diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/65967-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65967-0.txt | 20998 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 20998 deletions
diff --git a/old/65967-0.txt b/old/65967-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 032c06a..0000000 --- a/old/65967-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,20998 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, -and Other Fibrous Substances;, by Clinton G. Gilroy - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous - Substances; - Including Observations on Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving. - -Author: Clinton G. Gilroy - -Release Date: July 31, 2021 [eBook #65967] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Turgut Dincer, SF2001, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The Internet - Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SILK, COTTON, -LINEN, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES; *** - - - - -[Illustration: - _Plate I._ - _From Original Drawings_ - CHINESE LOOMS. - _See Page 119._] - - - - - THE - HISTORY - OF - SILK, COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, - AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES; - INCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON - SPINNING, 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. - - DEDUCED FROM COPIOUS AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES. - - ILLUSTRATED BY STEEL ENGRAVINGS. - - NEW YORK: - HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET. - - 1845. - - - - - Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, - BY HARPER & BROTHERS, - In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, - for the Southern District of New York. - - - - - TO THE - PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, - THIS VOLUME - IS RESPECTFULLY - INSCRIBED. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -History, until a recent period, was mainly a record of gigantic 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 -centuries; and the campaign was duly chronicled while the labors it -blighted were left to oblivion. The written annals of a nation 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 prosperity in which the Useful Arts were -elaborated or perfected are passed over with the bare remark that -they afford little of interest 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 hundred 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 perished 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 scattered -through the Literature of Antiquity will allow.--Of the many beneficent -achievements of inventive genius, those which more immediately minister -to the 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 Spinning, -Netting, Sewing, Felting, and Dyeing. An account of the origin and -progress of this family of domestic arts can hardly fail to interest -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 resources 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 -almost eluded the investigations of the learned. With the exception of -Mr. Yates’s erudite production, “_Textrinum Antiquorum_,” we possess no -competent work on the subject; and valuable as is this production for -its authority and profound research, 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 considerations to the student, -involved in their bearing upon the true understanding of history, -sacred and profane. To supply, therefore, an important desideratum in -classical archæology, 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 -contemplated 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 accuracy and -elucidate the idiom of many portions of Holy Writ. - -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 restorations of lost or forgotten -arts! How much also is still being revealed to us by the monumental -records of the old world, whose 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 constitute 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 fabrication 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 _Textoriæ_, 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 movements 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 -been the design of the author to select, arrange, 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 success 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 intellectual wealth -of all times. What civilization has accomplished 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 Paradise Regained. The ponderous works of the olden time -have been displaced by the condensing process of modern literature; -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 life, 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 condensation of works -designed for popular use is demanded--a facility like that of the -alchymist, extracting from the crude ores of antiquity the fine gold of -true knowledge. - -The plan of this work naturally divides itself into four departments. -The first division is devoted to the consideration of _Silk_, 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 Thebans, that poet deriving many of his -pictures of domestic life from the paintings which have been found to -ornament their palaces. Thus it is evident that some of the proudest -attainments of art in our own day date their origin from a period -coeval at least with the Iliad. Again we find that the use of the -distaff and spindle, referred to in the Sacred Scriptures, was almost -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 testimony in favor of their knowledge of paper -made from cotton rags. The inhabitants of Phœnicia 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 -affording 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 found -curious and valuable. The ancient history of the _Cotton_ manufacture -follows--a topic that has enlisted the pens of many writers, though -their essays, with two or three exceptions, merit little notice. The -subsequent pages embody many new and important facts, connected with -its early history and progress, derived from sources inaccessible -to the general reader. The fourth and last division, embracing the -history of the _Linen_ manufacture, includes notices of _Hemp_, _Flax_, -_Asbestos_, &c. 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, derived from -unquestionable authorities. - -Of the _Ten Illustrations_ herewith presented, five are entirely -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 limited by their utility as elucidations of -the text. Among these, especial notice is requested to the engraving -of the Chinese Loom, a reduced fac-simile, copied by permission from a -magnificent Chinese production, 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 work on -Egypt. The Spider, magnified with his web, and the Indian Loom, it is -presumed, will not fail to attract attention. - -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 considerable 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 -novelty, attractiveness, and intrinsic value. - -_New York, Oct. 1st, 1845._ - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -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. Lavoisnè, Rev. J. Robinson, -Dr. A. Clarke, Rev. W. Hales, D.D., Mairan, Bailly, Guignes, and Sir -William Jones--Noah supposed to be the first emperor 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 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--Forster’s -testimony 1 - -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--Tibullus--Propertius--Virgil--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--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. Mention of silk by authors in the -third century--Ælius 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. 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--Extravagance 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 Erythræi--Dido of Sidon. Mention -of silk in the laws of Manu--Rufus Festus Avinus--Silk -shawls--Marciannus Capella--Inscription 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. Christian authors of the -fourth century--Arnobius--Gregorius Nazienzenus--Basil--Illustration -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 invectives against Christians wearing -silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors in the fifth -century--Prudentius--Palladius--Theodosian Code--Appollinaris -Sidonius--Alcimus Avitus. Sixth century--Boethius. (Manufactures of -Tyre and Sidon--Purple--Its great durability--Incredible value of -purple stuffs found in the treasury of the King of Persia.) 41 - -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-worms into Europe--Mode by -which it was effected--The Serinda of Procopius the same with the -modern Khotan--The silk-worm never bred in Sir-hind--Silk shawls -of Tyre and Berytus--Tyrannical conduct of Justinian--Ruin of the -silk manufactures--Oppressive conduct of Peter Barsames--Menander -Protector--Surprise of Maniak the Sogdian ambassador--Conduct of -Chosroes, king of Persia--Union of the Chinese and Persians against -the Turks--The Turks in self-defence seek an alliance with the -Romans--Mortification of the Turkish ambassador--Reception of the -Byzantine 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--Introduction 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--Aldhelmus’s beautiful description of -the silk-worm--Simile between weaving and virtue. Silk in the eighth -century--Bede. In the tenth century--Use of silk by the English, Welsh, -and Scotch kings. Twelfth century--Theodoras Prodromus--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 manufacture through -Europe, illustrated by etymology--Extraordinary beauty of silk and -golden textures used in the decoration of churches in the middle -ages--Silk rarely mentioned in the 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 interwoven -with gold used at the obsequies of Nero--Babylonian shawls intermixed -with gold--Silk shawls interwoven with gold--Figured cloths of gold -and Tyrean 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 Babylonish coverlet--Portrait of Constantius II.--Magnificence of -Babylonian carpets, mantles, &c.--Median sindones 84 - -CHAPTER VI. - -SILVER 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-goods--Beautiful manuscript -of Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, who lived in the ninth -century--Extraordinary beauty of Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, and other -manufactured goods preserved in this manuscript--Egyptian 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-WORM, ETC. - -Preliminary observations--The silk-worm--Various changes of the -silk-worm--Its superiority above other worms--Beautiful verses on the -May-fly, illustrative 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 Exuviæ--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 curious 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 various 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 -artificial 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 entertained 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 cleanliness--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 experiments 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 quantity 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 -dependence 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 spinning--Extraordinary number of spinnerules--Great number of -filaments composing one thread--Réaumur and Leeuwenhoeck’s laughable -estimates--Attachment 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.--Experiments of Mr. Blackwall--His -account of the ascent of gossamer--6. Experiments by Rennie--Thread -supposed to go off double--Subsequent experiments--Nests, Webs, -and Nets of Spiders--Elastic satin nest of a spider--Evelyn’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 establishment by M. -Réaumur--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--Proceedings -of a spider in a steamboat--Addison--His suggestions on the compilation -of a “History of Insects” 138 - -CHAPTER X. - -FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. - -The Pinna--Description of--Delicacy of its threads--Réaumur’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--Poli’s description--Specimens of the -Pinna in the British Museum--Pearls found in the Pinna--Pliny and -Athenæus’s account--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 -cloth at Tarentum in ancient times, but in India--Diving for the Pinna -at Colchi--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 procured 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 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 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 Periplus as exported from -India to Barygaza (Baroch)--Calidāsa the Indian dramatist, who -lived in the first century B. C.--His testimony--Wallich’s (the -Indian botanist) account--Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the -Sacontăla of Calidāsa--Valcălas, or Mantles of woven bark, -mentioned in the Ramayana, a noted poem of ancient India--Sheets made -from trees--Ctesias’ testimony--Strabo’s account--Testimony of Statius -Cæcilius 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 testimony--Plato mentions -linen shifts--Amorgine garments first manufactured at Athens in the -time of Aristophanes 191 - -CHAPTER XIII. - -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 the fibre for -weaving--Pliny’s account of Spartum--Bulbous plant--Its fibrous -coats--Pliny’s translation of Theophrastus--Socks and garments--Size -of the bulb--Its genus 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 AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE -SCRIPTURES, ETC. - -The Shepherd Boy--Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia--Mesopotamia -and Syria--In Idumæa and Northern Arabia--In Palestine and Egypt--In -Ethiopia 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, Eubœa, and Bœotia--In Phocis, Attica, and -Megaris--In Arcadia--Worship 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 Egyptian -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 Arcadia--Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus--Shepherds’ -dogs--Annual migration of Albanian shepherds 217 - -CHAPTER II. - -SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE -SCRIPTURES, ETC. - -Sheep-breeding in Sicily--Bucolic poetry--Sheep-breeding in -South Italy--Annual migration of the flocks--The ram employed to -aid the shepherd in conducting 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--Origin of sheep-breeding in Italy--Faunus the same -with Pan--Ancient sculptures exhibiting Faunus--Bales of wool and -the shepherd’s dress--Costume, appearance, and manner of life of the -ancient Italian shepherds 256 - -CHAPTER III. - -SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS 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 Bætica--Native -colors of Bætic 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 Grecian 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 293 - -CHAPTER V. - -BEAVERS-WOOL. - -Isidorus Hispalensis--Claudian--Beckmann--Beavers’-wool--Dispersion of -Beavers through Europe--Fossil bones of Beavers 309 - -CHAPTER VI. - -CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR. - -Camels’-wool and Camels’-hair--Ctesias’s account--Testimony of modern -travellers--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 312 - - -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 climates--Cotton characteristic of India--Account of -Cotton by Herodotus, Ctesias, Theophrastus, Aristobulus, Nearchus, -Pomponius Mela--Use of Cotton in India--Cotton known before silk -and called Carpasus, Carpasum, Carbasum, &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 Theophylus Presbyter--Use of Cotton -by the Arabians--Cotton not common anciently 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 Abbé Clavigero--Fishing nets made from Cotton by the -inhabitants of the West India Islands, and on the Continent of -South America--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 textures of Bengal--Cæsar Frederick, Tavernier, -and Forbes’s testimony--Extraordinary fineness and transparency of -Decca muslins--Specimen brought by Sir Charles Wilkins; compared -with English muslins--Sir Joseph Banks’s experiments--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 account--Decline of the manufactures of Dacca -accounted for--Orme’s testimony of the universal diffusion of the -Cotton manufacture 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 manufacturers of Cotton throughout -the world.) Spinning wheel--Spinning without a wheel--Loom--Mode of -weaving--Forbes’s description--Habits and remuneration of Spinners, -Weavers, &c.--Factories of the East India Company--Marvellous 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 (Author of _Robinson Crusoe_.)--Indian fabrics prohibited -in England, and most other countries of Europe--Petition from Calcutta -merchants--Present condition 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 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 Egyptians--Linen -worn by the priests of Isis--Flax grown extensively in Egypt--Flax -gathering--Envelopes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies--Examination of -mummy-cloth--Proved to be Linen--Flax still grown in Egypt--Explanation -of terms--Byssus--Reply to J. R. Forster--Hebrew and Egyptian -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, Cisalpine Gaul, Campania, Spain--Flax of -Germany, of the Atrebates, and of the Franks--Progressive use of linen -among the Greeks and Romans 358 - -CHAPTER II. - -HEMP. - -Cultivation and Uses of Hemp by the Ancients--Its use limited--Thrace -Colchis--Caria--Etymology of Hemp 387 - -CHAPTER III. - -ASBESTOS. - -Uses of Asbestos--Carpasian flax--Still found in Cyprus--Used in -funerals--Asbestine-cloth--How manufactured--Asbestos used for fraud -and superstition by the Romish monks--Relic at Monte Casino 390 - - -APPENDICES. - -APPENDIX A. - -ON PLINY’S NATURAL HISTORY. - -Sheep and wool Price of wool in Pliny’s time--Varieties of wool -and where produced--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--Figured 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 -Colchians--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--Schönemann -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 -manufacturer’s--Clugny’s testimony--Egyptian 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.) 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--Petasus--Statue of Endymion--Petasus in works of ancient -art--Hats of Thessaly 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--Hunting-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 purse-net--Road-net--Hallier--Dyed -feathers used to scare the prey--Casting-net--Manner of throwing -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 prætor 436 - - - - - LIST OF PLATES. - - - I. Frontispiece--Chinese Looms. _to face page_ - - II. Egyptian Looms, with the Processes of Spinning and Winding, 93 - - III. Silk Worm, Cocoons, Chrysalis, Moths, and Pinna 118 - - IV. Spiders, with the Processes of Spinning and Weaving 172 - - V. Indian Loom, with the Process of Winding off the Thread 315 - - VI. Egyptian Flax-gathering. Magnified Fibres of Flax and Cotton 359 - - VII. Map, showing the Divisions of the Ancient World, coloured - according to the Raw Materials principally produced in them - for Weaving 400 - - VIII. Caps worn by Cynic Philosopher, Vulcan, Dædalus, Ulysses, - and a Desultor. Caps worn by Modern 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. Lavoisnè, Rev. J. - Robinson, Dr. A. Clarke, Rev. W. Hales, D.D., Mairan, Bailly, Guignes, - and Sir William Jones--Noah supposed to be the first emperor 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 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--Forster’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, - By toil acquir’d, promote no other end.--_Peristeph. 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 English bible -for משי, which occurs no where except here, but which, as appears from -the context, certainly meant some valuable article of female dress. -Le Clerc and Rosenmüller translate it “serico;” 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 silken veil_.” Others give different -interpretations. The only ground, on which silk of any kind is supposed -to be meant, is that in the Alexandrine or Septuagint version משי is -translated τρίχαπτον, and τρίχαπτον is explained by Hesychius to mean -“the _silken_ web fitted to be placed over the hair of the head” (τὸ -βομβύκινον ὕφασμα ὑπὲρ τῶν τριχῶν τῆς κεφαλῆς ἁπτόμενον), and that -other ancient Greek lexicographers also suppose a silken garment to be -meant.[1] But the meaning of τρίχαπτον is in reality as obscure as that -of משי. 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 Athenæus. Schneider, -followed by Passow, supposes it to mean some garment made of hair, and -quotes to this effect the explanation of Pollux (2. 24.), πλέγμα ἐκ -τριχῶν. 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 accurate in -their use of the epithet βομβύκινον, and secondly, that the Alexandrine -version is accurate in adopting the word τρίχαπτον. - - [1] See Schleusner, Lexicon in LXX., v. Τρίχαπτον. - -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 -original עבדי פשתים שריקות. Rosenmüller adopts nearly the same -interpretation, which is founded upon the use of the verb שרק or סרק 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 the author of the Alexandrine Version, τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὸ -λίνον τὸ σχιστὸν; by Symmachus, who instead of σχιστὸν uses κτενιστὸν; -and by Jerome, “qui operabantur linum _pectentes_.” - -In the Targum of Jonathan and in the Syriac Version the same root is -taken to denote silk; רסריקין פלחי כתנא Targ. ܥܒܕܝ ܟܬܢܐ ܕܣܪܩܝܢ Syr. Both of -these seem to admit of the following literal translation, “_those who -make silken tunics_,” or in Latin, “_Factores tunicarum e sericis_.” - -Kimchi supposes שריקות to mean silk webs, observing that silk is called -אל שרק by the Arabs. The same opinion has been adopted by Nicholas -Fuller[2], Buxtorf, and other modern critics. Kennicott, however, -arranges the words in two lines as follows, - - ובשו עבדי פשתים - שריקות וארגים הורי - -According to this arrangement, which seems most suitable to the rules -of grammatical construction, we have three co-ordinate phrases in the -plural number, denoting three different classes of artificers. The -second, שריקות, would by its termination denote _female_ artificers, -viz. women employed in _combing_ wool, flax, or other substances. On -the whole we are inclined to adopt this explanation of the word, as it -appears to be attended with the least difficulty, either grammatical or -etymological. - - [2] Miscellanea Sacra, l. ii. c. 11. - -Silk is mentioned Prov. xxxi. 22. in King James’s Translation, i. e. -the common English version, and in the margin of Gen. xli. 42. But the -use of the word is quite unauthorized. - -After a full examination of the whole question Braunius[3] 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 evidence of Scripture. It is true that inventions -were at first 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 covering than -what decency required. Accordingly we find that the first and only -article of dress was the חגורה _chagora_, the belt, (not aprons, as -in the established version). The materials 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 -favourable regions, a more substantial covering became necessary, their -merciful Creator made them (i. e. inspired them with the thoughts of -making for themselves) כתנות עור coats of skins. (Gen. iii. 21.) The -original word is כתנת _c’thoneth_, whence the Greek χιτὼν 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 כבשׂ _caves_ from -כגש to subdue[4]) and learned how to make use of its wool, we find -a new article of dress, namely the שמלה _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,) ‘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?’ -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, whether -it be a woollen garment or a linen garment, whether it be in the _warp_ -or _woof_, of linen or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in anything -made of skin, &c.’” - - [3] De vestitu Heb. Sacerdotum, l. 1. cap. viii. § 8. - - [4] 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 are, therefore, - not authorized to give our support to any such hypothesis. The - history of the Sheep and Goat is so interwoven with the history 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 the inferences to be drawn from Scripture 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.) - -In our search for the distant origin of any art or science, or in -looking through the long vista of ages remote even to nations 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 would be credulous or rash in the -extreme to repeat as our own, an affirmation, when that rests on the -single testimony of one party or interest, especially when that is of -a very questionable character. It is even safer, when history or well -authenticated records fail us, to appeal to philosophy, or to the well -known laws of mind, from which all arts and science spring. The former -favors us with the commanding evidence of certainty and decision; -and though the latter may only afford 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 occasions for its exertion. -Hence we read that “Jabal was the father of such as dwell in tents” -(_i. e._ _inventor_ of tent-making); that “Jubal, his brother, was the -father” (inventor) of musical instruments: such as the _kinnor_, harp, -or stringed instruments, 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[5]. 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 conceiving the -possibility of the transmission of the leading and most essential -parts, at least, to the post-diluvians, by the family of Noah. - - [5] 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,”_ consult 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 manner 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. - -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 who 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. Similar -disagreements might, would 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 character so notorious as Confucius, no less than -three dates are equally affirmed to be true. As to Hoang-ti, who is -said to have begun _the culture 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[6] 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 duration of the reigns of the -first three[7] Chinese emperors, including Hoang-ti, was 118 years; -of the five that immediately succeeded, only 68 years. After this, -until the Christian era, the average 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, being -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 considered, presents an -argument strongly corroborating this view of the subject. - - [6] Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph: - Gen. xi. 16-26; xlvii. 28; and l. 26. - - [7] Fohi, Eohi Chinun, and Hoang-ti. - -To attempt to establish any greater certainty, in a case of this -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 ambition, 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.[8] For them the limits of the creation itself have been too -narrow, and days, weeks, and even months too short, unless multiplied -into years.[9] - - [8] See Dr. A. Clarke’s remarks: end of Gen. - - [9] See pp. 68, 74, 119 and 294. - -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 -the correctness of the dates have we any faith. M. Lavoisnè dates the -commencement of the Chinese dynasties at A. M.[10] 1816, _or 159 years -after the deluge_. 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 [11]1657 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 administering -the affairs of Egypt.[12] 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 “Summary of the principal Chinese Treatises upon the -Culture of the Mulberry, and the rearing of Silk-worms.” - - [10] 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 January, - 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 -Augustus, the 28th from the battle of Actium, the 749th of Rome, and -the 4th of the 193d Olympiad. - - [11] It will here not be improper to observe that the Samaritan - text and Septuagint version of the Hebrew, carry the deluge as far - back as to the year 3716 before Christ; or 1000 years before the - Chinese account of Hoang-ti. On this subject see the New Analysis - of Chronology, by the Rev. W. Hales, D.D. 4to., 3 vol. - - [12] Joseph died in the 2369th year from the Creation. - -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. Maillà, in the year 2602, before our era (4447 -years ago). - -“This great prince (Hoang-ti) was desirous that Si-ling-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 herself, in a place prepared for that purpose, -and discovered not only the means of raising them, but also the manner -of reeling 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. Lavoisnè, “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, -afterwards 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[13], 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 here the same author remarks, -that “in rather less than a century and a half, after 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_.”