172). He was an Egyptian,
and retained the custom of his native country.

Although I^ifStiv originally denoted linen, we find it applied,
like 'Odovr,, to cotton cloth likewise ; and although both of these
terms probably denoted at first those linen cloths only, and es-
pecially the finer kinds of them, which were made in Egypt,
yet as the manufacture of linen extends itself into other coun-
tries, and the exports of India were added to those of Egypt,
all varieties either of linen or cotton cloth, wherever woven,
were designated by the Egyptian names 'OOdyr, and E.^'oi^.

Another term, which is probably of Egyptian origin, and
therefore requires explanation here, is the term BuWoj or Byssus.
Vossius [Etymol. L. Lat. v. Byssus) thinks it was, as Pollux
and Isidore assert, a fine, white, soft flax, and that the cloth
made from it was like the modern cambric : " Similis fuisse
videtur lino isti, quod vulgo Cameracense appellamus." Cel-
sius, in his Hierobotanicon {vol. ii. p. 173.), gives the same ex-

* II. (. 657. Od. V. 73. 118. t E. g. Martial.

t Jablonski, ubi supra, p. cclxxiv.

47

370 ANCIENT HISTORY OP

planation. This was indeed the general opinion of learned
men, until J. R. Forster advanced the position, that Bi/ssiis was
cotton. A careful examination of the question confirms the
correctness of the old opinions, and for the following reasons.

I. The earliest author, who uses the term, is ^Eschylus. He
represents Antigone wearing a shawl or sheet of fine flax*. In
the Bacchse of Euripides {I. 776.) the same garment, which
was distinctive of the female sex, is introduced vinder the same
denomination. We cannot suppose, that dramatic writers
would mention in plays addressed to a general audience cloth-
ing of any material with which they were not familiarly ac-
quainted. But the Greeks in the time of iEschylus and Eu-
ripides knew little or nothing of cotton. They had, however,
been long supplied with fine linen from Egypt and Phoenice ;
and the dvaaivuv ncKXt^na of Antigone is the same article of female
attire with the dpyswai oQdvat of Helen, described by Homer. In-
deed ^schylus himself in two other passages calls the same
garment linen. In the Coephorse {I. 25, 26.) the expressions,

A.ivo(pB6poi6' vipaajxaTbiv \aKi6cs and Upoarcpvoi o-roX/ioi 7r£7rXa)i', deSCribc the

rents, expressive of sorrow, which were made in the linen veil
or shawl {i^tn\os) of an Oriental woman. In the Supplices {l.
120.) the leader of the chorus says, she often tears her linen,
or her Sidonian veil.

II. The next author in point of time, and one of the first in
point of importance, is Herodotus. In his account of the mode
of making mummies, he says [l. ii. c. 86.) the embalmed body
was enveloped in cotton. But the fillets or bandages of the
mummies are proved by microscopic observations to be univer-
sally Unen ; at least all the specimens have been found to be
linen, which have been submitted to this, the only decisive test.

III. Herodotus also states (vii. 181.), that a man, wounded in
an engagement, had his torn limbs bound awiSvoi Pvaahni rcXaiiUci.
Now, supposing that the persons concerned had their choice
between linen and cotton, there can be no doubt that they
would choose linen as most suitable for such a purpose. Cotton,
when applied to wounds, irritates them. Julius Pollux men-

» Septem contra Thebas, 1. 1041. See also Persae, 1. 129.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 371

tions (/. iv. c. 20. 181. ; I. vii. c. 16. and 25. 72.) these ban-
dages as used in surgery. The same fillets, which were used to
swathe dead bodies, were also adapted for surgical purposes.
Hence a Greek Epigram {Brunck, An. iii. 169.) represents a
surgeon and an undertaker as leaguing to assist each
OTHER in business. The undertaker supplies the surgeon
with bandages stolen from the dead bodies, and the surgeon in
return sends his patients to the undertaker !

IV. Diodorus Siculus (1. i. § 85. torn. i. p. 96.) records a tra-
dition, that Isis put the limbs of Osiris into a wooden cow, cov-
ered with Byssina. No reason can be imagined, why cotton
should have been used for such a purpose ; whereas the use of
fine linen to cover the hallowed remains was in perfect accord-
ance with all the ideas and practices of the Egyptians.

V. Plutarch, in his Treatise de Iside et Osiride {0pp. ed.
Stephani, 1572, vol. iv. p. 653.) says, that the priests envelop-
ed the gilded bull, which represented Osiris, in a black sheet of
Byssus. Now nothing can appear more probable, than that
the Egyptians would employ for this purpose the same kind of
cloth, which they always applied to sacred uses ; and in addi-
tion to all the other evidence before referred to, we find Plutarch
in this same treatise expressly mentioning the linen garments
of the priesthood, and stating, that the priests were entombed
in them after death, a fact verified at the present day by the
examination of the bodies of priests found in the catacombs.

VI. The magnificent ship, constructed for Ptolemy Philopa-
tor, which is described at length in Athenaeus, had a sail of the
fine linen of Egypt*. It is not probable, that in a vessel, every
part of which was made of the best and most suitable mate-
rials, the sail would be of cotton. Moreover Hermippus de-
scribes Egypt as affording the chief supply of sails for all parts
of the worldt : and Ezekiel represents the Tyrians as obtaining
cloth from Egypt for the sails and pendants of their shipst.

VII. It is recorded in the Rosetta Inscription {I. 17, 18.), that

* Deipnos. 1. v. p. 206 C. ed. Casaubon.
t Apud. Athenaeum, Deipnos. 1. i. p. 27 F.
\ Ez. xxviL 7. D'nJDDia nnp*T3 »B.

372 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

Ptolemy Epiphanes remitted two parts of the fine linen cloths,
which were manufactured in the temples for the king's palace ;
and {I. 29.) that he also remitted a tax on those, which were
not made for the king's palace. Thus in an original and con-
temporary monument we read, that 'Oesvia Piaaiva were at a par-
ticular time manufactured in Egypt. But we have no reason
to believe, that cotton was then manufactured in Egypt at all,
whereas linen cloth was made in immense quantities.

YIII. Philo, who hved at Alexandria, and could not be igno-
rant upon the subject, plainly uses Bi(7<Tos to mean flax. He
says, the Jewish High-Priest wore a linen garment, made of the
purest Byssus, which was a symbol of firmness, incorruption,
and of the clearest splendor, since Jifie linen is most difficult to
tear, is made of nothing mortal, and becomes brighter and more
resembling light, the more it is cleansed by washing*.

Here we may notice the tenacity of the cloth found in
Egyptian mummies. A great part of it is quite rotten ; and its
tender and fragile state is to be accounted for, not only from its
great antiquity and exposure to moisture, but from the circum-
stance, that much of it w^as old and worn, when first applied to
the purpose of swathing dead bodies. Nevertheless pieces are
found of great strength and durability.

Hans Jac. Amman, who visited the catacombs of Sakara in
1613, found the bandages so strong, that he was obliged to cut
them with scissorsf. Professor Greavest and Lord Sandwich
found them as firm as if they were just taken from the loom.
Abdollatiph, w^ho visited Egypt A. D. 1200, mentions that the
Arabs employed the mummy cloth to make garments§. Much
more recently the same practice has been attested as coming
under his observation by Seetzenll. Caillaud discovered in the
mummy, which he opened, several napkins in such a state of
preservation, that he took a fancy to use one. He had it wash-
ed eight times without any perceptible injury. " With a sort

* De Somniis, vol. i. p. 653. Mangey.

t Blumenbach's Beitrage, Th. 2. p. 74. % Pj-ramidographia.

§ P. 221 of the German translation ; p. 198 of Silvestre de Lacy's. See App. A.
II See his letter to Von Hammer in the Fundgruben des Orients, 1 St. p. 72.
as quoted by Blumenbach, 1. c.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 373

of veneration,"' says he, " I unfolded every day this venerable
linen, which had been woven more than 1700 years." ( Voy-
age a Meroe et au Fleuve Blanc.)

IX. According to Josephus the Jewish priests wore drawers
of spun flax, and over the drawers a shirt. He calls a garment
made of Bmaoi a linen garment. It \\q.A flowers woven into it,
ivhich were of three different substances*. He soon after
mentions the same materials as used for making the curtains
of the tabernacle. In all these instances the figures or orna-
ments were of splendid colors upon a ground of white linen.
We have no reason to believe, that either the Egyptians or the
Israelites in the time of Moses knew anything of cotton : so
that, if Josephus gives a true account, ^iaaoi must have denoted
a kind of flax.

X. Jerome on Ezekiel xxvii. says, " Byssus grows principally
in Egypt" {Byssus in JEgypto quam maxime nascitur).
Of the celebrity of the Egyptian flax we have the most abun-
dant proofs ; but, if by Byssus Jerome meant cotton, he here
committed a strange mistake ; for, supposing cotton to have
grown at all in Egypt, it certainly grew far more abundantly m
other countries, and of this fact he could scarcely be ignorant.

XL Martianus Capella plainly distinguishes between that
substance and Byssust. He seems to have considered cotton
as an Indian, Byssus as an Egyptian product. He certainly
supposed, that they were not the same thing.

XII. Isidorus Hispalensis expressly states, that Byssus was
a kind of flax, very white and soft.

Byssus genus est quoddam lini nimiurn candidi et mollissimi, quod Graeci papa-
tem vocant. — Orig. I. xix. 27.

Byssina (vestis) Candida, confecta ex quodam generc lini grossioris Sunt et qui
genus quoddam lini byesum esse existiment. — Ibid. c. 22.

Forster conjectures {p. 4.) that for genus quoddam lini we
should read genus quoddam lanm, and conceives ^ree-wool (a.s

* Ant. Jud. iii. 7. 1, 2. p. 112. ed. Hudson.

The shirt of the High Priest of the Jews was probably like that worn in the
worship of Isis, which was of Byssus, hut adorned with flowers, " Byssina, sed
florid^ depicta." Apuleius, Met. 1. xi.

t Etym. L. Lat. v. Byssus.

374 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

Pollux and some others call it), i. e. cotton, to be intended. His
conjecture seems probable. The remark of Isidore intimates,
that in his time it had already been a matter of dispute whether
Byssus Avas a kind of flax or something else.

XIII. Pauhnus, Bishop of Nola, testifies to the great strength
of the threads of Byssus.

Cloth made of Byssus indicates finn faith :

For threads of Byssus, it is said, surpass

E'en ropes of broom in firmness and in strength*.

Ad Cytherium in Max. Biblioth. Patrum, vol. vi. p. 264.

Yossius also quotes the authority of Jerome and Eucherius
to prove the great tenacity of Byssus. But, if Byssus were
cotton, it certainly would not have been celebrated on that
account.

The arguments of Dr. J. R. Forster on the other side of the
question will now be considered. See his Liber Sirigularis
de Bysso Antiquorum, Lon. 1776, p. 11. 50.

I. His first argument is as follows. Julius Pollux says
{I. vii. c. 17.), that Bii<r<rof was "a kind of flax among the In-
dians." The Jewish rabbis indeed all explain the Hebrew i!5UJ
(Shesh), which in the Septuagint is always translated Bii<T<roj, as
signifying ^a2-. But they use the term for flax in so loose and
general a way, that they may very properly be supposed to have
included cotton under it. In the same general sense we must
suppose XtVoi/ to be used by Julius Pollux ; and it is clear, that
he must have meant cotton, because cotton grows abundantly
in India, whereas flax was never known to grow in India at all.

In proof of this last assertion Forster refers to Osbeck's Jour-
nal, vol i. p. 383. He also appeals to a passage of Philostratus
[Vita ApoUonii, I. ii. c. 20. p. 70, 71.), which has been quoted
in Part Third, p. 328., where that author certainly applies the
term in question to the cotton of India.

An answer to this argument, so far as it depends on the testi-
mony of JuUus Pollux, was furnished by Olaus Celsius in his
Hierobotanicon, pubhshed in 1747, a work which Forster had
better have consulted, when he was writing a treatise expressly

» See Part First, Chapters XII. and XIII.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 375

intended to ascertain the meaning of one of the botanical terms
employed in the Scriptures. The learned and accurate Swede
gives on good authority an emendation of the text of Pollux,
which entirely destroys the argument founded upon it by Forster
and those who agree with him. According to this reading
Pollux only asserts that Bi^ao; is a kind of flax, without adding
that it grew among the Indians*. In a separate Appendix (E.),
will be examined distinctly and fully the critical evidence for
the correct state of the passages of Pollux, which it may be
found necessary to cite. Pollux, in asserting that Byssus was
a kind of flax, coincides with all the other witnesses who have
been produced.

Forster is also exceedmgly incorrect in his mode of reasoning
upon the |fe,ssage of Pollux, supposing it to be accurate and
genuine. He argues, that Pollux must have meant cotton by
" a kmd of flax among the Indians," because real flax does
not grow in India at all ; " In India vero linum non erat, nee
quidem nostra aetate hnum reperitur in India, quod jam Osbeck-
ius in Itinerario ostendit, p. 383. vol. i. edit. Anglicee." The
" English edition" of Osbeck's Voyage is a translation from
the German by Forster himself. In the page referred to we
find the following passage relative to flax, and no other : —
" Flax is so rare a commodity in the East, that many have
judged with great probability that the fine hnen of the rich
man, Luke xvi. 19, was no more than our common linen."
This sentence implies that flax grew in the East, though
rarely. Whether it grew in India, Osbeck does not inform us.
Dr. Wallich, who travelled in India, states that flax grows in
India, and that he remembered having seen there a wiiole field
blue with its flowers. It is cultivated principally for its seed,
from which oil is extracted, the stalks being thrown aside as
useless.

With respect to the passage from Philostratus, it is admitted,
that he uses Biaao^ to denote cotton. Besides its proper and
original sense, this word was occasionally used, as \ivov, aQovt,,
Sindon, Carbasus, and many others were, in a looser and more

* Celsii Hierobot. vol. ii. p. 171

376 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

general application. But the use of the term in this manner
by a single writer, or even, if they cowld be produced, by several
writers of so late an age as Philostratus, would be of little
weight in opposition to the evidence, which has been brought
forward to prove, that Bocaoi properly meant flax only.

II. Forster produces a passage from the EUaca of Pausanias*
from which he argues, that pvaaoi was not flax, because Pausa-
nias here distinguishes it from flax as well as from hemp.

But we know, that all plants undergo great changes by cul-
tivation and in consequence of the varieties of soil and climate.
What can be more striking than the innumerable tuhps derived
from the original yellow tulip of Turkey, or all the varieties of
pinks and carnations from a single species ? To iiaake all the
descriptions of cloth from the coarsest canvass or *ail-cloth to
the most beautiful lawn or cambric, there must have been, as
there now are, great differences in the living plant. The best
explanation therefore of the language of Pausanias seems to be,
that he used XiVoi/ to denote the common kind of flax, and fiUcriTos
to signify a finer varietyt. In another passage, where he
speaks of the Elean Byssus, his language shows, that its pecu-
liar excellence consisted both in its fineness and in its beautiful
yellow color ; for after expressing the admiration, to which this
substance was entitled, as growing nowhere else in Greece, he
says, that '• in fineness it was not inferior to that of the He-
brews, but was not equally yellowt."

It may further be remarked in opposition to the idea, that
0va<jos meant cotton in these passages, that there is not the
slightest ground for supposing, that cotton was cultivated either

* Paus. 1. vi. cap. § 4.

t Pausanias also distinguishes between \'ivov and 0vaaos in his account of the
clothing of a reputed statue of Neptune, 1. vi. c. 25. § 5. When flax is raised to
be manufactured into cambric and fine lawn, twice as much seed is sown in the
same space of ground. The plants then grow closer together ; the stalks are
more delicate and slender ; and the fibres of each plant are finer in proportion.

t L. V. 5. § 2.

Others commend Byssus on account of its whiteness. See Philo. Apoc. xix. 14.
Themistius (Orat. p. 57. ed. Paris, 1684. p. 68. ed. Dindorfii, Lips. 1832.) saw at
Antioch " ancient letters wrapt in white Byssus." These, he says, were brought
from Susa and Ecbatana.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 377

in Elis or in any other part of Europe go early as the time of
Pausanias, nor indeed until a comparatively recent age.

III. Forster (p. 69-71.) considers the testimony of Herodo-
tus, that the embalmed bodies of the dead were wrapt in fillets
of Byssus, as decisive in favor of his opinion, because those fil-
lets are found on examination to be all cotton. It is presumed
that the preceding testimony, proves that so far as they have
been examined, in the only way which can settle the dispute,
they are found universally to be Hnen.

Of Forster's celebrated work it may be observed in general,
that he rather from the very, beginning assumes his point,
than endeavors to prove it. He continually speaks of it as
demonstrated. Nevertheless the only arguments which can be
found in his book, are those already stated. Little as these ar-
guments amount to in opposition to the evidence, which has
now been brought forward on the other side of the question, we
find that the most learned authors since Forster's time, and es-
pecially since the same opinion was embraced by Blumenbach,
have generally been content to adopt it. But, although such
eminent names as those of Porson*, Dr. Thomas Youngt, Mr.
Hamilton:, Dr. T. M. Harris§, Mr. WeUbelovedll, E. H. Barkerl,
Dr. A. Granville**, Jomardtt, Wehrstt, J. H. Voss§§, Heerenllll,
Sprengelnf, Billerbeck***, Geseniusttt, E. F. K. Rosenmul-
lerU+, and Roselini§§§, stand arrayed against the evidence now

* In his translation of tho Rosetta Inscription, Clarke's Greek Marbles, p. 63

t Account of Discoveries in Hieroglyphic Literature, p. 101. 114.

i ^gyptiaca, p. 321.

§ Natural History of the Bible, 2nd edition, p. 447.

II Translation of the Bible, Geu. xli. 42.

IT Classical Recreations.

** As quoted at p. 364.

tt Description de« Hypogiiee, p. 35.

tt Vom Papier, p. 201.

§§ Virgil's Landliche Gedichte, iii. p. 313.

nil Ideen iiber die Politik, &c.

HIT Historia Rei Herbariae, torn. i. c. i. p. 15.

*** Flora Classica, p. 177.

ttt Thesaurus Philologico-Criticus, v. S13.

Ut Biblische Alterthumskimde, 4. 1. p. 175.

§§§ Mouumenti dell' Egitto. Men. Civili, tomo. i. Pisa, 1834, capo. iv. § 6.

48

378 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

produced, i. e. to prove that Piaaoi meant ^ar and not cotton, as
those authors have supposed. Yet their evidence may be con-
sidered as going all for nothing, because they express not their
owTi opinion formed by independent inquiry and investigation.
but merely the opinion which they have adopted from Forster
and Blumenbach.

There is, however, no reason to doubt, that Forster is right
in considering Bwaoi. or Byssus, as an Eg}^tian word with a
Greek or Latin termination. In the Septuagint version it is al-
ways used as equivalent to the Hebrew u;a [Shesh or Ses),
which according to the Hebrew Rabbis was a kind of flax, that
grew in Egypt only and was of the finest quahty*. Another
term, used in the Pentateuch for hnen cloth is id [bad), which
seems to be nearly the same as ti"i'. The Eg}^ptian term sa or
sna (buts) is very seldom found in the Hebrew Scriptures, and
not until the intercourse became frequent between the Jews
and other oriental nations. But it is continually employed by
the Arabic, Persic, and Chaldee Translators, as equivalent to
the Hebrew terms L'lr and "la.

The distinction betw^een Bcircos and the Eg}^tian terms for-
merly explained is very ob^'ious. ^uauv, '09w»;, and llivSwv deno-
ted hnen cloth ; Biaao; the plant, from w^hich it was made.
Hence we so commonly find the adjective form Bitraivos or Bys-
sinus, i. e. made of Byssus, as in IlivSuiv Piaaivr,, 'OBow Piaaivn, '0Q6via
Piaciva, I.t6\v Hiautvi,, &c., and tliis is agreeable to the remark of the
Patriarch Photius in his 192nd Epistle, <^vtov ii f, Piaao;^ " Byssus
is a plant."

Herodotus (ii. 105.), pointing out resemblances between the
Egyptians and the Colchians, says, they prepare their flax in
the same manner, and in a manner which is practiced by no other
nation. Xenophon directs, that nets should be made of flax from
the Phasis, or from Carthaget. Pollux {I. v. cap. 4. § 26.) says,

* Forster De Bysso, p. 5.

t De Venat. ii. 4. Gratius Faliscus, in his directions on the same subject, rec-
ommends the flax from the rich moist plains about tlie river Cinyps, not very far
from Carthage.

Optima Cinyphise, ne quid contere, paludes

Lina dabunt — Cynegeticon, 34, 35.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 379

that the flax for the same purpose should be either from those
countries, or from Egypt or Sardes. Callimachus {Frag. 265.)
mentions the flax of Colchis under the name of " the Colchian
halm." Strabo (Z. xi. § 17. vol. iv.p. 402. Tschuz.) testifies to the
celebrity of Colchis for the growth and manufacture of flax,
and says, that the hnen of this country was exported to distant
places.

It seems still to maintain its ancient pre-eminence : Larcher
refers to Chardin {to?7i. i. p. 115.), as saying, that the Prince of
Mingrelia, a part of the ancient Colchis, paid in his time an
annual tribute of hnen to the Turks.

That flax was extensively cultivated in Babylonia appears
from the testimony of Herodotus, who says (i. 195.), that the
Babylonians wore a linen shirt reaching to the feet ; over that
a woollen shirt ; and over that a white shawl. Strabo {I. xvi.
cap. 1. p. 739. ed. Casaub.) shows where these linen shirts
were chiefly made ; for he informs us that Borsippa, a city of
Babylonia, sacred to Apollo and Diana, was a great place for
the manufacture of linen.

The cultivation of flax in the region of the Euphrates may
also be inferred from the use of the linen thorax, as attested by
Xenophon {Cyropedia, vi. 4. 2.).

From Joshua ii. 6. we have evidence, that flax was cultivated
in Palestine near the Jordan. Rahab concealed the two He-
brew spies (according to the common English version) "with
the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof"
According to the Septuagint translation, " the stalks of flax"
were not merely " laid in order," but " stacked." Josephus says,
she was drying the himdles. The Chaldee Paraplirast On-
kelos also uses the expression Nsna "^sisj^, bundles of Jlax.
Agreeably to these explanations, the history must be understood
as implying, that the stalks of flax, tied into bundles, as repre-
sented in the painting at El Kab*, were stacked, probably cross -
ways, upon the flat roof of Ahab's house, so as to allow the
wind to blow through and dry them.

Other passages, referring to the use of flax for weaving in

« See Plate vi. p. 358.

380 ANCIENT HISTORY OP

Palestine, are Levit. xiii. 47, 48. 52. 59, where linen garments
are four times mentioned in opposition to woollen.

Proverbs xxi. 13. The virtuous woman, so admirably de-
scribed in this chapter, " seeketh wool and flax, and worketh
wilUngly with her hands." (See Part First, Chapter I. p. 13.).
This proves, that flax was still an important article of cultiva-
tion in Palestine.

In 1 Chron. iv. 21. there is an allusion to a great estabhsh-
ment for dressing the fine flax, called Butz, or Bi/ssiis. It
was conducted by certain families of the tribe of Judah*.

Jeremiah (xiii. 1.) mentions nTiiiJB mTS, " a linen girdle ;"
Lumbare lineum, Vulgate ; mpH^^ona \ivovv LXX. thsi tit Jona-
thati ; xinDi x-itia (sudarium) Syriac.

Hosea (ii. 5. 9.) mentions wool and flax as the two chief ar-
ticles of clothing for the Jews in his time.

Ezekiel (xliv. 17, 18.), in his description of the temple which
he saw in vision, says, the priests on entering the inner court
would put on Hnen garments, including a turban and drawers
of hnent. The use of wool is here prohibited and hnen pre-
scribed for those who were to be engaged in sacred services, on
account of its superior cleanhness and purity. They were not
to ^^ gird themselves with anything that causeth sweatP On
returning to the outer court, so as to be in contact with the
people, they were to put on the common dress, which was at
least in part woollen.

In the Old Testament we also find flax used for making
cords^ Judges xv. xvi. ; for the wicks of lamps, Is. xhi. 17.;
and for a measuring line, Ezek. xl. 31.

According to Herodotus vii. 25, 34, 36, the Phoenicians fur-
nished Xerxes with ropes of flax for constructing his bridge,

* Hehr. yzTi ntSJ-JT'i finCiCJa, i. e. " the families, or perhaps the partnerships,
of the manufactory of Byssus ;" Vulg. " Cognationes domus operantium bys-
sum."

t It is remarkable that the Chaldee Paraphrast Jonathan here uses 21i (bys-
bus) for the Hebrew DTiiDB.

t The use of the cord of flax (linea) for measuring, &c. is the origin of the
word line. " Linea genere suo appellata, quia ex lino fit." Isidori Hisp. Etymol.
1. xix. c. 18. De instrumentis fiedificiorum.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 381

while the Egyptians suppHed ropes of Papyrus, which were in-
ferior to the others in strength.

Whilst r\'iis, derived probably from la'JB, to strip or peel, is
used for flax in every state, we find another term, n-i?3, used for
tow. This term tlierefore corresponds to Stvppa in Latin* ;
Etoupe in French ; Urtn-ri, ariTririov or amnriov in Greek ; Ntipno, from
pin, to comb, in Syriac ; We?'g in modern German.

Eccles. xl. 4. represents poor persons as clothed in coarse linen,
to/«oX.voi/ (Lino crudo, Jerovie), meaning probably flax dressed
and spun without having been steepedt.

