MUMMY-CLOTH.

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appeared to be made of yarns of near 100 hanks in the pound with 140 threadsin the inch in the warp, and about 64 in the woof. A specimen of muslin inthe Museum of the East India House, the finest production of the Dacca loom,has only 100 threads in an inch in the warp, and 84 in the woof; but thesurprising fineness of the yarns, which, though spun ^by hand, is less than250 hanks in the pound, gives to this fabric its unrivalled tenuity and light-ness. Some of the cloths were fringed at the ends, and one, a sort of scarfabout 4 feet long and 20 inches wide, was fringed at both ends. Three or fourthreads twisted together with the fingers to form a strong one, and two ofthese again twisted together and knotted at the middle and at the end toprevent unravelling, formed the fringe, precisely like the silk shawls of thepresent day.

“ The selvedges of the Egyptian cloths generally are formed with the greatestcare, and are well calculated by their strength to protect the cloth from accident.Fillets of strong cloth or tape also secure the ends of the pieces from injury,showing a knowledge of all the little resources of modern manufacture.Several of the specimens, both of fine and coarse cloth, were bordered withblue stripes of various patterns, and in some alternating with narrow lines ofanother colour. The width of the patterns varied from half an inch to an inchand a quarter. In the latter were seven blue stripes, the broadest about halfan inch wide nearest the selvedge, followed by five very narrow ones, andterminated by one an eighth of an inch broad. Had this pattern, instead ofbeing confined to the edge of the cloth, been repeated across its whole breadth,it would have formed a modern gingham, which we can scarcely doubt was oneof the articles of Egyptian industry. A small pattern about half an inch broadformed the edging of one of the finest of these cloths, and was composed of astripe of blue followed by three narrow lines of the same colour, alternatingwith three lines of fawn-colour, forming a simple and elegant border. Thesestripes were produced in the loom by coloured threads previously dyed in theyarn. The nature of the fawn-colour I was unable to determine. It was toomuch degraded by age, and the quantity too small, to enable me to arrive atany satisfactory conclusion. Though I had no doubt the colouring matterof the blue stripes was indigo, I subjected the cloth to the following examina-tion :—Boiled in water for some time, the colour did not yield in the least,nor was it at all affected by soap nor by strong alkalies. Sulphuric acid, dilutedonly so far as not to destroy the cloth, had no action on the colour. Chlorideof lime gradually reduced, and at last destroyed it. Strong nitric acid droppedupon the blue turned it orange, and in the same instant destroyed it. Thesetests prove the colouring matter of these stripes to be indigo.

“ This dye was unknown to Herodotus, for he makes no mention of it. It wasknown to Pliny, who, though ignorant of its true nature and the history of itsproduction, has correCtly described the most characteristic of its properties, theemission of a beautiful purple vapour when exposed to heat. Had his com-mentators been acquainted with the sublimation of indigo it would have savedmany learned doubts. We learn from the “ Periplus ” that it was an articleof export from Barbarike on the Indus to Egypt, where its employment by themanufacturers of that country, probably from a remote period, is clearlyestablished by the specimens here described.

“ Amongst the various cloths for which I am indebted to the curators of theHunterian Museum at Glasgow, is one of a pale brick or red colour. My