[14] This view of the -subject, we believe, coincides perfectly with the reputable testimonies -presented by Mairan, Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William Jones, and -demonstrates that the transit of more central aborigines, since the -deluge, to the extremes of China, was perfectly feasible,[15] and a -matter of even high probability. - - [13] Gen. ix. 28. - - [14] Clarke’s “Treatise on the Mulberry-tree, and Silk-worm,” pp. 14, - 18, 20, 21, 27, and 34. - - [15] See chap. iv. p. 67. Also Plate VII. (Map.) - -The first ancient author, who affords any evidence respecting 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 manufactured. We shall see hereafter from the testimony of -Procopius, that it was in like manner brought some centuries later to -be woven in the Phœnician cities, Tyre and Berytus. - -The arts of spinning and weaving, which rank next in importance 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[16]. They evidently existed in Egypt in the time of -Joseph (1700 years before the Christian era), as it is recorded that -Pharaoh “arrayed him in vestures of fine linen.” (Genesis 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 women that were wise-hearted did spin with -their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and -of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.” (Exod. xxxv. 25.) They -also “spun goats’ hair;” and Bezaleel and Aholiab “worked all manner -of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of _the -embroiderer, in blue, and of purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen, -and of the weaver_.” These passages contain the earliest mention of -woven clothing, 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[17]; and it appears, -from the testimony both of sacred and profane history, that linen -continued to be almost the only kind of clothing used in Egypt till -after the Christian era[18]. The Egyptians exported their “linen yarn,” -and “fine linen,” to the kingdom of Israel, in the days of Solomon, (2 -Chron. i. 16; Prov. vii. 16;) their “fine linen with broidered work,” -to Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 7.) - - [16] According to Pliny, Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, was believed - to have been the inventress of the art of weaving. Minerva is - in some of the ancient statutes represented with a distaff, to - intimate that she taught men the art of spinning; 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, their first - sovereign. These traditions serve only to carry the invaluable arts - of spinning and weaving up to an extremely remote period, long - prior to that of authentic history. - - [17] 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. - - [18] Herodotus, book ii. c. 37, 81. (See Plate VI.) - -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 embroidering the combats of the -Greeks and Trojans_. - -The transition from vegetable fibre to the use of animal staples, -such as wool and hair, could not have been very difficult; 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 apparatus was put by -the Greek mythologists into the hands of Minerva and the Parcæ; Solomon -employs upon it the industry 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 instrument. 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 -young 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.”[19] - - [19] The superior fineness of some Indian muslins, and their quality of - retaining, longer than European fabrics, an appearance of - excellence, has occasioned a belief that the cotton wool of which - they are woven is superior to any known elsewhere; 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 which it thus imbibes, that its fibres are more - perfectly incorporated than they can be through the employment of - any mechanical substitutes. - -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 “spinster” 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 and linen -yarn; the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.” (1 -Kings, x. 28.) And the linen of Egypt was highly valued in Palestine, -for the seducer, in Proverbs, says, “I have decked my bed with -coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.” -(Prov. vii. 16.) The prophet Ezekiel also declares that the export of -the textile fabrics was an important branch of Phœnician commerce; for -in his enumeration of the articles of traffic in Tyre, he says: “Fine -linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest -forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elisha was that -which covered thee.” (Ezek. xxvii. 7.) - -It deserves to be remarked that the prophet here joins Egypt with the -isles of Elisha or Elis, that is, the districts of western Greece, -and thus confirms the ancient tradition recorded by Herodotus of some -Egyptian colonists having settled in that country, which the sceptics -of the German school of history have thought proper to deny.[20] -Spinning was wholly a female employment; it is rather singular that -we find this work frequently performed by a large number collected -together, as if the factory system had been established 3000 years ago. - - [20] The sceptical school of history, founded by Niebuhr, in Germany, - and extended by his disciples to a sweeping incredulity, far - beyond what was contemplated by the founder, has labored hard to - prove, that the Greek system of civilization was indigenous, and - that the candid confession of Herodotus, attributing to Egyptian - colonies the first introduction of the arts of life into Hellas, - was an 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 architectural, sculptural, and pictorial - wonders which have rendered Greece and Italy illustrious, were - derived from the valley of the Nile. - -We have, however, many specimens of spinning as a domestic 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? 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. 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 -_poor_; 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 delivereth 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 himself pretty plainly intimates 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 servants, 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 fingers, remind us of the appropriate -present which the Egyptian 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 stopped at Egypt on his -return from Troy, - - Alcandra, consort of his 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; - 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 plaited 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[21]. Sir Gardner -Wilkinson found one of these spindles at Thebes, with some of the linen -thread upon it, and is now in the Berlin Museum. - - [21] 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 Egyptian Thebes.--Od. - iv. 131. - -Theocritus has given us a very striking proof of the pleasure which the -women of Miletus took in these employments; for, when he went to visit -his friend Nicias, the Milesian physician, 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 light on the domestic economy of the ladies of Miletus: - - 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 rise[22], - Where Cytherea’s swayful power - Is worship’d in the reedy bower. - Thither, would Jove kind breezes send, - I steer my course to meet my friend, - Nicias, the Graces’ honor’d child, - Adorn’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, - Where pleasure-crown’d Ionians live; - That Theugenis by thee may gain - Fair honor with the female train; - And thou renew within 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. - - [22] 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 safety of Athens. Nileus was so indignant - at the abolition of royalty on his father’s death, that he migrated - to Ionia. - -The Roman and Grecian ladies displayed not less taste in the decoration -of their various spinning implements, than those of modern times in -the ornaments of their work-table. The _calathus_ or _qualus_ was -the basket in which the wool was kept for the fair spinsters. It was -usually made of wicker-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. - _Poema_, lxiv. - -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 -_qualus_ or _quasillus_, equivalent to _calathus_, the Romans called -the female slaves employed in spinning _quasillariæ_. - -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 spinner. Ovid declares, that Arachne’s skill in this simple -process excited the wonder of the nymphs who came to see her triumphs -in the textile 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 turn’d the spindle round. - _Met_, vi. - -The distaff was generally about three feet in length, commonly 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 produced -was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as great as it would -carry. - -The spindle was made of some light wood, or reed, and was 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 promote 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 slit, or clasp, and wound upon the spindle; the clasp -was then closed again, and the spinning of a new thread commenced. All -these circumstances are briefly mentioned by Catullus, in a poem from -which we have already 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 necessary -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 running thread - The spindle follows, and displays the charms - Of the fair spinner’s breast, and moving arms. - _Iliad_, xxiii. - -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, &c., 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 _silken 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 lines, -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 incident 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, the son of Noah. The event recorded -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 involve. The first inscription of ten lines is thus -translated: - - We dwelt, living long luxuriously in the zananas of this spacious - mansion; our condition exempt from misfortune and adversity. Rolled in - through our channel. - - 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-COLORED SILK - VESTMENTS, IN WHOLE SILKS, IN GRASS-GREEN CHEQUERED ROBES[23]! - - Over us presided kings, far removed from baseness, and stern - chastisers of reprobate 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 miracles, 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. - - [23] Silk is the only material used for human clothing which Mohammed, - the impostor, introduces among the luxuries of Paradise. (See the - Koran, chap. 35.) - -On the subject of these inscriptions, Mr. Forster, in the dedication -of his book to the Archbishop of Canterbury, thus remarks: “What Job -(who, living 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 realized.” -“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a -Book! That (like 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 -behold, and not another.” - -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_[24]. 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 indispensable article -of apparel, the _shirt_, the Arabic name for which is _camees_, whence -the Italian _camiscia_, and the French _chemise_[25]. - -In the attempt here made to trace from the dark ages of antiquity -the progress of trades and manufactures so widely diffused 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. - - [24] See Appendix B. - - [25] 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--Virgil--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--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. - Mention of silk by authors in the third century--Ælius - 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. Roxburgh’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 intercourse 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 manufactures were still so rare as to be the objects of curiosity -and admiration, 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 power of their opponents. The -conflict here referred to took place in the year 54 B. C. In about 30 -years after this date the Roman empire obtained its greatest extension. -In the language 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 productions 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. ii. 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 displayed in transverse stripes. - - -PROPERTIUS. - - Why 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. - -ON A STATUE OF VERTUMNUS. - - My nature suits each changing form: - Turn’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 the produce of th’ Arabian worm. - L. ii. 3. 15. - -In this line, as well as in some of those before quoted, he alludes to -the use of silk by females of indifferent character. He probably uses -the epithet _Arabian_, because the Roman merchants obtained silk from -the Arabs, who received it from Persia. - -VIRGIL. - - Soft wool from downy groves the Æthiop 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 different -countries, and therefore mentions cotton and silk. The idea, that silk -webs were manufactured from thin fleeces obtained from trees, will be -found recurring in many of the subsequent citations. It may have been -founded on reports brought 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._ _l._ 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, “Coæ purpuræ.” - -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 obtained from the Seres, who -supplied the Romans with skins as well as silk[26]; and leather seems -to have been a more proper substance than silk for making cushions. - - [26] Plin. xxxiv. cap. 24. - -OVID. - - Sive erit in Tyriis, 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 coarse attire, - E’en coarseness, worn by her, admire. - -In another passage (_Amores_ i. 14. 5.) Ovid compares the thin hairs of -a lady to the silken veils of the Seres, - - Veils such as color’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. - - Καὶ ἔθνεα βάρβαρα Σηρῶν, - Οἵτε βοὰς μὲν ἀναίνονται καὶ ἴφια μῆλα, - Αἰόλα δὲ ξαίνοντες ἐρήμης ἄνθεα γαίης, - Εἵματα τεύχουσιν πολυδαίδαλα, τιμήεντα, - Εἰδόμενα χροιῇ λειμωνίδος ἄνθεσι ποίης· - Κείνοις οὔτι κεν ἔργον ἀραχνάων ἐρίσειεν. (_l._ 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 rivalling (in 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 _flowered texture_ of the silk. - -STRABO. - - Τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ τὰ Σηρικὰ, ἔκ τι νων φλοιῶν ξαινομένης βύσσου. - L. xv. 695. (v. vi. p. 40. _Tzschucke._) - -This is repeated by Eustathius on Dyonisius Periegetes[27]. The -account seems to have been taken by Strabo, perhaps inaccurately, from -Nearchus. It is doubtful, whether Σηρικὰ denoted silken webs in this -passage. But whatever Strabo meant, he supposed the raw material to be -scraped from the bark of trees[28]. - - [27] L. 1107. p. 308, Bernhardy. - - [28] Book ii. ch. 3. p. 307. - -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 Serica viros fœdaret.” _Taciti -Annales_, ii. 33. _Dion. Cass._ _l._ 57. p. 860. _Reim. Suidas in v._ -Τιβέριος[29]. Silk was to be worn by women only. - - [29] Dio Cassius (l. 43. p. 358. Rheim.) mentions as a report, that - Julius Cæsar employed silk curtains (παραπετάσματα Σηρικὰ) to add - to the splendor of his triumph. - -The next emperor Caligula had silk curtains to his throne (_Dion. -Cass. l._ 59. p. 915. _Reim._), and he wore silk as part of his dress, -when he appeared in public. Dio 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 Alexander, 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 gold[30]. -The use of shawls and tunics of silk was, however, except in the case -of the extravagances of a Caligula, still confined to the female 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 -Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher, in consequence of the exhausted -state of his treasury, sold by public auction in the Forum of Trajan -the imperial ornaments and jewels together with the golden and silken -robes of the Empress[31]. - - [30] 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, and sometimes in a garment of - silk and a cyclas. - - [31] Jul. Capitol. c. xvii. p. 65. Bip. - -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 vocandæ sunt, in quibus nihil est, - quo defendi aut corpus aut denique pudor possit: quibus sumtis mulier - parum liquidò nudam se non esse jurabit. Hæc ingenti summâ ab ignotis - etiam ad commercium gentibus accersunter, ut matronæ nostræ ne - adulteris quidem plus sui in cubiculo quam in publico ostendant.--_De - Beneficiis, 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. These are sent for 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!--Yates’s Translation. - -The Seres must be supposed to have dwelt somewhere in the centre of -Asia. Perhaps those geographers who represent Little Bucharia as their -country[32], 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 origin[33]. - - [32] The position of Serica is discussed by Latreille in his paper - hereafter cited. See also Mannert. iv. 6. 6, 7. Brotier, Mém. de - l’Acad. des Inscrip. tom. 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. - - [33] 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 they 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, l. 752. p. 242, Bernhardy. - -SENECA, THE TRAGEDIAN. - - Nec Mæonià distinguit acu, - Quæ Phœbeis subditus Euris - Legit Eois Ser arboribus. - _Herc. Œtæus_, 664. - - Nor with Mæonian 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. (_Phædra loquitur._) - -At a very early period the art of dyeing had been carried to a very -great degree of perfection in Phœnicia. 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: - - “In oldest times, when kings and hardy chiefs - In bleating sheep-folds met, for purest wool - Phœnicia’s hilly tracts were most renown’d, - And fertile Syria’s and Judæa’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[34].” - - [34] Old Tyre was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the second year after - the destruction of Jerusalem, or 584 B. C. - -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 embroidered. By the last process, -in which the Egyptians greatly excelled, the threads were in part -separated, so as to exhibit the appearance 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 neck; - 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, as Pharian artists have the skill - To mix the party-color’d web at will, - 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 represents silk -as embroidered in Asia Minor, with the “Mæonian 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 such case, -have recourse to the laborious operation of converting foreign finished -goods into threads for their own weaving. It is, therefore, only -reasonable to suppose that whatever manufacture 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 tolerably strong -evidence that none were reared so near to Constantinople as Cos. - -Pliny’s account of the Coan bombyx is evidently a cloud of fable and -absurdity, 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[35], -when they celebrated at Rome their triumph over the Jews. - - [35] De Bello Jud. vii. 5. 4. - - -SAINT JOHN. - -Silk (Σηρικὸν) 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 - Præterea Ponti, depexaque vellera ramis, - Femineus labor. _Ib._ xiv. 664. - - The produce of the Erythræan seas, - And fleeces comb’d by women from the trees[36]. - - Videre Eoi (monstrum admirabile!) Seres - Lanigeros cinere Ausonio canescere lucos. - _Ib._ xvii. 595, 596. - - The Seres’ woolly groves, O wondrous sight! - In the far East, were with Italian ashes white. - - [36] See latter part of Chapter viii. Part First. - -In the last passage Silius is describing the effects of the recent -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. - _Sylvæ_, iii. 4. 89. - - -PLUTARCH - -dissuades the virtuous and prudent wife from wearing silk[37]. He -mentions, that webs of silk and fine linen were at the same time thin -and compact or close[38]. - - [37] Conjugailia Præcepta, tom. vi. p. 550. ed. Reiske. - - [38] De Pythiæ Orac. c. iv. p. 557. Reiske. - - -JUVENAL - -speaks of women, - - Quarum - Delicias et panniculus bombycinus urit. _Sat._ vi. 259. - Whose beauty e’en a silken veil o’erheats. - - -MARTIAL. - - Nec vaga tam tenui discursat aranea tela, - Tam leve nec bombyx pendulus urget opus. _L._ viii. 33. - - The spider traces not so thin a line, - Nor does the pendent silk-worm spin so fine. - - Fœmineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus, - Calculus in nitida sic numeratur aqua. _L._ viii. 68. - - Thus through her silk a lady’s body looks, - Thus count we pebbles in the sparkling brooks. - - De Pallatinis dominæ quod Serica prelis. - _L._ xi. 9. - -Here Martial alludes to the employment of presses (_prela_) for -preserving the garments of silk and other precious materials, belonging -to the Empress, in the same way, in which we now use presses to keep -table-linen. He says to a lady (L. ix. 38.), - - Nec dentes aliter, quam Serica, nocte reponas. - Your teeth at night, like 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. _Ep._ 24, -he mentions ribbons or fillets of silk as used for adorning the hair. - - Tenuia ne madidi violent bombycina crines, - Figat acus 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 which the Seres make webs, are not the produce of - bark, but are obtained in the following manner. There is an animal - in that country, which the Greeks call _Ser_, but which _they_ call - by some other name. Its size is twice that of the largest beetle. - In other respects it resembles the spiders, _which weave under the - trees_. It has also the same number of feet as the spider, namely, - eight[39]. 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 - “panicum.” In the fifth year they give it green 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 body[40]. - - [39] 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.) - - [40] _L._ vi. 26. p. 125. ed. Siebel. - -The most interesting circumstance, mentioned by Pausanias, is the -breeding of the silk-worms within doors in houses adapted 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 -difference 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 country[41]. - - [41] Barrow’s Travels in China, p. 437, &c. Résumé des Traités Chinois, - &c. traduit par Julien, p. 70-72. 77-80. The practice is here shown - to have prevailed as early as the fifth century B. C. - - -GALEN - -recommends silk thread for tying blood-vessels in surgical operations, -observing that the opulent women in many parts of the Roman empire -possessed such thread, especially in the great cities[42]. He also -mentions cloths of silk and gold in his treatise, c. 9. (_Hippocratis -et Galeni Opp. ed. Chartier_, tom. vi. p. 533.): - - [42] Methodus Medendi, l. xiii. c. 22. - - “Of this kind are the shawls _interwoven with gold_, the materials of - which are brought from afar, and which are called Seric or silk.” - - -CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, - -dissuading the Christian convert from luxury in dress, thus speaks: - - Εἰ δὲ συμπεριφέρεσθαι χρὴ, ὀλίγον ἐνδοτέον αὐταῖς μαλακωτέροις χρῆσθαι - τοῖς ὑφάσμασιν· μόνον τὰς μεμωρημένας λεπτουργίας, καὶ τὰς ἐν ταῖς - ὑφαῖς περιέργους πλοκὰς ἐκποδὼν μεθιστάντας· νῆμα χρυσοῦ, καὶ σῆρας - Ἰνδικοὺς, καὶ τοὺς περιέργους βόμβυκας χαίρειν ἐῶντας, ὃς σκώληξ - φύεται τὸ πρῶτον· εἶτα ἐξ αὐτοῦ δασεῖα ἀναφαίνεται κάμπη. μεθ’ ἣν - εἰς τρίτην μεταμόρφωσιν νεοχμοῦται βομβύλιον· οἱ δὲ νεκύδαλον αὐτὸ - καλοῦσιν· ἐξ οὗ μακρὸς τίκτεται στήμων, καθάπερ ἐκ τῆς ἀράχνης ὁ τῆς - ἀράχνης μίτος.--_Pædag._ ii. 10. - - But, if it is necessary to accommodate ourselves to the women, let - us concede to them the use of cloths, which are a little softer, - only refusing that degree of fineness, which would imply folly, and - such webs as are _excessively labored_ and _intricate_; bidding - farewell to gold thread, and to the Indian Seres, and that industrious - bombyx, which is first a worm, then puts on the appearance of a hairy - caterpillar, and hence 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 manner as the thread of the spider. --_Yates’s - Translation._ - -The use of the epithet “Indian” in this passage may be accounted 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 CENTURY. - - -TERTULLIAN. - -thus describes the Bombyx: - - Vermiculi genus est, qui per aërem liquando aranearum horoscopis - idoneas sedes tendit, dehinc devorat, mox alvo reddere; proinde si - necaveris, animata jam stamina volves. - - It is a kind of worm, which extends abodes like the _dials of spiders_ - by floating them through the air. It then devours them so as to - restore them to its stomach. 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 same author, speaking of Alexander the Great, says, - - Vicerat Medicam gentem, et victus est Medicâ veste:----pectus - squamarum signaculis disculptum, textu pellucido tegendo, nudavit: et - anhelum adhuc ab opere belli, ut mollius, ventilante serico extinxit. - Non erat satis animi tumens Macedo, ni illum etiam vestis inflatior - delectâsset. - - He had conquered the Medes, and was conquered by a Median garment. - When his breast exhibited the sculptured resemblances of scales, he - covered it with a pellucid texture, which rather laid it bare; panting - from the work of war, he cooled and mollified it by the use 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 wind_.” - -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, et plus quam in auro - placebitis. Vestite vos serico probitatis, byssino sanctitatis, - purpurâ pudicitiæ. - - Employ your hands with wool; keep your feet at home. Thus will you - please 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_, _l._ i. p. 372.), - - Imitare, si potes, apis ædificia, formicæ 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. - * * * Deamque, serico contectam amiculo, mihi gerendam imponunt. - _Metamorphoseon_, _l._ viii. _p._ 579, 580. _ed. Oudendorpii._ - - They came forward, wearing ribbons, and cloths 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. - - Hic incinctus baltheo militem gerebat; illum succinctum chlamyde, - copides et venabula venatorem fecerant; alius soccis obauratis, - indutus serica veste, mundoque pretioso, et adtextis capite crinibus, - incessu perfluo feminam mentiebatur. _Ibid._ _l._ xi. _p._ 769. - - One performed the part of a soldier, girt with a sword; another - had his chlamys tucked up by a belt, and carried scimitars and - hunting-poles, as if engaged in the chace; another, wearing gilt - slippers, a silken tunic, precious ornaments, and artificial hair, by - his flowing attire represented a woman. - - -ULPIAN. - -Vossius, in his _Etymologicum Linguæ Latinæ_, in the learned -and copious article SERICUM, says, “Inter _sericum_ et -_bombycinum_ discrimen ponit Ulpianus, l. xxiii. de aur. arg. leg. -‘Vestimentorum sunt omnia lanea, lineaque, vel serica, vel bombycina.’” - - -JULIUS POLLUX. - - The Bombyces are worms, which emit from themselves threads, like the - spider. Some say, that the Seres collect their webs from animals of - this kind. L. vii. 76. p. 741.--_Kühn._ - - -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 Procopius, from whom we -shall hereafter cite ample and important testimony in reference to the -time when he lived, and who in the two following passages expressly -states, that the webs, called by the Greeks in his time _Seric_, were -more anciently denominated _Median_. - -Among the valuable and curious effects of the emperor Commodus, which -after his death (A. D. 192.) were sold by his successor Pertinax, was a -garment with a woof of silk, of a bright yellow color, the appearance -of which was more beautiful than if the material had been interwoven -with threads of gold[43]. - - [43] Vestis subtegmine serico, aureis filis insignior.--Jul. Capitolini - Pertinax, c. 8. in Scrip. Hist. Augustæ. - - -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 belonging to the following -century[44]; so far as we have discovered, only by the three historians -now to be quoted, by Cyprian, and by Solinus. But we have from these -historians some remarkable accounts of the regard paid to it by the -emperors Heliogabalus, Alexander Severus, Aurelian, Claudius II., -Tacitus, and Carinus, all of whom reigned in the third century. - - [44] 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. - -ÆLIUS 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 general 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. - -The following is the testimony of Flavius Vopiscus in his life 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 Aurelian’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 materials. 