In Rev. XV. 6. the seven angels come out of the temple
clothed " ill pure and white linen." This is to be explained
by what has been already said of the use of linen for the temple
service among the Egyptians and the Jews. On three other
occasions mentioned in the New Testament, viz. the case of
the young man, who had " a linen cloth cast about his naked
body" {Mark xiv. 51, 52.) ; the entombment of Christ {Matt.
xxvii. 59. Mark xv. 46. Liike xxiii. 53. xxiv. 12. John
xix. 40. XX. 5, 6, 7.) ; and the case of the " sheet" let down in
vision from heaven (^c^5 x. 11. xi. 5.). the sacred writers employ
the equivalent Egyptian terms, EaJu-, and '096vr, or ''OB6viov.

The " Byssus of the Hebrews," mentioned by Pausanias may
have been so called, because it was imported into Greece by the
Hebrews, not because it grew in Palestine, as many critics have
concluded.

Herodotus {I. c.)obseiTe3, that the Greeks called the Colchian
flax ^ipioviKov. The epithet must be understood as referring to
Sardes, from the vicinity of which city flax was obtained ac-
cording to the testimony of Julius Pollux (/. c). In another
passage Herodotus remarks (v. 87.), that the linen shift worn
by the Athenian women, was originally Carian. The Milesian
Sindones, mentioned by Jonathan, the Chaldee Paraphrast, on

* The origin of Stuppa, the Latin term, was from its use in stopping chinks
{stopfer, German) . It was either of hemp or flax.

" Stuppa cannabi est sive lini. Haec secundum antiquam orthographiam stup-
pa (stipa?) dicitur, quod ex ea rima; navium stipentur : unde et stipatoree dicim-
tur, qui in vaUibus earn componunt.'" Isid. Hisp. Orig. xix. 27.

t See Bodaeusa Stapel on Theophrasti Hist. Plant. 1. viii. p. 944.

382 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

Lam. ii. 20, were, no doubt, made of the flax of this country,
although Forster [De Bi/sso, p. 92.), on account of tlie celebrity
of the Milesian wool, supposes them to have been woollen. It
is probable, that the Milesian net caps, worn by ladies, were
made of linen thread.

Jerome, describing the change from an austere to a luxurious
mode of hfe, mentions shirts from Laodicea. Some commen-
tators have supposed linen shirts to be meant.

According to JuUus Pollux (vii. c. 16.) the Athenians and
lonians wore a linen shirt reaching to the feet. But the use of
it among the Athenians must have come in much later than
among the lonians, who would adopt the practice in conse-
quence of the cultivation of flax in their own country as weU
as in their colonies on the Euxine Sea, and also in consequence
of the general elegance and refinement of their manners.
Indeed it appears probable, that the linen used by the Athenians
was imported.

The only part of Greece, where flax is recorded to have been
grown, was Elis. That it was produced in that country is
afiirmed by Phny [l. xix. c. 4.), and by Pausanias in three pas-
sages already quoted.

When Colonel Leake was at Gastuni near the mouth of the
Peneus in Elis, he made the follovidng observations.

For flax (one of the chief things produced there) the land is once ploughed in
the spring, and two or three times in the ensuing autumn, with a pair of oxen,
when the seed is thrown in and covered with the plough. The plant does not
require and hardly admits of weeding, as it grows very thick. When ripe, it is
pulled up by the roots, and laid in bundles in the sun. It is then threshed to sep-
arate the seed. The bundles are laid in the river for five days, then dried in the
sun, and pressed in a wooden machine. Contrary to its ancient reputation, the
flax of Gastuni is not very fine. It is chiefly used in the neighboring islands by
the peasants, who weave it into cloths for their own use*.

In one of the Pseudo-Platonic Epistles (No. xiii. p. 363.)
mention occurs of linen shifts for ladies, made in Sicily, which
certainly impUes nothing more than that linen was woven in
Sicily. The material for making it may have been imported.
In like manner the linen of Malta was exceedingly admired

* Journal of a Tour in the Morea, vol. i. p. 12.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 383

for its fineness and softness* ; but the raw material was in all
probability imported.

" Flax," observes Professor Miiller, " was grown and manu-
factured in Southern Etruria from ancient times, and thus the
Tarquinii were enabled to furnish sail-cloth for the fleet of
Scipio : yarn for making nets was produced on the banks of
the Tiber, and fine linen for clothing in Faleriit." This ac-
count agrees remarkably with the views of Micali, and those
historians who maintain the Egyptian origin of the Etrurians.

Pliny (xix. 1, 2.) mentions various kinds of flax of superior
excellence, which were produced in the plains of the Po and
Ticino ; in the country of the Peligni (in Picenum) ; and about
Cumae in Campaniat No flax, he says, was whiter or more
like wool than that of the Peligni.

In the next chapter Pliny gives an account of the mode of
preparing flax ; plucking it up by the roots, tying it into bun-
dles, drying it in the sun, steeping, drying again, beating it with
a mallet on a stone, and lastly hackhng it, or, as he says,
" combing it with iron hooks^ This may be compared with
the preceding extract from Colonel Leake's Journal, and with
chapter 97 of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietabus Rerum,
which is perhaps partly copied from Pliny and treats of the
manufacture of flax, steeping it in water, &c., and of its use
for clothes, nets, sails, thread, and curtains.

In Spain there was a manufacture of linen at Emporium,
which lay on the Mediterranean not far from the Pyrenees §.
According to Pliny {I. c.) remarkably beautiful flax was produ-
ced in Hispania Citerior near Tarraco. He ascribes its splendor
to the virtues of the river-water flowing near Tarraco, in which
the flax was steeped and prepared. Still further southward on
the same coast we find Setabis, the modern Xativa, which is
celebrated by various authors for the beauty of its linen, and
especially for hnen sudaria, or handkerchiefs :

* Diod. Sic. 1. V. 12. torn. i. p. 339. ed. Wesseling.
t Etrusker. vol. i. p. 235, 236.

t Probably CumiE is intended by Gratiiis Faliscus in the expreosion " .£oIis
de valla Sibyillae." — Cyneg. 35.

§ Strabo, 1. iii. cap. 4. vol. i. p. 428. ed. Siebenkees.

384 ANCIENT HISTORY OF

Setabis et telas Arabum sprevisse superba
Et Pelusiaco filum compouere lino.

Silius Ital. iii. 373.

Nam sudaria Setaba ex Hiberis
Miserunt mihi muneri Fabullus
Et Veranius. — Catullus, xx. 14.
Hispanaeque alio spectantur Setabis usu.

Gratiua Faliscus, 1. 41.

Pliny also mentions a kind of flax, called Zoelicum, from a
place in Gallicia.

Strabo (iv. 2. 2. p. 41. ed. Sieb.) particularly mentions the
linen manufacture of the Cadurci : and from them the Romans
obtained the best ticking for beds, which was on ihis account
called Cadurcum.

Flax, as we are told by Pliny (xix. 1.), was woven into sail-
cloth in all parts of Gaul ; and, in some of the countries be-
yond the Rhine, the most beautiful apparel of the ladies was
linen. Tacitus states that the women of Germany wore linen
sheets over their other clothing*.

Jerome mentions the shirts of the Atrebates as one of the
luxuries of his daj^, and his notice of them seems to show, that
they were conveyed as an article of merchandize even into
Asia.

Whether the manufactures of the Atrebates were equal to
the modern Cambric we cannot say ; but, supposing the gar-
ments in question to have been linen, it is remarkable that this
manufacture should have flourished in Artois for 1800 yearsf.

The following translation of a passage from Eginhart's Life

* Fcnmina; saepiiis lineis amictibus veiantur. — Germania, xvii. 5. The use of
the same term for Flax in so many European languages, and especially in those
of the North of Europe, is an evidence of the extensive use of this substance in
very early times ; e. g. Greek, Aivov Latin, Linum ; Slavonian, Len ; Lithua-
nian, Linnai ; Lettish, Linni ; German, Lein ; French, Suio ; Gothic, and Anglo-
Saxon, Lin ; Welsh, Llin.

t Erasmus makes the following remarks on the words " Atrebatum et Laodi-
ceae :"

" Apparet ex his regionibus candidissima ac subtilissima linea mitti solere.
Nunc hujus laudis principatus, si tamen ea laus, penes meos Hollandos est. Quan-
quam et Atrebates in Belgis baud ita procul a nobis absunt."

See also Mannert, Geogr. 2. 1. p. 196.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 385

of Charlemagne (c. 23.) shows, that during several succeeding
centuries the Franks wore hnen for their under garments.

Vestitu patrio, hoc est Francisco utebatur : ad corpus camiseam lineam, et fem-
inalibus lineis induebatur : delude tunicam, quae limbo serico anibiebatur, et tib-

ialia Sago Veneto amictus. In festivitatibus veste auro textH, et

calceamentis gemmatis, et fibula, aureft, sagum astringente, diademate quoque ex
auro et gemmis ornatus incedebat. Aliis autenni diebus habitus ejus parum a com-
tnuni et plebeio abhorrebat.

Charles drest after the manner of his countrymen, the Franks. Next to the
skia he wore a shirt and drawers of linen: over these a tunic bordered with silk,
and breeches. His outer garment was the sagum, manufactured by the Veneti.
On occasion of festivals he wore a garment interwoven with gold, shoes adorned
with gems, a golden fibula to fasten his sagum, and a diadem of gold and gems
On other days his dress differed little from that of the common people*.

The Veneti here mentioned were, no doubt, the people who
lived in the country near Vannes in Britany. We have for-
merly seen (Part Second, pp. 282 and 283. Chapter III.), that
the Sagum was the principal article of dress manufactured in
the north of Gaul.

According to Paulus Diaconus, as quoted in the notes on this
passage of Eginhartt, the Lombards and the Anglo-Saxons
used principally linen garments.

Linen, which appears to have been originally characteristic
of the Egyptian and Germanic nations, came by degrees into
more and more general use among the Greeks and Romans,
and was employed not only for articles of dress, especially those
worn by women, and for sheets to lie upon, but also for tahle-
covers and for napkins to wipe the hands, an application of
them which was the more necessary on accoimt of the want of
knives, forks, and spoons. Also those who waited at table,
were girt with towels. At the baths persons used towels to dry
themselves. A man wore a similar piece of cloth under the
hands of the tonsor. Plutarch ( On Garrulity) tells the follow-
ing anecdote of Archelaus. When a loquacious hair-dresser
was throwing the i)jx6\ivov about him in order to shear him, he
asked as usual, " How shall I cut your majesty's hair?" " In

* The trowsers worn by the Franks were sometimes linen, sometimes made of
skins. — Agathias ii. 5.

t Ed. Schmincke, Trajecti 1711, p. 110.

49

386 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE.

silence,^^ replied the king. Alcipliron tells of the barber putting
on him a linen cloth {aivioiv) in order to shave him {I. iii. Ep.
66.) ; and Phaneas, in an Epigram, calls the cloth used in
shaving by the same name, llivSw. Diogenes Laertius also (vi.
90.) tells a story respecting the philosopher Crates, which shows
that at Athens it was not deemed proper for a man to wear
linen as an outer garment, but that persons were enveloped in
it under the hands of the hair-dresser. " The Athenian poUce-
officers (oi auTvo^ot) having charged him with wearing a hnen sheet
for his outer garment, he said, ' I will show you Theophrastus
himself habited in that manner ;' and when they doubted the
fact, he took them to see Theophrastus at the hair-dresser's."

Coarser hnen was used in great quantity both for sails, and
for awnings to keep off the heat of the sun from the Roman
theatres, the Forum, and other places of public resort*.

The Emperor Alexander Severus, as we learn from the fol-
lowing passage of his Life written by jElius Lampridius, was a
great admirer of good hnen, and preferred that which was plain
to such as had flowers or feathers interwoven as practised in
Egypt and the neighboring countries.

Boni linteaminis appetitor fuit, et quidem puri, dicens, ' Si lintei idcirco sunt,
ut nihil asperum habeant, quid opus est purpura, V In lineft, autem aurum mitti,
etiam dementiam judicabat, quura asperitati adderetur rigor.

He took great delight in good linen, and preferred it plain. " If," said he, " lin-
en cloths are made of that material in order that they may not be at all rough,
why mix purple with them ?" But to interweave gold in linen, he considered
madness, because this made it rigid in addition to its roughness.

The following passage of the Life of the Emperor Carinus
by Flavins Vopiscus is remarkable as proving the value attach-
ed by the Romans of that age to the Hnen imported from
Egypt and Phcenice, especially to the transparent and flowered
varieties.

Jam quid hneas petitas jEgypto loquar ? Quid Tyro et Sidone tenuitate per-
lucidas, micantes purpura, plumandi difficultate pernobiles?

Why should I mention the linen cloths brought from Egj'pt, or those imported
from Tyre and Sidon, which are so thin as to be transparent, which gloio with
purple, or are prized on account of their labored embroidery ?

* See p. 321.

CHAPTER II.

HEMP*.

CULTIVATION AND USES OF HEBIP BY THE ANCIENTS ITS USE LIMITED

THRACE COLCHIS CARIA ETYMOLOGY OF HEMP.

The use of Hemp among the ancients was very limited. It
is never mentioned in the Scriptures, and not often by the
heathen writers of antiquity. It is remarkable, that no notice
is taken of it by Theophrastus. It was however used among
the Greeks and Romans for making ropes and nets, but not for
sacks, these being made of goats'-hairt.

The only reason for introducing hemp in this enumeration
is, that, according to Herodotus (iv. 74.) garments loere made
of it hy the Thracians. " They were so hke linen," says he,
" that none but a very experienced psrson could tell whether they
were of hemp or flax ; one, who had never seen hemp, would
certainly suppose them to be hnen." The coarser kinds of
linen would, it is certain, be scarcely, if at all distinguishable
from the finer kinds of hempen cloth.

Hesychius {v. Kiu^^a /?<j) quotes the preceding remark of He-
rodotus, only saying that the Thracian womeji made sheets of
hemp Qi^irm). In substituting these expressions he puts upon
the words of Herodotus an explanation derived from his famil-
iar knowledge of Grecian customs. To the present day hemp
is produced abundantly in the vicinity of the countries which
were occupied by the ancient Thracians. A traveller who has
lately visited them, informs us, that " the men who drive the

* According to a statement in the Western (Missouri) Journal, about 7,000
bales of hemp, the crop of 1844, was shipped from that place last spring. It is
thought that 20,000 bales will be raised in that neighborhood this year (1845).

t See Chap. IV. p. 299, 301.

388 CULTIVATION AND USES OF

horses, which drag the boats upon the Danube between Pest
and Vienna, now wear coarse tunics of heinj)*.

Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi. 2. p. 474.), speaking of the
Huns, who hved beyond the Palus Masotis, says,

They cover themselves with tunics made of linen, or of the skins of tcild mice
sewed together.

These timics, though called " Kntea," may have been the
hempen garments, which, according to Herodotus, were scarce
to be distinguished from hnen.

The next writer, who mentions hemp after Herodotus, is
Moschion, rather more than 200 years B. C. He statest, that
the magnificent ship Syracusia, built by the command of Hiero
II., was provided with hemp from the Rlione for making ropes.
The common materials for such purposes were the JEgi/ptia?i
Papyrus, the bark of the Lime-tree, of the Hemp-leaved
Mallow, and of the Spanish and Portugal Broom, and
probably also the Stipa Tenacissima of Linnseus.

Hemp, as well as flax, was grown abundantly in Colchist
It was brought to the ports of the jEgean Sea by the Ionian
merchants, who were intimately connected with the northern
and eastern coasts of the Euxine through the medium of the
Milesian colonies. This fact may account for the cultivation of
hemp in Caria. The best was obtained in the time of Pliny
(Z. xix. c. 9.) from Alabanda and Mylasainthat country. Phny
also mentions a kind, which grew in the country of the Sabines,
and which was remarkable for its height.

Automedon, who lived a httle before PHny, complains in an
Epigram of a bad dinner given him by one of his acquaintances,
and compares the tall stringy caljbages to hemp§. As this
author was a native of Cyzicus, he would probably have abun-
dant opportunities of becoming famihar with the plant.

In the time of Pausanias hemp was grown in Elis. See his
Eliaca, c. 26. § 4.

* Travels in Circassia, &c., by Edmund Spencer, 1837, vol. i. p. 13.

t Apud AthenEBum, 1. v. p. 206. Casaub.

t Strabo, 1. xi. § 17. vol. iv. p. 402, ed. Siebenkees.

§ Kavva Pivn- Brunck's Analecta, ii. 209.

HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS. 389

Dioscorides {I. iii. c. 141.) gives an account of hemp, in which
he distinguishes between the cultivated and the wild. By
Wild Hemp he means the Althoese Cannabina, Lin?!.*. He
observes respecting the Cultivated Hemp, by which he meant
proper hemp, the Cannabis Sativa, Linn., that it was "of great
use for twisting the strongest ropes."

On the whole we may conclude, that hemp was not the
natural growth either of Italy, Greece, or Asia Minor, but was
confined, as it still is in a great degree, to countries lying further
north and having a more rigid climate. The intimate con-
nexion of the Romans with the Greek colony of Marseilles
may have brought it among the Sabines, as the active trade
between the Euxine and Miletus may have introduced it into
Caria. With the material its name was also imported, and this
is substantially the same in all the languages of Europe, as
well as in many Asiatic tonguest.

* See Chap. XII. p. 194.

+ Sanscrit, Goni, Sana, or Siianapu ; Persic, Canna ; Arabic, Kanneh, or
KiNNUB ; Greek, Kannabis ; Latin, Cannabis ; Italian, Cannapa ; French, Ciian-
VRE, or Chanbre ; Danish and Flamand, Kamp, or Kennep; Lettish and Lithu-
anian, Kannapes ; Slavonian, Konopi ; Erse, Canaib ; Scandinavian, Hampr ;
Swedish, Hampa ; German, Hanf ; Anglo-Saxon, Haenep ; English, Hemp. Our
English word Canvass (French, Canevas,) has the same origin, meaning cloth
made of hemp (Canav).

Hemp is comparatively rare in India, as well as flax ; and, as flax is there
only used for obtaining oil, so hemp is never used for making cordage or for
weaving, but only for smoking on account of the narcotic qualities of its leaves.
(Wissett on Hemp, p. 20, 25.) Its name Sana, Sunu, or Gonu, is given also to
the Crotalaria Juncea, which is principally applied by the Indians to the same
usee as hemp in Europe. See Chap. XIII. p. 202.

If we compare flax with other spinning materials, such as wool and cotton, we
shall find it to possess several characteristic properties. While cotton and wool
are presented by nature in the form of insulated fibres, the former requiring merely
to be separated from its seeds, and the latter to be purified from dirt and grease
before being delivered to the spinner, flax must have its filaments separated from
each other by tedious and painful treatment. In reference to the spinning and
the subsequent operations, the following properties of flax are influential and im-
portant : —

1. The considerable length of the fibres, which renders it difllcult, on the one
hand, to form a fine, level, regular thread, on the other, gives the yam a consid-
erably greater tenacity, so that it cannot be broken by pulling out the threads
from each other, but by tearing them across.

390 CULTIVATION AND USES OF

2. The smooth and slim structure of the filaments, which gives to linen its pe-
culiar polished aspect, and feel so different from cotton, and especially from wool-
len stufiis, unless when disguised by dressing. The fibres of flax have no mutual
entanglement, whereby one can draw out another as with wool, and they must
therefore be made adhesive by moisture. This wetting of the fibres renders them
more pliant and easier to twist together

3. The jmall degree of elasticity, by which the simple fibres can be stretched
only one twenty -fifth of their natural length before they break, while sheep's wool
will stretch from one fourth to one half before it gives way.

Good fla.x should have a bright silver gray or yellowish color (inclining neither
to green nor black) ; it should be long, fine, soft, and glistening, somewhat like
\ silk, and contain no broad tape-like portions, from uudissevered filaments. Tow

difiers from flax in having shorter fibres, of very imequal length, and more or less
entangled. Hemp agrees in its properties essentially with flax, and must be simi-
larly treated in the spinning processes.

The manufacture of linen and hemp yam, and the tow of either, may bo ef-
fected by different processes ; by the distaff", the hand-wheel, and spinning ma-
chinerj'. It will be unnecessary to occupy the pages of this volume with a de-
scription of the first two well known domestic employments. Spinning of flax by
machinery has been much more recently brought to a practical state than the
spinning of cotton and wool by machines, of which the cause must be sought for
in the nature of flax as above described. The first attempts at the machine spin-
ning of flax, went upon the principle of cutting the filaments into short fragments
before beginning the operation. But in this way the most valuable property of
linen yam, its cohesive force, was greatly impaired ; or these attempts were re-
stricted to the spinning of tow, which on account of its short and somewhat tor-
tuous fibres, could be treated hke cotton, especially after it had been further torn
by the carding engine. The first tolerably good results with machinery seem to
have been obtained by the brothers Girard at Paris, about the year 1810. But
the French have never carried the apparatus to any great practical perfection.
The towns of Leeds in Yorkshire, of Dundee in Scotland, and Belfast in Ireland,
have the merit of bringing the spinning of flax by machines into a state of perfec-
tion little short of that for which the cotton trade has been so long celebrated.

For machine spinning, the flax is sometimes heckled by hand, and sometimes
by machinery. The series of operations is the following : —

1. The heckluig.

2. The conversion of the flax into a band of parallel rectilinear filaments, wliich
forms the foundation of the future yam.

3. The formation of a sliver from the riband, by drawing it out mto a narrower
range of filaments.

4. The coarse spinning, by twining the sliver into a coarse and loose thread.

5. The fine spinning, by the simultaneous extension and twisting of that coac?©
thread.

All heckle machines have this common property, that the flax is not drawn
through them, as in working by hand, but, on the contrar)', the system of heckles
is moved through the flax properly suspended or laid. Differences exist in the
shape, arrangement, and movements of the heckles, as also in regard to the means

HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS. 391

by which the adhering tow is removed from them. Tlie siniplest and most com-
mon construction is to place the Iieckles upon the surface of a horizontal cylinder,
while the flax is held either by mechanical means or by the hand during its expo-
sure to the heckle points. Many machines have been made upon this principle.
It is proper in this case to set the heckle teeth obliquely in the direction in which
the cylinder turns, whereby they penetrate the fibres in a more parallel line, effect
their separation more easily, and cause less waste in torn filaments. To conduct
the flax upon the cylinders, two horizontal fluted rollers of iron are employed,
which can be so modified in a moment by a lever as to present the flax more or
less to th« heckling mechanism. The operator seizes a tress lock of flax with her
hand and introduces it between the fluted rollers, so that the tips on which the
operation must begin, reach the heckles first, and by degrees the advancing flax
gets heckled through two thirds or three fourths of its length, after which the tress
or strick is turned, and its other end is subjected to the same process. By its
somewhat rapid revolution the heckle cylinder creates a current of air which not
only carries away the boomy particles, but also spreads out the flax like a sheaf
of corn upon the spikes, effecting the same object as is done by the dexterous
swing of the hand. The tow collects betwixt the teeth of the heckle, and may,
when its quantity has become considerable, be removed in the form of a flock of
parallel layers.

Flax has been for a long period spun wet in the mills ; a method no doubt cop-
ied from the practice of housewives moistening their yam with their saliva at
the domestic wheel. Within a few years the important improvement has been
introduced of substituting hot for cold water, in the troughs through which the
fibres in the act of spinning pass. By this means a much finer, smoother, and
more uniform thread can be spun than in the old way. The flax formerly spun
to twelve pounds a bundle is, with hot water, spun to six. The inconvenience of
the spray thrown from the yarn on the fliers remains, aggravated by increased
heat and dampness of the room where tliis hot process goes on. Being a new ex-
pedient, it receives daily changes and ameliorations. WTien first employed, the
troughs of hot water were quite oj)en ; they are now usually covered in, so as al-
most entirely to obviate the objections to which they were previously liable. With
the covers has been also introduced a new method of piecening or joining on any
end, which may have been run down, namely, by splicing it to the adjoining ro-
ving, whereby it is carried through the water without imposing a necessity on the
epinner to put her hand into the water at all. In some places she uses a wire,
for the purpose of drawing through the end of the roving to mend a broken yam.

This may be considered the inherent evil of flax-spinning,— the spray thrown
oflf by the wet yam, as it whirls abcit with the flier of the spindles. A working
dress, indeed, is generally worn by the spinners ; but, unless it be made of stuflF
impermeable to water, like Mackintosh's cloth, it will soon become uncomfortable,
and cause injury to health by keeping the body continually in a hot bath. In
some mills, water-proof cloth and leather aprons have actually been introduced,
which are the only practicable remedy ; for the free space which must be left round
the spindles for the spinner to see them play, is incompatible with any kmd of
fixed guard or parapluie.

CHAPTER HI.

ASBESTOS.

Uses of Asbestos — Carpasian flax — Still found in Cjrprus — Used in funerals — As-
bestine-cloth— How manufactured — Asbestos used for fraud and superstition
by the Romish monks — Relic at Monte Casino — Further impostures of the
monks — Remarks thereon.

Yarro mentions the name Asbestos as a proof, that the cloth
so called was a Greek invention*. His argument is obviously
correct. The term [aaPcaros'j means inextinguishable, and was
most properly applied to the wicks of lamps, which were made
of this substance and were never consumed.

The fullest account of the properties and uses of Asbestos is
contained in the following passage from Sotacus, a Greek author
who wrote on Stonest. The passage occurs in the Historise
Commentitise, attributed to ApoUonius Dyscolus [cap. 36).

