MATERIALS USED BY THE WEAVER

L INEN.—The oldest existing fabrics have come from thetombs of Egypt, where, owing to the mode of burial andthe dryness of the climate, they have remained in anexcellent state of preservation.

These early fabrics are of linen, fine in texture and without pattern,and were produced extensively for native requirements, for clothing,and mummy wrappings, and to meet the large demand from othercountries for these famous Egyptian linens.

Although woollen fabrics are but rarely found in the early tombsof Egypt, they were doubtless used extensively for clothing; thefollowing passages give some explanation why woollen textiles arenot found with the linen ones.

Herodotus says, “ Egyptians wear a linen tunic fringed abouttheir legs and called calasure, over which they wear a white woollengarment; nothing of woollen, however, is taken into the temple orburied with them, as their religion forbids it.”

Apuleius says, “ Wool, the excretion of a sluggish body taken froma sheep, was deemed a profane attire even in the times of Orpheusand Pythagora ; but flax, that cleanest production of the field, isrightly used for the most inner clothing of man.”

Some rare fragments of mixed linen and wool have been foundin an early Egyptian tomb (see page 21). Numerous examples,however, of a later date have been found at Panopolis in Egypt.They are known as tapestry-woven fabrics, of linen and wool, andare of the Coptic period, A.D. 370—700 (plates 3, 8, and 9).

SILK.—This most beautiful of fibres was an early product ofthe East. Aristotle mentions the silkworm and relates, “ that womenunroll and separate the cocoons and afterwards weave them ; andthat silk was first woven in the Island of Cos by Pamphile, daughterof Plates."