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. - - -CYPRIAN, - -Bishop of Carthage in the third century, inveighs in the following -terms against the use of silk: - - Tu licet indumenta peregrina et vestes sericas induas, nuda es. Auro - te licet et margaritis gemmisque 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; although 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 indutæ, Christum induere non possunt: auro et - margaritis et monilibus adornatæ, 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 tinkling -ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like -the moon, the chains, 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 linen, and the hoods, and the veils.” Isaiah in. -18-23. - - -SOLINUS, - - Primos hominum Seres cognoscimus, qui, aquarum aspergine inundatis - frondibus, vellera arborum adminiculo depectunt liquoris, et lanuginis - teneram subtilitatem humore domant ad obsequium. Hoc illud est - sericum, in quo ostentare potius corpora quàm vestire, primò feminis, - nunc etiam viris persuasit luxuriæ 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 persuaded by the eagerness of - luxury rather to display their bodies, than to clothe them. - - -AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. - -This historian describes the Seres as “a quiet and inoffensive 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 life in the most perfect tranquillity and the most -delicious repose 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 intercourse with the -rest of mankind, that when foreigners venture within their boundaries -for wrought 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 countries. - -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 strangers 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 Pliny and Solinus, -water was also employed after the silk was gathered from the trees[45]: -and probably the fact was so. Silk, as it 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. - - [45] “The remaining shores are occupied by savage nations, as the - Melanchlæni 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 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.” - -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 confinement. “It discharges from its mouth a -liquor, which 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, becomes soft and -pervious as wetted brown paper.” - -In the seventh volume of the Linnæan Transactions, is an account -by Dr. Roxburgh of the Tusseh silk-worm. Both species are natives -of Bengal. The cocoons require to be immersed in cold water before -the silk can be obtained from them. In the latter species it is too -delicate to be wound from the cocoons, and is therefore spun like -cotton. Thus manufactured it is so durable, 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.) - - - - -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--Extravagance 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 Erythræi--Dido of Sidon. Mention - of silk in the laws of Manu--Rufus Festus Avinus--Silk - shawls--Marciannus Capella--Inscription 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. Christian authors of the - fourth century--Arnobius--Gregorius Nazienzenus--Basil--Illustration - 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 invectives against Christians wearing - silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors in the fifth - century--Prudentius--Palladius--Theodosian Code--Appollinaris - Sidonius--Alcimus Avitus. Sixth century--Boethius. (Manufactures of - Tyre and Sidon--Purple--Its great durability--Incredible value of - purple stuffs found in the treasury of the King of Persia.) - - -FOURTH CENTURY. - -Some curious evidence respecting the use of silk, both unmixed with -linen and with the warp of linen, 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[46]. The passage pertaining to our -present subject, is as follows: - -Sarcinatori in veste soubtili replicat(u)ræ * sex -Eidem aperturæ cum subsutura olosericræ * quinquaginta -Eidem aperturæ cum subsutura su(b)sericæ * triginta -(Sub)suturæ in veste grossiori * quattuor. - - Denarii[47]. -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 stuff - made of a mixed tissue of silk and flax 30 -For an edging on a coarser vest 4 - _Colonel Leake’s translation._ - - [46] It was edited A. D. 1826, by Colonel Leake, as a sequel to his - Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, and is also published in Tr. of - the Royal Society of Literature, vol. i. p. 181. - - [47] A Roman coin of the value of about sixteen or seventeen cents, - called Denarii from the letter X upon it; which denoted _ten_. - -This document proves, in exact conformity with the passages quoted -from Solinus and Ammianus, 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 giving 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 following -centuries are very numerous. We shall first take the heathen authors, -and then the Christian writers, whose observations often have some -moral application, which gives them an additional interest. - -The unknown author of the Panegyric on the emperor Constantine, -pronounced A. D. 317, thus mentions silk as characterizing oriental -refinement. - - Facile est vincere timidos et imbelles, quales amœna Græcia et deliciæ - Orientis 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 pleasant 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 following remarks on a display of -silk which he had himself recently witnessed. - - We have lately seen the Consulate of Furius Placidus celebrated in - the Circus with so great eagerness for popularity, that he seemed to - give not prizes, but patrimonies, 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 descended from -Mars, Romulus, and Remus, and who therefore caused their images to be -embossed upon his plate and _woven_ in a silken shawl.--Epig. 26. - -In the following line, 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. - - -QUINTUS AUR SYMMACHUS. - -This distinguished officer, in a letter to the Consul Stilicho, -apologizes in the following terms for his delay in sending a -contribution 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._ _l._ - iv. 8. - -In a letter to Magnillus (_l._ 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 - everything else pertaining to the prizes which were to be given. - - -CLAUDIAN - -mentions silk in numerous passages. This poet, in describing 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 between them and -receiving tributes of its productions from the most distant regions: - - Vestri juris erit, quicquid complectitur axis. - Vobis rubra dabunt pretiosas æquora conchas, - Indus ebur, ramos Panchaia, vellera Seres. - _De III. Cons. Honorii_, _l._ 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 received its color -(_the Tyrian purple_) from the Phœnicians; its woof (_of silk forming -stripes or figures_) from the Seres; and its weight (_produced by -Indian gems_) from the river Hydaspes[48]. Again, in his poem on the -approaching marriage of Honorius and Maria, he mentions yellow silk -curtains (_l._ 211.) as a decoration of the nuptial chamber. - - [48] De IV. Cons. Honorii, i. 600, 601. - -Again he says (_in Eutrop._ _l._ i. _v._ 225, 226. 304. _l._ 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 elevation of her two sons to the -Consulship, by preparing robes _interwoven with gold_ for the ceremony -of their installation. - - With joy elated at this proud success, - Their venerable mother now prepares - The golden trabeas, and the 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 Olybrii Consulatum_, _l._ 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 _woof_ to form the stripes or other ornaments of the consular -trabeæ. These are afterwards called stiff togas (_togæ rigentes_, _l._ -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 admirable robe (_regentia dona, graves auro -trabeas_), and certain parts of them were wrought in gold[49]. - - [49] In I. Cons. Stilichonis, L. ii. 330-359. - -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 coffin, containing her remains, was -discovered at Rome. In it were preserved a garment and a pall, -which, on being burnt, yielded 36 _pounds of gold_. There were also -found a great number of glass vessels, jewels, and ornaments of all -kinds, which Stilicho had given as a dowry to his daughter[50]. 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 proves that she wove robes of a similar description for -Honorius, and probably on the same occasion. Anastasius Bibliothecarius -says, that when Pope Paschal was intent on finding the body of St. -Cæcilia, having performed mass with a view to obtain the favor of a -revelation on the subject, he was directed A. D. 821 to a cemetery on -the Appian Way near Rome, and there found the body enveloped in cloth -of gold[51]. Although there is _no_ reason to believe, that the body -found by Paschal was the body of the saint pretended, yet it may have -been the body of a Roman lady who had lived some centuries before, and -probably about the time of Honorius and Maria. - - [50] Surii Comment. Rerum Gest. ab anno 1500, &c. - - [51] “Aureis vestitum indumentis.” DE VITIS ROM. Pontificum Mogunt. - 1602, p. 222. - -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 supplied with gold from the sands of -the Pactolus and the Hermus[52]. - - [52] De Magistratibus Rom. L. iii. § 64. - -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 Andromache, and another was in the -possession of Anchises[53]. In all these instances the reference is to -the habits of Phœnice, Lycia, or other parts of Asia. - - [53] Æn. iii. 483.; iv. 264.; viii. 167.; xi. 75. - -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 Trabeæ) of Honorius and Stilicho, he -mentions the _reins and other trappings of horses_, as being wrought in -silk[54]. - - [54] Rubra Serica, De VI. Cons. Honor. I. 577. Serica Fræna. In I. - Cons. Stilichonis 1. ii. V. 350. - -The frequent allusions to silk in the complimentary 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 are preserved in the CODE OF -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 monopoly. 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 border upon -his tunic or pallium, with the exception of the emperor, his officers -and servants. To confine the enjoyment of these luxuries more entirely -to the imperial family and court, all private persons were strictly -forbidden engaging in the manufacture, gold and silken borders were to -be made only in the imperial Gynæcea[55]. - - [55] See the Corpus Juris Civilis, Lugduni 1627, folio, tom. v. Codex - Justiniani, l. x. tit. vii. p. 131. 134. - - -THE PERIPLUS MARIS ERYTHRÆI. - -In this important document on ancient geography and commerce, we find -repeated mention of silk in its raw state, in that of thread, and -woven[56]. 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. - - [56] Arriani Opp., vol. ii. Blancardi, pp. 164. 170. 173. 177. - -Silk is mentioned in two passages of the laws of Manu, viz. XI. v. -168, and XII. v. 64. It is, however, observed by Heeren, 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 undoubtedly Seric or Chinese productions[57]. Indeed -it appears that the cloth made from the thread of the native worms of -Hindostan, although highly valued for strength and durability, is not -remarkable for fineness, beauty, or splendor. - - [57] Ideen über die Politik, &c. der alten Welt, i. 2. pp. 647. 648. - 665-668. 677. 3rd edition. Göttingen, 1815. - - -RUFUS FESTUS AVIENUS. - -This author, adopting the common notion of his time, supposes the Seres -to spin thread from fleeces which were produced upon the trees. He -also mentions silk shawls (_Serica pallia_, _l._ 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 Dionysius, 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 - trees 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 Tivoli, and expresses that M. N. -Proculus, _silk-manufacturer_, erected a monument to Valeria Chrysis, -his excellent and deserving wife. - - D. M. - VALERIAE. CHRYSIDI. - M. NVMIVS. PROCVLVS. - SERICARIVS. - CONJVGI. SVAE. - OPTIMÆ. BENEM. - FECIT. - -Before proceeding to the Christian writers of the 4th and following -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 threads after the manner of - spiders; and these threads constitute silk. - -It will be seen hereafter, that these “Indian Seres” were the -inhabitants of Khotan in Little Bucharia. - -The frequent comparison of Bombyces to spiders by the ancients 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 garments 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 _web_, whereas M. Bon, not finding the web strong enough, made -his cloth from the thread with which the spider envelopes its eggs[58]. - - [58] The 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 Pachiza, 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 sloughs 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. 141. - - For some interesting notices of the great spider of Brazil the - reader is referred to Caldcleugh’s Travels in South America, London - 1825, vol. i. ch. 2. p. 41; and to the Rev. R. Walsh’s Notices - of Brazil, London 1830, vol. ii. p. 300, 301. Mr. Caldcleugh - “_assisted in liberating 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 indefatigable 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 - experienced 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 threads of so strong a texture as not easily to be - divided without a cutting instrument.”--Account of Lord Macartney’s - Embassy to China, London 1797, vol. i. ch. 7. p. 302. (See Chap. - IX.) - -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 common silk-worm spins and suspends -itself by its thread, long before it begins its cocoon. It appears -probable, therefore, that there may have been wild varieties of this -creature, or perhaps other species of the same genus, which in the -earlier 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[59]. - - [59] Vol. ii. p. 359, 360, 8vo. edition, London, 1736. - - “The province of Chan-tong produces a particular sort of silk, which - 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 caterpillars. They do not spin - an oval or round cocoon, like the silk-worms, but very 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 understand 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 the common silk-worms, are called - _Tsouen-kien_; the second, being smaller, are named _Tiao-kien_. 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. - - “This stuff is much valued by the Chinese, and it is sometimes as - dear as satin or the finest silks. As the Chinese are very skilful at - counterfeiting, they make a false sort of _Kien-tcheou_ with the waste - 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 pendulus urget -opus,” _Martial_; “Per aerem liquando aranearum horoscopis idoneas -sedes tendit,” _Tertullian_; “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, manufactures, &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._ - - “The 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 _Kien-tcheou_, will bear 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 Provence. - - “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 butterfly, 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 themselves 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 butterflies, unlike the domestic insect, - fly very well.--The domestic silk-worm is but a variety of the wild - species. It is fed on the leaves of the mulberry tree.” (See 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 _long threads and webs floating 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 (_quercus_) and the ash (_fraxinus_). - -Until very lately the use of silk among the ancients was investigated -only by philologists. Within a few years M. Latreille, an entomologist -of the highest distinction, has directed his attention to the subject -and has examined particularly the above-cited passages of Aristotle, -Pliny, and Pausanias[60]. He never supposes the ancient Sericum to -have been the produce of anything except the silk-worm. But of this -there are several varieties, partly perhaps natural, and partly the -result of domestication. He endeavors to explain some parts of Pliny’s -description by showing their seeming correspondence with some of the -practices actually observed by the Orientals in the management of -silk-worms. - - [60] M. Latreille’s paper is published in the Annales des Sciences - Naturelles, tome xxiii. pp. 58-84. - -An account of the wild silk-worms of China is to be found in the -“Mémoires concernant l’Histoire, les Sciences, les Arts, &c., des -Chinois,” compiled by the missionaries of Peking[61]. This account is -principally derived from the information of Father D’Incarville, one -of the missionaries. It coincides generally with the accounts already -quoted from Du Halde and Breton. We extract the following particulars -as conveying some further information: - - [61] Tome ii. pp. 579-601. Paris, 1777, 4to. This Memoir is reprinted - with abridgments as an Appendix to Stanislas Julien’s Translation - of the Chinese Treatise on the Breeding of Silk-worms, Paris, 1837, - 8vo. - - “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 Père d’Incarville, est à ailes vitrées.” 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 -Phalæna 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 - thread of extraordinary fineness, and according to circumstances put - on a tunic either of mail, or silk[62]. - - [62] Adv. Gentes, l. iii. p. 580, ed. Erasmi. - - -GREGORIUS NAZIENZENUS, CL., A. D. 370. - -The following passage contains, we believe, the earliest allusion to -the use of silk in the services of the Christian Church. - - Ἄλλοι μὲν χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄργυρον, οἱ δὲ τὰ Σηρῶν - Δῶρα φέρουσι θεῷ νήματα λεπταλέα. - Καὶ Χριστῷ θυσίην τὶς ἁγνὴν ἀνέθηκεν ἑαυτον· - Καὶ σπένδει δακρύων ἄλλος ἁγνὰς λιβάδας. - - _Ad Hellenium pro Monachis Carmen._ - _tom._ ii. _p._ 106. _ed. Par._ 1630. - - Silver and gold some bring to God - Or the fine threads 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 description of it in the following -passage, in which we first find the beautiful illustration of the -doctrine of a _resurrection_ from the change of the chrysalis, is -chiefly copied from Aristotle’s account as formerly quoted. - - Τί φάτε οἱ ἀπιστοῦντες τῷ Παύλῳ περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν - ἀλλοιώσεως, ὁρῶντες πολλὰ τῶν ἀερίων τὰς μορφὰς μεταβάλλοντα; ὁποῖα - καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰνδικοῦ σκώληκος ἱστορεῖται τοῦ κερασφόρου· ὃς εἰς κάμπην - τὰ πρῶτα μεταβαλὼν, εἶτα προϊὼν βομβυλιὸς γίνεται, καὶ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ ταύτης - ἵσταται τῆς μορφῆς, ἀλλὰ χαύνοις καὶ πλατέσι πετάλοις ὑποπτεροῦται. - Ὅταν οὖν καθέζησθε τὴν τούτων ἐργασίαν ἀναπηνιζόμεναι αἱ γυναῖκες, - τὰ νήματα λέγω, ἃ πέμπουσιν ὑμῖν οἱ Σῆρες πρὸς τὴν τῶν μαλακῶν - ἐνδυμάτων κατασκευὴν, μεμνημέναι τῆς κατὰ τὸ ζῶον τοῦτο μεταβολῆς, - ἐναργῆ λαμβάνετε τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἔννοιαν, καὶ μὴ ἀπιστεῖτε τῇ ἀλλαγῇ, - ἣν Παῦλος ἅπασι κατεπαγγέλλεται.--_Hexahemeron_, _p._ 79. _A. Ed. - Benedict._ - - What have you to say, who disbelieve the assertion of the Apostle - Paul concerning the change at the resurrection, when you see many - of the inhabitants 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 (_bombylius_, or - _bombulio_), 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 garments, bear in mind the - change of form in this creature; derive from it a clear conception of - the resurrection; and discredit not that transformation which Paul - announces to us all.--Yates’s Translation. - -When St. Basil says of the new-born moth, that “it assumes light -and expanded wings,” the beauty of the comparison in illustrating -the Christian doctrine of the resurrection is enhanced, when we -consider that in its _wild_ state the moth flies very well, although, -when domesticated, its flight is weak and its wings small and -shrivelled[63]: but still more beautiful does the figure become, if we -suppose a reference to those larger and more splendid Phalænæ which -produce the coarser kinds of silk in India, and probably in China also. - - [63] The Phalæna Atlas, apparently a native of China, measures eight - inches across the wings from tip to tip. - -Basil is the _first_ writer, who distinctly mentions the change of -the silk-worm from a Chrysalis to a moth. In his application 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 into cloth. - -Between these two authors, Aristotle and Basil, we observe a difference -of phraseology which appears deserving of notice. While they both -describe the women, not as spinning the silk, but as _winding it on -bobbins_, they designate the material so wound by two different names. -Basil uses the term νήματα, which might be meant to imply that the silk -came from the Seres in skeins as it comes to us from China: Aristotle, -on the contrary, uses the term βομβύκια, 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 any 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; pressed to expel the lye, and then laid out to dry. -Whilst they are still moist, the chrysalises are 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 water, after which ten -or twelve of them are capped one upon another like so many thimbles, to -insert a small distaff through them, when the silk may be reeled off.” - -Basil, in one of his Homilies, (_Opp. tom._ ii. _p._ 53. 55. _ed. -Benedict._) inveighs against the ladies of Cæsarea, who employed -themselves in weaving gold; and he is no less indignant 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 disciplinâ et bono pudicitiæ,” 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. Why do they interpose stiff metals between the delicate - threads of the warp? - -The same censure is implied in the following address of Alcimus Avitus -to his sister. - - Non tibi gemmato posuere nonilia collo, - Nec te contexit, neto quæ fulguratauro - Vestis, ductilibus concludens fila talentis: - Nec te Sidonium bis coeti muricis ostrum - Induit, aut rutilo perlucens purpura succo, - Mollia vel tactu quæ mittunt vellera Seres: - Nec tibi transfossis fixerunt auribus aurum. - - No threaded gems have pressed thy sparkling neck: - No cloth, with lines incased in ductile gold, - Or twice with the Sidonian murex 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 induce -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. - - -AMBROSE, CL. A. D. 374. - - Sericæ vestes, et auro intexta velamina, quibus divitis corpus - ambitur, damna viventium, non subsidia defunctorum sunt.--_De Nabutho - Jezraelitâ_, _cap._ i. _tom._ 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 think it not out of place to introduce the account of the -silk-worm by Georgius Pisida, 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 -almost 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 between the restoration of the silk-worm and the resurrection -of man. - - Ποῖος δὲ καὶ σκωλήκα Σηρικὸν νόμος - Πείθει τὰ λαμπρόκλωστα νήματα πλέκειν, - Ἃ, τῇ βαφῇ χρωσθέντα τῆς ἁλουργίδος, - Χαυνοῖ τὸν ὄγκον τῶν κρατούντων ἐμφρόνως; - Μνήμη γὰρ αὐτοὺς εὐλαβῶς ὑποτρέχει, - Ὅτι πρὸ αὐτῶν τῆς στολῆς ἡ λαμπρότης - Σκώληκος ἦν ἔνδυμα καὶ φθαρτὴ σκέπη, - Ὃς, τῇ καθ’ ἡμᾶς μαρτυρῶν ἀναστάσει, - Θνῆσκει μὲν ἔνδον τῶν ἑαυτοῦ νημάτων, - Τὸν αὐτὸν οἶκον καὶ ταφὴν δεδεγμένος, - Σχεδὸν δὲ παντὸς τοῦ κατ’ αὐτὸν σαρκίου - Σαπέντος ἢ ῥυέντος ἢ τετηγμένου, - Χρονόυ καλοῦντος ἐκ φθορᾶς ὑποστρέφει, - Καὶ τὴν πάλαι μόρφωσιν ἀῤῥήτως φύει - Ἐν τῷ περιττεύσαντι μικρῷ λειψάνῳ, - Πρὸς τὴν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς σωματούμενος πλάσιν. - _l._ 1265-1282. - - What law persuades the Seric worm to spin - Those shining threads, 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, - 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 silken 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 (_sericum_) -to be an article of Syrian and Phœnician traffic as early as the time -of that prophet. - -In his beautiful and interesting Epistle to Læta on the Education of -her Daughter (_Opp. Paris_, 1546, _tom._ 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 threads. 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 we do not use garments of silk, we are reckoned monks; because - we are not drunken, and do not convulse ourselves with laughter, - we are called restrained and sad: if our tunic is not white, we - immediately hear the proverb, He is an impostor and a Greek.--_Epist. - ad Marcellum, De Ægrotatione Blesillæ, tom._ i. _p._ 156, _ed. - Erasmi_, 1526. - - You 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 Atrebates and from Laodicea.--_Adv. Jovinianum, l._ ii. _Opp. ed. - Paris_, 1546, _tom._ ii. _p._ 29. - -In the following he further condemns the practice of wrapping 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, - _12mo._ - - -CHRYSOSTOM, CL., A. D. 398. - - Ἀλλὰ σηρικὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; ἀλλὰ ῥακίων γέμουσα ἡ ψυχή. - _Comment. in Psalm 48. tom._ v. _p._ 517. _ed. Ben._ - - Does the rich man wear silken shawls? His soul however is full of - tatters. - - Καλὰ τὰ σηρικὰ ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ σκωλήκων ἐστὶν ὕφασμα. - (_Quoted by Vossius, Etym. Lat. p._ 466.) - - Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms. - -Chrysostom also inveighs against the practice of embroidering shoes -with silk thread, observing that it was a shame even to wear it woven -in shawls. Such is the change of circumstances, 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.” _Æthiopica, lib._ x. _p._ 494. _Commelini._ - -Salmasius (_in Tertullianum de Pallio, p._ 242.) quotes the following -passage from _an uncertain author_. - - Ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τερπνότης Ἰνδικῷ σκωληκιῷ, ὅπερ τῷ - φυλλῷ τοῦ δένδρου συντυλιχθὲν, καὶ τῇ τροφῇ ἀσχοληθὲν, συνεπνίγη ἐν - αὐτῷ τοῦ μεταξίου κουκουλίῳ. - - The pleasure of the present life is like the Indian worm, which, - having involved 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[64]. - - [64] In the Royal Museum of Natural History at Leyden are eight or ten - cocoons of the Phalæna Atlas from Java. They consist of a strong - silk, and are formed upon the leaves of a kind of Ficus. The first - layer 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 China, which are very strong and compact, - and therefore more resemble those of the Phalæna Paphia. - - -FIFTH CENTURY. - - -PRUDENTIUS, CL., A. D. 405. - -The following sentence occurs in a speech of St. Lawrence at his -martyrdom: - - Hunc, qui superbit serico, - Quem currus inflatum vehit; - Hydrops aquosus lucido - Tendit veneno intrinsecus. - _Peristeph. Hymn._ ii. _l._ 237-240. - - See him, attir’d in silken pride, - Inflated in his chariot ride; - The lucid 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? - Inlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura, - In carnis usum mille quæruntur dolis. - _Peristeph. 