The Carystian stone has woolly and colored appendages, which are spun and
woven into napkins. This substance is also twisted into wicks, which, when
burnt, are bright, but do not consume. The napkins, when dirty, are not wash-
ed with water, but a fire is made of sticks, and then the napkin is put into it.
The dirt disappears, and the napkin is rendered white and pure by the fire, and
is applicable to the same purposes as before. The wicks remain burning with oil
continually without being consumed. This stone is produced in Carystus, from
which it has its name, and in great abundance in Cyprus under rocks to the left
of Elmceum, as you go from Gerandros to Soli. — Yates's Translation.

" At Carystus," says Strabo, " under Mount Ocha in Eubcea
is produced the stone, which is combed and woven so as to make
napkins {jx^upo^aKTpa) or handkerchiefs. When these have become
dirty, instead of being washed, they are thrown into a flame
and thus purifiedj."

* De Lingua Lat. L. v. p. 134. ed. Spengel.

t Sotacus is several times quoted by Pliny (L. xxxvi., xxxvii.) as a foreign
writer on Stones.
X Lib. X. p. 19. ed. Sieb.

USES OF ASBESTOS. 393

Plutarch speaks in similar terms of napkins, nets, and head-
dresses, made of the Carystian stone, but says, that it was no
longer found in his time, only thin veins of it, hke hairs, being
discoverable in the rock*.

Mr. Hawkins ascertained, that the rock, which was quarried
in Mount Ocha, now called St. Elias, above Carystus, is the
Cipohno of the Roman antiquariesf. Further north in the
same island Dr. Sibthorp observed " rocks of Serpentine in beds
of saline marble, forming the Verdantique of the ancientst :''
and he states, that on the shore to the north of Negropont
" the rocks are composed of serpentine stone with veins of as-
bestos and soapstone intermixed§." Tournefort speaks cf
Amiantus as brought from Ca \:~io in his time, but of inferior
quahtyll.

Pausanias (i. 26. 7.) says, the wick of the golden lamp which
was kept burning night and day in the temple of Minerva
Pohas at Athens, was "of Carpasian flax, the only kind of
flax which is indestructible by fire." This " Carpasian flax"
was asbestos from the vicinity of Carpasus, a town near the
north-east corner of C3'prus, which retains its ancient name.
Carjjas.

Dioscorides (L. v. c. 93.) gives a similar account of the quali-
ties and uses of Amiantus, and says it was produced in Cyprusll.

Majolus says**, that in the year 1566 he saw at Venice Podo-
cattarus, a knight of Cyprus, and a writer on the history of that
island, who exhibited at Venice cloth made of the asbestos of sk.
his country, which he threw into the fire, and took it out unin-
jured and made quite clean.

Referring to Cyprus, Sonnini [Voyage en Grece, i. ]}. 66.)
says,

L'amiante, asbestos, on lin incombustible des anciens, est encore aussi abon-

* De Oraculonun Defectu, p. 770. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1372.

t Travels in various Countries of the East, edited by Walpole, p. 288.

t Ibid. p. 37.

§ Ibid. p. 38. — N. B. Asbestos is always found in rocks of Serpentine.

II Voyage, English Translation, vol. i. p. 129.

ir See p. 392.

** Dier. Canicular. Part I. Collog. xx. p. 453.

394 USES OF ASBESTOS,

dant qu'il le fut autrefois ; la carridre qui Ic fournit est dans la montagne d'Aka-
mantide, prfes du cap Chromachiti.

Le talc est commun, surtout prfes de Lamaca, oil on I'emploio d. blancliir les
maisons ; et le platre a de nombreuses carriferes.

The " talc " may be the same with the " Lapis speculaiis,"
which was found in Cyprus, according to Pliny (xxxvi. 45.).
The testimony of Sonnini so far agrees with those of the
ancients, that all the places mentioned were on the northern
side of the island, so that the asbestos seems to have been
found between Soke towards the West and Carpas towards the
East.

Pietro della Valle, when he was at Larnaca, was presented
with a piece of the amiantus of the country, but says that it
was no longer spun and woven.

Pliny, if we can rely upon his testimony as given in the ex-
isting editions of his works, states, that Asbestos was obtained
in Arcadia (H. N. xxxvii. 54.) and in India.

" A kind of flax has been discovered which is incombustible by fire. It is
called live flax ; and we have seen napkins of it burning upon the hearth at en-
tertainments, and, when thus deprived of their dirt, more resplendent through the
agency of fire than they could have been by the use of water. The funeral shirts
made of it for kings preserve the ashes of the body separate from those of the rest
of the pile. It is produced in deserts and in tracts scorched by the Indian sun,
where there are no showers, and among dire serpents, and thus it is inured to live
even when it is burnt. It is rare, and woven with difficulty on account of the
shortness of its fibres. That variety which is of a red color becomes resplendent
in the fire. When it has been found it equals the prices of excellent pearls. It is
called by the Greeks Asbestine Flax, on account of its nature. Anaxilaus re-
lates, that if a tree surrounded with cloth made of it be beaten, the strokes are
not heard. On account of these properties this flax is the first in the world. The
next in value is that made of byssus, which is produced about Elis in Achaia,
and used principally for fine female ornaments. I find that a scruple of this flax,
as also of gold, was formerly sold for four denarii*. The nap of linen cloths, ob-
tained chiefly from the sails of ships, is of great use in surgerj-, and their ashes
have the same eflect as spodium. There is a certain kind of poppy the use of
wliich imparts the highest degree of whiteness to linen clotlis." — Pliny, Lib. xix.
eh. 4.

Besides the manufacture of napkins, this description exactly
agrees with the accounts of Strabo, Sotacus, Dioscorides, and

* i. e. eighteen grains of this flax were worth 2s. 10(f. stg., being equal in value
to its weight in gold.

USES OF ASBESTOS. 395

Plutarch. Pliny's account of the use of this material in fune-
rals has been remarkably confirmed by the occasional discovery
of pieces of asbestine cloth in the tombs of Italy. One was
found in 1633 at Puzzuolo, and was preserved in the Bajberiui
gallery*. Another was found in 1702 a mile without the gate
called Porta Major in Rome. We have an account of the dis-
covery in a letter ^vritten from Rome at the time, and appended
to Montfaucon's Travels through Italy. A marble sarcophagus
having been discovered in a vineyard was found to contain the
clotli, which was about 5 feet wide, and 6^ long. It contained
a skull and the other burnt bones of a human body. The
sculptured marble indicates, that the deceased was a man of rank.
He is supposed to have lived not earlier than the time of Con-
stantino. This curious relic of antiquity has been preserved in
the Vatican Library since the period of its discovery, and Sir
J. E. Smith, who saw it there, gives the following description
of its appearance : —

It is coarsely spun, but as soft and pliant as silk. Our guide set fire to one
comer of it, and the very same part burnt repeatedly with great rapidity and
brightness without being at all injuredt.

Also in the Museo Barbonico at Naples there is a considerable
piece of asbestine cloth, found at Vasto in the Abruzzi, the an-
cient Histonium.

Hierocles, the historian, as quoted by Stephanus B)^zantiuus,
gives the following account of the Asbestos of India : —

The Braclmians use cloth made of a kind of flax, which is obtained from
rocks. Webs are produced from it, which are neither subject to be consumed by
fire nor cleansed by water, but which, after they have become full of dirt and
stains, are rendered clear and white by being thrown into the fire.

The following testimonies illustrate the fact, recorded by
both Hierocles and Pliny, that Asbestos was obtained from
India.

Marco Polot mentions, that incombustible cloth was woven
from a fibrous stone found at Chenchen in the territory of the

* Keyslers Travels, vol. ii. p. 292. London 1760.
t Tour on the Continent, vol. ii. p. 201.
t Marsden's Translation, p. 17G.

50

396 USES OF ASBESTOS.

Great Khan. It was pounded in a brass mortar ; then wa.>;hed
to separate the earthy particles ; spun and woven into cloth ;
and cleansed, when dirty, by being thrown into the fire.

Bugnon, in his Relation Exacte concernant les Caravanes
{Nancy, 1707, p. 37-39.) mentions, that Amiaiitus was found
in Cyprus and on the confines of Arabia. He says, they spun
it and made stockings, socks, and drawers, which fitted close-
ly ; that over these they wore their other garments ; and that
they were thus protected from the heat in travelling with the
caravans through Asia.

Basil, Bishop of Cajsarea, shows that he was acquainted with
the properties of this substance, hy cojnparing the three chil-
dren cast into the fiery furnace without being hurt [Dan. iii.)
to Asbestos, " which, when put into the fire seems to burn and
to be turned to ashes, but, when taken out, becomes purer and
brighter than it was before*."

Damasus [in Silvestro Papa) mentions, that the Emperor
Constantine directed asbestos to be used for the wicks of the
lamps in his baptistery at Rome.

For further particulars respecting the places where amiantus
is procured, and the mode of preparing it for the manufacture
of cloth, we refer to the treatises of mineralogists and to the
Essays of Ciampini, TiUngius, Mahudel, and Bruckmann on
this particular subject. We are informed, that it is softened and
rendered supple by being steeped in oil, and i\\:xX fibres of flax
are then mixed with it in order that it may be spun. When
the cloth is woven, it is put into the fire, by which the flax and
oil are dissipated, and the asbestos alone remainsf.

Ignorance of the true nature of Asbestos caused it to be em-
ployed in the dark ages for purposes of superstition and relig-
ious fraud. Of this we have a proof in the following account

* Homilia de Jejunio, p. 111.

t Tournefort's Travels, vol. i. p. 129. Bruckmann, Hist. Nat. Lapidis. Bruns-
wic. 1727. p. 31, 32. This author says the asbestos was put into warm water,
and there rubbed and turned about. An earth separates from it, which makes
the water as white as milk. This is repeated five or six times. The fibres, thus
purified, are spread out to dry.

USES OF ASBESTOS. 397

which we find in the Chronicon Casinense of Leo Ostiensis,
L. ii. c. 33.

His iliebus Monachi quidam ab Jerusolymis venientes particulam lintci, cum quo
pedes discipulorum Salvator extersit, secum detulerunt, et ob reverentiam sancti
hujus loci devotissim^ liic obtulerunt, sexto scilicet Idus Decembris ; sed, cum a
plurimis super hoc nulla fides adhiboretur, illi fide fidentes protinus proedictam par-
ticulam in accensi turibuli igne desuper posuerunt, quoc mox quidem in ignis colo-
rem conversa, post paululiim vero, amotis carbonibus, ad pnstmam speciem mi-
rabiliter est reversa. Cumque excogitarent qualiter, vel quanam in parte pignora
tanta locarent, contigit, dispositione diving, ut eodem ipso die, transmissus sit in
hunc locum loculus ille mirificus, ubi nunc recondita est ipsa lintel sancti particula,
argento et auro gemmisque Anglico opere subtlliter ac pulcherrimfe decoratus. Ibi
erg6 christallo superposito venerabiliter satis est collocata : morisque est singulis
annis, ipso die Coenoe DominiciB ad mandatum Fratrum earn a Mansionariis de-
ferri et in medium poni, duoque candelabra ante illam accendi et Indesinenter per
totum mandati spatium ab Acolito incensari. Demum ver6 juxta finem mandati
a singulis per ordinem fratribus flexis genibus devotissimfe adorarl et reverentfer
exosculari.

There is no good reason to doubt the truth of this narrative
so far as respects the veracity and credit of the historian. Leo
Ostiensis became an inmate of the Abbey of Monte Casino a
few years after the event is said to have happened, and could
scarcely be misinformed respecting the circumstances, more es-
pecially as he held during the latter part of his abode there the
office of Librarian. There is nothing improbable in the story.
Asbestine cloth, as we have learnt from Marco Polo, was man-
ufactured in Asia during the middle ages, and the reputed rehc
was obtained at Jerusalem. That the pilgrims, who visited
Jerusalem, should be imposed upon in this manner, is in the
highest degree probable, since we are informed, that the very
same substance iti its natwal state was often sold to devotees
AS THE WOOD OF THE TRUE CROSS, and its in-
combustibility was exhibited as the proof of its genuineness.
This we learn in the following passage from Tilingius, who
wrote " De lino vivo aut asbestino et incomhustihiliP

Antonius Musa Brassavolus Ferrariensis tradit, Impostores lapidem Amiantum
simplicibus mulierculis ostendere vendereque seepenumero pro ligno crusis Serva-
toris nostri. Id quod facile credunt, cum igne non comburatur, quodque lignl mo-
do plurimis constet linels intercur santibus. — Miscellnnea Curiosa Natura Curi-
osorum, Decurim 11. Ann. II. p. 111. NorembergcB, 1684.

398 USES OF ASBESTOS.

The monks on their arrival at Monte Casino would natural-
ly display the same evidence, by which they themselves had
been counnced ; and the appearance of the cloth, when put
into the fire and taken out of it, is described exactly as it
would be in fact, supposing it to have been made of amiantus.

Montfaucon, in his Travels in Italy {j). 381. English ed.
8yo.), describes a splendid service-book, which was written A. D.
1072 by Leo at the expense of brother John of Marsicana, and
presented by John to the Monastery of Monte Casmo, where it
was exhibited to Montfaucon as one of the most valuable and
curious monuments. An illumination in this book represents a
monk kneeling before >St. Benedict, the patron and founder
of the institution, and holding in his hands a cloth, on which
St. Benedict is placing his left foot. Montfaucon gives an en-
graving from this picture : he supposes the cloth to be a monk's
cowl, and conjectures that it was thus used in admitting novices.
This explanation is evidently a most unsatisfactory one, nothing
being produced to render it even probable. We believe the
cloth to be that the history of which has just now been given, and
that the design of the artist was to represent a monk wiping
the feet of St. Benedict laith the same cloth with which Jesus
wiped the feet of his disciples.

This supposition will appear the more probable if we attend
to the date of the MS. (A. D. 1072) and the persons, by whom
and at whose expense it was WTitten. '■ Brother John of Mar-
sicana" appears to have been at this time advanced in years,
wealthy, and highly respected, since we are informed, that in
the year 1055, when Peter was chosen Abbot of the Monas-
tery, some of the brotherhood wished to choose John, although
he, foreseeing that the choice would be hkely to fall on him, had
obstinately sworn on the altar, that he would never undertake
the office. John was at this time provost of Capua*. Seven-
teen years afterwards he went to the expense of providing the
service-book seen by Montfaucon. He employed as his scribe
one of the fraternity, who was his junior and from the same

* Dominum Johannem, cognomine Marsicanum, qui tunc Capuae erat praepo-
situs, &c. — Leonis Ostiensis Chronicon Casinense, L. ii. c. 92.

USES OF ASBESTOS. 399

city with himself. For there can be scarcely a doubt, but that
Leo, who wrote the MS., was the same who was the author of
the Chronicon. The author of the Chronicon, at the com-
mencement of his history, calls himself " Frater Leo, cogno-
mine Marsicanus*". He was made Bishop of Ostia A. D. 1101,
so that we may suppose him to have been twenty or thirty
years of age, when the MS. was made. Of his aptitude for
such an employment we cannot doubt, when we consider his
future labors as Librarian and author of the Chronicle. But
if these facts be evident, it is equally manifest, that these two
accomplished Benedictines could not have expressed their ven-
eration towards their founder in any way better suited to their
ideas and belief than by exhibiting in the manner described
that relic, WHICH WAS SOLEMNLY DISPLAYED
ONCE A YEAR WITH BURNING CANDLES AND
ATTENDING ACOLYTHES TO THE ADMIRING
AND ADORING CROWD OF DEVOTEES.

On inquiry it is found that this relic exists no longer at
Monte Casino, although the original copy of the Chronicon of
Leo Ostiensis is still preserved in the Libraryf. It appears that
the relic has long been lost, since there is no mention either of
it, or of the casket which contained it in the " Descrizione Is-
torica del Monastero di Monte Casino, Napoli, 1775."

A large glove of this substance is in the Hunterian Museum
at Glasgow. An English traveller states that he has latel}'^ seen
at Parma a table-clolh, made of Amiantus from Corsica, for
the use of the ex-Empress Magja Louisa, who resided there
after the fall of Napoleon. ^P

In modern times cloth of asbestos is scarcely made. Indeed
it is not probable that this material will ever be obtained in
much abundance, or that it will cease to be a rarity except in
the places of its production. " It is never seen in Great Britain,
or on the continent, save in the cabinets of the curious.

* Marsicana (civitas) was in Marsica, the territory of the ancient Marsi.
+ Excursions in the Abruzzi, by the Hon. Keppel Craven, vol. i. p. 54.

The annexed Map (Plate VII.) is designed to indicate the
divisions of the Ancient World as determined by the Raw
Materials principally produced and employed in them for
weaving.

The Red division produced Sheeps'-Wool and Goats'-Hair :
also Beavers'- Wool in the portion of this division, which lies to
the North of the Mediterranean Sea, and of the rivers Padus
and Ister : and Camels'- Wool and Camels'-Hair in the portion
lying South-East of a line drawn through the coast of Syria.
The nations to the North of this division clothed themselves in
skins, furs, and felt.

The Yellow at the Eastern corner indicates the commence-
ment of the vast Region, unknown to the Ancients, the
inhabitants of which clothed themselves in Silk.

The Green indicates the countries, all low and bordering on
rivers, in which the cloth manufactured was chiefly Linen.

The Brown is designed to show the cultivation of Hemp in
the low country to the North of the Euxine Sea, and probably
in other places, North of the Red division, which were adapted
for its growth.

Lastly, the Blue, which is the colour of the Baharein Isles
and of India, shows that the inhabitants of these countries
have from time immemorial clothed themselves in Cotton.

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX A.

ON PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY.

Sheep and wool — Price of wool in Pliny's time — Varieties of wool and where pro-
duced— Coarse wool used for the manufacture of carpets — Woollen cloth of
Egypt — Embroidery — Felting — Manner of cleansing — DistafF of Tanaquil —
Varro — Tunic — Toga — Undulate or waved cloth — Nature of this fabric — Fig-
m-ed cloths in use in the days of Homer (900 B. C.) — Cloth of gold — Figured
cloths of Babylon — Damask first woven at Alexandria — Plaided textures first
woven in Gaul — $150,000 paid for a Babylonish coverlet — Dyeing of wool in the
fleece — Obsers'ations on sheep and goats — Dioscurias a city of the Colchians —
Manner of transacting business.

LIB. VIIL c. 47s. 72. 50s. 76.*

" We are also much indebted to sheep both in sacrifices to propitiate the gods,
and in the use of their fleeces. As oxen produce by cultivation the food of men,
so we owe to sheep the protection of our bodies Tliere are two prin-
cipal kinds of sheep, the covered and the common. The former is softer, the lat-
ter more delicate in feeding, inasmuch as the covered feeds on brambles. Its
coverings are chiefly of Arabic materials.

" The most approved wool is the Apulian, and that which is called the icool
of Greek sheep in Italy, and the Italic loool in other places. The third kind in
value is that obtained from Milesian sheep. The Apulian wools have a short
staple, and are only celebrated for making poenulas. They attain the highest
degree of excellence about Tarentum and Canusium. In Asia wools of the same
kind are obtained at Laodicea. No white wool is preferred to those which are
produced about the Po, nor has a pound ever yet exceeded a hundred sesterces
(about $3, GO.). Sheep are not shorn ever>-wliere : in certain places the practice
of pulling off" the wool continues. There are various colors of wool, so that wc
want terms to denote all. Spain produces some of those varieties which we call
native ; Pollentia, near the Alps, furnishes the chief kmds of black wool ; Asia

* The edition here followed is that of SUlig, Lipsia;, 1831-6, 5 vols., 12mo.

51

402 ON pliny's natural history.

and Baetica those ruddy varieties called Erythrean ; Canusium a sandy-colored*
wool ; and Tarentum one of a dark shade peculiar to that locality. New-sliorn
greasy wools have all a medicinal virtue. The wool of Istria and Libumia being
more like hair than wool, is unsuitable for making the cloths which have a long
nap. This is also the ceise with the wool of Salacia in Lusitania ; but the cloth
made from it is recommended by its plaided pattern. A similar kind is pro-
duced about PiscencB (i. e. Pezenas), in the province of Narbonne, and likewise
in Egypt, the woollen cloth of which country, having been worn by use, is em-
broidered and lasts some time longer. The coarse wool with a thick staple was
used ill very ancient times for carpets : at least Homer (900 B. C.) speaks of
the use of it. The Gauls have one method of embroidering these carpets, and
the Parthians another. Portions of wool also make cloth by being forced to-
gether by themselves^. With the addition of vinegar these also resist iron, nay
even fires, which are the last expedient for purging them ; for, having been taken
out of the caldrons of the polishers, they are sold for the stuffing of beds, an in-
vention made, I believe, in Gaul, certainly in the present day distinguished by
Gallic names : for in what age it commenced I could not easily say, since the
ancients used beds of straw, such as are now employed in camps. The cloths
called gatisapa began to be used within the memory of my father ; those called
amphimalla within my own, (See Part First, p. 30,) as well as the shaggy cov-
erings for the stomach, called ventralia. For the tunic with the laticlave is now
first beginning to be woven after the manner of the gausnpa. The black wools
are never dyed. Concerning the dyeing of the others we shall speak in their
proper places, in treating of sea-shells or the nature of herbs.

" M. Varro says, that the wool continued to his time upon the distaff and spindle
of Tanaquil, also called Caia Csecilia, in the temple of Sangus ; and that there re-
mained in the temple of Fortime a royal undulate toga made by her, which Servius
Tullius had worn. Hence arose the practice of carrying a distaff with wool upon
it, and a spindle with its thread, after virgins who were going to be married. She
first wove the straight tunic, such as is worn by tiros together with the toga
pura, and by newly-married women. The undulate or waved cloth was origin-
ally one of the most admired ; from it was derived the soriculateX. Fenestrella
writes, that scraped and Phryxian togas came into favor about the end of the

* This term is adopted as the best translation of the Latin fulvus, which, as
well as the corresponding Greek adjective ^avOds, denoted a light yellowish-brown.
Hence it was so commonly applied to the light hair, which accompanies a light
complexion and often indicates mental vivacity, and which has consequently been
always considered beautiful. Hence also it was used to denote the appearance
of the Tiber and other rivers, when they were rendered turbid by the quantity of
sand suspended in their waters. — See Fellows's Discoveries in Lycia.

t See Appendix C.

t It is probable that soriculate cloth was a kind of velvet, or plush, so called
from its resemblance to the coat of the field-mouse, sorex, dim. soricula. So-
riculata may have been changed into sororiculata by repeating or at the begin-
ning of the word.

ON pliny's natural history. 403

reign of the Divine Augustus. The thick poppied togas are of remoter origin, be-
ing noticed even so far back as by the poet Lucilius in his Torquatus. The toga
pr<Etexta was invented among the Etruscans. I find evidence that kings wore
the striped toga*, that figured cloths were in use even in the days of Homer :
and that these gave rise to tlie triumphal. To produce tliis eflTect with the nee-
dle was the invention of the Phrygians, on which account cloths so embroidered
have been called Phrygionic. In the same part of Asia king Attalus (see Part
I. p. 88.) discovered the art of inserting a woof of gold : from which circumstance
the Attalic cloths received their name. Babylon first obtained celebrity by its
method of diversifying the picture with different colors, and gave its name to
textures of this description. But to weave with a great number of leashes, so as to
produce the cloths called polymita (i. e. damask clotlis), was first taught in Alex-
andria ; to divide by squares (i. e. plaids) in Gaul. Metellus Scipio brought it as
an accusation against Cato, that even in his time Babylonian coverlets for triclinia
were sold for 800,000 sesterces ($30,000), although the emperor Nero lately
gave for them no less than 4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000). The pratexta
of Servius TuUius, covering the statue of Fortune which he dedicated, remained
until the death of Sejanus, and it is wonderful that they had neither decayed of
themselves nor been injured by the worms of moths through the space of 560
years. We have, moreover, seen the fleeces of living sheep dyed with purple,
with the coccus, or the mure.x, in pieces of bark a foot and a half long, luxury
appearing to force this upon them as if it were their nature.

" In the sheep itself the excellence of the breed is sufficiently shown by the
shortness of the legs and the clothing of the belly. Those which have naked
bellies used to be called apica, and were condemned. The tails of the Syrian
sheep are a cubit broad, and in that part they bear a great quantity of wool. It
is thought premature to castrate lambs before they are five months old. In Spain,
but especially in Corsica, there is a race of animals called musmons, resembling
sheep, except that their covering is more like goats'-hair. The ancients called
the mixed breed of sheep and musmons Umbri. Sheep have a very weak head,
on which account they are obliged to turn from the sun in feeding. They arc
most foolish animals. Where they have been afraid to enter, they follow one
dragged along by the horn. They live ten years at the longest, but in Ethiopia
thirteen years. Goats live there eleven years, and in other countries eight at the

most In Cilicia and about the Syrtes, goats have a shaggy

coat, which admits of being shorn."

LIB. VI. c. 5.

" The remaining shores are occupied by savage nations, as the Melanchlaeui
and Coraxi, Dioscurias, a city of the Colchians, near the river Anthemus, being
now deserted, although formerly so illustrious, that Timosthenes has recorded that
three hmidred nations used to resort to it, speaking different languages ; and that
business was afterwards transacted on our part through the medium of one hun-
dred and thirty interpreters."

* The toga worn by the kings and other supreme magistrates among the Ro-
mans was called trabea from the stripes, which were compared to the joists or
rafters of a building (irabes).

404 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF

APPENDIX B.

ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF LINEN AND
COTTON PAPER.

THE INVENTION OF LINEN PAPER PROVEN TO BE OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN,
COTTON PAPER MANUFACTURED BY THE BUCHARIANS AND ARABI-
ANS, A. D. 704.

Wehrs gives the inventiou of Linen paper to Germany — Schonemann to Italy —
Opinion of various writers, ancient and modern — Linen paper produced in
Egypt from mummy-cloth, A.D. 1200 — Testimony of Abdollatiph — Europe
indebted to Egj'pt for linen paper until the eleventh century — Cotton paper —
The knowledge of manufacturing, how procured, and by whom — Advantages
of Egj'ptian paper manufacturers — Clugny's testimony — Egj^ptian manuscript
of linen paper bearing date A. D. 1100 — Ancient water-marks on linen paper
— Linen paper first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain — The
Wasp a paper-maker — Manufacture of paper from shavings of wood, and from
the stalks or leaves of Indian-corn.

No part of the Res Diplomatica has been more frequently
discussed than the question respecting the origin of paper made
from hnen rags. The inquiry is interesting on account of the
unspeakable importance of this material in connection with the
progress of knowledge and all the means of civilization, and it
also claims attention from the philologist as an aid in determining
the age of manuscripts.

Wehrs refers to a document written A. D. 1308 as the oldest
known specimen of hnen paper ; and, as the invention must
have been at least a Uttle previous to the preparation of this
document, he fixes upon 1300 as its probable date*. Various
writers on the subject, as Von Murr, Breitkopf, Schonemann,
&c., concur in this opinion.

Gotthelf Fischer, in his Essay on Paper-markst, cites an

» Vom Papier, p. 309, 343.

t This Essay, translated into French, is published by Jansen, in. liis Essai but
I'origine de la gravure en bois et en taille-douce, Paris 1808, tome i. p. 357-385.

LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 405

extract from an account written in 1301 on linen paper. In
this specimen the mark is a circle surmounted by a sprig, at the
end of which is a star. The paper is thick, fnm, and well
grained ; and its water-lines and water-marks {ycrgures et
poutuseaiLv) may readily be distmguished.

The date was carried considerably higher by Schwandner,
Principal Keeper of the Imperial Library at Vienna, who found
among the charters of the Monastery of Goss in Upper Stiria
one in a state of decay, only seven inches long and three wide.
So highly did he estimate the value of this curious relic as to
publish in 1788 a full account of his discovery in a thin quarto
volume, which bears the following title, " Chartmn lintemn
antiqiiissimam, omnia hactemis j)rodiicla spccimi7ia cctate
suCl superantem, ex cimelils Bihliothecce. AugustcB Yindoho-
nensis cxponit Jo. Ge. Schwandner^'' i5*c- The document is a
mandate of Frederick II. Emperor of the Romans, entrusting
to the Archbishop of Saltzburg and the Duke of Austria the
determination of a dispute between the Duke of Carinthia and
the Monastery of Goss respecting the property of the latter in
Carinthia. Schwandner proves the dale of it to be 1243. He
does not say whether it has any lines or water-mark, but is quite
satisfied from its flexibiUty and other qualities, that it is hnen.
Although on the first discovery of this document some doubt
was expressed as to its genuineness, it appears to have risen in
estimation with succeeding writers ; and we apprehend it is
rather from inadvertence than from any deficiency in the evi-
dence, that it is not noticed at all by Schonemann, Ebert,
Delandine, or by Home. Due attention is, however, bestowed
upon it by August Friedrich Pfeiffer Tiber Bilchcr-Hand-
schriften, Erlangen 1810, p. 39, 40.

With regard to the circumstances which led to the invention
of the pai^er noio in coinmon use, or the country in which it
took place, we find m the writers on the subject from Polydore
Virgil to the present day nothing but conjectures or confessions
of ignorance. Wehrs supposes, and others follow him, that in
making paper linen rags were either by accident or through
design at first mixed with cotton rags, so as to produce a paper,
which was partly Unen and partly cotton, and that this led by

406 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF

degrees to the manufacture of paper from linen only*. Wehrs
also endeavors to claim the honor of the invention for Germany,
his own country ; but Schonemann gives that distinction to
Italy, because there, in the district of Ancona, a considerable
manufacture of cotton paper was carried on before the fourteenth
centuryt. All however admit, that they have no satisfactory
evidence on the subject.

A clear light is throwai upon these questions by a remark of
the Ai-abian physician, AbdoUatiph, who visited Egypt A. D.
1200. He informs usj, " that the cloth found in the catacombs,
and lised to erwelope the mummies, was made into gai'Tnents,
or sold to the scribes to make jjaper for shop-keepers.'^
Having shown (See Part IV. Chapter I.) that this cloth was
linen, the passage of AbdoUatiph, therefore, may be considered
as a decisive proof, which, however, has never been produced
as such, of the manufacture of hnen paper as early as the
year 1200.

This account coincides remarkably with what we know from
various other sources. Professor Tychsen, in his learned and
curious dissertation on the use of paper from Papyrus (publish-
ed in the Cominentationes Reg. Soc. Gottingensis Recenti-
ores, vol. iv. A. D. 1820), has brought abundant testimonies to
prove that Egypt supplied all Eurojoe icith this kind of
paper until towards the end of the eleventh century. The
use of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being employed in-
stead. The Araljs in consequence of their conquests in
Bucharia had learnt the art of making cotton jjaper about the
year 704, and through them or the Saracens it was introduced

* Vom Papier, p. 183. t Diplomatik, vol . i. p. 494.

t Chapter iv. p. 188 of Silvestre de Sacy's French translation, p. 221 of Wahl's
German translation. This interesting passage was translated as follows by Ed-
ward Pococke, the younger : — " Et qui ex Arabibus, incolisve Rifte, aliisve, has
areas indagant, hiEC integumenta diripiunt, quodque in iis rapiendum iuvenitur ;
et conficiunt sibi vestes, aut ea chartariis vendunt ad conficiendam chartam em-
poreaticam."

Silvestre de Sacy (Notice, &.C.), animadverting on White's version which is
entirely different, expresses his approbation of Pococke's, from which Wahl's does
not materially differ.

LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 407

into Europe in the eleventh century*. We may therefore con-
sider it as in the liighest degree prol)able, that the mode of
making cotton paper was known to the paper-makers of Egypt.
At the same time endless quantities of Unen cloth, the best of
all materials for the manufacture of paper, were to be obtained
from the catacombs.

If we put together these circumstances, we cannot but per-
ceive how tliey conspire to illustrate and justify the statement
of AbdoUatiph. We perceive the interest which the great
Egyptian paper-manufacturers had in the improvement of their
article, and the unrivalled facilities which they possessed for
this purpose ; and thus, we apprehend, the direct testimony of
an eye-witness of the highest reputation for veracity and intel-
ligence, supported as it is by collateral probabiUties, clears up in
a great measure the long-agitated question respecting the origin
of paper such as we now commonly use for writing.

The evidence being carried thus far, we may take in connec-
tion with it the following passage from Petrus Cluniacensis : —

Sed cojusmodi librum? Si talem quales quotidie in usu legend! habemus, uti-
que ex pellibus arietum, hircorum, vel vitulorum, sive ex biblis, vel juneis orien-
talium paludum, aut ex rasuris veterum pannonim, seu ex qualibet alia forte vili-
ore materia compactos, et pcnnis avium vel calamis palustrium locorum, qualibet
tiuctura infectis descriptos. — Tractatus adv. Judccos, c. v. in Max. Bihl. vet.
Patrurn, torn. xxii. p. 1014.

All the writers upon this subject, except TrombeUi, suppose
the Abbot of Clugny to allude in the phrase " ex rasuris vete-
rum pannorum" to the use of woollen and cotton cloth only,
and not of Unen. But, as we are now authorized to carry up
the invention of Unen paper higher than before, and as the
mention of it by AbdoUatiph justifies the conclusion that it was
manufactured in Egypt some time before his visit to that country
in 1200, we may reasonably conjecture that Petrus Cluniacen-
sis aUuded to the same fact. . The treatise above quoted is
supposed to have been written A. D. 1120. The account of
the materials used for making books appears to be fuU and ac-

* Wehrs vom Papier, p. 131, 144, Note. Breitkopf, p. 81.

408 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF

curate. The expression " scrapings of old cloths'^ agrees ex-
actly with the mode of making paper from Unen rags, but is
not in accordance wdth any facts known to us respecting tlie
use of woollen or cotton cloth. The only objection against this
view of the subject is, that, as Peter of Clugny had not when
he wrote this passage travelled eastward of France, we can
scarcely suppose hiin to have been sufficiently acquainted with
the manners and productions of Egypt to introduce any allu-
sion to their newly invented mode of making paper. But we
know that the Abbey of Clugny had more than 300 churches,
colleges, and monasteries dependent on it, and that at least two
of these were in Palestine and one at Constantinople. The
intercourse which must have subsisted in this way between the
Abbey of Clugny and the Levant, may account for the Abbot
Peter's acquaintance with the fact. It is therefore probable that
he alludes to the manufacture of paper in Egypt from the
cloth of mummies, which on this supposition had been invented
early in the twelfth century*.

Another fact, which not only coincides with all the evidence
now produced, but carries the date of the invention still a little
higher, is the description of the manuscript No. 7S7, contain-
ing an Arabic version of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, in
Casiri's Bihliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis, tom. i.
p. 235. This MS. was probably brought from Egypt, or the
East. It has a date corresponding to A. D. 1100, and is of
linen paper according to Casiri, who calls it " Chartaceus."

'• Codices chartacei," i. e. MSS. on linen paper, as old as the
thirteenth century, are mentioned not unfrequently in the Cat-
alogues of the Escurial, the Nani, and other libraries. Joseph
Brooks Yates, Esq. F. S. A., of West Dingle near Liverpool, is
in possession of a fine MS. of some of the Homilies of Chrys-
ostom, written in all probabiUty not later than the thirteenth
century. It is on linen paper, with the water-lines perfectly dis-
tinct in both directions. The water-mark is a tower, the size and

* Gibbon says (vol. v. p. 295, 4to edition), " The inestimable art of transform-
ing linen into paper has been diffused from the manufacture of Samarcand over
the Western world." This assertion appears to be entirely destitute of foundation.

LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 409

form of which are shown in Plate IX. Fig. 18. From the ap-
pearance of this paper, it is probable that the form or mould
may perhaps have been made of thin rods of cane or some
other vegetable. These rods, however, may have been metal-
lic. They were placed so close, that of the water-lines pro-
duced by them 17 may be counted in the space of an inch, the
water-lines at right angles to these being one inch and a quar-
ter apart.

The preceding facts coincide with the opinion long ago ex-
pressed by Prideaux, who concluded that linen paper was an
Eastern invention, because '• most of the old MSS. in Arabic
and other oriental languages are written on this sort of paper,"
and that it was first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of
Spain*.

A few observations, by way of concluding this part of the
subject, may here be properly bestowed upon the material with
which the wasp-family construct their nests.

The wasp is a j^aper-maker, and a most perfect and inteUi-
gent one. While mankind were arriving, by slow degrees, at
the art of fabricating this valuable substance, the wasp was
making it before their eyes, by very much the same process as
that by which human hands now manufacture it with the
best aid of chemistry and machinery. While some nations
carved their records on wood, and stone, and brass, and leaden
tablets, — others, more advanced, wrote with a style on wax, — •
others employed the inner bark of trees, and others the skins of
animals rudely prepared, — the wasp was manufacturing a firm
and durable paper. Even when the papyrus was rendered more
fit, by a process of art, for the transmission of ideas in writing.
The paper of the papyrus was formed of the leaves of the plant,
dried, pressed, and polished ; the wasp alone knew koto to
reduce vegetable fibres to a pulp, and then vnite them by a
size or glue, spreading the substance out into a smooth and
delicate leaf. This is exactly the process of paper-making. It
would seem that the wasp knows, as the modern paper-makers

* Old and New Testament connected, Part I. chapter 7. p. 393, 3rd edition,
folio.

52

410 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF

now know, that the fibres of rags, whether linen or cotton, are
not the only materials that can be used in the formation of
paper ; she employs other vegetable matters, converting them
into a proper consistency by her assiduous exertions. In some
respects she is more skilful even than our paper-makers, for she
takes care to retain her fibres of sufficient length, by which she
renders her paper as strong as she requires. Many manufac-
turers of the present day cut their material into small bits, and
thus produce a rotten article. One great distinction between
good and bad paper is its toughness ; and this difference is
invariably produced by the fibre of which it is composed being
long, and therefore tough ; or short, and therefore friable.

The wasp has been laboring at her manufacture of paper,
from her first creation, with precisely the same instruments and
the same materials ; and her success has been unvarying. Her
machinery is very simple, and therefore it is never out of order.
She learns nothing, and forgets nothing. Men, from time to
time, lose their excellence in particular arts, and they are slow
in finding out real improvements. Such improvements are
often the effect of accident. Paper is now manufactured very
extensively by machinery, in all its stages ; and thus, instead of
a single sheet being made by hand, a stream of paper is poured
out, which would form a roll large enough to extend round the
globe, if such a length were desirable. The first experimenters
on paper machinery in England, Messrs. Fourdrinier, it is said,
spent the enormous sum of 40,000^. in vain attempts to render
the machine capable of determining the width of the roll ; and,
at last, accomplished their object at the suggestion of a bystander,
by a strap revolving upon an axis, at a cost of three shillings
and sixpence ! Such is the difference between the workings of
human knowledge and experience, and those of animal instinct.
We proceed slowly and in the dark — but our course is not
bounded by a narrow fine, for it seems difficult to say what is
the perfection of any art ; animals go clearly to a given point —
but they can go no further. We may, however, learn some-
thing from their perfect knowledge of what is within tbeir range.
It is not improbable that if man had attended in an earlier,
state of society to the labors of wasps, he would have sooner

LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 41]

known hoiD to make paper. We are still behind in our arts
and sciences, because we have not always been observers. If
we had watched the operations of insects, and the structure of
insects in general, with more care, we might have been far
advanced in the knowledge of many arts which are yet in their
infancy, for nature has given us abundance of patterns. We
have learnt to perfect some instruments of sound by examining
the structure of the human ear ; and the mechanism of an
eye has suggested some valuable improvements in achromatic
glasses.

Reaumur has given a very interesting account of the wasps
of Cayenne {Charter gus nidulans), which hang their nests in
trees*. Like the bird of Africa called the social grosbeak {Loxia
socia), they fabricate a perfect house, capable of containing
many hundreds of their community, and suspend it on high out
of the reach of attack. But the Cayenne wasp is a more expert
artist than the bird. He is a pasteboard-maker ; — and the
card with which he forms the exterior covering of his alxde is
so smooth, so strong, so uniform in its texture, and so w4iite that
the most skilful manufacturer of this substance might be proud
of the work. It takes ink admirably !

The nest of the pasteboard-making Avasp is impervious to
water. It hangs upon the branch of a tree, and those rain-
drops which penetrate through the leaves never rest upon its
hard and polished surface. A small opening for the entrance
of the insects terminates its funnel-shaped bottom. It is
impossible to unite more perfectly the qualities of lightness and
strength.

Mr. J. Rennie, speaking of wasps' nests, gives us the following
interesting account of one lately examined by him : — " The
length," says he, " is about nine inches, six stout circular plat-
forms stretch internally across, like so many floors, and fixed all
round to the walls of the nest. They are smooth alx)ve, with
hexagonal cells on the under surface. These platforms are not
quite flat, but rather concave above, like a watch-glass reversed ;

• M^moires sur les Insectes, torn, vi., mem. vii. See also Bonnet, vol. Lt.

412 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF

the centre of each platform is perforated for the admission of
the wasps, at the extremity of a short funnel-Uke projection, and
through this access is gained from story to story. On each
platform, therefore, can the wasps walk leism'ely about, attend-
ing to the pupse secured in the cells, which, with the mouths
downward, cover the ceiling above their heads — the height of
the latter being just convenient for their work."

Pendent wasps'-nests of enormous size are found in Ceylon,
suspended often in the talipot-tree at the height of seventy feet.
The appearance of these nests thus elevated, with the larger
leaves of the tree, used by the natives as umbrellas and tents,
waving over them, is very singular. Though no species of
European wasp is a storer of honey, yet this riUe does not apply
to certain species of South America. In the " Annals and
Magazine of Natural History" for June, 1841. will be found a
detailed account, with a figure of the pendent nest of a species
termed by Mr. A. White Myrajdera scutellaris. The external
case consists of stout cardboard covered with conical knobs of
various sizes. The entrances are artfully protected by pent-
roofs from the weather and heavy rains ; and are tortuous, so
as to render the ingress of a moth or other large insect difficult.
Internally are fourteen combs, exclusive of a globular mass,
the nucleus of several circular combs, which are succeeded
by others of an arched form — that is, constituting segments of
circles.

Good writing, printing and wrapping paper, may be procured
from the shavings of common wood. The wood must be
reduced to shavings by the ordinary jack-plain shaving size.
The shavings are then placed in a cistern or boiler sufficiently
large, and covered with water, which should be raised to the
boiling-point. To every one hundred pounds of the wood so
reduced, from twelve to eighteen pounds of alkali, either vege-
table or mineral, is to be added, in proportion to its quality for
strength. If salts are used they should be reduced before
coming in contact with the wood. The salts may, however, be
put in with the water and wood before reduction, but the first
method is the most preferable. Should Ume be used, there must

LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 413

be a sufficient, in all cases, to equal twelve pounds of pure black
salts. One hundred pounds of wood will, if well attended to,
make from five to seven reams of paper*.

* Mr. Edmund Shaw, of Fenchurch Street, London, obtained a patent in Eng-
land bearing date September 14, 18.37, for a method of manufacturing paper from
the leaves which cover the ears of Indian-corn.

According to this patent the envelopes or leaves whicli cover the corn are in
the first instance put into a vessel containing water. The water may be pure or
slightly alkaline ; the water is then boiled in the vessel into which the aforesaid
envelopes or fellicular leaves are thrown, after being macerated. When they
have imbibed water and become thickened and swollen, so that the matter inter-
posed between the fibres is reduced to a state of pulp or jelly, a slight beating by
fulling, mallet, or other mechanical means will effect a separation of the fibre
from the adherent glutinous matter, and washing or rinsing with water during the
beating, will cleanse it entirely from the glutinous matter.

The fibre is then bleached, by immersing, or immersing and beating or stirring
it about in a solution of chloride of lime, or with beating engines, as at present
practised for the bleaching of rags in paper mills, and the fibre is in like manner
reduced to pulp, and paper manufactured therefrom, or the quality of the paper
may be varied by the admixture of a portion of rags or other filamentous sub-
stance.

It may be well to remark, that some attempts to produce paper from the above
mentioned material, have been made, but were abandoned from the incapability
of producing good white paper.

The patentee claims the mode, or process, above described of mediing white pa-
per by the application of bleached pulp, produced from the stalks or leaves of In-
dian-corn.

414 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

APPENDIX C.

ON FELT.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF FELTING BY THE ANCIENTS.

Felting more ancient than weavmg — Felt used in the East — Use of it by the
Tartars — Felt made of goats'-hair by the Circassians — Use of felt in Italy and
Greece — Cap worn by the Cjiiics, Fishermen, Mariners, Artificers, &c. —
Cleanthes compares the moon to a skull-cap — Desultores — Vulcan — Ulysses —
Phrj'gian bonnet — Cap worn by the Asiatics — Phrj'gian felt of Camels'-hair —
Its great stiffiiess — Scarlet and purple felt used by Babylonish decorators —
Mode of manufacturing Felt — Northern nations of Europe — Cap of hberty —
Petasus — Statue of Endymion — Petasus in works of ancient art — Hats of Thes-
saly and Macedonia — Laconian or Arcadian hats — The Greeks manufacture
Felt 9jO B. C. — Jlercury with the pileus and petasus — Miscellaneous uses of
Felt.

There seems no reason to question the correctness of Pro-
fessor Beckmann's observation*, that the making of felt was in-
vented before \vea\'ingt. The middle and northern regions of
Asia are occupied by Tartars and other populous nations, whose
manners and customs appear to have continued unchanged
from the most remote antiquity t, and to whose simple and uni-
form mode of existence this article seems to be as necessary as
food. Felt is the principal substance both of their clothing and
of their habitations. Cai-pini, who in the year 1246 went as
ambassador to the great Khan of the Moguls, Mongals, or
Tartars, says, " Their houses are round, and artificially made
like tents, of rods and twigs interwoven, having a round hole
in the middle of the roof for the admission of light and the pas-
sage of smoke, the whole being covered loith felt, of which

* Anleitung zur Technologie, p. 117, Note.

t See Gilroy's Treatise on the Art of Weaving, p. 14.

t Malcolm's Hist, of Persia, ch. vi. vol. i. pp. 123, 124.

PELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 415

likewise the doors are madc*P Very recently the same ac-
count of these "portable tents of felt" has been given by JuUus
von Klaprotht. Kupffer says of the Caratchai, " Leurs larges
manteaux de feutre leur servent en meme terns de matelas et
de couverturet." The large mantle of felt, here mentioned, is
used for the same purpose in the neighbonng country of Cir-
cassian, One of these mantles now in the possession of Mr.
Urquhart was made of black goats'-hair, and had on the out-
side a long shaggy villus. Tiie Circassians sleep under this
mantle by night, and wear it, when required, over their other
dress by day. A similar article is thus described by Colonel
Leakell : the postillions in Phrygia " wear a cloak of white
camels'-hair, half an inch thick, and so stiff that the cloak
stands without support, when set upright on the ground. There
are neither sleeves nor hood ; but only holes to pass the hands
through, and projections like wings upon the shoulders for the
purpose of turning off the rain. It is the manufacture of the
country." The Chinese traveller, Chy Fa Hian, who visited
India at the end of the fourth century, says, that the people of
Chen Chen, a kingdom in a mountainous district situated about
the Lake of Lob, wore dresses hke those of the Chinese, except
that they made use of felt and stuffs {du feutre et des ctojfes^).
In conformity with the prevailing use of this manufacture in

* Kerr's Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 128. See also p. 167,
where the same facts are related by William de Rubruquis.

The account which Herodotus gives (iv. 23) of the habitations of the Argippsei
evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modem Tartars. He says,
" They live under trees, covering the tree in winter with strong and thick undyed
felt (viho arsyvu Xeuxw), and removing the felt in summer." Among the ceremo-
nies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the
erection of three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of
woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) therp is an evi-
dent allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt (uToJui'OTirt vTrdrovj
TTiXous).

t Reise in dem Kaucasus und nacli Georgien, ch. vi. p. 161.

t Voyage dans les Environs du Mont Elbrouz. St. Petersburg, 1829, 4to,
p. 20.

§ Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer.

II Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 38.

T Ch. ii. p. 7, of Remusat's Translation, Par. 1836, 4to.

416 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

the colder regions of Asia, scarlet or purple felt (such as that
lately re-hivented at Leeds, in England), was used by the
Babylonish decorators for the drapery of tlie funeral pile, when
Alexander celebrated the splendid obsequies of Hcpha^stion : for
so we must understand the expression ^oiviKiks TiX/jrar (Diod. Sic.
xvii. 115. p. 251, Wess.). Xenophon {Ci/croj). v. 5. § 7.)
mentions the use of felt manufactured in Media, as a covering
for chairs and couches. The Medes also used bags and sacks
of felt (Atheneeus, 1. xii. p. 540 c. Casaub.).

The process, by which wool is converted into felt, was called
by the Greeks rnXmn (Plato de Leg. 1. viii. p. 115. ed. Bek-
ker), literally a compression, from m\iw, to compress*. The
ancient Greek scholion on the passage of Plato here referred
to thus explains the term : TiiXnatoii' ri)? ita rns twv ipdov Tru/fi'&Jo-ftoj
yivoixsi/rii taOtiTos, i. 6. " clotli made by the thickening of wool."
With this definition of felt agrees the following description of a
ncTaao; in a Greek epigram, Avhich records the dedication of it to
Mercury : —

Hoi Tov TriXrjdcvTa Si' ci^avTOV rpi^os d^voC,
'Epfidj KaAXtreXr/f eKpiftaac Triraaov.

Brunck, Anal. ii. 41.

The art of felting was called h nt\r,TiKh (Plato, Polit. ii. 2. p. 296,
ed. Bekker). According to the ancient Greek and Latin glos-
saries, and to Julius Pollux (vii. 30), a felt-maker, or hatter, was
TTiXoTToios or TriXtoTOTToiof, lu Latlu coactUiarius . From Trrxof {dim.
TTiXioi', second dim. ttiXMio*'), the proper term ior felt in general,
derived from the root of TnXiu, came the verb mXou, signifying to
felt, or to make felt, and from this latter verb was formed the
ancient participle TriXurSf, felted, which again gave origin to

irtXojroTrotoj.

It may be observed, that our English word felt is evidently
a participle or a derivative, and that its verb or root Fel ap-
pears to be the same with the root of ^nXta).

The Latin cogo, which was used, like the Greek ttiXeu, to de-

* Xenophanes thought that tJie moon was a compressed cloud {v^os 7T€7Ti\rj[ievov,
Stobaei Eclog. i. 27. p. 550, ed. Heeren) ; and that the air was emitted from the
earth by its compression (jt'CKricii, i. 23. p. 484).