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 (_l._ 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 fultus 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 luxury in -dress, and especially when adopted by men. - - Sericaque in fractis fluitent ut pallia membris - _Psychomachia, l._ 365. - - The silken scarfs float o’er their weaken’d limbs. - - Sed pudet esse viros: quærunt vanissima quæque - Quîs niteant: genuina leves ut robora solvant, - Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitis - Ramorum spoliis fluitantes sumere amictus, - Gaudent, et durum scutulis perfundere corpus. - Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctis - Inludant varias distincto stamine formas. - Ut quæque est lanugo feræ mollissima tactu, - Pectitur. Hunc videas lascivas præpete cursu - Venantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolorum - Indumenta novis texentem plumea telis: - Ilium pigmentis redolentibus, et peregrino - Pulvere femineas spargentem turpitur auras. - _Hamartigenia, l._ 286-298. - - They blush to be call’d men: they seek to shine - In ev’ry vainest garb. Their native strength - To soften and impair, they gaily choose - A flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep, - But of those fleeces from the Eastern world, - The spoil of trees. Their 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 new looms_, and weaves a feather’d vest, - Which with the plumage of the birds compares: - That, scented with cosmetics, basely sheds - Effeminate 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 Palladius, who wrote the -Historia Lausiaca, is disputed. But, as we see no reason to doubt, that -it may have been written as early as his time, we introduce here the -passages, which have been found in it, relating to the present subject. -The author represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great, -“You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms.” (_p._ -17. _ed. Bissœi._) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not pass -the Ganges, but went as far as Serica, where the silk-worms produce -raw-silk (p. 2.). - -In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin, 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 information from “Musæus Dolenorum -Episcopus,” meaning, as it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop -of Adule, of whom he says, - - Sericam ferè universam regionem peragravit: in quâ refert arbores - esse, quæ non solum folia, sed lanam quoque proferunt tenuissimam, ex - quâ vestimenta con ficiuntur, quæ Serica 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 interior of Asia, _who confounded the production of -silk with 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 different countries, this learned author -says (_Carmen._ v. _l._ 42-50), - - Fert - Assyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabæus. - - 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 Tyrian murex, twice i’ th’ cauldron boil’d, - Had dyed its silken threads. - -The expression here used, indicates that the silk thread was brought -from the country of the Seres to be dyed in Phœnice. In Horace we have -already noticed the “Coæ purpuræ.” - -A passage from the Burgus Pontii Leontii (_Carmen._ xxii.), shows that -the same article (_Serica fila_) was imported into Gaul. - -In the same author (_l._ ii. _Epist. ad Serranum_) 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, rutilus auro, lacteus serico. - - _L._ iv. _Epist. p._ 107. _ed. Elmenhorstii_. - - He himself marched in the midst, his attire flaming with coccus, - glittering with gold, and of milky whiteness with silk. - -Describing the heat of the weather, he says: - - One man perspires in cotton, another in silk. - - _L._ ii. _Epist._ 2. - -Lastly, in the 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, crowns with chains: - Thus marks high merit, and inferior praise - In brilliant _carpets_ to the rest conveys. - _Carmen._ xxiii. _l._ 423-427. - - -ALCIMUS AVITUS, CL., A. D. 490. - -Describing the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, this author says: - - Ipse cothurnatus gemmis et fulgidus auro - Serica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis. - _L._ iii. 222. - - In jewell’d buskins and a blaze of gold, - Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore. - -Avitus also mentions “the soft fleeces sent by the Seres.” - - -SIXTH CENTURY. - - -BOETHIUS, CL., A. D. 510 - - Nor honey into wine they pour’d, nor mix’d - Bright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye. - _De Consol. Philos._ ii. - -The Tyrians 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 antiquity: 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 Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went - Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent; - There lay the vestures of no vulgar art-- - Sidonian maids embroider’d every part, - Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore - With Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore. - Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyes - The various textures and the various dyes, - She chose a veil that shone superior far, - And glow’d refulgent as the morning star. - _Iliad_, vi. - -Tyre appears to have been the only city of antiquity which made dyeing -its chief occupation, and the staple of its commerce. 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 success -to the dyeing of wool. According to some of the ancient writers, -this discovery is placed in the reign of Phœnix, second 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 -Tyrian Hercules, who presented his discovery to the king of Phœnicia; -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: -Hercules’ 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[65], “were known in -the time of Homer (900 B. C.), from which the robes of triumph were -borrowed.” 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 beauty of the figures which the rivals -wove, but also mentions the delicacy of shading by which the various -colors were made to harmonize together: - - [65] Plin. viii. 48. - - Then both their mantles button’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 justly 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 differs 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._ vi. - -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_[66]. 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 bulk 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 communicate the finest Tyrian purple; -the first consisted in plunging the wool into the juice of the purpura, -the second into that of the buccinum. Fifty drachms of wool required -one hundred of the former liquor, and two hundred of the latter. -Sometimes 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 Alexander[67], that, at the taking of Susa, -the Greeks found in the royal treasury of Darius a quantity of purple -stuffs of the value of five thousand talents, which still retained its -beauty, though it had lain there for one hundred and ninety years[68]. - - [66] Plin. Lib. vi. c. 36. - - [67] Plutarch, chap. 36. - - [68] The true value of the talent cannot well be ascertained, but it is - known that it was different among different nations. The Attic - talent, the weight, contained 60 Attic minæ, or 6000 Attic drachmæ, - equal to 56 pounds, 11 ounces, English troy weight. The mina being - reckoned equal to £3 4_s._ 7_d._ sterling, or $14 33 cents; the - talent was of the value of £193 15_s._ 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 6_s._ 8_d._ 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 _cicar_, was - equivalent to three thousand shekels, or one hundred and thirteen - pounds, ten ounces, and a fraction, troy weight.--_Arbuthnot._ - - - - -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-worms into Europe--Mode by which - it was effected--The Serinda of Procopius the same with the modern - Khotan--The silk-worm never bred in Sir-hind--Silk shawls of Tyre - and Berytus--Tyrannical conduct of Justinian--Ruin of the silk - manufactures--Oppressive conduct of Peter Barsames--Menander - Protector--Surprise of Maniak the Sogdian ambassador--Conduct of - Chosroes, king of Persia--Union of the Chinese and Persians against - the Turks--The Turks in self-defence seek an alliance with the - Romans--Mortification of the Turkish ambassador--Reception of the - Byzantine 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--Introduction 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--Aldhelmus’s beautiful description of - the silk-worm--Simile between weaving and virtue. Silk in the eighth - century--Bede. In the tenth century--Use of silk by the English, - Welsh, and Scotch kings. Twelfth century--Theodorus Prodromus--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 - manufacture through Europe, illustrated by etymology--Extraordinary - beauty of silk and golden textures used in the decoration of churches - in the middle ages--Silk rarely mentioned in the ninth, eleventh, or - thirteenth centuries. - - -We now come to the very interesting account of the first introduction -of silk-worms into Europe, which is given by Procopius in the following -terms. (_De Bello Gothico_, iv. 17.) - -“About this time (A. D. 530.) two monks, having arrived from India, -and learnt that Justinian 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 Romans would no longer be under the -necessity of importing this article from their enemies the Persians or -any other nation. 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 -produces 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 India and brought the eggs to Byzantium, where, having -hatched them in the manner described, they fed them with the leaves of -the _Black Mulberry_, and thus enabled the Romans thenceforth to obtain -raw silk in their own country.” - -The same narrative, abridged from Procopius, is found in Manuel Glycas -(_Annal. l._ iv. _p._ 209.), and Zonares (_Annal. l._ xiv. _p._ 69. -_ed. Du Cange._). In the abstract given by Photius (_Biblioth. p._ 80. -_ed. Rotham_) of the history of Theophanes Byzantinus, who was a writer -of nearly the same age with Procopius, 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 heated and hatch on the -journey[69]. - - [69] Transactions of the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, - &c., vol. xliii. p. 236. - -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 Hindostan[70]. Notwithstanding the -striking similarity of names, we think it more likely that Serinda was -adopted by Procopius as another name for Khotan in Little Bucharia. The -ancients included Khotan among the Indian nations[71]: 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 -alphabetical characters, their laws, and their literature resembled -those of the Hindoos; and that they had a tradition of being Indian -in their origin[72]. Since, therefore, Khotan was also included in -the ancient Serica, a term probably of wide and rather indefinite -extent[73]; the name _Serinda_ would exactly denote the origin and -connexions of the race which occupied Khotan. - - [70] In this they have followed D’Anville, Antiquité Géographique de - l’Inde, Paris, 1775, p. 63. - - [71] In proof of this we refer to Heeren, Ideen, i. l. p. 358-387, on - the Indian tribes which constituted one of the Persian Satrapies, - and in which the inhabitants of Khotan appear to have been - included; and also to Cellarii Antiqui Orbis Notitia, l. iii. c. - 23. § 2. - - [72] Rémusat, Hist. de la Ville de Khotan, p. 32. Note 1. and p. 37. - - [73] 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 territories. 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 modern Tongut. Comment. Soc. Reg. Scient. Gottingensis, vol. - xi. p. 106. 111. Gottingæ, 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 difference between the summer - and winter temperature of their country. A late oriental traveller - says of the climate of Khotan, “In the summer, when melons ripen, - it is very hot in these countries; but, during winter, extremely - cold.”--Wathen’s Memoir on Chinese Tartary and Khotan, in Journal - of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 1835, p. 659. - - On referring to the map, Plate VII., the reader will see the - position of Serica indicated at its Eastern extremity. As that map - is limited to the _Orbis Veteribus 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. - -On the other hand, although Sir-hind is termed “an ancient city” by -Major Rennell[74], we cannot find any evidence that the 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 production of silk[75]. It may -indeed be true, as stated by Latreille, that Sir-hind was colonized -from Khotan, and it may be mentioned as a remarkable circumstance in -confirmation of this supposition, that there is a town called Kotana a -little 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 inhabitants -of Khotan being wholly devoted to that delusion, the same system must -have been established 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 period[76]. - - [74] Memoir of a Map of Hindostan. - - [75] “The S. W. portion of the Circar Sir-hind is extremely barren, - being covered 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 Sutlege in order to fertilize this naturally arid - country.”--Walter Hamilton’s Description of Hindostan, vol. i. p. - 465. - - [76]Foĕ Kouĕ Ki, ou Relation des royaumes bouddhiques: Voyage dans la - Tartarie, dans l’Afghanistan, et dans l’Inde; traduit du Chinois et - commenté par Rémusat, Klaproth, et Landresse. Paris, 1836, 4to. - -In another passage of his history (_Bell. Pers._ 1. 20.) Procopius -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 through the Æthiopians of Arabia, but 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 Phœnician 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 manufacturers 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. Justinian, -pretending to be much concerned at the high prices, forbade 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 Treasurer. -PETER BARSAMES held the office, and conducted himself in -relation to this business in the most unjust and oppressive manner, so -that the silk-trade was ruined not only in Byzantium 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 Justinian endeavored to -excite their admiration by a display of splendid couches, gold chains, -and garments of silk[77]. - - [77] Corp. Hist. Byzant. ed. 1729. tom. i. p. 67. - -The establishment of the Turkish power in Asia, about the 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 people, who had the greatest interest in the -revival of the trade, persuaded the Turkish sovereign, whose subjects -they were become, 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 monarch in the double character of merchant 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 traffic, 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 ambassador 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 disappointment, 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 mortification, 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[78]; 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 Byzantines sent an embassy to -Disabul, King of the Sogdiani, who received the ambassadors in tents -covered with variously-colored silks. - - [78] Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xlii. - -PAUL, THE SILENTIARY, A. D. 562, - -mentions silk thread, used in adorning the vestments in the church of -St. Sophia at Constantinople. (P. ii. l. 368.) The note of the Editor, -Du Cange, on the description of the pall, (577.), contains various -quotations from ecclesiastical writers, which mention “vela rubea -Serica;” “vela alba holoserica rasata;” “vela serica de blattin.” These -quotations show, that silk had been introduced into general use for the -churches. - - -ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS, CL., A. D. 575. - -The etymological work of Isidore of Seville may be regarded 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 texturâ Bombycinum conficitur. - Appellatur autem hoc nomine ab eo quod evacuetur dum fila generat, et - aer solus in eo remanet.--_Origin. l._ xii. _c._ 5. - - Bombyx, a worm which lives upon the leaves of trees, and from whose - 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 Bombycinum, and is made in the island of Cos. - - That called _Serica_ derives its name from silk (_sericum_), or from - the circumstance, 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 testimony of Isidore -must not be considered as proving, that the silk manufacture still -existed in Cos. His statement was no doubt merely copied from Varro or -Pliny, or founded upon the authority of other writers 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. - - -SEVENTH CENTURY. - - -DOROTHEUS, ARCHIMANDRITE OF PALESTINE, A. D. 601. - - Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐνδεδυμένος ὁλοσήρικον.--_Doctr._ 2, _as quoted in Cod. - Theodos. Gothofredi. L. Bat._ 1665. - - For as a man wearing a tunic entirely of silk. - - -THEOPHYLACTUS SIMOCATTA, A. D. 629. - -This author, in his Universal History (_l._ 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[79]. - - [79] Itinéraire de Hiuan Thsang, Appendice ii. à Foe Koue Ki, p. 399. - -We have, moreover, the following account of the origin of the growth -and manufacture of silk in that country (p. 55, 56.). - -“The monastery of Lou-che (_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 issued 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 be without silk -dresses_. The princess, having received this information, obtained 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 turban 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. The trees -were planted in the spring, and she afterwards went herself to assist -in gathering the leaves. At first the worms were fed upon the leaves -of other plants, and a law was enacted, that no worms were to be -destroyed or sacrificed until their quantity was sufficiently great. -The monastery was founded to commemorate so great a benefit, and some -trunks of the original mulberry-trees can yet be seen there[80].” - - [80] 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. - -In the following passage (_Règne Animal, par Cuvier, tom._ v. _p._ -402.,) Latreille mentions Turfan as an important city as far as it -affected the early silk-trade. In other respects his account coincides -with that already given. - - “La ville de Turfan, dans la petite Bucharie, fut long-temps le - rendez-vous des caravanes venant de l’Ouest, et l’entrepôt principal - des soieries de la Chine. Elle était la métropole des Sères de l’Asie - supérieure, ou de la Sérique de Ptolémée. Expulsés de leurs pays par - les Huns, les Sères s’établirent dans la grande Bucharie et dans - l’Inde. C’est d’une de leurs colonies, du Ser-hend (_Ser-indi_), que - des missionaires Grecs transportèrent, du temps - de Justinien, les œufs du ver à soie à 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 Upper - Asia, or the Serica of Ptolemy. The Seres having been expelled their - country 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 “Armilausia -holoserica,” proving that silk was known in England at the end of the -sixth century[81]. The usual dress of the earliest 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, ornamented sometimes with gold or precious stones; and upon -this a sagum, which was fastened with a fibula on the right shoulder. -Eginhart informs us, that Charlemagne wore a tunic, or vest, with a -silken border (_limbo serico_)[82]. - - [81] Dugdale’s Monasticon, vol. i. p. 24. Adelung’s Glossarium Manuale, - v. Armilausia. - - [82] Examples of it may be seen, I. in the two figures of Charlemagne, - executed in mosaic during his life-time, one of which is preserved - in the Penitentiary of St. John Lateran at Rome, and both of these - are described by Spon in his Miscellanea Eruditæ Antiquitatus (p. - 284.); II. in the figure of Charles the Bald, the grandson of - Charlemagne, which is in the 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 Baluzius in his Capitularia Regum Francorum (tom. ii. p. - 1308.); and IV. in the first volume of Montfaucon’s Monumens de la - Monarchie Française. - - -ALDHELMUS, CL., A. D. 680. - -This author, who died Abbot of Sherburn, was among the most learned men -of his age. In his Ænigmas, 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 “genistæ,” to which the animal may attach -its cocoon (_globulum_), has not been noticed by any earlier author. - - De Bombycibus. - - Annua dum redeunt texendi tempora telas, - Lurida setigeris replentur viscera filis; - Moxque genistarum frondosa cacumina scando, - Ut globulus fabricans cum fati sorte quiescam. - _Maxima Bibl. Vet. Patrum, tom._ 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 perfect 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 by shuttles, filled with -threads of purple, and many other colors, flying from side to side, and -forming a variety of figures and images_, in different compartments, -with admirable art.”--_Bibliotheca Patrum, tom._ xiii. - - -EIGHTH CENTURY. - - -BEDE, CL., 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 intelligentiam spiritalem hoc sentire, quod - corpus domini non auro, non gemmis et serico, sed linteamine puro - obvolvendum sit, quanquam et hoc significet, quod ille in sindone - munda involvat Jesum, qui pura eum mente susceperit. Hinc ecclesiæ mos - obtinuit, ut sacrificium altaris non in serico, neque in panno tincto, - sed in lino terreno celebretur, sicut corpus est domini in sindone - munda sepultum, juxta quod in gestis pontificalibus a beato Papâ - Silvestro legimus esse statutum.--_Expos. in Marcum, tom._ 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 ambition 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_ addition. Pope Silvester -lived, as the reader will perceive, long _after_ the time of Bede. - -Bede, in his History of the Abbots of Wearmouth, states that the first -abbot and founder of the monastery, Biscop, surnamed 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[83]. This shows the high value of silken articles at that period. - - [83] Bedæ 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 we read of a present to a West-Saxon bishop of a - casula, not entirely of silk, but mixed with goat’s wool.” Ibid. p. - 50. He refers to p. 97. of the same volume, as mentioning “pallia - holoserica.”--History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. book vii. - chap. 4. p. 48, 49. - - -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[84]. - - [84] Lingard’s Hist. of England, vol. i. 241. London, 1819, 4to. - -Perhaps we may refer to the same date the composition of the “Lady of -the Fountain,” a Welsh tale, recently translated by Lady Charlotte -Guest[85]. 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 upon 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. - - [85] The Mabinogion, from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest and other ancient - Welsh manuscripts; with an English translation and notes. By Lady - Charlotte Guest. Part I. The Lady of the Fountain. Llandovery, 1838. - -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 -II. chap. V.). - - -TWELFTH CENTURY. - - -THEODORUS PRODROMUS, - -a romance writer in the twelfth century, mentions the _figured shawls_ -(πέπλα) manufactured by the Seres. - -The 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 of silk was also very rare in -other parts of Europe, being probably 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[86]. Nicetas Choniates[87], -referring to the same event, speaks of these artisans 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 -Persians[88]. - - [86] Otto Frisingen, Hist. Imp. Freder. l. i. c. 33. in Muratori, Rerum - Italicarum Scriptores, tom. vi. p. 668. - - [87] In Manuel Comnenus, l. ii. c. 8., tom. xii. of the Scriptores - Hist. Byzantinæ, p. 51. ed. Ven. - - [88] 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 different colors, and enriched with gold. - -We find in the writings of Ingulphus several curious accounts 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[89]. At a later period, 1155, a pair of richly -worked sandals, and three mitres, the work of Christina, abbess of -Markgate, were among the valuable souvenirs presented by Robert, abbot -of St. Albans, to Pope Adrian IV.[90]. - - [89] Ingulphus, p. 487, edit. 1596. - - [90] Adrian IV., was the only Englishman that ever sat in St. Peters - 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 - exception 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.” - -Without digressing from our subject to question the right of the royal -marauder thus tyrannously to sever these unoffending artisans from -the ties of country and of kindred, we may yet be allowed to express -some satisfaction at the consequences 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 limited in their results to the exaltation of one individual, -the downfall of another, the slaughter of thousands, and misery of -millions, but occasionally prove the 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 manufacture, -the silks of Sicily are described as having attained a decided -excellence; as being of diversified patterns and colors; some -fancifully interwoven with gold tastefully embellished with figures; -and others richly adorned with pearls. The industry and ingenuity thus -called forth, could not fail to exercise 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 Almeria in Grenada about A. D. 1190[91]. - - [91] “Deinde per nobilem civitatem, quæ dicitur Almaria, ubi fit nobile - sericum et delicatum, quod dicitur sericum de Almaria.” Scriptores - post Bedam, p. 671. - - -FOURTEENTH CENTURY. - -According to Nicholas Tegrini[92], the silk manufacture afterwards -flourished in Lucca; and the weavers, having been ejected from that -city in the earlier part of the fourteenth century, carried their art -to Venice, Florence, Milan, Bologna, and even to Germany, France, and -Britain. - - [92] Vita Castruccii, in Muratori, Rer. Ital. Scriptores, t. xi. p. - 1320. - -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 of the North of -Europe is manifest from the use of words for silk in several northern -languages. These words appear, according to the inquiries of the -learned orientalists, Klaproth and Abel Rémusat[93], to -have been derived from those Asiatic countries, in which silk was -originally produced. In the language of Corea silk is called _Sir_; in -Chinese _Se_, which may have been produced by the usual omission of -the final _r_. In the Mongol language silk is called _Sirkek_, in the -Mandchou _Sirghè_. In the Armenian the silk-worm is called _Chèram_. In -Arabic, Chaldee, and Syriac, silk was called Seric[94]. From the same -source we have in Greek and Latin Σηρικὸν, Sericum. - - [93] Journal Asiatique, 1823, tom. ii. p. 246. Julius Klaproth (Tableau - Historique de l’Asie, Paris, 1826, p. 57, 58.) says, that in - the year 165 B. C. the inhabitants 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 - communication with Persia and India, especially in regard to the - silk trade. Klaproth considers that the Seres of the ancients were - the Chinese; but he appears to include under that term all the - 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. - - [94] See Schindler’s Pentaglott, p. 1951, D. - -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 _l_ for _r_, the second of an uncertain origin. -To the first set belong, - - _Chelk_, silk, in Slavonian. - _Silke_, ---- in Suio-Gothic and Icelandic[95]. - _Silcke_, ---- in Danish. - Siolc or Seolc, ---- in Anglo-Saxon. Also Siolcen or Seolcen, - silken; Eal, reolcen, _Holosericus_; - Seolcpynm, silk-worm[96]. - _Silk_, ---- in English[97] - _Sirig_, ---- in Welsh[98]. - - To the second set belong, - - _Seda_, silk, in the Latin of the middle ages. - _Seta_, ---- in Italian. - _Seide_, ---- in German. - _Side_, ---- in Anglo-Saxon. - Also Sidene, silken, Ælfric as quoted by - Lye; Sidpypm, silk-worm, Junius, l. c. - _Sidan_, ---- in Welsh. - _Satin_, ---- in French and English[99]. - - [95] _Silki trojo ermalausa_, a silk tunic without sleeves. Knitlynga - Saga, p. 114, as quoted by Ihre, Glossar. Suio-Goth. v. Armalausa. - - [96] Ælfric’s Glossary (made in the tenth century), p. 68. Appendix to - Sumner’s Dictionary. - - [97] Nicholas Fuller (Miscellanea, p. 248.) justly observes, Vocabulum - Anglicanum Selk non nisi Sericum authorem generis sui agnoscit. - Selk enim nuncupatum est quasi Selik pro Serik, literæ r in l - facili commutatione factâ. - - Minshew and Skinner give the same etymology. - - [98] Junius, Etymologicum, v. _Silk_. It appears doubtful, however, - whether Junius is here to be depended on. - - [99] Ménage, Diction. Etym. de la Langue Française, tom. ii. p. 457, - ed. Joult. - -According to Abel Rémusat (_Journal Asiat. l. c._) the merchandise -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 transported to the North. - -To the evidence now produced from _authors_ and _printed documents_ -respecting the history of silk from the earliest times to the period -of its universal extension throughout Europe, another species of proof -may be added, viz. that afforded by Relics 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 relics 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 cathedral of Bayeux, and worn -by the Bishop on certain annual festivals. They are of silk _interwoven -with gold_, and _adorned with pearls_[100]. - - [100] See John Spencer Smythe’s Description de la Chasuble de Saint - Regnobert, in the Procès Verbal de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, - Arts, et Belles Lettres, de la Ville de Caen, Séance d’Avril 14, - 1820. - -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 library -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 confidence be -looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of silk 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 Europe[101]. The Danish -kings began to use silk to append the waxen seals to their charters -about the year 1000[102]. - - [101] Mabillon, de Re Diplomaticâ, l. ii. cap. 19. § 6. - - [102] Diplomatarium Arna-Magnæanum, a Thorkelin, tom. i. p. xliv. - -V. Silk, 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, which 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 -library collected 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 splendid, it enables us -to judge of the use made of all the most valuable stuffs and materials -which could be employed for this purpose, and under the head of silk we -find the following: “soie,” silk; “veluyau,” velvet; “satanin,” satin; -“damas,” damask; “taffetas,” taffetas; “camocas;” “cendal;” and “drap -d’or,” cloth of gold, having probably a basis or ground of silk[103]. - -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 appropriate design; each -flower, leaf, and device having a significant meaning with reference -to the festival to which the vestment belonged. Such was the extreme -beauty of the English vestments in the reign of Henry III., that -Innocent IV. forwarded bulls to many English bishops, enjoining them to -send a certain quantity of embroidered vestments to Rome, for the use -of the clergy[104]. - - [103] See Inventaire de l’Ancienne Bibliothèque du - Louvre, fait en l’année 1373. Paris, 1836, 8vo. - - [104] The 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 practised now. Embroiderers formerly composed - a great portion of the working population 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, Prévot - de Paris, under their respective names of “Brodeurs, Découpeurs, - Egratigneurs, and Chasubliers.” - - 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 Germans, 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 interwoven - with gold used at the obsequies of Nero--Babylonian shawls intermixed - with gold--Silk shawls interwoven with gold--Figured cloths of gold - and Tyrean 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 Babylonish coverlet--Portrait of Constantius II.--Magnificence - of Babylonian carpets, 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[105]. The sacred historian goes so far as to describe the 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 historian 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[106].” Homer mentions a golden - girdle, (Od. ε. 232. κ. 543.). He also describes an upper garment, - which Penelope made for Ulysses before going to Illium. 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.” This, he says, was - the subject of universal admiration[107]. - - [105] “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 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. - - [106] “The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of - wrought gold.”--Ps. xlv. 13. - - [107] Od. τ. 225-235. - -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 cyclic poet, observes that the -Lydians were supplied with gold from the sands of the Pactolus and the -Hermus[108]. - - [108] De Magistratibus Rom. L. iii. § 64. - -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[109]. In all these instances the reference is to the habits of -Phœnice, Lycia, or other parts of Asia. - - [109] Æin. iii. 483.; iv. 264.; viii. 167.; xi. 75. - -Among all the Asiatics, none were more remarkable than 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 (_Strabo_, L. xv. _c._ i. § 69.); and the Periegesis (_l._ -881.) of Priscian attributes the use of it to the Arabians[110]. - - [110] 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. - -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 Persepolis[111]. - - [111] _Diod. Sic._ L. xvii. 70. _p._ 214. _Wessel._ - -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 advanced to oppose Alexander, was the band of ten thousand -called the Immortals, whose dress was carried 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 Rollin’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, drawn by white horses and followed by one of an - extraordinary size, which they called “The horse of the sun.” 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 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 after these Darius attended - by his guards, seated on a chariot, as on a throne. The 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 with 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 - hung 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, whose lances were plated with silver, and tipped with gold. - After these marched 30,000 foot, the rear of the army, and, lastly, - 400 horses 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 attendants of both queens riding on horseback. Afterwards - came fifteen chariots, in which were the king’s children, and their - tutors. Next 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 the - 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, _interwoven -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 Philadelphus, 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 -marbles (No. xxii. 2.). Also the tent pitched by Arsace with hangings -of gold and purple tissues, and the robe of similar materials worn by -Arsace herself, as described by Heliodorus (_Æthiop._ 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_[112]. - - [112] Plutarch, Demet. 41. - -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_ (_Orat._ 24. _p._ 369. _ed._ Dindorf.). - -During the periods to which the preceding evidence has allusion, it is -not probable that cloth of gold was in use among the Greeks and Romans -except to a very limited extent. Nevertheless it does not appear to -have escaped the avidity for every species of excellence, which in -early times distinguished the inhabitants of Magna Græcia. For, when -Pythagoras became a teacher of wisdom and philosophy at Crotona, among -other lessons of frugality he persuaded the matrons to put off their -“golden garments” with other fashionable ornaments, and deposit them -in the temple of Juno as offerings to the goddess[113]. In a passage -attributed to Menander we meet with the mention of a “golden or purple -chlamys” as a suitable offering to the gods[114]. Hedylus of Samos, -a writer of the same age, describes a woman of loose morals, by name -Niconoe, as wearing a tunic striped with gold (_Brunck’s Analecta_, i. -483.). - - [113] Justin, L. XX. c. 4. - - [114] Menandri Reliquiæ, à Meineke, p. 306. Böckh, Gr. Trag. Principes, - p. 157. - -Attalus, king of Pergamus, is said by Pliny (L. viii. cap. 48.) to have -invented the art of embroidering with gold thread[115]. Nevertheless -we have seen, that gold was thus used long before the time of Attalus. -But there can be no doubt, that he established 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. - - [115] See Appendix A. - -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 Attalic stuffs, the gold is woven 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. - -Caligula once wore a tunic interwoven with gold. Heliogabalus was -far more profuse in regard to this kind of splendor. White sheets, -_interwoven with gold_, were used at the funeral obsequies of -Nero[116]. 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 themselves with the other also. On the contrary, -Alexander Severus, as we shall show when treating of linen in Part IV., -was economical in both these respects. - - [116] Suetonius, Nero, 50. - -In Chapters II. and III., we quoted 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 interwoven with gold, as belonging to Bacchus.--_Met._ iii. -556. - -Publius Syrus was a writer of the same period. In the following -fragment preserved by Petronius Arbiter, he compares the train of the -peacock to Babylonian stuffs enriched with gold and various colors: - - Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train, - As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather’d gold! - -Shawls, interwoven with gold, are mentioned by Galen[117], and by -Valerius Flaccus[118]; 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_! - - [117] Quoted in Chapter II. - - [118] Auro depicta chlamys. - -The following passages also contain evidence on the same subject. - - -SENECA, THE PHILOSOPHER. - - As yet figured cloths did not exist: gold was not woven, it was not - even extracted from the ground.--_Epist._ 91. - - -LUCIAN - -describes the tragic actors, when they performed the part of kings, as -wearing a chlamys interwoven with gold[119]. - - [119] Somnium, vol. ii. p. 742. ed. Hemsterhusii. - -APULEIUS. - - They carefully spread over the couches, cloths figured with gold and - Tyrian purple.--_Met._ - - -PHILOSTRATUS - -depicts Midas wearing a golden robe[120]. - - [120] Imag. i. 22. - -NEMESIANUS. - - In thy 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 Greece[121]. - -This is the _first_ passage since the time of Homer, which mentions -Greece as concerned in weaving with gold. But Ausonius 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 “Attalicæ -vestes[122].” - -When Ausonius was appointed Consul at Rome A. D. 379, his friend -and former pupil, the 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. - - [121] Epigram 37. - - [122] “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 which account - cloths so embroidered have been called _Phrygionic_. In the same - part of Asia king Attalus 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_ (the - polymita were damask cloths), was _first_ taught in Alexandria; to - divide by squares (_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 (about - $30,000), although the emperor Nero lately gave for them no less - than 4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000). The _prætextæ_ of - Servius Tullius, 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 moths during - the space of 560 years.”--_Plin. H. N._ viii. 64. (See Appendix A.) - - -CLAUDIAN - -mentions with delight 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 testimony 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 with gold as part of his imperial -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 - tantummodo, quibus hoc propter Imperiale ministerium concessum est. - _Corpus Juris Civilis_, tom. 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 official character as -being in the service of the emperor. In allusion to these or similar -regulations, Ælius Lampridius (34) says of the emperor Alexander -Severus, - - Auratam vestem ministerium nullus vel in publico convivio habuit. - -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 Persepolis. It was -by means of the Babylonian manufactures, 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[123]. Next to carpets -and shawls, the Babylonian garments called _Sindones_ were held in the -highest estimation. The most costly _Sindones_, 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 lives. - - [123] “When I saw among the 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. - - -[Illustration: - -_Plate II_ - - _From Champollion_ - -EGYPTIAN LOOMS, - -with the processes of Spinning and Winding.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -SILVER TEXTURES, &c., 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-goods--Beautiful manuscript - of Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, who lived in the ninth - century--Extraordinary beauty of Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, and other - manufactured goods preserved in this manuscript--Egyptian arts--Wise - regulations of the Egyptians in relation to the arts--Late discoveries - in Egypt 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 Tyre and Sidon, sitting in great state upon his -throne at Cæsarea. “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 -immediately 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 beholders, so that his flatterers began to -call out aloud, saluting him as a god. _He was then seized with the -painful and loathsome distemper, of which he soon after died[124]._ - - [124] _Ant. Jud._ L. xix. _cap._ 8. § 2. p. 871. _Hudson_. - -We extract the following curious account of the discovery of Ancient -Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs from a late number of an English -publication called the “Mining Review.” - -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 Velay a beautiful manuscript, containing the -ancient Testament, the chronography of St. Isidor, and other pieces, -the whole distributed into 138 articles; which he presented in token -of gratitude for his deliverance from the prison of Angers, where 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 Catholic church _has since then_ introduced into -its ceremonies. This precious manuscript, 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 style_.” The manuscript, 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 characters (which, in time, would have tended to displace -and obliterate 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[125]. Till lately, little attention was paid to -these tissues, which are principally of India manufacture, bearing -scarcely _any analogy_ to the products of the _modern loom_. Some are -CASHMERE SHAWLS of those patterns, which the French call _broucha_ -and _espouline_, and are made in the Indian fashion, but with this -difference, that they are limited to _four_ colors, and demonstrate -the greatest antiquity by the primitive simplicity of their 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 limited to four colors, which -are in fact the _four sacred ones of China_, _India_, _Egypt_, and the -_Hebrew 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 little -alteration which has taken place in the economy or machinery of the -factories, as well as in their product, has been recently demonstrated -in the great work of Champollion. 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 overburthened population of Lower Egypt, to found -Athens, and the subsequent civilization of Europe), are laid open with -vivid accuracy in that splendid work[126], and brought with all their -startling 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 new under the sun_.” - - [125] A shred of gold cloth is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities - at Leyden, which is supposed to have been discovered in one of the - ancient tombs at Tarquinia in Etruria. In this tissue the gold - forms a compact covering over bright yellow silk. - - [126] See Plate II. - -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 “wisdom 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 resort thither to collect some of the “droppings of -Egyptian wisdom.” According to Diodorus, all trades vied with each -other in improving their own particular branch, no pains being spared -to bring each to perfection. To promote the more effectually this -object, it was enacted that no artisan should follow any trade or -employment but that defined bylaw, and _pursued by his ancestors_. No -tradesman was permitted to meddle with political affairs, or hold any -civil office in the state, _lest his thoughts should be distracted by -the inconsistency of his pursuits_, 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 consequence of -the necessity or desire of becoming conspicuous in a public station; -that their proper occupations would be neglected, and many would be -led by _vanity_ and _self-sufficiency_ to interfere in matters which -were out of their sphere. They considered, moreover, that to pursue -more than one avocation would be detrimental to their own interests, -and those of the community 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 -inflicted upon him. - -The eminent German hierologist, Dr. Lepsius, now employed in Egypt by -the Prussian government, after mentioning, in a recent letter, the many -discoveries he had made of ancient ruins, tombs, &c., writes 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 building of the great pyramid, and consequently their dates throw -an invaluable light on the study of human civilization in the most -remote period of antiquity. The _sculptures_ in relief are surprisingly -numerous, representing whole figures, some the size of life, 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 finished yesterday_! The pictures and -sculptures on the walls of the tombs, represent, for the most part, -scenes in the lives of the deceased persons, whose wealth in cattle, -fish-boats, servants, &c., is ostentatiously displayed before the eye -of the spectator. All this gives an insight into the details of private -life 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[127]. In some instances I have traced the graves of -father, son, grandson, and even great-grandson--all that now remains of -the distinguished families, which five thousand years ago, formed the -nobility of the land.” - - [127] 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 century, 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 Britain, 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, &c., 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 - undulations, 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 be produced in twelve hours. - The work, however, is extremely beautiful and comparatively cheap, - inasmuch as no similar stuff, where bullion is really introduced, - can be purchased for anything like the price for which this is - sold; added to this, it is, as far as the glass is concerned, - imperishable. Glass is more durable than either gold or silver, - and, besides, possesses the advantage of never tarnishing. - - - - -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, illustrative 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 Exuviæ--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 curious 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 various 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 - artificial 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 entertained by writers on this - subject--The silk-worm’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 life is spent. With regard to our own existence, -the pulsation of the heart, the act of respiration, the voluntary -movement of our limbs, the condition of sleep, are among the most -ordinary operations of our nature; and yet how long were the wisest -of men struggling with dark and bewildering speculations before they -could offer anything like a satisfactory solution of these phenomena, -and how far are we still from an accurate and complete knowledge 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 -complicated facts, such as the influence of heat and electricity upon -the air; and this knowledge is at present so imperfect, that even these -common occurrences of the weather, which men have been observing and -reasoning upon for ages, are by no means satisfactorily explained, 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 understanding has, therefore, remained -uninformed, it may 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 life, which it is the part of the physiologist to study and -admire[128]. - - [128] “Insect Architecture,” vol. i. p. 9. London: Charles Knight & - Co., Ludgate St. 1845. - -This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the economy 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 _caterpillar_ 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 ingenious and -laborious mechanic, 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 creatures is full of valuable lessons, -which the abundance of the examples has no tendency to diminish. The -more such observations are multiplied, the more we are led forward to -the freshest and the most delightful parts of knowledge; the more do -we learn to estimate rightly the extraordinary provisions and most -abundant resources of a creative Providence; and the better do we -appreciate our own relations with all the infinite varieties of Nature, -and our dependence, in common with the _ephemeron_ that flutters its -little 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 _fly_, a _gnat_, or a _bee_, your conversation will be a sort of -demonstration of his power whose hand formed them, for the wisdom of -the workman 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 granted that making discoveries is one of the most -satisfactory of human pleasures, then we may without hesitation affirm, -that the study of insects is one of the most delightful branches of -natural history, for it affords peculiar facilities for its pursuit. -These facilities are found in the almost inexhaustible 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 under 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 operations of that persecuted creature are among the -most extraordinary exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity; and a daily -watching of the workings of its instinct would beget admiration 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 accident -has made men Naturalists, in the highest meaning of the term. Bonnet, -evidently speaking of himself, says, “I knew a naturalist, who, when -he was seventeen years of age, having heard of the operations of the -ant-lion, began by doubting 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 Pliny of -France[129]” (Réaumur). 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 almost every one may acquire sufficient knowledge to -be able to derive a high gratification from beholding the more common -operations of animal life. His materials for contemplation are always -before him. - - [129] Contemplation de la Nature, part ii. ch. 42. - -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 successive -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 transformations, by the desire of satisfying -our curiosity as entomologists, but our artificial wants incite us -likewise to the study of its nature 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 writer 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 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 wraps 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 -beautiful comparison of the shortness of human life, as well as in -illustration of this part of our subject, as evidenced in the May-fly. - - “The 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 May-fly’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. - - And who shall say that his thread of years - Is a life more blest 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 child of the happy May? - - For thou wert born when the earth was clad - With her robe of buds and flowers, - And didst float about with a soul as glad - As a bird in the sunny showers; - And the hour of thy 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 born 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[130]! - - [130] “See,” exclaims Linnæus, “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 caterpillar, 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, sporting in - the air, and living by suction upon the honey of plants. What - has Nature produced more worthy 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 revival 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 sculptures as an emblem of - immortality. Trifling, therefore, and perhaps contemptible, as - to the unthinking may seem the study of a butterfly, yet when - we consider the art and mechanism displayed in so minute a - structure,--the fluids circulating 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 giving symmetry to - the human form.” - -Silk-worms proceed from eggs which are deposited during the summer by a -grayish kind of moth, of the genus palæna. These eggs are about equal -in size to a grain of mustard seed: their color when first laid is -yellow; but in three or four days after, they acquire a bluish cast. -In temperate climates, and by using proper precautions, these eggs may -be preserved during 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 with the time when the natural food -of the insect shall appear in ample abundance for its 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, according to the climate or -temperature in which its life is passed; all its vital functions being -quickened, and their duration proportionally abridged, by warmth. With -this sole variance, its progressions are alike in all climates, and the -same mutations accompany 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 transformations, the progress of the -silk-worm in its _caterpillar state_ is marked by _five distinct stages -of being_. - -When first hatched, it appears as a small black worm about a quarter -of an inch in length. Its first indication of animation is the desire -which it evinces for obtaining food, in search of which, if not -immediately supplied, 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 the generality 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 lives. -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 effort -necessary for changing its position, it will sometimes wander as far -as the edge of the tray wherein it is confined, and some few have been -found sufficiently adventurous to cling to its rim; but the smell of -fresh leaves will instantly allure them back. It would add incalculably -to the labors and cares of their attendants, if silk-worms were endowed -with a more rambling disposition. So useful is this peculiarity 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, which the student of natural 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 which so frequently attends -these sicknesses seems to afford a denial to this hypothesis. The -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 -embryos of other skins, destined to be successively called into use; -and this sickness of the worm, and its disinclination for food, 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 -circumstance which materially assists in the painful operation of -casting its skin: this it now proceeds to accomplish. To facilitate -this moulting, a sort of humor is thrown 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 preliminary steps seem to call for -some considerable exertion, as after them the worm remains quiet for a -short space of time, to recover 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, but 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 efforts 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 struggles 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. - -Worms newly freed from their exuviæ 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 increased to half an inch; when it -is attacked by a second sickness, 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 -inch: it then undergoes its third sickness and moulting. These being -past in all respects like the former, and five more days of feeding -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 membranous, flexible, and attached to the body under the rings, -being furnished with little hooks, which assist the insect in climbing. -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 considering the size of the insect. -Its mouth is peculiar, having a vertical instead of an horizontal -aperture; and the worm is furnished with eighteen breathing holes, -placed at equal distances down the body, nine on each side. Each of -these holes is supposed to be the termination of a particular organ of -respiration. 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 the 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 appearance of the leaves -nibbled into small portions and wasted. It soon after entirely ceases -even to touch the leaves; 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 glossiness, 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 in size. - -“The substance,” says Mr. Porter, “of which the silk is composed, _is -secreted in the form of a fine yellow transparent gum in two separate -vessels of slender dimensions, wound, as it were, on two spindles in -the stomach; and if unfolded, these vessels would be about ten inches -in length_[131].” This statement is proved to be erroneous, as the -reader will perceive, at the conclusion of this chapter. - - [131] Porter’s “Treatise on the Silk Manufacture,” p. 111. - -When the worm has 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 irregular 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 and consistent yellow -ball; the laborer, of course, always remaining on the inside of the -sphere which it is forming[132]. - - [132] 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 occurrence, - that the preparatory threads before mentioned are broken by another - worm working in the neighborhood, when the same unsatisfactory - result will be experienced.--_Obs. on the Culture of Silk_, _by_ A. - STEPHENSON. - -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 together 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 -filaments. The filament is not wound in regular concentric circles -round the interior surface of the ball, but in spots, going backwards -and forwards with a sort of wavy motion. This apparently 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 reel[133]. - - [133] Mr. Robinet, of Paris, made the following curious calculation - on the movements 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 interior 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 filament; it follows that the worm must make 300,000 - motions of its head to form it; and if the labor requires 72 hours - in the performance, the creature makes 100,000 motions every 24 - hours, 4,166 per hour, 69 per minute, and a little more than one in - a second! - -At the end of the third or fourth day, the worm will have completed -its task; and we have then a _silk cocoon_ (See Figure 3. Plate III.), -with the worm imprisoned in its centre; the 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 peculiar 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 chrysalis 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 likewise 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 dwelling of -the chrysalis impervious to moisture. This office it performs 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 bladders; nor, unless the ball be imperfectly -formed, does the water penetrate within until the silk is nearly all -unwound. In figure 4, plate III., the cocoons are drawn two-thirds -of the usual size, and are shown with part of the outward floss silk -removed. - -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 approach 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 -Figure 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 silk-worm -shows, that, in its various modifications, _the animal organization of -the insect has been always tending towards its simplification_. Count -Dandolo, writing upon this subject, observes, “Thus the caterpillar -is in the first instance composed 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 caterpillar_: and lastly, it is reduced to the animal particles -alone; and is termed in this state the _chrysalis_. The poet Cowper, in -the following lines, 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 next 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 insects are -accelerated by an increase of temperature; and some variation will -equally be experienced where different modes of treatment are followed; -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, 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 attack; 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 which 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 excitement 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 experiment, 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 attendant circumstances were the same -as in his former experiment, 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 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 completing their third 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 -therefore 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 cultivation 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 abundant 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 common 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 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 will 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 lifelessness_, -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 the 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 -unwound, their continuity is by this means rarely broken. - -One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with 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 understanding of the subject, and to the consequent -improvement of the processes employed, had patience enough to count -and 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[134], 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 multiplied more than _fourteen -times_. After the second change 610 worms weigh an ounce, their weight -being increased in the intermediate time six fold. In the week passed -between the second and third ages, the number of insects required to -make up the same weight, decreases from 610 to 144, their weight being -therefore more than quadrupled. During the fourth age, a similar rate -of increase is maintained: thirty-five worms now weigh an ounce. The -fifth age of the caterpillar comprises nearly a third part of its brief -existence, and has been described, by an enthusiastic writer on the -subject, as the happiest period of its life, during which it rapidly -increases in size, preparing 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_. - - [134] 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. - -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 diminishes in weight; being supported by its -own substance, and 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 solidity 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 _à -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 _instantly_ acquire such a consistence as to bear the weight of -the animal suspended by it, and at the same time that it is rapidly -produced? 