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 417

note the act of compressing-, or forcing the separate hairs to-
gether, gave origin to the participle coactus^ and its derivative
coact'dis. Pliny (H. N. viii. 48. s. 73.), after speaking of
woven stuffs, mentions in the following terms the use of wool
for making felt : " Lajia> et per se coacta3 {al. coactam) vestem
ficiunt,*' i. e. " Parcels of wool, driven together by themselves,
make cloth." This is a very exact, though brief description of
the process of felting. The following monumental inscription
(Gruter, p. 648, n. 4.) contains the title Lanarius coactiliarius,
meaning a manufacturer of icoollen felt : —

M. Ballorius M. L. Lariseus, Lanarius coactiliarius,

CONJUGA CARISSIM.E B. M. FEC.

Helvius Successus, the son of a freed man, and the father
of the Roman emperor Pertinax, was a hatter in Liguria
[tahernani coactiliariam in Liguria exercuerat, Jul. Cap.
Pertinax, c. 3.). Pertinax himself, being fond of money, hav-
ing the perseverance expressed by his agnomen, and having
doubtless, in the course of his expeditions into the East, made
valuable observations respecting the manufacture which he
had known from his boyhood, continued and extended the
same business, carrying it on and conveymg his goods to a dis-
tance by the agency of slaves. The Romans originally receiv-
ed the use of felt together with its name* from the Greeks
(Plutarch, Numa, p. 117, ed. Steph.). The Greeks were ac-
quainted with it as early as the age of Homer, who lived about
900 B. C. (7Z. X. 265), and Hesiod {Op. et Dies, 542, 546).

The principal use of felt among the Greeks and Romans
was to make coverings of the head for the male sex, and the
most common cover made of this manufacture was a simple
skull-cap, i. e. a cap exactly fitted to the shape of the head, as
is showai in Plate VIII. fig. 1. taken from a sepulchral bas-relief
which was found by Mr. Dodwcll in Boeotiat. The original is
as large as Ufe. The person represented appears to have been
a Cynic philosopher. He leans upon the staff {baculus,

* Pileiis or Pileutn (Non. IMarc. iii., pilea vironim sunt, Sen'iuii m Virg.jEn.
ix. 616.), dim. Pileolus or Pileolum (Coliim. de Arbor. 25).
+ Tour through Greece, vol. i. pp. 242, 243.

53

418 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

0aKTpov, aKnTTTpov) ; he is clothed in the blanket [pallium, x^''~'"'j
Tpiffuv) with one end, which is covered, over his left breast, and
another hanging behind over his left shoulder ; he wears the
beard [barba, ndiy'^v) ; his head is protected by the simple skull-
cap ( pileiis, -rA9s). All these were distinct characteristics of
the philosopher, and more especially of the Cynic*. The dog
also probably marked his sect. Leonidas of Tarentum, in his
enumeration of the goods belonging to the Cynic Posocharesf,
including a dog-collar [kwovxov), mentions, *-ai niXov Ktipaxss uix Mai
oKtTiavov, i. e. " The cap of felt, which covered his unholy head."
This passage may be regarded as a proof, that among the
Greeks, though not among the Romans, the cap of felt was
worn by very poor men. It also proves that this cap, which
Avas \hef(:ss of the modern Greeks, was worn by philosophers,
and therefore throws light on a passage of Antiphancs [ap.
Allien, xii. 63. p. 545 a) describing a philosopher of a different
character, who was very elegantly dressed, having a small cap
of fine felt (tiXj^iov 0^0X01/), also a small white blanket, a beautiful
tunic, and a neat stick. When Cleanthes advanced the doc-
trine, that the moon had the shape of a skull-cap {^i\otiSn ru
axfii<ar,j Stobsei Ecl. Phys. 1. 27. p. 554, ed. Heeren), he proba-
bly intended to account for its phases from its supposed hemis-
pherical form. A cap of a similar form and appearance, though
perhaps larger and not so closely fitted to the crown of the
head, was worn by fishermenj. In an epigram of Philippus§,
describing the apparatus of a fisherman, the author mentions
■aXUv dirp'LKprivov i^acriaory/}, " thc cap cucompassing liis head and
protecting it from wet." Figure 2. in Plate YIII. represents a
small statue of a fisherman belonging to the Townley Collection
in the British Museum. His cap is slightly pointed and in a
degree, which was probably favorable to the discharge of water
from its surface. Hesiod recommends, that agricultural laborers
should wear the same defence from cold and showers [Op. et

* See the articles Baculus, Barba, Pallium, p. 703, in Smith's Diet, of Greek
and Roman Antiquities.

t Briinck, Anal. i. p. 223. Nos. x. xi. X Theociit. xxi. 13.

§ Brunck, Anal. ii. p. 212. No. v.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 419

Dies, 545-517). Tlie use of this cap by seamen was no
doubt the ground, on which the painter Niconiachus represented
Ulysses wearing one. " Hie primus," says Pliny (II. N. xxxv.
36. s. 22.), " Ulyssi addidit pileum*." For the same reason the
cap is an attribute of tlie Dioscuri ; and hence two caps with
stars above them are often shown on the coins of maritime
cities and of others wliere Castor and Pollux were worshipped.
Figure 3. of Plate VIII. is taken from a brass coin of Dioscurias
in Colchis, preserved in the British Museum. On the reverse
is the name A!0!:koypiaaos. Figure 4. represents both sides
of a silver coin in the same collection, with the legend
BPETTJ12N. It belongs to Bruttium in South Italy. On the
one side Castor and Pollux are mounted on horseback. They
wear the chlamys and carry palm branches in their hands.
Their caps have a narrow brim. The reverse shows their
heads only, and their caps, without brims, are surrounded by
wreaths of myrtle. The cornucopia is added as an emblem
of prosperity. Figure 5. is from a brass coin of Amasia
(aMAEEEIA!:) in Pontus. It shows the cornucopia between the
two skull-caps. Charon also was represented with the mar-
iner's or fishermen's cap, as, for example, in the bas-relief in the
Museo Pio-Clementino, tom. iv. tav. 35, and the painted vase
in Stackelberg's Graber der Hellenen, t. 47, 48, which is
copied in Becker's Ckarides, vol. ii. taf. i. fig. 1, and in Smith's
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 404.

A pileus of the same general form was worn by artificers •
and on this account it was attributed to Vulcan and to Dadalus
who, as well as Ulysses and Charon, are commonly found
wearing it in works of ancient art. Arnobius says, that Vul-
can was represented '' cum pileo et malleo"— " fabrili expedi-
tione succinctus ;" and that on the other hand Mercury was
represented with the petasus, or '•' petasunculus," on his headt.

* Compare Eustathius in Horn. II. x. 265, as quoted below.

t Adv. Gentes, lib. vi. p. 674, ed. Erasmi. When Liician ludicrously represents
Jupiter wearing a skiill-cap, which we may suppose to have been like that of the
philosopher in Plate VIII. figure l.he must have intended to describe the " Father
of gods and men" as a weak old man ; A(£rX£ mv «,/,aX;,F »ar£».£y«<i^- «„; d yt,ii,
6 m\oi i-vrUxe, Kai to no\v Ti)i irXnyliS awJtfuro, &c. Dial. Deor., vol. ii. p. 314. ed

Hemster

420 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

This observation is confirmed by numerous figures of these
two divinities, if we supjjose the term ])etasus, which will be
more fully illustrated hereafter, to have meant a hat w ith a
brim, and pileus to have denoted properly a fessor cap without
a brim.

Fig. G. Plate VIII. is taken from a small bronze statue of
Vulcan in the Royal Collection at Berlin. He wears the exo-
mis, and holds his hammer in the right hand and his tongs in
the left. For other specimens of the head-dress of Vulcan the
reader is referred to the Museo Pio-Clemcntino, t. iv. tav. xi.,
and to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,
p. 589.

Plate VIII. is intended still further to illustrate some of the
most common varieties in the form of the ancient skull-cap.
Figure 7. is a head of Vulcan from a medal of the Aurelian
family*. Figure 8. is the head of Daedalus from a bas-rehef,
formerly belonging to the Villa Borghese, and representing the
story of the wooden cow, which he made for Pasiphaet. Fig.
10. is from a cameo in the Florentine collection. Fig. 9. is
the head of a small bronze statue, wearing boots and the
exomis, which belonged to Mr. R. P. Knight, and is now
in the British Museum. It is engraved in the "Specimens
of Ancient Sculpture pubhshed by the Society of Dilettanti,"
vol. i. pi. 47. The editors express a doubt whether this
statue was meant for Vulcan or Ulysses, merely because the
god and the hero were commonly represented wearing the
same kind of cap. Not only does the expression of counte-

* IWontfaucon, Ant. Expl. t. i. pi. 46. No. 4.

t Winckelmann, Mon. Iiied. ii. 93. The skull-cap, hero represented as worn
by Daedalus, is remarkably like that wliich is still worn by shepherd boys in Asia
JMtnor. Fig. 12, in Plate VIII. is copied from an orijrinal drawing of such a Gre-
cian youth, procured by Rlr. George Scharf who accompanied Mr. Fellows on his
second tour into that country.

According to Herodotus the Scythians had felted coverings for their tents, a
custom still found among their successors, the Tartars. Felting appears to have
preceded weaving. It is certainly a much ruder and simpler process : and, when
we consider both the long prevalence of the art among the pastoral inhabitants of
the ancient Scj'thia, and the extensive use of its products among them so as to be
employed even for their habitations, perhaps wo shall be right in considering felt-
ing as the appropriate invention of this people.

FELT BY THE ANCIETS. 421

nance decide the question ; but also the small bronze of Mr.
Knight's collection agrees in attitude and costume with many
small statues of Vulcan, mIio is represented in all of them
wearing the exomis, holding the hammer and tongs, <ind hav-
ing the felt cap on his head*. Fig. 11. is another representa-
tion of Ulysses from an ancient lampt. It exhibits him tied to
the mast, while he Ustens to the song of the Sirens. The cap
in this figure is much more elongated than in the others.

The felt cap was worn not only by dcsuliores, but by others
of the Romans upon a journey, in sickness, or in cases of unu-
sual exposure. Hence Martial says in Ejnff. xiv. 132, entitled
" Pileus,"

Si ptossem, lotas cuperem misisse lacernas ;
Nunc tantum capiti mimera mitto tuo.
i. e.

O that a whole lacerna I could send !

Let this (I can no more) your head defend.

The wig [galerus) answered the same purpose for the wealthy
classes {arrepto jnleo vel galero, Sueton. Nero^ 26), and the
cuctdlus and ciido for both rich and poor. On returning home
from a party, a person sometimes carried his cap and slippers
under his arm (Hor. Ejnst. 1. xiii. 15).

The hats worn by the Saliit are said by Dionysius of Hali-
camassus to have been " tall hats of a conical form§." Plu-
tarch distinctly represents them as made of felt. He says (/.
c), that the Jlami?ies were so called quasi inlamines^ because
they wore felt hats, and because in the early periods of Roman
history it was more common to invent names derived from the
Greek. On coins, however, this official cap of the Salii and
Flamines is commonly oval like that attributed to the Dioscuri.
We observe indeed continual variations in the form of the pi-

* Montfaucon, Ant. Expl. vol. i. pi. 46. figs. 1. 2. 3 ; Mus. Florent. Gemma
Ant. a Gorio illuslrata, torn. ii. tab. 40. fig. 3.

t Bartoli, Lucerne Antiche, P. III. tab. 11. There is a beautiful figure of
Ulysses in Pictured AntiqucB Virgiliani cod. Bill. Vat. a Bartoli, tab. 103, taken
from a gem. In Winckelmann, Mon. Ined. ii. No. 154, he is represented giving
wine to the Cyclops : this figure is copied in Smith's Diet. p. 762.

t Smith's Diet, of Gr. and R. Antiquities, art. Apex.

§ Ant. Rom. L. ii.

422 MANUFACTVRE AND USE OP

leus from hemispherical to oval, and from oval to conical. A
conical cap is seen on the head of the reaper in the wood-cut to
the article Flax in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities, which wood-cut is taken from a coin of one of tlie
Lagidae, kings of Egypt. Caps, regularly conical and still
more elongated, are worn by the buffoons or comic dancers,
who are introduced in an ancient mosaic preserved in the Villa
Corsini at Rome*. Telephus, king of Mysia, is represented as
wearing a " Mysian capj."' This '•' Mysian cap" must have
been the same which is known by the moderns under the name
of the Phrygian honnet, and with which we are familiar
from the constant repetition of it in statues and paintings of
Priam, Paris, GanymedeJ, Atys, Perseus, and Mithras, and in
short in aU the representations not only of Trojans and Phryg-
ians, but of Amazons and of all the inhabitants of Asia Minor,
and even of nations dweUing still further to the East. Also,
when we examine the works of ancient art which contain rep-
resentations of this Mysian cap, we perceive that it was a cone
bent into the form in which it is exhibited, and so bent, perhaps
by use, but more probably by design. This circumstance is
well illustrated in a bust of Parian marble, supposed to be in-
tended for Paris, which is preserved in the Glyptotek at Munich.
A drawing of it is given in Plate VIII. fig. 13. The flaps of
the bonnet are turned up and fastened over the top of the head.
The stiffness of the material is clearly indicated by the sharp
angular appearance of that portion of it which is turned for-
wards. Mr. Dodwell, in his Tour in Greece (vol. i. p. 134),
makes the following observations on the modern costume, which
seems to resemble the ancient, except that the ancient rrxo? and
TiMEiov were probably of undyed wool : — " The Greeks of the
maritime parts, and particularly of the islands, wear a red or
blue cap of a conical form, like the pilidion. When it is new
it stands upright, but it soon bends, and then serves as a pocket

* Bartoli, Luc. Ant. P. I. tab. 35. t Aristoph. Acham. 429.

X Stuart, in his Antiquities of Athens, vol. iii. ch. 9. plates 8, 9, has engraved
two beautiful statues of Telephus and GanjTnede from a ruined colonnade at
Thessalonica. In these the cap is very little pointed.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 423

for the handkcrcliicf, and sometimes for the purse. Others
wear tlie red skull-cap, or fcss.'^ The Lycians, as we are in-
formed by Herodotus (viii. 92), wore caps of felt, which were
surrounded with feathers. Some of the Lycian coins and bas-
reliefs, however, show the " Phrygian bonnet," as it is called,
in the usual form*.

The cap worn by the Persians is called by Greek authors
Kvp.Saaia 01 riapaf, and scems to liavc had the form now under con-
sideration. Herodotus, when he describes the costume of the
Persian soldiers in the army of Xerxes, says, that they wore
light and flexible caps of felt, which were called tiaras. He
adds, that the Medes and Bactrians wore the same kind of cap
with the Persians, but tliat tiie Cissii wore a mitra instead (vii.
61, 62, 64). On the other hand he says, that the Sacee wore
cyrbasiiBi which were sharp-pointed, straight, and compact.
The Armenians were also calletl "weavers of felt" (Brunck,
Arial. ii. p. 146. No. 22). The form of their caps is clearly
shown in the coins of the Emperor Verus, one of which, pre-
served in the British Museum, is engraved in Plate VIII. fig. 14.
The legend, surrounding his head, L. Vervs. Avg. Akmeni-
Acvs, refers to the war in Armenia. The reverse shows a fe-
male figure representing Armenia, mourning and seated on the
ground, and surrounded by the emblems of Roman warfare and
victory. The caps represented on this and other coins agree
remarkably with the forms still used in the same parts of Asia.
Strabo (L. xi. p. 563, ed. Sieb.) says, that these caps were
necessary in Media on account of the cold. He calls the Per-

* Fcllows's Discoveries in Lycia, Plato 35. Nos. 3, 7. Tlie " Phrj-gian bon-
net" is seen in the bas-reliefs brought from Xanthiis by this intelligent traveller,
and now deposited in the British Museum.

t Herod. V. 49. According to Moeris, v. 'Kvp/Jaoia, this was the Attic term,
Ttapa meaning the same thing in the common Greek. Plutarch applies the latter
tprm to the cap worn by the younger Cyrus : 'AT07r(Tr£i Si rijf Kcc^aXijj ^ napa too
K.ipov. — Artaxerxes, p. 1858. ed. Steph.

The " P5ir}'gian bonnet" is called Phrygia tiara in the following linee of an
epitaph (ap. Gruier. p. 1123) :

Indueris teretes manicas Phrygiamque tiaram?
Non unus Cybeles pectore vivet Atys.

424 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

sian cap "felt in the shape of a tower" (L. xv. p. 231). The
king of Persia was distinguished by wearing a stiff cyrba-
sia, which stood erect, whereas liis subjects wore their tiaras
folded and bent forwards.* Hence in the Aves of Aristophanes
the cock is ludicrously compared to the Great King, his erect
comb being called his "cyrbasia." The Athenians no doubt
considered this form of the tiara as an expression of pride and
assumption. It is recorded as one of the marks of arrogance in
Apollodorus, the Athenian painter, that he wore an "erect capt."

The coin represented in Plate VIII. fig. 15. (taken from Patin,
Imp. Rom. Numismata, Par. 1697, p. 213) is of the reign of
the Emperor Commodus, and belonged according to the legend
either to Trapezus in Cappadocia or to Trapezopolis in Caria.
It represents the god Limus or Mensis, who was the moon con-
sidered as of the male sex agreeably to the ideas of many northern
and Asiatic nations (Patin, p. 173). This male moon or month
was, as it seems, always represented with the cyrbasiat. In
another coin pubhshed by Patin (/. c.) a cock stands at the feet
of this divinity, proving that this was the sacred bird of Lunus,
and probably because the rayed form of the cock's comb was
regarded as a natural type of the cyrbasia, which distinguished
the kings of Persia and was attributed also to this Oriental
di\anity. A lamp found on the Celian Mount at Rome': repre-
sents in the centre Lunus with 12 rays, probably designed to
denote the 12 months of the year, and on the handle two
cocks pecking at their food. A head of the same divinity, pub-
hshed by Hirt {I. c.) from an antique gem at Naples, has 7 stars
upon the cap, perhaps referring to the 7 planets.

Instead of the conical cap of the Asiatics many of the North-
ern nations of Europe appear to have worn a felt cap, the form
of which was that of a truncated cone. Of this a good exam-
ple is shown in the group of Sarmatians, represented in the

* Xenoph. Anab. ii. 5. 23 ; Cyrop. viii. 3, 13. Clitarchus, ap. Schol. in AriS'
toph. Aves, 487.

+ HiXowSp dSf. Hesychius, s. v. E/fiaypai^ai.
t Hirt's Bilderbuch, p. 88. tab. xi. figs. 8, 9.
§ Bartoli, Luc. Ant., P. II. tav. 11.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 425

wood-cut ill Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman An-
tiquities (p. IGO), which is taken from the Column of Trajan.
The same thing appears in various coins belonging to the
reign of this Emperor, two of which, preserved in the British
Museum, are engraved in Plate VIII. fig. 16. represents Uacia
sitting as a captive with her hands tied behind her back, wear-
ing trowsers {braccai) and a conical or oval cap with the edge
turned up. Figure 17. represents Uacia mourning. In each
we see a Dacian target together with Roman armor. Each
has the same legend, Dac. Cap. Cos. V. P. P. S. P. Q. R.
Optimo. Princ. On the reverse is the head of the Emperor
with the inscription Imp. Trajano. Aug. Ger. Dac. P. M.
Tr. P.

According to the representation of Lucian [de Gymnas.),
the Scythians were in the constant habit of wearing caps or
hats : for in the conversation between Anacharsis and Solon
described by that author, Anacharsis requests to go into the
shade, saying that he could scarce endure the sun, and that he
had brought his cap {irXXov) from home, but did not like be-
ing seen alone in a strange habit. In later times we read of
the " pileati Gothi" and " pileati sacerdotes Gothorum*.*'

In considering the use of the skull-cap, or of the conical cap
of felt, it remains to notice the use of it among the Romans as
the emblem of liberty!. When a slave obtained his freedom
he had his head shaven, and wore instead of his hair the pi-
leus, or cap of undyed felt, (Uiod. Sic. Exc. Leg. 22. p. 625, ed.
Wess.). Plutarch, in allusion to the same custom, calls the cap
ffiXjoy, which is the diminutive of frXof. It is evident, that the
Latin pileus or pileiim is derived from the Greek rrrxof and its
diminutive, and this circumstance in conjunction with other ev-
idence tends to show, that the Latins adopted this use of felt
from the Greeks. Sosia says in Plautus {Aniphit. i. 1. 306), as a
description of the mode of receiving his liberty, " Ut ego hodie,
raso capite calvus, capiam pileum." Scrvius {in Virg. ^n.
viii. 564) says, the act of manumitting slaves in this form was

* Jornandes, &c., ap. Div. Gentium Hist. Ant., Ilamb. 1611, pp. 86, 93.
t Haec mea libertas ; hoc nobis pilea donant. — Persius, v. 82.

54

426 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

done in the temple of Feronia, who was the goddess cf freed-
men. In her temple at Tenacina was a stone seat, on which
was engraved the following verse :

" Benemeriti servi sedeant, surgent liberi."

In allusion to this practice it appears that the Romans, (hough
they did not commonly wear hats, put them on at the Saturna-
lia*. At the death of Nero, the common people to express their
joy went about the city in felt capst. In allusion to this cus-
tom the figure of Liberty on the coins of Antoninus Pius holds
the cap in her right hand. Figures 1 and 2 in Plate IX. are
examples selected from the collection in the British Museum,
and, as we learn from the legend, were struck when he was
made consul the fourth time, i. e. A. D. 145.

In contradistinction to the various forms of the felt cap now
described and represented, all of which were more or less ele-
vated, and many of which were pointed upwards, we have now
to consider those, which, though made of felt, and therefore
classed by the ancients under the general terms pile^is, rrXof,
&c.t, corresponded more nearly to our modern hat. The
Greek word rriracros, dim. reraaiov, derivcd from TTcrdvvvfia, extendo,
dilato, and adopted by the Latins in the form petasus, dim.
petasunculus, well expressed the distinctive form of these hats.
They were more or less broad and expanded. What was
taken from their height was added to their width. Those al-
ready mentioned had no brim ; the petasus of every variety
had a brim, which was either exactly or nearly circular, and
which varied greatly in its width. In some cases it seems to
be a mere circular disc without any crown at all. Of this we
have an example in a beautiful statue, which has, no doubt,
been meant for Endymion, in the Townley collection of the
British Museum. See Plate IX. Fig. 3. His right hand en-
circles his head, and his scarf is spread over a rock as described

* Pileata Roma. Martial, xi. 7 ; xiv. 1.

t Pk'bs pileata. Sueton. JVero, 57.

t Plutarch (Solon, 179) says that Solon, pretending to be mad and acting the
part of a herald from Salamis, tftTr/jJrjjsn els ti> dyopav dipi/(j wiXioc itepiOlfiavos,
Here ■KtXiov seems to mean the irtraaoc.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 427

by Lucian*. He sleeps upon it, liolding- tlic fibula in his left
hand. His feet are adorned with boots {cothuuii) and his sim-
ple petasus is tied under his chin. In this form the petasus il-
lustrates the remark of Theophrastus, who, in describing the
Egyptian Bean, says, that the leaf was of the size of the Thcssa-
lian petasust. For the purpose of comparing these two objects,
a representation of the leaves of the plant referred to, is intro-
duced into the same Figure (3) ; taken from the " Botanical
Magazine," Plates 903, 3916, and Sir J. E. Smith's " Exotic
Botany," Tab. 31, 32. The petasus here shown on the head
of Endymion, the original statue being as large as life, certain-
ly resembles very closely both in size and in form the leaf of
the Egyptian Bean, which is the Cyamus Nelumbo, or Nelum-
bium Speciosum of modern botanists.

The flowers of umbelliferous plants are aptly called by Pha-
niast TTtTaaii^i}, i. e. like a petasus. The petasus, as worn by the
two shepherds, who discover Romulus and Remus, in a bas-relief
of the Vatican§, is certainly not unlike the umbel of a plant.
See Plate IX. Fiff. 4.

* In the Dialogues of the Gods (xi.)) the Moon says in answ.er to Venus, that
EndjTnion is particularly beautiful " when he sleeps, having thrown his scarf
under him upon the rock, holding in his left hand the darts just falling from it,
whilst his right hand bent upwards lies gracefully round his face, and, dissolved
in sleep, he exhales his ambrosial breath."

The recumbent statue, here represented, is of white marble, and is placed in
room XI. of the Townley Gallery. It was found in 1774 at Roma Vecchia (Dal-
laway's Anecdotes of the Arts, p. 303). It has been called Mercury or Adonis.
But there are no examples or authorities in support of either of these suppositions.
It is not sufBcient to say that every beautiful youth may have been meant either
for Mercur}', who was never represented asleep, or for Adoni.s. We know that
the fable of Endj-mion and the Moon was a favorite subject with the ancient art-
ists. In the Antichita d'Ercolano, torn. iii. tav. 3, we find a picture, which was
discovered at Portica, and which represents tiiis subject. It is still more frequent
in ancient bas-reliefs. See Mus. Pio-Clein. torn. iv. v. 8, pp. 38, 41 ; Sandrart,
Sculp. Vet. Adm. p. 52 ; Gronovii Thesaur. torn. i. folio O ; Proceedings of the
Philological Society, vol. i. pp. 8, 9.

+ ricruo-rj QcTTaXiK)'. Ilist. Plant, iv. 10. p. 147, ed. Scluieider.

t Apud Athen. ix. 12. p. 371 D. ed. Casaub.

§ Museo Pio-Clementino, torn. v. tav. 24. This bas-relief formerly belonged to
the Mattei collection. See Monumenta Matthteinana, torn. iii. tab. 37.