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 arrest its issue, -holding on only by the thread itself, for it cannot pinch the thread, -seeing that it is only in a liquid 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 little examination -would satisfy us that silk cannot be produced in this manner, but that -it is secreted in the _form of silk_ in the silk vessels, and that -the spinning apparatus _only winds it_. The thread is produced in the -slender posterior 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 (_Bombex mori_) 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. - -‘_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 -on the back and extract the silk vessels, there being one on each side -of the alimentary canal. Take them up by the hinder end, just where -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 original 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 enveloped in a golden yellow gummy matter, forming the -glutinous 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 substance 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 -split it by drawing it transversely, _the little filaments 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 lines 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-- - 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 worm!” - - 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 that 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!” - -[Illustration: - -_Plate III_ - -Silk-Worm, Cocoons, Chrysalis, Moths and Pinna.] - - - - -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-worm--Precautions observed - in preserving cleanliness--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 experiments 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 quantity 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 - dependence 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 mulberry-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 “Illustrations of -Husbandry and Weaving[135],” there are numerous wood-cuts, accompanied -by letter-press explanatory of the different processes of farming and -the silk-manufacture. The former head is confined to the production -of rice, the staple article 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. - - [135] The drawing, plate I. (Frontispiece) is a faithful copy of a loom - represented in this curious work. For this representation of - a Chinese weaving engine, as well as several translations, - explanatory of the silk-manufacture, &c., we are indebted to Walter - Lowry, Esq., Sec. to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in - this city; who kindly permitted us to copy it from the original - plate, forming a part of the interesting work above referred - to, which is composed of seventy-five volumes, and was, as we - understand, presented to the Board by a New York merchant. Many of - the illustrations are extremely beautiful, reflecting the highest - credit upon the artisans of the “Celestial Empire.” - -The mulberry-tree is chiefly cultivated in Chĕ-kiang, which -province, together with the only three others that produce fine -silk, namely, Kiang-nân, Woo-pĕ, and Sze-chuen, is crossed by the -_thirtieth_ parallel of latitude. Chĕ-kiang is a country highly -alluvial, intersected by numerous rivers and canals, with a climate -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 with ashes or dung; and the spaces between the trees -are generally filled with millet, pulse, or other articles of food. The -time for pruning the young trees, so as to produce fine leafy shoots, -is at the commencement 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 essential oils. - -The young trees of course suffer 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 endeavor in part to counteract -the evil effect, by pruning and lopping the tree, so as to diminish the -wood when the leaves have been gathered. It is surprising, however, to -observe how soon a tree in those climates will recover its leaves in -the summer or autumn, after having been entirely stripped of them by a -typhoon 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 exceed a certain age and -height. They are planted on the plan of a quincunx[136], and said to be -in perfection in about three years. - - [136] In _gardening_, the _quincunx_ order is a plantation of trees - disposed in a square, consisting of five trees, one at each corner - 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. - -Mr. Barrow, who observed the management of the trees and silk-worms -in Chĕ-kiang, confirms the usual Chinese accounts, by saying that -“the houses in which the worms 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 -thunder-storm.” - -Some notion of the extent of the care required in the management of the -worms may be formed from the following extract, 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 creatures; even the barking of -dogs, &c., is capable of throwing them into the utmost disorder. - -For the purpose of paying them every attention an affectionate mother -is provided, who is careful to supply their wants; she is called -_Isan-mon_, ‘mother of the worms.’ She takes possession of the chamber, -but not before she has washed herself and put on clean clothes, which -have not the least repulsive smell; she must not have eaten anything -immediately before, or handled any wild succory, the smell of which is -very prejudicial. She must be clothed in a plain habit, without any -lining, 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 manner, the four -seasons; the morning being the Spring; the middle of the day: Summer; -the evening: Autumn; and the night, Winter. - -The chambers are so contrived as to admit of the use of artificial 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 temperature of the apartments. The worms -are fed upon a species of small hurdles of basket-work, strewed with -leaves, which are constantly shifted for the sake of cleanliness, the -insects readily moving off to a fresh hurdle with new leaves, as the -scent attracts 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 attain their -greatest size. When they have cast their several skins, reached their -greatest size, and assumed a transparent yellowish color, they are -removed to places divided into compartments, preparatory to casting -forth their silken filaments. - -In the course of a week after the commencement of this operation, the -cocoons are complete, and it now becomes necessary to take them in -hand before the pupæ turn into _moths_, which would immediately bore -their way out, and spoil the cocoons. When a certain number, 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 -_mulberry-tree_ should first engage the attention of the cultivator, -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 the climate is favorable -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 mutations among the -branches, uncontrolled by the hand and unassisted by the cares of man. -As soon, however, as the silken balls have been constructed, they are -appropriated by the universal usurper, who spares only the few required -to reproduce their numbers, and thus furnish him with successive -harvests[137]. - - [137] Mons. Marteloy of Montpelier, who made many experiments upon - the rearing 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 belonging to the Jesuits’ - college at Montpelier. The whole was placed under the direction of - Mons. Marteloy, who had 1200 livres assigned to him to defray the - necessary 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 experiment 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 throughout Languedoc.--_Obs. on the Culture - of Silk_, _by_ A. STEPHENSON. - -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 the too early -hatching of the eggs, to which the nature of the climate 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 windows 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 portion 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 -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 transmitted to them through the paper. In the evening -the sheets are rolled closely up and placed in a warm situation. -The same proceeding is repeated on the following day, when the eggs -assume 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 preserved, 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 always 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. The Chinese believe that the -growth of silk-worms is accelerated, 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 lighted 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 gradually reduce the number of meals as the worms -grow older. It deserves to be remarked as a fact unnoticed in Natural -Theology, 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 will partake of the same food; thus ensuring a certain supply -for the little spinster. - -Many persons believe 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 establishment, “on the side on which the -sun shone directly on the hurdles, the silk-worms were stronger and -more numerous 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 worms 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[138]. To the bad effects thus -arising from the exclusion 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. - - [138] “There is in the order of nature a certain, and very surprising - fact; when 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 - immense 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 size 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 bottle and introduce a - lighted taper in it; this done, the light will become brighter, - whiter, and larger, which proves that the vital air contained in - the bottle has increased by that which has disengaged itself from - the leaves: to demonstrate this phenomenon more clearly, a taper - may be put in a similar bottle, that only contains 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 less withered and dry according - to the liquid they have lost. In another similar bottle place an - ounce of leaves, and cork it exactly like the former; place it - in obscurity, 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 lighted 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 DANDOLO’S _Treatise on the Art of Rearing Silk-worms_, - _p._ 144. - -An almost incredible quantity of fluid is constantly disengaged by -evaporation from the bodies of the insects; and if means 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 deterioration of the air which the worms must inhale, -may be termed a continual conspiracy against their health and life; -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 collected -in heaps; those which are designed to continue the breed being first -selected and set apart on hurdles, in a dry and airy situation. The -next care, is to destroy the vitality 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 January, 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 which 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 darkened -color being thought more acceptable to the insect. If out of a batch, -there should be but few males; 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 attract these rapacious insects in large numbers, -when they are destroyed with fire; a process which needs to be repeated -several 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 slippery 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 -protected 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 crowding the worms, which is most injudicious, rendering -it impossible to wind off their silk in continuous threads, as in the -filatures of Italy, France, and even Bengal. The silk is, therefore, -spun like flax, instead 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 - In 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 -quality of which shows whether they have come down for want of leaves -on the tree, or from their having ceased 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 from incinerated 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 unwound; 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 _Koutkuri mooga_ is of the size of a fowl’s egg. It -is a wild species, and affords filaments much valued for fishing-lines. - -“The _Arrindy_, 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 _Palma christi_ 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 with 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 suspended above the -ground, beneath which a mat is laid to receive them when they fall. -When they cease to feed, they are thrown into baskets full of dry -leaves, among which they form their cocoons, two or three being often -discovered joined together. - -“The _Saturnia trifenestrata_ has a yellow cocoon of a remarkably -silky lustre. It lives on the soom-tree in Assam, but seems not to be -much used.” - -The second article is from the pen of Dr. Helfer, upon those wild -silk-worms which are indigenous to India. Besides the _Bombyx -mori_, the Doctor enumerates the following seven species, formerly -unknown:--1. “The wild silk-worm of the central provinces, a moth not -larger than the _Bombyx mori_.” 2. “The Joree silk-worm of Assam, -_Bombyx religiosæ_, which spins a cocoon of a fine filament, with much -lustre. It lives upon the pipul tree (_Ficus religiosa_), which abounds -in India, and ought therefore to be turned to account in breeding this -valuable moth.” 3. “_Saturnia silhetica_, which inhabits the cassia -mountains in Silhet and Dacca, where its large cocoons are spun into -silk.” 4. “A still larger _Saturnia_, one of the greatest moths in -existence, measuring _ten inches_ from the _one end of the wing to the -other_[139]; observed by Mr. Grant, in _Chirra punjee_”. 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 -annually collected in the jungles, and brought to the silk factories -near Calcutta and Bhagelpur. It feeds most commonly on the hair-tree -(_Zizyphus jujuba_), but it prefers the _Terminalia alata_, or Assam -tree, and the _Bombax heptaphyllum_. It is called _Koutkuri mooga_, in -Assam.” 6. “Another _Saturnia_, from the neighborhood of Comercolly.” -7. “_Saturnia assamensis_, with a cocoon of a yellow-brown color, -different 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 villages. 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 -February; 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.” - - [139] See p. 40. Also p. 54. footnote [63] - -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 resulting from the acceleration; as the insects consume as -much food during their shorter period of life, as is assigned to the -longer-lived 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 -communication from Dr. Stebbins of Northampton, Mass[140]., to the -Editor of the American Agriculturalist, as having some bearing upon the -present subject. - - [140] See Chapter XIII. p. 211. - - “As requested, I forward you a sketch of Mr. Gill’s cradle for feeding - silk-worms, (It is not necessary for us to give a drawing 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 mulberry, (in all, ten 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 worms. The mulberries consist of the white, black, alpine, - broosa, moretta, alata, multicaulis, Asiatic, and large-leaf Canton. - The two latter I prefer for my own use--the Canton for early feeding - with foliage, and the Asiastic for branch feeding. The Canton is highly - approved of for producing 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. Bridgman, 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 quality. - - “From an elevated plat near my cocoonery, you had a view of our - extensive meadows spread out at the foot of Mount Holyoke. 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 completed, 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, covered 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, destroying garden vegetables, and - injuring some early mulberry foliage; 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 departure, - I received a letter from a distant silk grower, a staunch promoter - of the _one early_ and _open_ crop system, that, on account 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 foliage 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 large Asiatics - to be used for making _bark-silk_, in addition 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 endeavoring to have it tested here, by subjecting both stalk - and peeled bark to the operation of steaming with soap and water, to - facilitate 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 XI.). Hopes are entertained that what has been done may be done - again; that Yankee ingenuity and perseverance may prove a match for - foreign cheap labor(?). - - “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--Vide 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 inquiry - for some easy mode to separate the bark of the mulberry from the wood, - an _historical fact_ has been recently communicated(?); 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 - superior strength of the fibrous bark over that of other materials used - for cordage[141]. - - “Under date of June 6, 1844, I have been favored with a letter from - the president of one of the most eminent literary institutions of our - country, who expresses his opinion of the progress of silk culture as - follows: - - ‘I am gratified to find a renewed and more general interest excited - at the present time. If this awaking up to a scientific and practical - consideration of the subject is not soon crowned 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 - ultimate 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 mulberry 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 - applied 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 foliage. - - “The soil is a light 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 - tender, that in some measure it is hoped, they may answer the purpose - of seedling foliage, so highly recommended by M. Frassinet, 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 XI.). 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. - Rouviere 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 in the manufacture of - paper, together with the foliage. - - “The Canton and Asiatic seed sown this year are in a flourishing - condition for plantation use, exclusive of several mulberry plantations - which will be for rent, or growing silk on shares, next spring. Up to - the first of July, worms have been uncommonly healthy--the probable - effect of more open ventilation than in former years. - - “Mr. Dabney, consul at Fayal, (now in Boston) has two millions of worms - at present on feed. S. Whitmarsh, at Jamaica, has 360 of what he calls - _creolized 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 interest in England for its prosperity and success.” - - D. Stebbins. - - Northampton, Mass., _July_, 1844. - - [141] 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.) - -We will now conclude this Chapter with Dr. Bowling’s admirable -illustration, of the mutual dependence of the arts upon each other:-- - - “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 laboriously 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 usefulness; 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 instrument 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 coffin - 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 cocoon, 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 ship-building, and all its marvellous combinations.--Some - wandering merchant probably conveyed 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 various - the materials which that ship required for its construction, before - the products of that remote country are brought to their ultimate - markets for manufacture. 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.”--BOWRING’S _Lecture at the Poplar - Institution_. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE SPIDER. - - -ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE SILKEN FILAMENTS FROM SPIDERS. - - Structures of spiders--Spiders not properly insects, and - why--Apparatus for spinning--Extraordinary number of - spinnerules--Great number of filaments composing one thread--Réaumur - and Leeuwenhoeck’s laughable estimates--Attachment 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. Experiments of Mr. Blackwall--His account of the - ascent of gossamer--6. Experiments by Rennie--Thread supposed - to go off double--Subsequent experiments--Nests, Webs, and Nets - of Spiders--Elastic satin nest of a spider--Evelyn’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 establishment by M. - Réaumur--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--Proceedings - of a spider in a steamboat--Addison--His suggestions on the - compilation of a “History of Insects.” - -Of spiders there are many species; most of them extend their labors no -farther 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.[142] - - [142] Don Luis Nee observed on certain trees growing in Chilpancingo, - Tixtala in South America, ovate nests of caterpillars, eight - inches long, which the inhabitants manufacture into stockings and - handkerchiefs.--Annals of Botany, 2d, p. 104. - -Modern naturalists do not rank spiders among insects, because they -have no antennæ, and no division between the head and shoulders. They -breathe by leaf-shaped gills, situated under the belly, 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, &c., 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[143]. - - [143] Porter’s “Treatise on the Silk Manufacture,” p. 168. - -Some species of spiders are known to possess the power of not merely -forming a web, but 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 caterpillars. Caterpillars have only two reservoirs -for the materials of their silk; but the spider spins minute fibres -from fine papillæ, or small nipples placed in the hinder part of its -body. These papillæ 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 material. Swammerdam describes them as -twisted into many coils of an agate color[144]. We do not find them -coiled, but nearly straight, and of a deep yellow color. From these, -when broken, threads can be drawn out like those spun by the spider, -though we cannot draw them so fine by many degrees. - - [144] Hill’s Swammerdam, part i. p. 23. - -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 spinnerets, which may be seen by the -naked eye in the form of five little teats surrounded by a small -circle, as represented in Fig. 8. Plate IV.; this figure shows the -garden spider (_Epeira diadema_) suspended by a thread proceeding from -its spinneret. - -We have seen that 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 example, 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 -spinnerets 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 _spinnerules_, as each is connected with 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 remarkable multiplicity of the spinnerules of spiders, -so different from the simple spinneret of caterpillars. To us it -appears an admirable provision for their mode of life. Caterpillars -neither require such strong materials, nor that their thread should -dry as quickly. 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 instance 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. In the figure the threads are, -of course, greatly magnified, so that, for the small space represented, -the lines are shown as parallel. The threadlets, or filaments as they -come from the papillæ, 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 papillæ. 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 papillæ 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 number 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. - -Réaumur 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 believed himself to be -far within the limit of truth in computing that the tip of _each_ of -the five papillæ 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 observations -on a young spider, not bigger than a grain of sand, upon enumerating -the threadlets in one of its threads, calculated that it would require -_four 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 -object, 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 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 wings, transport themselves from tree -to tree, across brooks, and frequently through the air itself, without -any apparent starting point. On looking into the authors who have -treated upon this subject, it is surprising how little 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 unlearning error, we the more firmly establish truth_. - -1. One of the earliest notions upon this subject is that of Blancanus, -the commentator on Aristotle, which is partly adopted by Redi, by -Henricus Regius of Utrecht, by Swammerdam[145], by Lehmann, as well as -by Kirby and Spence[146]. “The spider’s thread,” says Swammerdam, “is -generally made up of two or more parts, and after descending by such a -thread, it ascends 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 -(_Epeira diadema_) upon a stick about a foot long, set upright in a -vessel containing water.... 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 adhering by the other end to the top of -the stick, floated in the air, and was so light 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 contact. I, therefore, twisted -it once or twice round the pencil, and then drew it tight. The spider, -which had previously climbed to the top of the stick, immediately -pulled at it with one of its feet, and finding it sufficiently tense, -crept along it, strengthening it as it proceeded by another thread, and -thus reached the pencil.” - - [145] Swammerdam, part i. p. 24. - - [146] Intr. vol. i. p. 415. - -1. “We have repeatedly witnessed this occurrence,” says Mr. Rennie, -“in the fields, and when spiders were placed for experiment, 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 artificially fixed and again accidentally -found by the spider. According to our observations, a spider never for -an instant, abandons, the thread which she dispatches in quest of an -attachment, 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 breaking 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, therefore, some other process must have been -used[147].” - - [147] Kirby and Spence, vol. i. Intr. p. 416. - -2. The celebrated English 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 that porcupines do their quills[148]; -that whereas the quills of the latter 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 body[149].” A French -periodical writer goes a little farther, and says, that spiders have -the power of shooting out threads, _and directing them at pleasure -towards a determined point_, judging of the distance and position -of the object by some sense of which we are ignorant[150]. Kirby -also says, that he once observed a small garden spider (_Aranea -reticulata_) “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 thread[151].” 