428 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

Callimachus ascribes the same head-dress to shepherds in the
following lines :

"ETpsirt TOt irpoi)(^ovaa Kapij; tipua KakCnrrprij
JloifieviKov rrj'X/i^a. — Frag. CXXV.
The wide covering projecting from your head, tlie pastoral hat, became you.

This " pastoral hat," if we may judge from the representa-
tion of the two shepherds in the bas-reUef just referred to (Fig.
4.), was in its shape very like the "bonny blue bonnet" of the
Scotch. Figure 5 in Plate IX. is taken from a painted Greek
vase, and represents the story of the delivery of CEdipus to be
exposed. His name OiAinOAAIi is written beside him. The
shepherd ET$0PB02, who holds the naked child in his arms,
wears a flat and very broad petasus hanging behind his neck.
It is of an irregular shape, as if from long usage*. The shep-
herd Zethus wears a petasus hanging behind his back in a
bas-relief belonging to the Borghese collection, pubUshed by
Winckelmann [Mon. Inediti, ii. 85). See Plate IX. Fig. 6.

The Athenian ephebi wore the broad-brimmed hat, together
with the scarf or chlamyst. Meleager, in an epigram on a beau-
tiful boy, named Antiochus, says, that he would be undistinguish-
able from Cupid, if Cupid wore a scarf and petasus instead of
his bow and arrows and his wings t.

When a young Greek conquered in the games, his friends
semetimes bestowed a hat (petasus) upon him as a presents.

In consequence of the use of the petasus as a part of the
ordinary costume of the Athenian youth, we find it in a great
variety of works of ancient art illustrative of the reUgion and
mythology of Greece. For example : —

1. In the inner frieze of the Parthenon, the remains of which
are now in the British Museum, it is worn by many of the
riders on horseback. Figure 7, in Plate IX. shows one of

* See Monuinenti Inediti puhblicati dalV Insiituto di Corrcspondenza Archeo-
logica, vol. ii. tav. 14.

t Pollux, Onom. x. 164 ; Philemon, p. 367. ed. Meuieke ; Brunck, Anal. vol. ii.
p. 41 ; Jacobs in Athol. Grac. i. 1. p. 24.

% Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 5.

§ Eratosthen. a Bernhardy, p. 249. 250.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS.

429

these horsemen (from the slab No. 54.) with his pctasus tied
under his chin.

2. It is worn by Theseus, as represented on a vase in the
Vatican collection. See Winckclmann, Mon. Inediii, vol. ii.
98, and Fig. 8, Plate IX.

3. Also by CEdipus, as represented on one of Sir William
Hamilton's vases (vol. ii. Plate 24.), standing before the sphinx.

4. The coins of vEtolia exhibit Meleager wearing the petasus.
Five of these have been selected from the collection in the
British Museum, which are engraved according to the size of
the originals in Plate IX. Figures 9, 10, and 11, are of silver.
In each of them the petasus has the form of a circular disc with
a boss at the top like that on a Scotch bonnet : on the reverse
is the Calydonian boar, with a spear head beneath it, and the
word AITQAQN. Figure 12, which is of gold*, and Figure 13,
which is of silver, have the head of Hercules on the reverse.
The hero, supposed to be Meleager, wears a petasus, a scarf, and
boots, as we have seen to be the case with Endymion (Fig. 3),
this being the attire of hunters. In these two coins he also
holds a spear in his right hand, and is seated upon a shield
(see Fig. 13.) and other pieces of armor. aitoa<2N is written
by the side. The gold coin (see Fig. 12.) represents him with
a Victory in his left hand, and with a small figure of Diana
Lucifera in front.

The broad-brimmed hat, or petasus, w-as more especially worn
by the Greeks when they were travellingt. Its appearance is
well sho\vn in Fig. 14, taken from a fictile vase belonging to
the late Mr. Hopet. It represents a Greek soldier on a journey,
wearing his large blanket, and holding two spears in his right
hand. This figure also shows one of the methods of fastening
on the hat, viz. by passing the string round the occiput.

The comedies of Plautus, being translated from the Greek,
contain allusions to the same practice. In the Pseudolus (ii. 4.
55, and iv. 7. 90.) the petasus and the scarf are stipposcd to Ijc

» This is engraved by Taylor Combe, Vet. Populorum Nunmi. tab. v. No. 23

t Brunck, Anal ii. 170, No. 5.

t Hope, Costuvie of the Ancients, vol. i. pi. 71.

430 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP

worn by a person to indicate that he was coming from a journey.
In the prologue to the Amphitryo, ]Mercury says,

Ego has babebo hie usque in petaso pinnulas,
Turn meo patri autem toruhis inerit aureus
Sub petaso : id signum Amphitruoni non erit.

Mercury and his father Jupiter are here supposed to be attired
like Sosia and Amphitryo his master, both of whom had been
travelling and were returning home. At the same time there
is an allusion to the winged hat of Mercury, of which more
hereafter. Again, in act i. scene 1. 1. 2S7, the petasus is
attributed to Sosia, because he is supposed to be coming from a
journey ; and to Mercury, both because it was commonly
attributed to him, and because on this occasion he was person-
ating Sosia.

The Romans were less addicted to the use of the petasus
than the Greeks : they often wore it when they were from
home ; but that they did not consider it at all necessary to wear
hats in the open air is manifest from the remark of Suetonius
about the Emperor Augustus, that he could not even bear the
winter's sun, and hence " domi quoque non nisi petatasus sub
divo spatiabatur." {August. 82.) Cahgula permitted the
senators to wear them at the theatres as a protection from the
sun (Dio. Cass. hx. 7. p. 909, ed. Reimari). What was meant
by wearing hats '• according to the Thessalian fashion" is by no
means clear. Perhaps the Thessalians may have worn hats
resembling those of their neighbors, the Macedonians, and of
the shape of these we may form some conception from the coins
of the Macedonian kings. One of these coins from the collec-
tion in the British Museum is copied in Plate IX. Fig. 15.
It is a coin of the reign of Alexander I. and exhibits a Mace-
donian warrior standing by the side of his horse, holding two
spears in his left hand, and wearing a hat with a broad brim
turned upwards. This Macedonian petasus is called the
Causia (ca«ffto)*, and was adopted by the Romanst, and more

* Val. Max. v. 1. Extern. 4. Pausan., op. Eustath. in II. ii. 121. It is to be
observed, that the causia and petasus are opposed to one anotlier by a writer in
Athenaeus (L. xii. 537, e), as if the causia was not a petasus !

t Plautus, Mil. iv. 4. 42. Pers. i. 3. 75. Antip. Thess. in Brunch Anal. ii. 111.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 431

especially by the Emperor Caracalla, who, as Herodian states,
aimed to imitate Alexander the Great in his costume. It
appears probable, nevertheless, that the turning up of the brim
was not peculiar to the Macedonians, and it may have depended
altogether on accident or fancy ; for we find instances of it on
painted fictile vases, where there is no reason to suppose that
any reference was intended either to Macedonia or Thessaly.
Fig. 10. Plate IX. for example, is taken from the head of
Bellerophon, on one of Sir William Hamilton's vases* ; and the
left-hand figure from a fictile vase at Vienna, engraved by
Ginzrott. This hat is remarkable for the boss at the top, which
we observe also on the jEtolian coins, and in various other
examples.

In connection with the above quoted expression of Dio Cas-
sius it may be observed further, that besides the causia two
varieties of the petasus seem to be alluded to by several ancient
authors, viz. the Thessalian, and the Arcadian or Laconiaa.
How they were distinguished, cannot be ascertained, but the
passages which mention them will now be produced, that the
reader may judge for himself The ThessaUan variety is
mentioned by Dio Cassius, by Theophrastus, as above quoted
(p. 427), and by Callimachus in the following fragment, which
is preserved in the Scholia on Sophocles, (Ed. Col. 316.

And about his head lay a felt, newly come from Thessaly, as
a protection from wet. — Frag. 124. ed. Erncsti.

The frenzied Cynic philosopher Menedenuis, among other pe-
culiarities, wore an Arcadian hat, HAVING THE TWELVE
SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC WOVEN INTO IT: ! Am-
mianus (Brunck, Anal. ii. 384.) represents an orator dedicating
" an Arcadian hat" to Mercury, who Avas the patron of his art,
and also a native of Arcadia.

Herodes Atticus wore " the Arcadian hat"' at Athens, as a
protection from the sun ; and the language of Philostralus, in
recording the fact, shows that the Athenians of his time com-

* Vol. i. pi. 1.

t Uher die Wagen und Fuhrwerke der Alien, vol. i. p. 342.
t Diog. Laert. vi. 102. See Gilroy'a Treatise on the Art of Weaving, Amer«
ican edition, p. 446.

432 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

monly wore it, more especially in travelling*. Arrian, who
wrote about the middle of the second century, says, that " La-
conian or Arcadian hats," were worn in the army by the pel-
tastae instead of helmetsf. This circumstance shows a remark-
able change of customs ; for in the early Greek history we find
the Peisian soldiers held up as the objects of ridicule and con-
tempt, because they wore hats and trowsers+. On the whole, it
is very evident that " the Arcadian or Laconian hat " was one
and the same variety, and that this variety of head-dress was
simply the petasus, or hat with a brim, so called to distinguish
it from the proper -rXo?, which was the skull-cap, or hat without
a brim.

This supposition suits the representations of the only ima-
ginary beings who are exhibited in works of ancient art wear-
ing the petasus, viz. the Dioscuri and Mercury.

It has been akead}' observed that the Dioscuri are commonly
represented with the skull-cap, because they were worshipped,
as the reader will have perceived, as the guardians of the mar-
iner§ ; but on ancient vases we find them sometimes painted
with the petasus ; and if this was the same with the ^rXof Aaxuvi-
Kos, it would coincide with their origin as natives of Sparta. In
Plate IX. Fig. 16, an example is shown, on one of Sir Wil-
liam Hamilton's vases, in which their attire resemljles that of
the Athenian ephebi. They wear boots and a tunic, over
which one of them also wears the scarf or clilamys. They
are conducted by the goddess Night.

In like manner Mercury, as a native of Arcadia, might be
expected to wear " the Arcadian hat." In the representations
of this deity on works of ancient art, the hat, which is often
decorated with wnngs to indicate his office of messenger, as his
talaria also did', has a great variety of forms, and sometimes
the brim is so narrow, that it does not differ from the cap of the
artificer akeady described, or the rrrXoj in its ordinary form.

* Vit. Sophist, ii. 5. 3. t Tactica, p. 12. ed. Blancardi.

t Herod, v. 49. § See p. 419.

II Servius (on Virg. Mn. viii. 138) says, that Mercury was supposed to have
wings on his petasus and on his feet, in order to denote the swiftness of speech,
he being the god of eloquence.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 433

These hats, with a brim of but small dimensions, agree most
exactly in appearance with the cheapest hats of undyed felt,
now made in the United States and Great Britain*. On the
heads of the rustics and artificers in our streets and lanes
we often see forms the exact counterpart of those which we
most adrnire in the works of ancient art. The petasus is also
still commonly worn by agricultural laborers in Greece and Asia
Minor.

A bas-reUef in the Vatican collection!, represents the birth of
Hercules, and contains two figures of Mercury. In one he car-
ries the infant Hercules, in the other the caduceus. In both he
wears a large scarf, and a skull-cap, like that of Daedalust,
without a brim. This example therefore proves that, although
the petasus, as distinguished from the pileus, was certainly the
appropriate attribute of Mercury§, yet the artists of antiquity
sometimes took the liberty of placing on his head the skull-cap
instead of the hat, just as we have seen that they sometimes
made the reverse substitution in the case of the Dioscuri.

Another bas-relief in the Vatican II, represents the story of
the birth of Bacchus fro7n Jupiter's thigh. Thus the subject
of it is very similar to that, which relates to the birth of Her-
cules, the infant being in each instance consigned to the care
of Mercury. But the covering of Mercury's head in these two
cases is remarkably different, though from no other reason than

* These hats are sold in the shops for sixpence, ninepence, or a shilling each.

t Museo Pio-Clementino, torn. iv. tav. 37.

X See Plate VIII. Fig. 8. '

§ See Brunck, Anal. ii. 41, and Amobius, Adv. Gentes, lib. vi. See also Ep-
hippus, ap. Athen. xii. 53. p. 537 F. Casaub.

It is remarkable that the person who acted the part of a Silenus in the Diouys-
iac procession instituted by Ptolemy Philadelphiis at Alexandria, wore a hat and
a golden caduceus {Athen. v. 27. p. 198 A.). In this case the imagination ap-
pears to have been indulged in decorating a mere festive character with the pecu-
liar attributes of Mercurj-. It is added, that various kinds of chariots were driven
by " boys wearing the tunics of charioteers and petasi" {Athen. v. p. 200 F.). This
would be in character, being agreeable to the custom of the Grecian youth.

The following is from a sepulchral urn found near Padua {Gruter. p. 297) :

Abite hinc, pessimi fures, * * * vestro cum Mercurio petasato caduceatoque.

II Museo Pio-Clementino, torn. iv. tav. 19.

55

434 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

the fancy of the artist. In the bas-reUef now under consider-
ation, Mercury holds the skin of a lynx or panther to receive
the child. He wears the scarf or chlamys and cothurni. This
was a very favorite subject with the ancients. It occurs on a
superb marble vase with the inscription EAAniflN EIIOIHSE*,
and on one of Sir W. Hamilton's fictile vasesf.

Figure 4. in Plate X. is from Hope's Costume of the An-
cients, vol. ii. pi. 175. The money-bag is in Mercury's right
hand.

In a painting found at Pompeii+, Mercury is represented
with wings (pinnulcB) on his petasus, though not very ancient,
is also recognized in the Amphitryo of Plautus.

Figure 5. in Plate X. is from the Marquis of Lansdowne's
marble bust, published by the Dilettanti Society§. In this
beautiful bust the brim of the hat is unfortunately damaged.

Figures 6 and 7, Plate X., are from coins engraved in Ca-
relli's Niimmi Veteris Italice (plates 58 and 65). Figure 7 is
a coin of Suessa in Campania.

To these illustrations might have been added others from an-
cient gems, good examples of which may be found in the sec-
ond volume of Mariette's Ti'aite des Pierres Gravees, folio,
Paris, 1750.

Besides the application of felt as a covering of the head for
the male sex in the manner now explained, it was also used as
a lining for helmets. When in the description of the hehnet
worn by Ulysses we read

we may suppose nxUi to be used in its most ordinary sense, and

* Spon., Misc. Erud. Ant. § xi. art. 1. t Vol. i. No. 8.

X Gell's Pompeiana, London 1819, pi. 76.

§ Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, London 1809, pi. 51.

II Homer, II. x. 265. Eustathius, in his commentary on this passage, says, that
the most ancient Greeks always wore felt in their helmets, but that those of more
recent times, regarding this use of felt as peculiar to Ulysses, persuaded the paint-
ers to exhibit liim in a skull-cap, and that this was first done, according to the
tradition, by the painter Apollidorus. The account of Pliny, who, together with
Servius (in JEn. ii. 44), represents Nicomachus, and not Apollidorus, as having
first adopted this idea.

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 435

consequently that the interior of the helmet was a common
skull-cap.

Being generally thicker than common cloth, felt presented a
more effectual obstacle to missile weapons. Hence, when the
soldiers under Julius Caesar were much annoyed by Pompey's
archers, they made shirts or other coverings of felt, and put
them on for their defence*. Thucydides refers to the use of
similar means to protect the body from arrowsf; and even
in besieging and defending cities felt was used, together with
hides and sackcloth, to cover the wooden towers and military
engines*.

Felt was also sometimes used to cover the bodies of quadru-
peds. According to Aristotle^, the Greeks clothed their molles
oves either with skins or with pieces of felt ; and the wool be-
came gray in consequence. The Persians used the same ma-
terial for the trappings of their horses (Plutarch, Art ax. II. p.
1858. ed. Slephani).

The loose rude coverings for the feet called Udones were
sometimes made of felt, being worn within the shoes or brogues
of the rustic laborersll.

In concluding tliis investigation it may be proper to observe,
that, although 7^1X05 originally meant felt, and more especially
a skull-cap made of that manufacture, it was sometimes used,
at least by the later Greek authors, by an extension of its
meaning, to denote a cap of any other material. Thus Athen-
aeus (Ub. vi. p. 274. Casaub.) speaking of the Romans, says,
that they wore about their heads "Xovj npoParttw icpnaraiv laacXs, i. e.
" thick caps made of sheep skins."

* Jul. Ccesar, Bell. Civ. iii. 44. t Thucyd. iv. 34. Schol. ad loc.

X iEneas Tacticus, 33.

§ De Gen. Animalium, v. 5. p. 157. ed. Bekker.

II Hesiod, Op. ed Dies, 542 ; Graevius, ad loc. ; Cratini, Fragmenta, p. 29. ed.
Runkel.

436 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

APPENDIX D.

ON NETTING.

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF XETS BY THE AXCIEXTS ILLUSTEATIONS

OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

Nets were made of Flax, Hemp, and Broom — General terms for nets — Nets used
for catching birds — Mode of snaring — Hunting-nets — Method of hunting —
Hunting-nets supported by forked stakes — Manner of fixing them — Purse-net
or tunnel-net — Homers testimony — Nets used by the Persians in lion-hunting
— Hunting with nets practised by the ancient Eg}"ptians — Method of hunting
— Depth of nets for this purpose — Description of the purse-net — Road-net —
Hallier — Dj"ed feathers used to scare the prey — Casting-net — Manner of throw-
ing by the Arabs — Cjtus king of Persia — His fable of the piper and the fishes
— Fishing-nets — Casting-net used by the Apostles — Landing-net (S cap-net) —
The Sean — Its length and depth — Modem use of the Sean — Method of fishing
with the Sean practised by the Arabians and ancient Eg%-ptians — Corks and
leads — Figurative apphcation of the Sean — Curious method of capturing an
enemy practised by the Persians — Nets used in India to catch tortoises — Bag-
nets eind smjill purse-nets — Novel scent-bag of Verres the Sicilian prsetor.

The raw materials, of which the ancients made nets, w^ere
flax, hemp*, and broomt. Flax was most commonly used ; so
that Jerome, when he is prescribing emplopnent for monks,
says, " Texantur et Una capiendis piscibust." The operation
of netting, as well as that of platting, was expressed by the
verb rXt-ctivj. The meshes were called m Latin maculcoW, in
Greek /Spox<"j dim. /5po;^M£5^.

* Rete cannabina. Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 5. p. 216, ed. Bipont

t Plmy, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2 ; xxiv. 9. s. 40.

+ Hieron. Epist. 1. ii. p. 173, cd. Par. 1613, 12mo. Hunting-nets are called
" Una nodosa" by Ovid, Met. iii. 153, and vii. 807. Compare Virg. Georg. i. 142 ;
Homer, //. v. 487 ; Bnmck, Anal. ii. 94, 494, 495 ; Artimedorus, ii. 14. See
also Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2.

§ nXfld^fvoj aoKvs, Aristoph. Lysist. 790. Tdv Trt-Xtyiiivuv iUrvbiv, Bokkeri
Anecdota, vol. i. p. 354.

n Varro, De Re Rusl. iii. 11 ; Ovid, Epist. v. 19 ; Nemesiani Cyneg. 302.

T Heliodor. 1. v. p. 231, ed. Commelini.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 437

The use of all the Latin and Greek terms for nets will now
be explained, and in connection with this explanation of terms,
will be produced all the facts which can be ascertained upon
the subject.

I.

Retis and Rete ; dim. Reticulum.
AIKTYON*.

Retis or Rete in Latin, and sutvou in Greek, were used to de-
note nets in general. Thus in an epigram of Leonidas Tarenti-
nust, three brothers, one of whom was a hunter, another a fowler,
and the third a fisherman, dedicate their nets to Pan. Several
imitations of this epigram remain by Alexander iEtolust,
Antipater Sidonius^, Archiasll, and otherslF. In one of these
epigrams ('lovXid^oD AiyvnTiov) we find XiVa adopted as a general
term for nets instead of aurva, no doubt for the reason above
stated. In another epigram** a hare is said to have been caught
in a net [sutvov). Aristophanes mentions nets by the same
denomination among the contrivances employed by the fowlertt.
Fishing-nets are called surva in the following passages of the
New Testament : Matt. iv. 20, 21 ; Mark i. 18, 19 ; Luke v.
2, 4-6 ; John xxi. 6, 8, 11 : also by Theocritus, ap. Athen.
vii. 20. p. 284, Gas. ; and by Plato, Sophista, 220, h. p. 134,
ed. Bekker.

Netting was appUed in various ways in the construction of
hen-coops and aviaries ; and such net- work is called retell. It
was used to make pens for sheep by night. At the amphi-
theatres it was sometimes placed over the podium. At a gladi-
atorial show given by Nero, the net, thus used as a fence against

* From 6iKtiv, to throw. See Eurip. Bacc. 600, and the Lexicons of Schnei-
der and Passow.

t Brunck, Anal. i. 225.

t Brunck, Anal. i. 418. Alexandri iEtoli Fragmenta, a Capehnami, p. 50.

§ Ibid. ii. 9, Nos. 15, 16. II Ihid. ii. 34, No. 9.

IT Ibid. ii. 494, 495. Jacobs, Antliol. vol. i. p. 188, 189.

** Brunck, Anal. iii. 239, No 417. ++ Aves, 526-528.

XX Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 5.

438 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

the wild beasts, was knotted with amber*. The way in
which the net was used by the Retiarii is well known. The
head-dress called KCKpi<pa\os, was a small net of fine flax, silk, or
gold thread, and was also called reticulumj. But by far the
most important application of net-work was to the kindred arts
of hunting and fishing : and besides the general terms used
alike in reference to both these employments, there are special
terms to be explained under each head.

The use of nets for catching birds was very limited, on
which account we find no appropriate name for fowlers' netst.
Nevertheless thrushes were caught in them§, and doves or
pigeons, with their limbs tied up, or fastened to the ground, or
with their eyes covered or put out, were confined in a net in
order that their cries might allure others into the snare 11. An
account of the nets used by the Egyptians to catch birds is
given by Sir Gardner Wilkinson^, being derived from the
paintings found in the catacombs. The net commonly em-
ployed for the purpose was the clap-net. Bird-traps were also
made by stretching a net over two semicircular frames, which,
being joined and laid open, approached to the form of a circle.
The trap was baited, and when a bird flew to it and seized the
bait, it was instantly caught by the sudden rising of the two
sides or flaps.

n.

Cassis ; Plaga.

ENOAION, APKYS.

In hunting it was usual to extend nets in a curved line of
considerable length**, so as in part to surround a space, into

* Pliiu H. N. xxxvii. 3. s. 11.

t Nonius Marcellns, p. 542, ed. Merceri. See also the article Calantica, in
Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

X See Aristophanes, I. c. § Hor. Epod. a. 33, 34.

II Aristoph. Aves, 1083. IT Man. and Customs, vol. iii. p. 35-38, 45.

** Ta 6UTva ncpt/SdWovc. ^lian, H. A. xii. 46. Uno portante multitudinem,
qua saltus cingerentur. Plin. H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. Oppian {Cyneg. iv. 120-123)
Bays, that in an Asiatic lion-hunt the nets (u.oxvcj) were placed in the form of the
new moon.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 439

which the heasts of chase, such as the boar, the wild goat, the
deer, the hare, the Hon, and the bear might be driven through
the opening left on one side. Tibullus (iv. 3. 12) speaks of
inclosing woody hills for this purpose : —

densos indagine colles

Claudentem.

The following hnes of Virgil show, that the animals were
driven into the toils from a distance by the barking of dogs and
the shouts of men :

Thy hound the wild-ass in the sylvan chase,
Or hare, or hart, with faithful speed will trace ;
Assail the muddy cave with eager cries.
Where the rough boar in secret ambush lies ;
Press the tall stag with clamors echoing slirill
To secret toils, along the aerial hill.

Georg. iii. 411-413. — Warton^s Translation.

In another splendid passage the boar is described as coming into
the midst of the nets after he has been driven to them from a
mountain or a marsh at a great distance :

And as a savage boar on mountains bred,
With forest mast and fattening marshes fed ;
When once he sees himself in toils inclosed.
By huntsmen and their eager hounds opposed ;
He whets his tusks, and turns and dares the war:
The invaders dart their javelins from afar :
All keep aloof and safely shout around.
But none presumes to give a nearer wound.
He frets and froths, erects his bristled hide,
And shakes a grove of lances from his side.

JEn. X. 707-715. — Dryden's Translation.

Even in a case where the same poet introduces an equivalent
expression to that of Tibullus, already quoted, viz. "saltus
indagine cingunt" (^'w. iv. 121), he represents the hunting-
party as going over a large extent of country to collect the
animals out of it :

Postquam altos ventuna in montes atquo invia lustra,
Ecce ferae saxi dejecta; vertice caprae
Decurrere jugis ; alia de parte patentes
Transmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cervi
Pulverulenta fuga glomerant, montesque reJinquunt.

440 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri
Gaudet equo, jamque hos cursu, jam praeterit illos,
Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis
Optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem.

^n. iv. 151-159.

So Ovid {Epist. iv. 41, 42) :

In nemns ire libet, pressisque in retia cervis,
Hortari celeres per juga sxunma canes ;

and {Ejnst. v. 19, 20) :

Retia saepe comes maculis distincta tetendi,
Scepe citos egi per juga longa canes.

The younger Pliny describes himself on one occasion sitting
beside the nets, while the hunters were pursuing the boars and
driving them into the snare {Epist. i. 6). In Euripides [Bacc.
821-832) we- find the following beautiful descjiption of a fawn,
which has been driven into the space inclosed by the nets, but
has leaped over them and escaped : —

d)? vePpos ;:^Xo£parj
cuirai^ovaa XtijuaKOS fi-
SovaTi, fiviK av (poPcpov (piyri
Bfipan £^0) (pvXaKai
ciirXcKTiov mlp dpiciiov, &c.

Here a Bacchanal, tossing her head into the air with gambols
and dancing, is said to be " hke a fawn sporting in the green
delights of a meadow, when she has escaped the fearful chase
by leaping over the well-platted nets so as to be out of the
inclosure, whilst the shouting hunter has been urging his dogs
to run still more swiftly : by great efforts and with the rapidity
of the winds she bounds over a plain beside a river, pleased
with sohtudes remote from man, and hides herself in the thickets
of an umbrageous forest."

If hollows or valleys were inclosed*, the nets were no doubt

* Nee, velit insidiis altassi claudere valles,
Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent. — TibuUus, L 4. 49, 50.
It was the duty of the attendants (J. Pollux, v. 4. 27-31) in most cases to carry
the nets on their shoulders, agreeably to the representation in the Plate X.
Plmy, /. c.

Cassibus impositos venor. — Propert. iv. 2. 32.

alius raras

Cervice gravi portare plagas. — Sen. Hippol. i. 1. 44.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 441

extended only in those openings, through which it was possible
for the animals to escape. Also a river was of itself a sufficient
boundary :

Inclusum flumine cervum. — Virg. JEn. xii. 749.

The proper Latin term for the hunting-net, but more espe-
cially for the purse-net, which will be hereafter described, was
Cassis. " Cassis, genus venatorii retis." Isidori Hispalensis
Orig. xix. 5. " Arctos rodere casses" is applied by Persius (v.
170) to a quadruped with incisor teeth caught in such a net
and striving to escape. See also Propertius as just quoted, and
the Agamemnon of Seneca and Virgil's Gcorgics as quoted
below. Cassis seems to be derived from the root of cajjere
and catch. But Plaga was also appUed to hunting-nets, so
that Horace describes the hunting of the boar in the following
terms :

Aut trudit acres liinc et liinc multa cane
Apros in obstantes plagas. — Epod. ii. 31, 32.

Lucretius (lib. v. 1251, 1252) aptly compares the setting up of
the plagcB to the planting of a hedge around the forest :

Nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum,
Quam socpire plagis saltum, canibusque ciere.

In the same manner ylagcR is used in the Hippolytus of Sen-
eca, as above quoted, and in Pliny*.

To dispose the nets in the manner which has been described,
was called " retia ponere" (Virg. Georg. i. 307) or " letia ten-
dere" (Ovid, Art. Amat. I 45).

In Homer a hunting-net is called yivov Tzivaypov, Uterally, " the
flax that catches everythingt." But the proper Greek term for
the hunting-net, corresponding to the Latin cassis, was apms,
which is accordingly employed in the passages of Oppian and
Euripides cited above. Also the epigram of Antipater Sidoni-
us, to which a reference has already been made, specifies the
hunting-net by the same appellation :

ASjiiS jiiv dripoiv aok-vv ipciov6jiu>v.

The word is used in the same sense by Cratinust ; also by Ar-

* H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. t 11. V. 487.

X Cratini Fragmenta, a Runkel, p. 28.

56

442

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

riarij where he remarks that the Celts dispensed \\nth the use of
nets in hunting, because they trusted to the swiftness of their
greyhounds*. In Euripidest it is used metaphorically : the chil-
dren cry out, when their mother is pursuing them,

i. e. " Now how near we are being caught with the sword."

Also in the Agamemnon of iEschylus (1. 1085) :

'H SiKrvov Ti y' AiJov;
(pdvov.

In this passage reference is made to the large shawl in which
Clytemnestra wrapt the body of Agamemnon, as in a net, in
order to destroy him. On account of the use made of it, the
same fatal garment is afterwards (1. 1353) compared to a cast-
ing-net, which in its form bore a considerable resemblance to
the cassis. In 1. 1346, apmaraTat denotes this net as set up
for hunting. The same form occurs again in the Eumenides
(1. 112); and in the PerscB (102-104) escape from danger is in
nearly the same terms expressed by the notion of overleaping
the net. In Euripides§ this contrivance is called apKiararos f^xavft;
and in the Agamemnon of Senecall the same allusion is intro-
duced :

At ille, ut altis hispidus silvis aper ;
Cum, casse vinctus, tentat egressus tamen,
Arctatque motu vincla, et incassum furit,
Cupit, fluentes undique et csbcos sinus
Disjicere, et hostem quEerit implicitus suum.

Part of the apparatus of a huntsman consisted in the stakes
which he drove into the ground to support his nets, and which
Antipater Sidonius thus describes :

Kai TTVp't Sr/yaXEODf dftiTraynj oraXiKas ;
i. e. " The sharp stakes hardened in tlie firelT."

* Kai £iVii» al Kvves awai, b ti nep al apKv; Stvo^wi/n Ikcivw, i. e. " And here grey-
hounds answered the same purpose as Xenophon's hunting-nets." De Venat.
ii. 21. See Dansey's translation, pp. 72, 121.

t Medea, 1268. t Or, apKiararov, ed. Schutz. 1. 1376.

§ Orestes, 1405, s. 1421. |1 L. 886-890.

IT Brunck, Anal. ii. 10. We find ar&'XiKes in Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 67, 71, 121,
380; Pollux, OnoTO.v. 31.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 443

The term which Xenophon uses of the stakes is, according
to some mamisciipts of his work, cr;(.axwtf. He says, they
should be fixed so as to lean backwards, and thus more effec-
tually to resist the impulse of the animals rushing against
them*. The Latin term answering to ctuXikk was Vart. We
find it thus used by Lucan :

Aut, cum dispositis adtollat retia varis
Venator, tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi.

Pharsalia, iv. 439, 440.
i. e. " The hunter holds the noisy mouth of the light Molosslan dog, when he
lifts up the nets to tlie stakes arranged in order."

Gratius FaUscus, adopting a Greek term, calls them ancones,
on account of the " elbow" or fork at the top :

Hie magis in cervos vahiit metus : ast ubi lents

Interdum Libyco fucantur sandyce pinnce,

Lineaque cxtructis lucent anconibus arma,

Rarum, si qua metus eludat bellua falsos. — Cyneg. 85-88.

It was the business of one of the attendants to watch the nets :

Ego retia servo. — Virg. Buc. iii. 75.

Sometimes there was a watchman at each extremity and
one in the middle, as in the Persian lion-huntt. The preva-
lence of this method of hunting in Persia might be inferred
firom the circumstance, that one of the chief employments of
the inhabitants consisted in making these nets {a^Kvu Strabo,
XV. 3. h 18). To watch the nets was called d(,Kvu>peXv (^Elian, H.
A. i. 2), and the man who discharged this oflSce dp^vtopot (Xen.,
De Ven. ii. 3 ; vi. 1.).

The paintings discovered in the catacombs of Egypt show,
that the ancient inhabitants of that country used nets for hunt-
ing in the same manner which has now been shown to have
been the practice of the Persians, Greeks and Romans!.

Hunting-nets had much larger meshes than fishing or fowl-
ers'-nets, because in general a fish or a fowl could escape
through a much smaller opening than a quadruped. In hunt-
ing, the important circumstance was to make the nets so strong

* De Venat. vi. 7. t Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 124, &c.

t Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 3-5.

444 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

that the beasts could not break through them. The large
size of the meshes is denoted by the phrases " retia rara*" and
'•' raras plagast ;" and it is exhibited in a bas-reUef in the collec-
tion of ancient marbles at Ince-Blundell in Lancashire. See
Plate X. fig. 1. This sculpture presents the following circum-
stances, which are worthy of notice as illustrative of the pas-
sages above collected from ancient authors. Three servants
with staves carry a large net on their shoulders. The foremost
of them holds by a leash a dog, which is eager to engage in the
chaset. Then follows another scene in the hunt. A net with
very large meshes and five feet high is set up, being supported
by three stakes. Two boars and two deer are caught. A
watchman, holding a staff, stands at each end of the net. Fig.
2, Plate X. is taken from a bas-relief in the same collection,
representing a party returning from the chase, with the quadru-
peds which they have caught. Two men carry the net, hold-
ing in their hands the stakes with forks at the top. These
bas-rehefs have been taken from sarcophagi erected in com-
memoration of hunters, and they are engraved in the Ancient
statues^ &c. at Ince-Blundell^ vol. ii. pi. 89 and 126. An ex-
cellent representation of these forked staves is given in a sepul-
chral bas-reUef in Bartoli, Admiranda, tab. 70, which Mr.
Dansey has copied at p. 307 of his translation of Arrian on
Coursing, and which represents a party of hunters returning
from the chase. Another example of the varus, or forked staff,
is seen in a sepulchral stone lately found at York (England),
and engraved in Mr. Wellbeloved's Ehnracum, pi. 14. fig. 2.
The man, who holds the varus in his right hand, and who ap-
pears to be a huntsman and a native of the north of England,
though partly clothed after the Roman fashion, wears an inner
and outer tunic, and over them a fringed sagum. In the Se-
polcri de' Nasoni, published by Bartoli, there is a representation
of a lion-hunt, and of another in which deer are caught by
means of nets set up so as to mclose a large space. In Mont-

» Virg. JEn. iv. 131 ; Hor. Epod. u. 33.

t Seneca, Hippol. 1. c.

i See Lucan, as quoted in the last page.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 446

faucon's Supplement, tome iii., is an engraving from a bas-re-
lief, in which a net is represented : but none of these are so in-
structive as the two bas-rehefs at Incc-BlundcU.

Gratius Paliscus recommends that a net should be forty
paces long, and full ten knots high :

Et bis vicenos spatium prtEtendere paesus

Rete velim, plenisque decern consurgere nodis. — Cyneg. 31, 32.

The necessity of making the nets so high that the animals
could not leap over them, is alluded to in the expression Yi//o{
KptXaaov cKirnifinaTos, i. e. " a height too great for the animals to leap

out*:'

Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, gives various direc-
tions respecting the making and setting of nets ; and Schneider
has added to that treatise a dissertation concerning the apKvu It
is evident that this kind of net was made with a bag (iceifpu^aXof,
vi. 7), being the same which is now called the purse-net, or the
tunnel-net, and that the aim of the hunter was to drive the
animal into the bag ; that the watchman (dpKvo>pdi) waited to see
it caught there ; that branches of trees were placed in the bag
to keep it expanded, to render it invisible, and thus to decoy
quadrupeds into it ; that a rope ran round the mouth of the bag
(«pj<)(90f<of, vi. 9), and was drawn tight by the impulse of the
animal rushing in so as to prevent its escapef. To this rope
was attached another, called tn-Mpo^of, which was used as follows.
In fig. 1 . of Plate X. we observe, that the upper border of the

* iEschyli Agamemnon, 1347.

t This effect of the T^cpiipofioi is well expressed by Seneca, " Arctatque motu
vincla :" also the circumstance of the branches used to distend the bag and to
make it invisible ; " Fluentes undique et ccecos sinus."

Homer {II. v. 487) seems to allude to the same contrivance, and to apply the
term d^^rA.j to the rope which encircled the entrance of the bag, with the others
attached to it.

We find in Brunck's Analecta (ii. 10. No. x.x.) the phrase iyKvKa SUrva applied
to hunting-nets. It was probably meant to designate the afwtif, which might be
called dYHv\a, i. e. " angular," because they were made like bags ending in a
point. The term vt(pi\ji, which occurs in Aristophanes {Aves, 19.5), and denoted
some contrivance for catcliing birds, is said by the Scholiast on the passage to
have meant a kind of hunting-net. But this explanation is evidently good for
nothing.

446 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

net consists of a very strong rope, Xenophon calls this aapdojv
(vi. 9). In the purse-net it was furnished with rhigs. The
djaxva'po^j or watchman, lay in ambush, holding one end of the
imSpofios, which ran through the rings, and was fastened at the
other end to the ncpiSpoiios, so that by pulling it he drew the mouth
of the bag still more firm and close. He then went to the bag
and despatched the quadruped which it inclosed, or carried it
off alive, informing his companions of the capture by shouting*.
In this treatise Xenophon distinguishes the nets used in
hunting by three different appellations ; apKVi, h6kov, and Hktvov.
Oppian also distinguishes the iUrvov used in hunting from the
apKVi\. The apKVi or cassis, i. e. " the purse- or tunnel-net," was
by much the most comphcated in its formation. The hoiiov, or
" road-net," was comparatively small : it was placed across any
road, or path, to prevent the animals from pm*suing that path :
it must have been used to stop the narrow openings between
bushes. The iUrvov was a large net, simply intended to inclose
the ground : it therefore resembled in some measure the sean
used in fishing. The term, thus specially applied, may be
translated a hay, or a hallierX. These three kinds of nets
appear to be mentioned together by Nemesianus under the
names of retia (i. e. dUrva), casses (i. e. «pA.vj), and plagce. (i. e.

Necnon et casses idem venatibus aptos,
Atque plagas, longoque meantia retia tractu
Addiscunt raris semper contexere nodis,
Et servare modum maculis, linoque tenaci.

Cyneg. 299-302.

Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, further informs us, that
the cord used for making the apKv?, or purse-net, consisted of three
strands, and that three hnes twisted together commonly made
a strand (ii. 4) ; but that, when the net was intended to catch

* Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 409. Pliny mentions these epidromi, or running ropes :
H. N. xix. 1. 8. 2.

t Ibid. iv. 381.

t See Arrian on Coursing : the Cynegeticus of the younger Xenophon, trans-
lated from the Greek, &c. &c. by a graduate of Medicine (William C. Dansey,
M. B.). London, 1831, pp. 68, 188.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 447

the wild boar, nine lines went to a strand instead of three

(X. 2).

It remains to be noticed, tliat, when the long range of nets, set
up in the manner which has been now represented, was designed
to catch the stag {ccrvus), it was Hanked by cords, to which, as
well as to the nets themselves, feathers di/ed scarlet, and of
other bright colors intermixed with their native white, and
sometimes probably birds' wings, were tied so as to flare and
flutter in the wind*. This appendage to the nets was called
the mctus or formido (Virg. jEn. xii. 750), because it fright-
ened these timid quadrupeds so as to mge them onwards into
the toils. Hence Virgil, speaking of the method of taking
stags in Scythia, says,

Nor toils their flight impede, nor hounds o'ertake,
Nor plumes of purple dye their fears awake.

Georg. iii. 371, 372. — Sotheby's Translation.

The following passages likewise allude to the use of this con-
trivance in the stag-hunt :

Nee fonnidatiB cervos includite penuis. — Ovid. Met. xv. 475.

Vagos dumeta per avia cervos
Circumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnce.

Auson. Epist. iv. 27.

Nemesianus, in the following passage, asserts that the cord
{linea) carrying feathers of this description had the effect of
terrifying not the stag only, but the bear, the boar, the fox and
the wolf :

Linea qumetiam, magnos circumdare saltus
QuBB possit, volucresque metu concludere praedas,
Digerat innexas non ima ex alite pinnas.
Namque ursos, magnosque sues, cervosque fugaces
Et vulpes, acresque lupos, ceu fulgura cobH
Terrificaut, Unique vetant transcendere septum.
Has igitur vario semper fucare veneno
Cura tibi, neveisque alios miscere colores,
Altemosque metus subtemine tendere longo.

Cyneg. 303-311.

The same fact is asserted in a striking passage, which has
* Dum trepidant alee. — Virg. JBn. iv. 121.

44S MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

been above quoted from Gratius Faliscus. To the same effect
are the foliowmg passages :

Nee est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta conterreat,
et ad insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta fonnido. — Seneca, de Ira, ii. 11.

Feras lineis et pmna conclusas contine : easdem a tergo eques
telis incessat : tentabunt fugam per ipsa quae fugerant, proculca-
buntque fonuidinem — Seneca, de dementia^ i. 12.

Picta rubenti lineo pinna
Vano cjaudat terrore feras.

Seneca Frag. Hippol. i. 1.

m.

FUNDA. JACULUM, RETE JACULUM, RETIACULUM.
AM^IBAHLTPON, AM^IBOAON.

Fishmg-nets* were of six different kinds, whicii are enume-
rated by Oppian as follows :

Tcov TO fiiv a/i^iiflXijCTTpo, TO ii ypXifiot Ka\iovTat,
Layyaiia r', fjd' i-ao'j^ai TTcptriyces, fjcl aayfjvai.
"AXXd <3£ KiK)i.fi(TKOv<ri Ka\ififiaTa. — Hal. iii. 80-82.

Of these by far the most common were the diifuSXriaTpov, or
casting-nety and the caynvn, i. e. the drag" or sean. Conse-
quently these two are the only kinds mentioned by Virgil and
Ovid in the following passages :

Atque alius latmn funda jam verberat amnem,
Alta petens ; pelagoque alius trahit humida lina.

Virg. Georg. i. 141, 142.
Hi jaculo pisces, illi capiuntur ab hamis ;
Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt.

Ovid, Art. Amat. i. 763, 464. '

By Yirgil the casting-net is called funda, which is the com-
mon term for a sUng. In illustration of this it is to be observed,
that the casting-net is throuii over the fisherman's shoulder,
and then whirled in the air much like a sUng. By this action
he causes it to fly open at the bottom so as to form a circle,

* 'AXisvrua Jixrvo. Diod. Sic. xvii. 43. p. 193, Wessel.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 44.9

which is loaded at intervals with stones or pieces of lead, and
this circle '• strikes the broad river* :" for the casting-net is used
either in pools of moderate depth, or in rivers which have, like
pools, a broad smooth surface ; whereas the sean is employed
for fishing in the deep [pelago)\.

Isidore of Seville, in his account of the different kinds of nets
{Orig. xix. 5), thus speaks : '■'■ Funda genus est piscatorii retis,
dicta ab eo, quod in fundum mittatur. Eadem etiam a jactan-
diojactdum dicitur. Plautus :

Probus quidem antea jaculator erast."

Besides the passage of Plautus, here quoted by Isidore, there
are two others, in which the casting-net is mentioned under
the name of rete jaculum, viz, Asinar. 1. i. 87, and True. 1. i.
14. Pareus, as we find from his Lexicon Plaiitinum, clearly
understood the meaning of the term, and the distinction be-
tween the casting-net and the sean. Of the Rete jaculum he
says, "Sic dicitur ad differentiam verricuU, quod non jacitur,
sed trahitur et verritur." He adds, that Herodotus calls it
ifu^ifiMarpov, and the Germans Wurffgarn.

The word occurs twice in Herodotus, and both places throw
light upon its meaning. In Book i. c. 141. he says : " The

* The Arabs now employ the casting-net on the shores of the Arabian Gulf.
" Its form is round, and loaded at the lower part with small pieces of lead ; and,
when the fisherman approaches a shoal of fish, his art consists in throwing the
net so that it may expand itself in a circular form before it reaches the surface
of the water." — Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 148.

t For a technical account of nets, including the casting-net as now made, the
reader is referred to the Hon. and Rev. Charles Bathurst's Notes on Nets; or the
Quincunx practically considered, London, 1837, 12mo. Duhamel wrote on the
same subject in French.

t Jaculator corresponds to the Greek d/i^i/JoXtOf.

Ausonius, in the following lines, which refer to the metliods of fishing in the vi-
cinity of the Garonne, appears to distinguish between the jaculum and the funda,
Piscandi traheris studio ? nam tola supellex
Dumnotoni tales solita est ostendere gazas:
Nodosas vestes animantum Nerinorum,
Et jacula, et fundas, et nomina villica lini,
Colaque, et indutos terrenis vermibus hamos.

Epist. iv. 51-55.

57

450 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

Lydians had no sooner been brought into subjection by the
Persians than the lonians and J^oHans sent ambassadors to
Cyrus at Sardis, entreating him to receive them under his do-
minion on the same conditions on which they had been under
Croesus. To this proposal he rephed in the following fable. A
piper, having seen some fishes in the sea, flayed for a while
071 his pipe, thinking that this would make them come to
him on the land. Perceiving the fallacy of this expectation,
he took a casting-net, and, having thrown it around a great
number of the fishes, he drew them out of the water. He
then said to the fishes, as they were jumping about. As yon did
not choose to dance out of the water, when I played to you on
my pipe, yon may put a stop to your dancing noioP The
other passage (ii. 95) has been illustrated in a very successful
manner by William Spence, Esq., F. R. S., in a paper in the
Transactions of the Entomological Society for the year 1834.
In connection with the curious fact, that the common house-fly
will not in general pass through the meshes of a net, Mr.
Spence produces this passage, in which Herodotus states, that
the fishermen who hved about the marshes of Egypt, being
each in possession of a casting-net, and vising it in the day-
time to catch fishes, employed these nets in the night to keep
off the gnats, by which that country is infested. The casting-
net was fixed so as to encircle the bed, on which the fisherman
slept ; and, as this kind of net is always pear-shaped, or of a
conical form, it is evident that nothing could be better adapted
to the purpose, as it would be suspended like a tent over the
body of its owner. In this passage Herodotus twice uses the
term aiifS\n^Tpov, and once he calls the same thing iUrvov, because,
as we have seen, this was a common term applicable to nets of
every description*.

The antiquity of the casting-net among the Greeks appears

* iVoTie of the commentators appear to have understood these passages. In
particular we find that Schweighiluser in his Lexicon Herodoteum explains
'Ai'<pi!3\n<tTpov thus : " Verriculum, Rete quod circumjicitur." Reic, however,
corresponds to Sixrvov, which meant a net of any kind ; and Verriculum is the
Latin for Lny^vi?, which, as will be shown hereafter, was a scan, or drag-net.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS.

451

from a passage in the Shield of Hercules, attributed to llcsiod
(1, 213-215). The poet says, that the shield represented the sea
with fishes seen in the water, " and on the rocks sat a fisherman
watching, and he held in his hands a casting-net idi,fifi\„<rTpop)
for fishes, and seemed to be throwing it from him." We appre-
hend that, the position of sitting was not so suitable to the use
of the casting-net as standing, because it requires the free use
of the arms, which a man cannot well have when he sits. In
other respects this description exactly agrees with the use of the
casting-net : for it is thrown by a single person, who remains on
land at the edge of the water, observes the fishes in it, and
throws the net from him into the water so as suddenly to in-
close them.

In two of the tragedies of ^schylus we find the term d,,f:0\n<rrpou
applied figuratively by Clytemnestra to the shaid, in which
she enveloped her husband in order to murder him.

n-tpurnx'^", TXoSrov £(/jaroj KUKdv. — Agamem. 1353, 1354.
MijiVTico S\ afiipiliMoTpov ij tKaiviaav. — Clweph. 485.

Lycophron (1. 1101) calls this garment by the same name,
when he refers to the same event in the fabulous history of
Greece. AVe have seen, that in other passages the shawl so
used is with equal aptitude called a purse-net (ap-^^O-

One of the comedies of Menander was entitled 'Ax.trj, " the
Fisherman." The expression, 'Aii<ptPMarpfo T^tpidiWiTai, is quoted
from it by Julius Pollus (x. 132)t.

Athena^us (lib. x. 72. p. 450 c. Casaub.) quotes from Antiph-
anes the following line, which describes a man " throwing a
casting-net on many fishes" :

'Iy9u(rti/ dfi^i/JX/iorpoi/ avi]p rroXXoTj £ri/?JXAa)v.

• In an epigi'am of Leonidas Tarentinus we find the casting-
net called dii<i>iPo\ov instead of df,<pW\r,aTpoA-

The df^fid^vrpov is mentioned together with two other kinds of
nets by Artemidorus, and which will be quoted presently.

* Menandri et Phil. ReliqiKE, a Meincke, p. 16.

t Brimck, Anal i. 223, No. xii. Jacobs, Anthol. i. 2. p. 74.

452 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

The follo\^^ng curious passage of Meletius de Natwa Homi-
nis, in which that author, probably following Galen, describes
the expansion of the optic nerves, mentions the casting-net as
" an instrument used by fishermen" :

Aidc^i^ovrai cl ra VEvpa els tovs 6a\diioV5, cjtnrtp j/i; rtf Xa/?a)i/ rdrrvpoi', TavTrjv eis
Xeitto itarcjioiv Koi 8n<ry^i^ov dvaitXiKtjTai. raXiVj Kai roij ^nuva ^tyojjtcvOv dfupt/SXrja-
rpoetifi, ofioiov dfi<pi(S\fipTp(L). opyavov Si tovto BtjpcvTaTs l^Oooni ^pfiaijiov. — Salmctsius,
171 TerluU. de Pallio, p. 213.

The xirui- dn<pip\ri<jTpoti6hsj OX tunica retina, was so called on
account of its resemblance in form to the casting-net.

As we learn from Herodotus that the casting-net was univer-
sally employed by the fishermen of Egypt, we shall not be
surprised to find it mentioned in the Alexandrine, or, as it is
commonly called, the Septuagint version of the Psalms and
Prophets : —

XLtnoivrai. Iv d)t(fii^\fi(TTpCii avrav ajiapruXo't,
i. e. " Sinners shall fall in his casting-net." — Psalm cxii. 10.
Cadent in retiaculo ejus peccatores. — Vulgate Version.
" Let the wicked fall in their own nets." — Common English Version.

The word in the original Hebrew is "11-22^, which Gesenius
translates " Rete," a net. This word must have been more
general in its meaning than the Greek dn(pt8\jiiTTpov, and included
the purse-net, or apKvg. The Chaldee and Syriac versions use in
this passage a word, which denotes sjiai'es in general. See
Isaiah h. 20, where the same word is used in the Hebrew, but
applied to the catching of a quadruped, and where consequently
the purse-net must have been intended.