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 -becomes vertical, _shoots its thread_ into the air, and flies off from -its station[152].” - - [148] Porcupines do not shoot out their quills, as was once generally - believed. - - [149] Lister, Hist. Animalia Angliæ, 4to. p. 7. - - [150] Phil. Mag. ii. p. 275. - - [151] Vol. i. Intr. p. 417. - - [152] Ibid. ii. p. 339. - -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 their webs, and mounting aloft: they -will go off from the finger, if you take them into your hand. Last -summer, one alighted on my book as I was reading in the parlor; ran -to the top of the page, and _shooting out a web_, took its departure -from thence. But what I most wondered at, was, that it went off with -considerable velocity in a place where no air was stirring; and I am -sure I did not assist it with my breath[153].” - - [153] Nat. Hist. of Selborne, vol. i. p. 327. - -“Having so often witnessed,” says Mr. Rennie, “the thread set afloat -in the air by spiders, we can readily conceive the way in which -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 shall 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 -operations[154]?’” The opinion, indeed, is equally improbable with -another suggested by Dr. Lister, that the spider can retract her thread -within the abdomen, after it has been emitted[155]. De Geer[156] 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 material to escape, or stopping it -at pleasure, but this is not projectile. - - [154] Book of Nature, part i. p. 25. - - [155] Hist. Anim. Anglæ, 4to. - - [156] Mémoires, vol. vii. p. 189. - -3. “There are many people,” says the Abbé 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 body, 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 place[157].” -Without pretending to have observed this, Swammerdam says, “I can -easily comprehend how spiders, without giving themselves any motion, -may, by only compressing their spinnerets, force out a thread, which -being driven by the wind, may serve to waft them from place to -place[158].” 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 _draws out_ several other threads from the nipples, which, being -lengthened out and driven by the wind to some neighboring tree or other -object, are by their natural clamminess fixed to it[159].” - - [157] Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i. - - [158] Book of Nature, pt. i. p. 25. - - [159] Animal Biography, vol. iii. p. 475, 3d edition. - -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 upon any object. The notion -of her pressing the spinneret with her feet must be a mere fancy; at -least it is not countenanced by anything which we have observed. - -4. An opinion much 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 affected -by natural electricity, and feel the change of weather; 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 -spins a long thread, there is a certainty of fine weather for at least -ten or twelve days afterwards_[160].” A periodical writer, who signs -himself Carolan[161], 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. - - [160] Brez, Flore des Insectophiles. Notes, Supp. p. 134. - - [161] Thomson’s Ann. of Philosophy, vol. iii. p. 306. - -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 aëronautic 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 aërial traveller 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 intermingle, and when a pencil -of threads is propelled, it ever presents the appearance of a divergent -brush. These are electrical phenomena, and cannot be explained but on -electrical principles.” - -“In clear, fine weather, the air is invariably positive; and it is -precisely in such weather that the aëronautic spider makes its ascent -most easily and rapidly, whether it be in summer or winter.” “When the -air is weakly positive, the ascent of the spider will be difficult, and -its altitude extremely limited, and the threads propelled will be but -little elevated above the horizontal 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[162].” - - [162] Loudon’s Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 322. - -Mr. Murray tells us, that “when a stick of excited sealing-wax 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 aëronautic spider[163].” His -friend, Mr. Bowman, further describes the aërial spider as “shooting -out four or five, often six or eight, extremely fine webs several -yards long, which waved in the breeze, diverging from each other like -a pencil of rays.” One of them “had two distinct and widely diverging -fasciculi of webs,” and “a line uniting them would have been at right -angles to the direction of the breeze[164].” - - [163] Experim. Researches in Nat. Hist., p. 136. - - [164] Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 324. - -“Such is the chief evidence in support of the electrical theory,” says -Mr. Rennie; “but though we have tried these experiments, 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. Blackwall, ‘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. Whenever 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 slight as scarcely to be perceptible, and elevating -the abdomen, they emitted from their spinners a small portion of -glutinous matter, which was instantly carried out in a line, consisting -of four finer ones, with a velocity equal, or nearly so, to that with -which the air moved, as was apparent from observations made on the -motion of detached lines 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 result 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 -little more of their liquid 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, therefore, to put a -bell-glass over them; and in this situation they remained seventeen -days, evidently unable to produce a single line by which they could -quit the branch they occupied, without encountering 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 several geometric -spiders, and always with the same success[165].’” - - [165] Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 456. - -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 inch[166].” -The following details are given in confirmation of this opinion. Mr. -Blackwall observed, the 1st of Oct., 1826, a little 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 phenomenon because -on the previous day a strong gale of wind had blown from the south, -and as gossamer is only seen in calm weather, it must have been all -produced within a very short time. - - [166] Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 397. - -“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 measuring upwards of a yard in length, and several inches -in breadth in the widest part; while others were 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 together, till, by continual additions, -they were accumulated into flakes or masses of considerable magnitude, -on which the ascending current, occasioned by the rarefaction of the -air contiguous 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 falling; but scarcely one in twenty contained a spider: -though, on minute inspection, I found small winged insects, chiefly -_aphides_, entangled in most of them. - -“From contemplating this unusual display of gossamer, my thoughts were -naturally directed to the animals which produced it, and the countless -myriads in which they swarmed almost created as much surprise as the -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, &c., 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 almost perpendicular, they emitted from -their spinning apparatus a small quantity of the glutinous secretion -with which they construct their webs_. This viscous substance being -drawn out by the ascending current of rarefied air into fine lines -several feet in length, was carried upward, until the spiders, feeling -themselves acted upon with sufficient force in that direction, quitted -their hold of the objects on which they stood, and commenced their -journey by mounting aloft. - -“Whenever the lines 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 of legs, and the proceedings just described -were repeated; which plainly proves that these operations result from -a strong desire felt by the insects to effect an ascent[167].” Mr. -Blackwall has recently read a paper (still unpublished) in the Linnæan -Society, confirmatory of his opinions. - - [167] Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 453. - -6. “Without going into the particulars,” says Mr. Rennie, “of what -agrees or disagrees in the above experiments 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 different soever the form of their webs may be, proceed -in the circumstance of shooting their lines precisely alike; but those -which we have found the most manageable in experimenting, are the -small gossamer spider (_Aranea obtextrix_, BECHSTEIN), known -by its shining blackish-brown body and reddish-brown semi-transparent -legs; but particularly the long-bodied spider (_Tetragnatha 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 yellowish one on each side. The latter is chiefly recommended by -being a very industrious and persevering spinner, while its movements -are easily seen, from the long cylindrical form of its body and the -length of its legs. - -“We placed the above two species with five or six others, including -the garden, the domestic, and the labyrinthic spiders, in empty -wine-glasses, set in tea-saucers filled with water, to prevent their -escape. When they discovered, by repeated descents from the brims of -the glasses, that they were thus surrounded by a wet 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 -way 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 produce -a stream of air, by blowing gently towards its position, than, fixing -a thread to the glass, and laying hold of it with one of its feet, by -way of security, it placed its body in a vertical position, with its -spinnerets extended outwards; and immediately we had the pleasure of -seeing a thread streaming out from them several feet in length, on -which the little aëronaut sprung up into the air_. We were convinced, -from what we thus observed, that it was the double or bend of the -thread which was 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 _point d’appui_--something upon which it might -have a _purchase_, as a mechanic would say of a lever. The bend of the -thread, then, on this view of the matter, would be carried out by the -wind,--would form the point of impulsion,--and, of course, the escape -bridge would be an ordinary line doubled.” - -Such is the opinion of Mr. Rennie, which is strongly corroborated -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 wind or a current of air may carry the other -beyond the obstacle[168];” and as one end is always attached to the -spinnerets, he must mean that the double of the thread flies off. 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, -similar 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, 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 long. We -never observed more than one floating thread produced at the same time; -though other observers mention several. - - [168] ----“L’un des bouts de ces premiers fils, afin que le vent ou - un courant d’air pousse l’autre extrémité de l’un d’eux au delà de - l’obstacle.”--Dict. Classique d’Hist. Nat., vol. i. p. 510. - -“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 indispensable for -the spider to rest upon a solid body when producing a line, as she -can do so while she is suspended in the air by another line. When the -current of air also is strong, she will sometimes commit herself to it -by swinging from the end of the line. 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 obliquely -over them; but no floating line 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 (_Epeira diadema_), 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-bodied spider eager to throw a line by -raising up its body, we brought 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 almost 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 the end of a -floating thread separated into its component threadlets and diverging -like 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 consequence of the mutual friction of the -gaseous particles. But this view of the matter does not seem to affect -our statements.” - -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 closely together. We observed -this spider for several months, but at last it disappeared, and we took -the nest out under the notion that it might contain eggs; but found -none, and therefore concluded that it was only used as a day retreat.” -The account 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 -_lupi_ (wolves) that have their dens in rugged 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, _but crawl -under the rail, till being arrived to the antipodes, it would steal -up, seldom missing its aim; but if it chanced to want anything of -being perfectly opposite, would, at first peep, immediately slide down -again,--till taking better notice, it would come the next time exactly -upon the fly’s back: but if this happened not to be within a competent -leap, then would this insect move so softly, as the very shadow of the -gnomon seemed not to be more imperceptible, unless the fly moved; and -then would the spider move also in the same proportion, keeping that -just time with her motion, as if the same soul had animated both these -little bodies; and whether it were forwards, backwards, or to either -side, without at all turning her body, like a well-managed horse: but -if the capricious fly took wing and pitched upon another place behind -our huntress, then would the spider whirl its body so nimbly about, as -nothing could be imagined more swift: by which means she always kept -the head towards her prey, though, to appearance, as immoveable as if -it had been a nail driven into the wood, till by that indiscernible -progress (being arrived within the sphere of her reach) she made a -fatal leap, swift as lightning, upon the fly, catching him in the pole, -where she never quitted hold till her belly was full, and then carried -the remainder home_.” - -One feels a little sceptical, however, when he adds, “I have beheld -them _instructing their young ones how 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 crannies, as ashamed, and haply not to -be 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 have found some -of these spiders in my garden, when the weather, towards spring, was -very hot, but they are not so eager in hunting as in Italy[169].” - - [169] Evelyn’s Travels in Italy. - -We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the hunting-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[170], and which anybody may recognise, as one of the -small hunters (_Salticus scenicus_), known by its back striped with -black and white like a zebra. - - [170] Book of Nature, part i. p. 24. - -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[171]! - -“As a contrast,” says Mr. Rennie, “to the little elastic satin -nest of the hunter, we may mention the largest with which we are -acquainted,--that of the labyrinthic spider (_Agelena labyrinthica_, -WALCKENAER). Our readers must often have seen this nest spread -out like 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 like a sailor’s hammock, by _silken_ ropes extended -all around to the higher branches; but the whole curves upwards and -backwards, sloping down to a long funnel-shaped gallery which is nearly -horizontal at the entrance, but soon winds obliquely 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 of crowded twigs, or a tuft of grass. Here the spider dwells -secure, frequently 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 have often endeavored to -make her construct a nest under our eye, we have been as unsuccesful -as in similar experiments with the common house spider (_Aranea -domestica_). - -“The 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 opposite side_, where the -other end is to be fastened[172]!’ Homberg’s spider took the more -circuitous route of travelling 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. Homberg’s -spider, after stretching as many lines by way of _warp_ as it deemed -sufficient between the two walls of the corner which it had chosen, -proceeded to cross this in the way our weavers do in adding the _woof_, -with this difference, that the spider’s threads were only laid on, and -not interlaced[173]. 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!” - - [171] Bloomfield’s Remains, vol. ii. p. 64, _note_. - - [172] Animal Biography, iii. 470, 471. - - [173] Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, pour 1707, p. 339. - -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 diadema_), and the long-bodied spider (_Tetragnatha -extensa_), are the best known 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 redoubles it with additional -threads. On trying its strength she is not contented with the test of -pulling 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 form 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 regulate the distances of -her _radii_ or wheel-spokes (See Fig. 12. Plate IV., which represents -the geometric net of the “_Epeira diadema_”), 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 little chamber constructed under a leaf -or other shelter at the corner of her web, ready to dart down upon -whatever 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 microscrope studded with globules of gum[174]. “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.” - - [174] Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 419. - -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 manufacture 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 ingenious observer, the silk 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, by -exposure to the air, they soon acquire a blackish hue. Other spider -bags might probably be found of different colors, and affording silk -of better quality, but their scarcity would render any experiment with -them difficult of accomplishment; for which 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 corners of windows -or vaults, or under the eaves 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 wrought 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 -transmitted 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 operation of -carding, which was then performed with cards differing 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 affirmed that the thread was both stronger and finer than -common silk, and that therefore fabrics similar to those made with the -latter material 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 abundance. Mr. Bon -fancied that this objection could soon be overcome, and that the art -of domesticating and rearing spiders, as practised with silk-worms, -was to be attained. Carried away by the enthusiasm of one who, having -made a discovery, pursues it with ardor undismayed by difficulties, he -met every objection by comparisons, which perhaps were not wholly and -strictly founded on fact. Contrasted with 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 limited the silk-worm, not more than one-half -were reared to produce 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 growing, until the hot weather, by putting 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 following -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 yield 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 swelling as the smart sting of a -nettle. Mr. Bon, however, asserted that he was several times bitten, -without experiencing any inconvenience; 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 -absurd, 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 healing wounds, its natural gluten acting as a kind of balsam. - -The honest enthusiasm of the projector, and the singularity of a -regular establishment being formed for rearing and working spiders, -excited a considerable share of public attention. It was, indeed, an -age of strange speculations, for nearly at the same time a German -gentleman broached a scheme for turning tame squirrels and mice to -account in spinning; and companies 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. Réaumur, to investigate the merits -of this new silk-filament. - -After a long and patient examination M. Réaumur 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 hundred, 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 silk of the spider is inferior to that of the silk-worm both -in lustre and strength; and produces less material in proportion, 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 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 little vacant spaces between them, the light 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 necessarily -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 exaggerated; -they fight like furies. Their voracity, too, is almost incredible, -and it is very questionable whether the mere collection of flies -sufficient to feed a large number of the spiders would not involve an -amount of expense fatal to the project as a lucrative undertaking. -The strength of the spiders’ filament is, if anything, overstated by -Réaumur. Deficiency of lustre arising from the carding of the filaments -is common to the spider-fabric and to spun silk; this objection would, -perhaps, not be of very great weight but for the decisive calculation -by which Réaumur 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 weigh above one grain each; and, after being cleared -of their dust, have lost two-thirds of this weight; therefore the _work -of twelve 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, &c., yielding 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 Réaumur’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 not neglected to make it a portion -of his unrivalled satire against speculators and projectors, in his -account of Gulliver’s visit to the Academy of Lagado: - - “I went into another room, says he, where the walls and ceilings were - all hung round with cobwebs, except 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 understood 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 he fed his spiders, assuring us that the webs would - take a tincture from them, and as he had them of all hues, he hoped - to suit every body’s fancy, as soon 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 threads.” - - -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 admiration, and -though no comprehensive and systematic series of observations 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 will 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 live in fields and gardens often fabricate their nets or webs -vertically. This sometimes occurs in locations 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 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 _fixed_ or immovable -object below--by no means;--for were this done, it could not yield to -impulses of wind; the rigging would be snapped by the first blast, and -the whole structure probably destroyed. - -“Whatever contrivances human sagacity might suggest, they could hardly -excel those which these despised engineers sometimes adopt. Having -formed a web, under circumstances similar 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 minute -pebble, or piece of stone, has coiled the end of the thread round it. -Having done this, the ingenious artist ascended, and fixing himself on -the lower part of the web, hoisted up the pebble until it swung several -inches clear of the ground. The cord to which the weight was suspended -was then secured by additional ones, running from it to different 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 position, 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 vine leaf, and the -other to a clothes line. One part of the lower edge was attached to a -Penyan sun-flower, and another to a trellis fence, four or five feet -distant. Between these there was no object nearer than the ground, to -which an additional brace line could be carried; but two threads, a -foot asunder, descended from this part of the web, and, eight or ten -inches below it, were united at a point. From this point, a single -line, four or five inches long, was suspended, and to its lower -extremity was the weight, a _living one_, viz. a worm, _three inches -long_, and _one-eighth of an inch thick_. The cord was fastened around -the middle of the victim’s body, and as no object was within reach, all -its writhings and efforts to escape were fruitless. Its weight answered -the same purpose as a piece of inanimate matter, while its sufferings -seemed not in the least to disturb the unconcerned murderer, who lay -waiting 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 first suitable object that came -to hand--like 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 vicinity of the -web. - -“To observe the effect of this weight, I separated, with a pair of -scissors, the thread by which it was suspended, and instantly the web -sunk to half its previous dimensions--the lower part became loose, and -with the slightest current kept shaking like a sail shivering in the -wind. A fresh weight was not supplied by the next morning; but instead -of it two long brace lines extended from the lower part of the web to -two vine tendrils, 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 all relics -of the insect’s labors had disappeared.” - -MASON-SPIDERS.--A no less wonderful structure is composed -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 (_Mygale nidulans_, WALCKN.), found in the West Indies, -“digs a hole in the earth obliquely downwards, about three inches in -length, and one in diameter. This cavity she lines with a tough thick -web, which, when taken out, resembles a leathern purse; but what is -most curious, this house has a door with hinges, like the operculum of -some sea-shells, and herself and family, 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[175].” - - [175] Darwin’s Zoonomia, i. 253, 8vo. ed. - -“The nest of a mason-spider, similar to this,” says Mr. Rennie, “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. William 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 slightly -bent towards the lower extremity--appearing to have been mined into -the clay rather than built. The interior of the tube is lined _with -a uniform tapestry of silken web, of an orange-white color_, with a -texture intermediate between India paper and very fine glove leather. -But the most wonderful 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 -lines the interior, closely laid upon one another, 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 -remarkable peculiarity of acting like a spring, and shutting the door -of the nest spontaneously. It is, besides, made to fit so accurately 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 ground, -being of a blackish-brown color, it must be very difficult to discover.” - -Another mason-spider (_Mygale cœmentaria_, LATR.), found 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 _with 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 convex, _and tapestried -thickly with a web of fine silk_. The threads of this door-tapestry are -prolonged, and strongly attached 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[176]. 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 -cœmentaria_). 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 sauvagesii_, 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 -danger[177]. - - [176] Mém. Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. - - [177] Mém. Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. p. 125, and Latreille, - Hist. Nat. Génér. viii. p. 163. - -“The Rev. Revett Shepherd has often noticed, in the fen ditches of -Norfolk, a very large spider (the species not yet determined) which -actually forms a _raft_ for the purpose of obtaining its prey with more -facility. Keeping its station upon a ball of weeds about three inches -in diameter, probably held together 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[178].” In the spring of 1830, Mr. Rennie found a spider -on some reeds in the Croydon Canal, which agreed in appearance with Mr. -Shepherd’s. - - [178] Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 425. - -Among our native spiders there are several, which, not contented with a -web like the rest of their congeners, take advantage 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-rolling 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 own_, more -close and substantial. - -Another spider, common in woods and copses (_Epeira quadrata?_) weaves -together a great number of leaves to form a dwelling 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 -shelter 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 deserted; for the -dormouse usually selects it as a ready-made 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 Bromley, -Kent (England), every second or third one was furnished with such a -roof. - -THE WATER SPIDER.