Kai ol ffaWovTCi (rayvva;, Kai ol aii(pi0o\u; :r£i9(j(rot)cri.
i. e. "And they who throw seans, and they who fish with the castmg-net,
shall mourn." — Isa. xix. 8.

Et expandentes rete super faciem aquarum emarcescent. — Vulgate Version.
'' And they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish." — Common Eng-
lish Version.

It is to be observed, that this prophecy relates to Egypt. The
Hebrew verb tt5-iB, here translated '■^ expandentes,^' ^^ they that
spread,'' is exactly applicable to the remarkable expansion of
the casting-net just as it reaches the surface of the water. In

NETS BY TIIK ANCIENTS. 453

the Alexandrine version we may also observe the clear distinc-
tion between the two principal kinds of nets, the scan and the
casting-net, and that the man who fishes with the latter is called
d/i0i5oX£uf, as in Latin he was designated by the single term
jaculator.

Eii\KV(jev avTdv iv dutpiffXijaoa, xal rnvfiycv airdi/ iv rati aayftvaii airoC* lvcmv roirov
cixppavOi'icrcTai xai ^apfiaerai ft xapSla airov- "Evt/ccv tovtov Oioci tj aayt]vrf airoC, Kai
dvfiidaei Tc3 dn(ptP\ijaTp<o avTOv, Sti iu avToXi iKivavs iiepiSa avrov Kal ra Ppuftara airoS
(KXeKTa. Ala tovto aji<piPa\st rd dfiKJitP^tiaTpov avrov, xai iiairavTos ajroKTivsiv tOvrj ov
ipeiaCTat.

i. e. " He (the Chaldean) hath drawn ]iim in a casting-net and gathered him
in his scans : therefore liis heart shall rejoice and bo glad. Therefore he shall
sacrifice to his sean and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he hath
fattened his portion and his chosen dainties. Therefore lie shall throw his cast-
ing-net, and not spare utterly to slay nations." — Hahakkuk, i. 15-17.

" They catch them in their net and gather them in their drag ; therefore they
rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net and bum incense
unto their drag : because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous.
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations ?"
— Common English Version.

The Latin Vulgate in this passage uses without discrimina-
tion the terms rete and sag-ena, which latter is the Greek word
in a Latin form.

'Anfi/s^ricrpov occurs twice in the New Testament. Matthew
iv. 18 : " Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren,
Simon and Andrew, casting' a net into the sea ; for they were
fishers": in the ox\g\nd\, i^aWovraidixipiPUaTpovtiiTiiveaKaaaav-^ iu thc
Vulgate version, " mittentes rete." It appears no sufficient
objection to the sense which has been assigned to dii<pii3\r,<TTpov,
that here two persons are mentioned as using it at the same
time. Being partners and engaged in the same emplo3anent,
one perhaps collecting the fishes which the other caught, they
might be described together as " throwing the casting-net,"
although only one at a time held it in his hands. In other
respects this explanation is particularly suitable to the circum-
stances. Jesus was walking on the shore and accosted the
two brothers. This suits the supposition that they were on the
shore likewise, and not fishing out of a boat, as they did with
the sean at other times. In verse 20 the Evangelist uses the
term surva (nets), saying " they left their nets," and meaning

454 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

both their casting-net and those of other kinds. In verse 21
he mentions that James and John were in their boat, mending
their nets [survay

The same things are to be observed in Mark i. 16, which is
the parallel passage.

IV.

rpi^os, or rpinoE.

Pursuing the order adopted by Oppian in his list of fishing
nets above quoted, we come to the rpi,pos. What kind of net
this was we have been unable to discover. It must, however,
have been one of the most useful and important kinds, because
Plutarch mentions ypi<pot koI aayfwai as the common implements of
the fisherman*, and Artemidorus speaks of this together with
the casting-net and the sean in similar termsf.

It may be observed, that rpi^ttij is used for a fisher mant,
apparently equivalent to aXt£Of§. We also find the expression
Vpanth Tixyriy meaning, " By the fisherman's artll".

TArrAaioN.

The third fishing-net in Oppian's enumeration is rdyyaftov.
We find it once mentioned metaphorically, viz. by jEschylus,
who calls an inextricable calamity, Tayya/iw arTjs^f. In Schneider's
edition of Oppian we find this note, " Rete ostreis capiendis
esse annotavit Hesychius." Passow also in his Lexicon explains
it as " a small round net for catching oysters." The reference
to Hesychius is incorrect. If it was a net for catching oysters,
wliich appears very doubtful, it may have been the net used by
the Indians in the pearl-fishery**.

* Ucpl hdviiias, vol. V. p. 838, ed Steph. t L. ii. c. 14.

t Jacobs, Anthol. vol. i. p. 186, Nos. 4 and .*>.

§ Theocrit. i. 39 ; iii. 26. Il Brunck, Anal. ii. 9, No. 14.

ir Agam. 352.

** Acyei yicyacrdivris OnptieaBai T>)v KCyxjnv airov Ji/crioiai. Arriau, Indica, vol. t
p. 525, ed. Blancardi.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 455

VI.

■YnoxH.

The inoxh, which is the fourth in Oppian's enumeration, was
the landing-net, used merely to take fislies out of the water
when they rose to the surface, or in similar circumstances to
which it was adapted. It was made with a lioop {kvkXos) fastened
to a pole, and was perhaps also provided with the means of
closing the round aperture at the top*.

Of the K^Xv/i//a we find nowhere any further mention.

VII.

TRAGUM, TRAGULA, VERRICULUM.
2ArHNH.

These were the Greek and Latin names for the sean.
Before producing the passages in which they occur, we will
present to the reader an account of this kind of net as now
used by the fishermen on the coast of Cornwall (England) for
catching pilchards, and as described by Dr. Paris in his elegant
and pleasant Guide to Mount's Bay and Land's End\.

" At the proper season men are stationed on the cliffs to
obsei-ve by the color of tlie water where the shoals of pilchards
are to be found. The sean is carried out in a boat, and thrown
into the sea by two men with such dexterity, that in less than
four minutes the fish are inclosed. It is then either moored, or,
where the shore is sandy and shelving, it is drawn into more
shallow water. After this the fish are bailed into boats and
carried to shore. A sea7i is frec[uently three hundred fathoms
lojig, and seventeen deep. The bottom of the net is kept to
the ground by leaden weights, whilst the corks keep the top of
it floating on the surface. A sean has been known to inclose
at one time as many as twelve hundred hogsheads, amounting
to about three millions of fsh."

* See Oppian, Hal iv. 251. t Penzance, 1816, p. 91

456 MANUFACTURE AND tSE OP

Let this passage be compared with the following, which gives
an account of the use of the same kind of net among the
Arabs. It will then appear how extensively it is employed,
since we find it used in exactly the same way both by our own
countrymen and by tribes which we consider as ranking very
low in the scale of civilization ; and on making this comparison,
the inference will seem not unreasonable, that the ancient
Greeks and Romans, wdio in several of their colonies in the
Euxine Sea, on the coasts of Ionia, and of Spain, and in other
places, carried on the catching and curing of fish with the
greatest possible activity and to a wonderful extent, used nets of
as great a compass cis those which are here described.

" The fishery is here {i. e. at Burka, on the eastern coast of
Arabia) conducted on a grand scale, by means of nets many
hundred fathoms in length, which are carried out by boats.
The upper part is supported by small blocks of wood, formed
from the hglit and buoyant branches of the date-palm, while
the lower part is loaded wuth lead. To either extremity of this
a rope is attached, by which, when the whole of the net is laid
out, about ihirt}' or forty men drag it towards the shore. The
quantity thus secured is enormous ; and what they do not re-
quire for their own consumption is salted and carried into the
interior. AVhen, as is very generally the case, the nets are the
common property of the ichole village, they divide the prod-
uce into equal shares*."'

That this method of fishing was practised by the Egj^ptians
from a remote antiquity appears from the remaining monu-
ments. The paintings on the tombs show persons engaged in
drawing the sean, which has floats along its upper margin and
leads along the lower borderf. An ancient Egyptian net, ob-
tained by M. Passalacqua, is preserved in the Museum at Ber-

* Lieutenant Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. i. (Ornarn), pp. 186, 187.

t See Wilkinson's Mantjers and Customs of Ancient Egypt, vol. ii. p. 20, 21 ;
see also vol. iii. p. 37. One of these peiintings, copied from Wilkinson, is intro-
duced in Plate X. fig. 3. of this work. The fishennen are seen on the shore
drawing the net to land full of fishes. There are eight floats along the top, and
four leads at the bottom on each side. The water is drawn as is usual in EgJT-
tian paintings.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 457

lin. Some of its leads and floats remain, as well as a gourd,
which assisted the floats*.

Besides the verses of Oppian, which are above quoted, wc
find another passage of the same poem [Hal. iii. 82, 83),
which mentions the following appendages to the aay^vn, viz. the
jTsfdi, the aipatpdvci, and the aKoXios Tuiyaypos. As tlic Tdjtj, ov fcct of a
sail were the ropes fastened to its lower corners, we may con-
clude that the T^fat were the ropes attached to the corners of the
sean, and used in a similar manner to fasten it to the shore and
to draw it in to the land, as is described by Ovid in the line
already quoted, —

Hos cava contento retia/une trahunt.

The <T>paipum, as the name implies, were spherical, and must
therefore have been either the floats of wood or cork at the top,
or the weights, consisting either of round stones or pieces of
lead, at the bottom. The <T«oXidj ndvaypos must have been a kind
of bag formed in the sean to receive the fishes, and thus cor-
responding to the purse or conical bag in the apKVi. The term
is illustrated by the apphcation of the equivalent epithet ayofiXa
or " angular," to hunting-nets in a passage from Brunck's Ana-
lecta, which was formerly explained, and by the epithet " cava"
in the line just quoted from Ovidt-

In the following passage Ovid mentions the use both of the
corks and of the leadst. This passage also shows that several
nets were fastened together in order to form a long sean :

Aspicis, ut summa cortex levis innatat unda,
Cum grave nexa simul retia mergat onus ?

Trist. iii. 4. 1, 12.

This use of cork and lead in fishing is also mentioned by
^han, Hist. Anim. xii. 43 ; and that of cork by Pausanias,

* Un filet de p6che a, petites mailles, et fait avec du fil de lin. Get objet, qui est
garni de ses plonibs, conserve encore Ics morceaux de bois qui ganiissaient sa par-
tie sup^rieure, ainsi que un courge qui I'aidait a sumager. — Tli6bes. Passalacqua,
Catalogue des Antiquities decouvertes en Egyptc, No. 445. p. 22.

t Observe also the use of tlie word /^vx"f in llie passage of Lucian's Timon,
quoted below.

t MoXiPimvai, J. PoUux, X. 30. § 132.

58

458 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

viii. 12. § I ; and by Pliny, H. N. xvi. 8. s. 13, wlieie, in reci-
ting the various uses of cork, he says it was employed " pis-
cantium traguhs." Sidonius ApoUinaris, describing his own
villa, says : —

Hinc jam spectabis, ut promoveat alnum piscator in pelagus, ut Btataria retia
suberinis corticibus exlendat. — Epist. ii. 2.

" Hence you will see how the fisherman moves forward his boat into the deep
water, that he may extend his stationary nets by means of corks."

Alciphron, in his account of a fishing excursion near the
Promontory of Phalerum, says, " The draught of fishes was
so great as almost to submerge the corks*," The earnest de-
sire of a posterity, founded on the wish for posthumous remem-
brance, which was a very strong and prevailing sentiment
among the ancients, is illustrated by the language of Electra
in the Choephoroe of ^schylus, where she entreats her father
upon this consideration to attend to her prayer, and likens his
memory to a net, which his children, like corks, would save
from disappearing : — " Do not extinguish the race of the Pe-
lopidcB. For thus you ivill live after you are dead. For a
tnan^s children are the j^reservers of his fame when dead^
and., like corks in dragging the net, they save the flaxen
string from the abyss." The use of the corks is mentioned
in several of the epigrams of the Greek Anthology, already re-
ferred to, and in the following passage of Plutarch : —

"flffTTEp Tov; Ta i'lKTva Jiatrrj/miVoiros bv ttj OuXdo-ai; (^cXXovj opd^icv eni(pepoitevovs, — De
Genio Socratis, p. 1050, ed Staph.

Passages have been already produced from Plutarch, Artemi-
dorus, and the Alexandrine version of Isaiah and Habakkuk,
in which the sean is mentioned by its Greek name crayrv.?, in
contradistinction^ to other kinds of nets. Also the passage
above cited from Virgil's Georgics (" pelagoque alius traiiit hu-
mida lina"), indicates the use of the sean in deep water, and
the practice of dragging it out of the water by means of ropes,
which gave origin both to its English name, the Drag-net,
and to its Latin appellations, tragula, used by Pliny {I. c),

* MiKfov Kdi TOis (pcWoii iScriae Karaaipai vfaXov rd Siktvov ifoy/cov/itvov. — Epist. 1. 1.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 459

and tragum, which is found in the ancient Glossaries and in
Isidore of Seville*.

We find mention of the scan more especially for the capture
of the tunny and of the pclamys, which were the two prin-
cipal kinds of fish caught in the Mediterranean. Lucian speaks
of the tunny-seant, which was probably the largest net of the
kind, and he relates the circumstance of a tunny escaping from
its bag or bosom*. The scan is thrice mentioned in the Epistles
of Alciphron {I. c. and fib. i. epp. 17, 18.), and in the two lat-
ter passages, as used for catching tunnies and pelamides. We
read also of a dolphin (ScXfa) approaching the scano ; but this
might be by accident. It was not, we apprehend, employed to
catch dolphins.

In the following passage of the Odyssey (xxii. 384-387) we
have a description of the use of a sean in a small bay. having
a sandy shore at its extremity, and consequently most suitable
for the employment of this kind of net :

"Qot' i)(duai, ovaB' aXirJEj
KoiXoi' £j aiyta\6v jroXiiJj ixroaOe BaXaoaris
Acxnib) i^ipvaav iroXvufnw' ol Si t£ rairty

The poet here compares Penelope's suitors, who lie slain upon
the ground, to fishes, " which the fishermen by means of a net

* Tragum genus retis, ab eo quod trahatur nuncupatum : ipsum est et vcrricu-
lum. Verrere enim trahere est. — Orig. x\x. 5.

The Latin name verriculum occurs in a passage of V^erius Maximus, wliich
is also remarkable for a reference to the Ionian fisheries, and for the use of the
word jactus, literally, a throw, corresponding to that which the Cornish men do-
nominate, o hawl of fish.

A piscatoribus in Milesia regione verriculum trahentibus quidam jactuni emerat.
— Memor. lib. iv. cap. 1.

We introduce here an expression of Philo, in which we may remark that /?o-
Xoj ixQi<^v corresponds exactly to Jacius in Latin, and that the drawing of the net
into a circle is clearly indicated : ^o\ov i^OCxjiv n-uvraj if kdVXw cayrindcos. — Vita
Mosis, torn. ii. p. 95. ed. Mangey.

t Hayyifrj OvfvtvTiK)). — Epist. Saturn, torn. iii. p. 406. ed. Reitz.

t '0 divvos Ik jin^oi tTis aayi'ivrn iiifvyev. — Timotl, § 22. tom. i. p. 1.3C.

§ OoK In TrXijcia^ci rij aaynv^. — j^lian, H. A. xi. c. 12. In this chapter tho
same net is twice called by the common name, SUrvov.

460 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP

full of holes have drawn out of the hoary sea to a hollow bay,
and all of which, deprived of the waves of the sea, are poured
upon the sands." Although the general term oUtvjv is here
used, it is evident that the net intended was the sean, or drag-
net.

In one of the passages of Alciphron already referred to,
mention is made of the use of the sean in a similar situation.
Some persons, who are fishing in a bay for tunnies and pela-
mides, inclose nearly the whole bay with their sean, expecting
to catch a very large quantity*. This circumstance proves, that
the sean was used with the ancient Greeks, as it is with us, to
encompass a great extent of water.

We have seen that the sean supplied figures of speech no less
than the purse-net («?««), and the casting-net {ait<i,i(i\'n(XTpov). It is
applied thus in the case of persons who are ensnared by the

* Tj tray^i'if ^ovovov)(i tov k6\ttov o\ov ■KcpicXifioficv. — Epist. i. 17.

A few miscellaneous passages, which refer to the use of the sean, may be con-
veniently introduced here :

Diogenes, seeing a great number of fishes in the deep, says there is need of a
sean to catch them ; aayrivris Uricrts. — Lucian, Piscata, § 51. tom. i. p. 618, ed.
Reitz.

The sean is called, from its material, (rayrivaiov Xivov, in an epigram of Archias.
— Brunck, Anal. ii. 94. No. 10.

Plutarch, describing the spider's weh, says, that its weaving is like the labor
of women at the loom, its hunting like that of fishermen with the sean. — De So-
lertia Animalium, tom. x. p. 29, ed. Reiske. He here uses the term aayrivevTrii
for a fisher with the sean. This verbal noun is regularly formed from aaynvtveiv,
which means to inclose or catch with the sean : e. g. if Hktvois oeaaynvci'iiinot. —
Herodian, iv. 9, 12.

Lucian uses the same verb in reference to the story of Vulcan inclosing Mars
and Venus in a net ; cayrjvciei tols SctixoTs. — Dialogi Deor. tom. i. p. 243. Som-
nium, tom. ii. p. 707, ed. Reitz.

Leonidas of Tarentum, in an epigram enumerating the ornaments of a lady's
toilet (Brunck, Anal. i. p. 221), mentions 6 TtXarvs rpi^cDi/ cayrivevrfip. Jacobs
(A7inot. in Aitthol. i. 2. p. 63) supposes this to mean the lady's comb ; but, judg-
ing from the known meaning of aay{]vrt and its derivatives, we may conclude that
it was the KeKpu(pa\os, or net, which inclosed and encircled the hair, like a sean.

The following verse of Manilius (lib. v. ver. 678.) is remarkable as a rare in-
stance of the adoption of the Greek word sagcna by a Latin poet : —
E.\cipitur vasta circumvallata sagena.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 461

wicked*, who are captivated by the charms of lovet or of clo-
quencet, or who are held in bondage by superstition§. But
by far the most distinct, expressive and important of its meta-
phorical applications, was to the mode of besieging a city by
encircling it with one uninterrupted line of soldiers, or sweeping
away the entire population of a certain district by marching in
similar order across it. Of this the first example occurs in
Herodotus iii. 145 : —

Tf)i' il il'ifiov aayrivevaavTCi ol ITtpo-at Trapiiocrav EoXtiffdivn, iptifiov lovaav dvSpoJv.
" The Persians, having dragged Samos, delivered it, being now destitute of
men, to Solyson."

As we speak of dragging a pit, so the Greeks would have
spoken, in this metaphorical sense, of draggitig an island.
In the sixth book (ch. xxxi.) Herodotus particularly describes
this method of capturing the enemy. According to this account
the Persians landed on the northern side of the island. They
then took hold of one another's hands so as to form a long line,
and thus Unked together they walked across the island to the
south side, so as to hunt out all the inhabitants. The historian
here particularly mentions, that Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos
were reduced to captivity in this manner. It is recorded by
Platoll, that Datis, in order to alarm the Athenians, against
whom he was advancing at the head of the Persian army,
spread a report that his soldiers, joining hand to hand, had

* SoyrjfEvo/iai Trpds avTuv. — Lucian, Timon, § 25. torn. 1. p. 1.38, ed. Reitz.
+ Bninck, Anal. iii. 157. No. 32. Here the sean is called by the general term
S'lKTvov, but the particular kind of net is indicated by the participle aayt]vc.v6cti.

TCivil ftaOrjrhvy
Or K6(Tfxov yXvKtOTiai Qtov ifiaavro aayiivaii,

i. e. " A disciple of those who bound the world in the sweet seans of God." —
Greg. Nazianz. ad Nemesium, torn. ii. p. 141, ed. Paris, 1630. (See Chap. Ill,
p. 53.)

§ Plutarch, evidently referring to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, says, " The
Jews on the Sabbath sitting down on coarse blankets {in dyi/<i/<7rrotf, literally, in
ifiirta, or blankets, which had not been fulled, or cleansed by the yva(pcis), even
when the enemy were setting the ladders to scale the walls, did not rise up, but
remained, as if mclosed in one sean, namely, superstition, {(Ixrrep iv o-ayijii/^ia, tj
iaaiSaiiiovia, avvSclcfiivot)." — 0pp. tom. vi. De Superstit. p. 647, ed. Reiske.

II De Legibus, lib. iii. prope fiuem.

462 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF

taken all the Eretrians captive as in a sean. The reader is
referred to the Notes of Wesseling and Valckenaer on Herod,
iii. 149 for some passages, in which subsequent Greek authors
have quoted Herodotus and Plato. We find <r.iYr,veverivat, '• to be
dragged," used in the same manner by Hehodorus*.

In addition to the passages of Isaiah and Habakkuk which
mention the drag in opposition to the casting-net ; we find three
references to the use of it in the prophecies of Ezekiel, viz. in
Ezek. xxvi. 5. 14 ; xlvii. 10. The prophet, foretelling the
destruction of Tyre, says it would become a place to dry seajis
upon, ^^vyjioi aayrjvCiv : " slccatlo sagcnarum," Vulgate Version;
"a place for the spreading of nets," Common EiigUsh Version.
The Hebrew term for a drag or sean is here nin.

The only passage of the New Testament wliich makes
express mention of the sean, is Matt. xiii. 47, 48 : " The king-
dom of heaven is like unto a net (<ray')i")) that was cast into the
sea, and gathered of every kind ; which, when it was full, they
drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away." The casting-net, which can only
inclose part of a very small shoal, would not have been adapted
to the object of this parable. But we perceive the allusion
intended by it to the great quantity and variety of fishes of
every kind which are brought to the shore of the bay (aJymXdi/)
by the use of the drag. The Vulgate here retains the Greek
word, translating sagena as in the above-cited passages of
Habakkuk and Ezekiel. In John xxi. 6. 8. 11, the use of the
sean is evidently intended to be described, although it is called
four times by the common term vUtvov, which denoted either a
sean, or a net of any other kind. It is in this passage trans-
lated rete in the Latin Vulgate.

The Greek cayt^r) having been adopted under the form sagena
in the Latin Vulgate, this was changed into rezne by the Anglo-
Saxonst, and their descendants, have still further abridged it
into sean. In the south of England this word is also pro-
nounced and spelt seine, as it is in French. "We find in Bede's

* Lib. vii. p. 304. ed. Commelini.
t See Caedmon, p. 75. ed. Junii.

NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 463

Ecclesiastical History* a curious passage on the introduction of
this kind of net into England. He says, " the people had as
yet only learnt to catch eels with nets. Wilfrid caused them to
collect together all their eel-nets, and to use them as a scan for
catching fishes of all kinds."

vni.

Reticulus or Reticulum.

nrprAeoE.

In the ancient Glossaries we find TvpyaOoi translated Reticuliis
and Rcticuhwi : it meant, therefore, a small net. It was not
a name for nets in general, nor did it denote any kind of hunt-
ing-net or fishing-net, although the net indicated by this term
might be used occasionally for catching animals as well as for
other purposes. It was used, for example, in an island on the
coast of India to catch tortoises, being set at the mouths of the
caverns, which were the resort of those creaturest. But the
same term is applied to the nets which were used to carry
pebbles and stones intended to be thrown from military engincst ;
and a similar contrivance was in common use for carrying
loaves of bread §. Hence it is manifest that the yvpyaOoi was
often much hke the nets in which the Jewish boys in our streets
carry lemons, being inclosed at the mouth by a running string
or noose. We may therefore translate yt'py^of, "a bag-net," as
it was made in the form of a bag. " To blow into a bag-net,"
Ei£ yiipya9o» (pvaav^ bccame a proverb, meaning to labor in vain.
But this bag was often of much smaller dimensions, and of
much finer materials, than in the instances already mentioned.
From a passage of iEneas Tacticus (p. 54. ed. Orcll.) wc may

* Page 294, ed. Wilkins.

t 'Ev il Toirp rj i/fia(t> Kat yipyadois airai iSiw Xtvtiovatv, airt iiKTVuiv KaOievrct ai-
Tovs -rcpl Tu <rr6fiaTa rcbv vpopi.'xiiiv. — Arrian, Per. Maris Eryth. p. 151. ed. Blan-
cardi.

t AthentEUs, lib. v. § 4.3. p. 208, ed. Casaub.

§ YipyaOov' axcvo; k^cktoi', iv tS ffaWovat tov aprov ol dpTOK6isoi, — Hesych>
Reticulum panis. — Hor. Sat. i. 1. 47.

464 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS.

infer that it was sometimes not larger than a purse for the
pocket. Hence Aristotle* properly appUes the term yvpyaOoi to
the small spherical or oval bag in which spiders deposit their
eggs. Among the luxurious habits of the Sicihan praetor Yerres,
it is recorded, that he had a small and very fine hnen net, filled
with rose-leaves, "which ever and anon he gave his noset."
This net was, no doubt, called yvpyaQos in Greek.

* Anim. Hist. v. 27. Compare Apollodonis, Frag. xi. p. 454, ed. Heyne.
t Reticulum ad nares sibi admovebat, tenuissimo lino, minutis maculis, plennm
roeae. — Cic. in Verr. ii. 5. 11

THE END.

Library
N. C, State College

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