--We extract the following exquisitely -beautiful and interesting fact in nature, _connected with diving -operations_, from the Rev. Mr. Kirby’s Bridgewater 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 enables her to live -in it. She conveys the air to it in the following manner: she usually -swims upon her back, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, -and appears like a globe of quicksilver[179]; with this she enters her -cocoon, and displacing an 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 manœuvres. How -these little animals can envelope their abdomen 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 wisdom, 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 which she can clothe -part 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.” - - [179] Her singular economy was first, we believe, described by Clerck - (Aranei Suecici, Stockholm, 1757.), L. M. de Lignac (Mém. des - Araign. Aquat., 12mo. Paris, 1799.), and De Geer. - - “The shining appearance,” says Clerck, “proceeds either from an - inflated globule surrounding the abdomen, or from the space between - the body and the 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 the surface, when it - briskly opens and moves its four teats. A thick coat of hair keeps - the 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 very - quietly for eight days. I put some duck-weed (_Lemna_) into the - glass to afford them shelter, and the females 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 - appeared 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 this - time the old ones had nothing 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 woven, 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 round, 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 downwards. 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, Mém. des Insectes, vii. 312.).” “We have - recently kept one of these spiders,” says Mr. Rennie, “for several - months in a glass of water, where it built a cell half under water, - in which it laid its eggs.” - -Thus it appears, that by the successive descents of the little -water-spider under the impulsion of its instinct, produce effects -in its subaqueous pavilion equivalent to those produced in the -diving-bell, or diving helmet, by the successive strokes of the -condensing air-pump of scientific man! - -In the language of the book of Psalms, this insect “LAYETH THE BEAMS -OF” her “CHAMBERS IN THE WATERS,” and there secures her subaqueous -chambers in the manner described. - -CLEANLINESS OF SPIDERS.--“When we look at the viscid -material,” says Mr. Rennie, “with which spiders construct their lines -and webs, and at the rough, hairy covering (with a few exceptions) of -their bodies, we might conclude, that they would be always stuck over -with fragments of the minute fibres which they produce. This, indeed, -must often happen, did they not take careful precautions to avoid it; -for we have observed that they seldom, if ever, leave a thread to float -at random, except when they wish to form a bridge. When 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 invariably, when she -re-ascends, coils it up into a little ball, and throws it away. Her -claws are admirably adapted for this purpose, as well as for walking -along the lines, as may be readily seen by a magnifying glass. Fig. -13. Plate IV. shows the triple-clawed foot of a spider, magnified, -the others being toothed like a comb, for gliding along the lines. -This structure, however, unfits it to walk, as flies can do, upon -any upright polished surface like glass; although the contrary[180] -is erroneously asserted by the Abbé de la Pluche. Before she can do -so, she is obliged to construct a ladder of ropes, as Mr. Blackwall -remarks[181], by elevating her spinneret as high as she can, and laying -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. - -“The hairs of the legs, however, are always catching bits of web and -particles of dust; but these are not suffered to remain long. Most -people may have remarked that the house-fly is ever and anon brushing -its feet upon one another to rub off the dust, though we have not seen -it remarked in authors that spiders are equally assiduous in keeping -themselves clean. They have, besides, a very efficient instrument in -their mandibles or jaws, which, like 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 _slowly 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 off 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[182].’ 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, in -order to be useful, this sort of net must be clean. Upon observing it -a little closely, however, 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 lines she -dexterously stripped of the flakes of soot adhering to them; but in -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 discovered the manœuvre, the packets being so small as not to be -readily perceived, except when placed between the eye and the light. -When she had cleared off all the sooted lines, she began to replace -them in the usual way; but the arrival of the boat at Mentz put an -end to our observations.” Bloomfield, the poet, having observed the -disappearance of these bits of ravelled web, says that he observed a -garden spider moisten the pellets before swallowing them! Dr. Lister, -as we have already seen, thought the spider retracted the threads -within the abdomen. - - [180] Spectacle de la Nature, i. 58. - - [181] Linn. Trans. vol. xv. - - [182] Spectacle de la Nature, i. p. 61. - - “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 particular 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 services - 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 meanings 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 plan 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 circumstances 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 unacquainted with - systematic natural history, we hold it to be undeniable, that _any - person of moderate penetration, though altogether unacquainted with - what is called “Natural History_,” who will take the trouble to - observe particular facts and endeavor to trace them to their causes, - has every chance to be successful in adding to his own knowledge, and - frequently in making discoveries of what was previously unknown. It - is related of M. Pélissan, while a prisoner in the Bastille, that he - tamed a spider by means of music. This in conjunction with Evelyn’s - observations on hunting-spiders is strong proof 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, inasmuch as the varied scene of creation itself forms an - inexhaustible book, which “even he who runneth may read.” - - “It will be of the utmost importance, in the study here recommended, - to bear in mind that an insect can never be found in any situation, - nor make any movement, without some motive, originating in the - instinct imparted to it by Providence. This principle alone, when it - is made the basis of inquiry into such motives or instincts, 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, every step--may lead to delightful and interesting - knowledge.”--“INSECT ARCHITECTURE,” p. 219. - -[Illustration: - -_Plate IV._ - -Spiders, with the processes of Spinning and Weaving.] - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. - - The Pinna--Description of--Delicacy of its threads--Réaumur’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--Poli’s description--Specimens - of the Pinna in the British Museum--Pearls found in the Pinna--Pliny - and Athenæus’s account--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 - cloth at Tarentum in ancient times, but in India--Diving for the Pinna - at Colchi--Arrian’s account. - - -In the preceding chapter we have confined our remarks, principally, to -the various attempts made to obtain a silken or filamentous material -from the spider, and although those efforts have not been crowned with -that degree of success which would render a speculation of the kind -worthy of our attention in a pecuniary point of view, yet, it must be -conceded, that the subject is scarcely the less interesting; and Mr. -Bon, the gentleman 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 human ingenuity has been more successfully -exercised in seeking, many feet below the surface of the Ocean, for -the slender filaments, the produce of an animal in almost a vegetative -state of existence. - -The Pinna is a bivalve[183] shell-fish, which, when full grown, is 18 -inches long, and 6 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 liberty 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. Although the pinna is vastly larger than the muscle, -its shell being sometimes found two feet long, the threads which it -produces are more delicate and slender than those of the muscle, being -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 little power of each is made up by the aggregate 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 superior 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. - - [183] An animal having two valves, or a shell consisting of two parts - which open and shut. - -It has been from a very remote period well known, that muscles 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 accurate observations of -M. Réaumur, the _first_ naturalist who ascertained 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 contrived in a very short time to fasten themselves both to the -vessel’s side and one another’s shells: in this process, the extremity -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 naturally -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 habitation: -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 necessarily 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 naturalists indeed affirm that it is always stable. The purpose 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 cylindrical about -the base or root, where it is much smaller than in any other part: at -this lower end are several ligatures of a muscular nature, which keep -the tongue firmly fixed against the middle of the shell; four 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 almost to divide it into two longitudinal sections; this performs -the office of a canal for the liquor of which the threads are formed, -and serves to mould them into their proper form: the canal appears -externally like a small crack, being almost covered by the flesh -from either side, but internally it is much wider, and surrounded by -circular fibres. The channel thus formed extends regularly from the -tip to the base of the tongue, where it partakes of the form of the -member and becomes cylindric, producing there a tube or pipe in which -the canal terminates. The viscid substance is moulded in this tube into -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 great abundance in -this animal as well as in muscles. - -Réaumur 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 threads of any required -length, by making the viscous liquor of which the filament is formed -pass through fine perforations in the organ appointed for spinning. -But the way in which muscles form their thread is widely opposite; as -the former resembles the work of the wire-drawer[184], 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. - - [184] This remark of M. Réaumur confirms the observations of M. H. - Straus, quoted in Chapter VII. that the thread of the silk-worm - is not produced by a simple emission 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 observations on this head admit of no argument. The - discovery reduces all that has been heretofore written upon the - subject to the character of old lumber. - -Réaumur 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 direction, as if seeking the fittest place -whereon to fix their threads. After repeated trials of this kind, -the tongue of one was observed to remain for some time on the spot -chosen, and being then drawn back with great quickness, a thread was -very easily discerned, fastened to the place: this operation was again -resumed, until all the threads were in sufficient number: 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 transparent 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. Réaumur 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 incontrovertibly 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 as 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, unassisted, be aware -of the vicinity of its dangerous enemy. A small 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, _while he makes a return for -this protection by going forth in search of prey_. At these intervals -the pinna opens her valves to afford him egress and ingress: if the -watchful scuttle-fish now approach, the crab returns instanter with -notice of the danger to her hostess; who, timely warned, shuts her door -and keeps out the enemy. When the crab has, unmolested, succeeded 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 satisfy the wants of its larger -companion. The following different account of the nature of this -alliance is more credible:-- - -Whenever the pinna ventures to open its shell, it is immediately -exposed to the attacks of various of the smaller kinds of fish, which, -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 natural history, -beheld this curious phenomenon, which, although well known to the -ancients, had escaped the attention of the moderns. - -It is related by Aristotle[185] 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 like a -crab. Pliny observes[186], that the smallest species of crab is called -the pinnotores, and being from its diminutive size liable 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, always erect, -and never without a companion, called by some pinnatores, by others -pinnophylax; this being sometimes a small squill, and at others a crab, -which remains with the pinna for the sake of food. - - [185] Hist. lib. v. c. 15. - - [186] Lib. ix. 51. 66. - -The description of the pinna by the Greek poet Oppianus, who flourished -in the second century, has been thus given in English verse:-- - - The 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 was Pinnotores named. - -It is said that the pinna fastens itself so strongly to the rocks, that -the men employed in fishing for it are obliged to use considerable -force to break the tuft of threads by which it is secured 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 embracing it with the iron bars and twisting it -round, draw it up to the boat. The pinna is also obtained by diving. -Poli, in his splendid work on the Sicilian Testacea (_Parma_, 1795, -_folio_,) gives beautiful representations of the several species and -especially of the Pinna Nobilis[187]. The following description of -submarine scenery and operations, is so vivid and pleasing that we -quote it at length. - - [187] The figure (Fig. 7.) of the Pinna Nobilis, Plate III., is reduced - from Plate XXXIV. in vol. ii. - - Pinnis hujusmodi abundant præ cæteris litus Trinacriæ, sinus - Tarentinus, oraque maritima Crateris Neapolitani, potissimum ultra - Promontorium Pausilypi. Equidem persummâ adficimur animi jucunditate, - quoties illarum piscationis recordamur, quam vere jam inchoato - inibi facere iterum iterumque consuevimus. Est ad Insulam Nisitæ, - quâ illa ad septentrionem vergit, respicitque contra Pausilypi - Promontorium, amœnissimi maris plaga, quoddam maris ocium. Ibi inter - ingentes, pulcherrimosque marinarum stirpium saltus, quibus plaga - illa undique virescit, oculosque animumque recreat, Pinnarum greges - sponte gignuntur; quæ mari tranquillo, umbrisque ab insulæ summitate - cadentibus, ab iis qui cymbis insistunt, ad triginta fermè pedum - altitudinem, subrectæ, inque fundo arenoso defixæ perspicuè cerni - possunt. Urinatores igitur, sese mari submergentes, illis arripiendis - destinantur. Quoniam vero, ne reiteratis quidem ictibus, ab arenâ, - ubi consitæ sunt, educi queunt; arena etenim, et pondere suo et - altissimâ aquarum mole sibi incumbente fortiter stipata, urinatorum - conatibus validè resistit; hi maris fundum nacti, ibique veluti in - solo sedentes, arenam Pinnæ circumjectam manibus averrunt, Pinnamque - deinceps ambabus manibus comprehensam divellere conantur. Et si - diutius, quam par est, spiritum cohibere nequeunt, ad summa æquorum - ascendunt, suberibusque aquæ innatantibus inibi de industriâ positis - innituntur, donec tandem aëris haustu recreati, maris fundum iterum - petant, operamque penitus absolvant. _v._ 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 Posilipo. 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 that spot in the commencement of spring. On the - northern shore of the Isle of Nisida opposite Posilipo, 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 refresh 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, whose 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 with 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 surface, - 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 British Museum show not only the tuft, -but also the pearls and the mother of pearl. Poli found in one specimen -of the Pinna Nobilis no less than twenty pearls, of which he has given -figures in his splendid work. Pliny (l. ix. c. 35.) mentions the -practice of diving for the Pinna in the Mediterranean Sea in order -to obtain pearls from it: and Athenæus (l. 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. - -The Italians call the fibres _Lana Pesce_ 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 with its bunch of fibres may be -easily extracted, and they are silky and of a fine color. But in rushy -and muddy bottoms 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 washed in tepid water, once in soap and water, -and again in tepid water, then spread on a table to dry: while yet -moist, it is rubbed and separated with the hand, and again spread on -the table. When quite dry, it is drawn through a wide comb of bone, and -then through a narrow one. That which is destined for very fine works -is also drawn through iron combs, called _scarde_ (_cards_). It is then -spun with a distaff and spindle. - -As it is impossible to procure much of this material of a good quality, -the manufacture is very limited, and the articles produced, stockings -and gloves, are expensive. They are esteemed excellent preservatives -against cold and damp, are soft and very warm, and the finest of a -brown cinnamon, or glossy gold color. The manufacture is chiefly -carried on at Taranto, the ancient _Tarentum_[188]. - - [188] Riedesel’s Travels through Sicily and Græcia Magna, translated - by J. R. Forster, London, 1773, p. 178-180. De Salis, Travels in - the Kingdom of Naples. Keppel Craven, Tour through the Southern - Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, p. 185. D’Argenville, Lithol. - et Conchologie, p. 183, and Plate 25. - -The _Lana Penna_, having been spun, is now almost universally knit. -But, as it does not appear that the ancients were acquainted with this -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 Tertullian, who -lived in the second century (_De Pallio_, iii. _p._ 115, _Rigaltii_). -Speaking of the materials for weaving, he says, - - Nec fuit satis tunicam pangere et serere, ni etiam piscari vestitum - contigisset nam et de mari vellera, quo mucosæ lanusitatis plautiores - conchæ comant. - - Nor was it enough to comb and to sow the materials for a tunic. It was - necessary 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[189]. (See Fig. 7, Plate II.) - - [189] In this passage _piscari_ is rather fancifully opposed to - _pangere_ and _serere_. The former of these two terms (_pangere_) - refers to tunics of wool, which was _pacta_ or _pexa_; the latter - to tunics of cotton and flax, which were _sata_. The epithet - _plautiores_, (etymologically allied to _latiores_, and to πλατὺς,) - well describes the large size and expanded form of the Pinna. - -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. (Χλαμὺς ἡ ἐξ ἐρίων πεποιημένη, οὐχ οἷα τῶν προβατίων ἐκπέφυκεν, -ἀλλ’ ἐκ θαλάσσης συνειλεγμένων· πίννους τὰ ζῶα καλεῖν νενομίκασι, ἐν -οἷς ἡ τῶν ἐρίων ἔκφυσις γίνεται.) This chlamys was fastened with a -fibula of gold, in which a precious stone was set, and three hyacinths -were suspended from it by golden chains (χρυσαῖς τε καὶ χαλαραῖς -ἀλύσεσιν.) The chlamys was accompanied by a silken tunic, adorned with -sprigs or “_feathers_” of gold. It is thus described: - - Χιτὼν ἐκ μετάξης, ἐγκαλλωπίσμασι χρυσοῖς πανταχόθεν ὡραΐσμενος, ἃ δὴ - νενομίκασι πλούμμια καλεῖν. - -With the chlamys and tunic were worn boots of red leather, 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. Πόθεν τὸ χρυσοῦν ἔριον αἱ πίνναι -τρέφουσιν, ὅπερ οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀνθοβάφων ἐμιμήσατο.--_Hexaem._ vii. - -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 Latin[190], 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 -Tertullian. - - [190] The passages are collected in Stephani Thesaurus L. Græcæ, ed. - Valpy, p. 7579. - -It is a no less curious question, Whence did the ancients obtain the -fibres of the Pinna, _and where was the manufacture of them carried on_? - -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 document of an age -at least as late as the time of Tertullian, states that the business -of diving for the wool of the Pinna was prosecuted near the city -called _Colchi_ in the south of India. Different 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 woven -by the Indians, whereas we can only suppose from analogy that the -manufacture was carried on in ancient times by the Tarentines. - - - - -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 procured 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 ministering to the -luxuries of the table, has lately had a new interest attached to it -from the discovery of a fibre contained in its leaves, possessing such -valuable properties, that it will, in all probability, soon form a new -and important article of commerce. - -The fibres of the pine-apple plant are disposed in fasciculi, each -apparent fibre being an assemblage of fibres adhering together, of -such exceeding delicacy, as only to measure from 1/5000th to 1/7000th -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 brilliant 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 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 slightest degree -injuring the fibre, which remains in a large skein, and then requires -to be rinsed out in soft water, to cleanse it from impurities, and be -afterwards dried in 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 by any process of maceration, -which, by inducing partial putrefaction, not only materially 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; offsets 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 independent of those casualties of weather, which often -prove so detrimental to more delicate crops--it is one of those plants -which Nature has scattered so profusely through tropical regions, -whose leaves are thick and fleshy, 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 live. Also from the large portion of oxalic -acid which the leaves contain, no animal will touch them, and are, -therefore, 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 allowed to return to a state of nature, the pine-apple -plant exhibits the only trace of former cultivation; every other -cultivated plant has died away before the encroachments of the -surrounding wood, while they alone remained increasing from year to -year, and spread into large beds. - -Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke obtained a patent in England, bearing date -December 9, 1836, for the following mode of preparing the filaments -of this plant, the “_Bromelia ananas_.” We give the patentee’s own -description (with slight emendations), 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, washing, 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 prepared to various manufactures and purposes, for which -silk, flax, cotton, hemp, wool, and other fibrous materials are now -used. 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 suffered 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 -intended 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 adhering 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 lightly between them, for if -the green matter is allowed to dry on the fibre, it of course becomes -more difficult to cleanse. The washing must be carefully performed, -so as to prevent the fibre from becoming tangled or knotted. The -operation of washing or rinsing must be repeated until the fibre be -thoroughly cleansed. If it be found difficult to clean the fibre from -the extraneous matter, in consequence of not collecting the leaves from -the plant sufficiently early, or from any other cause, the operation -will be facilitated by boiling the fibre, after it has been beaten, -and partially purified in a solution of soap in soft water. For this -purpose the fibre must 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 after boiling, to be well -rinsed out in soft water, and squeezed as before directed. The fibre -having been cleansed by these processes, is to be _gradually dried in -the shade_, and occasionally shaken out, so as to prevent the too close -adhesion of the filament 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 respects 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 facility, it possesses great strength, and -is divisible to an exceeding 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_, _damask-linens_, _plushes_, _carpets_, _rugs_, _lace_, -_bonnets_, _paper_; as a material for _rope_, _twine_, or _thread_, and -a variety of other purposes 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 bleaching -flax. I find the period at which the bleaching can be most conveniently -performed, 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 further, -in proportion to the fineness of the yarn intended to be spun. The -effect 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 delivering -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 purposes hereinbefore also particularly -specified, the same being 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 vegetable 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, almost equal to silk in quality; and -this was woven into a cloth the texture of which 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 -have _four 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 hempen 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 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 specification, yet, the manufacture -does not appear to make much progress, 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 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 Periplus as exported from - India to Barygaza (Baroch)--Calidāsa the Indian dramatist, who - lived in the first century B. C.--His testimony--Wallich’s (the - Indian botanist) account--Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the - Sacontăla of Calidāsa--Valcălas or Mantles of woven bark, - mentioned in the Ramayana, a noted poem of ancient India--Sheets made - from trees--Ctesias’ testimony--Strabo’s account--Testimony of Statius - Cæcilius 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 testimony--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 desolate and waste. Who cut up -_mallows_ by the bushes, and _juniper-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, _Althæa Officinalis_, Linn.; and the Hempleaved Mallow, -_Althæa Cannabina_, Linn. - -The Common Mallow is called by the Latin writers _Malva_, by the Greek -Μαλάχη, or Μολόχη. - -This plant was used for food from the earliest times. Hesiod represents -living on Mallows and asphodel as the sign of moderation, contentment, -and simplicity of manners. - - Νήπιοι, οὐδ’ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντὸς, - Οὐδ’ ὅσον ἐν μαλάχῃ τε καὶ ἀσφοδέλῳ μέγ’ ὄνειαρ.--_Op. et Dies_, 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 wayside, and were -gathered and dressed without any labor or trouble. - -Various authors however mention the cultivation of the Common Mallow in -gardens. See Virgil, _Moretum_, 73. Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ l. xix. c. 22 -and 31. Isidori _Orig._ l. xvii. c. 10. Papiæ _Vocabular._ v. _Malva. -Geoponica_, xii. l. Palladuis, iii. 24. xi. ll. - -Dioscorides (_l._ ii. c. III.) calls it the Garden Mallow. Aristophanes -(_Plutus_ 544.) mentions eating the shoots of mallows instead of -bread, intending by this to represent a vile and destitute kind of -living. Plutarch (_Septem Sapientum Convivium_) says, “The mallow is -good for food, and the Anthericus is sweet.” According to Le Clerc -ὁ ἀνθέρικος (_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 mallow -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 abstained from oysters and lampreys, had -been deceived by beet and mallows.” Probably the leaves of the mallow -were on this occasion 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 common mallow -together with other culinary vegetables: - - Αἲ, αἲ, ταὶ μαλάχαι μὲν, ἐπὰν κατὰ κᾶπον ὄλωνται, - Ἠδὲ τὰ χλωρὰ σέλινα, τό τ’ εὐθαλὲς οὖλον ἄνηθον, - Ὕστερον αὖ ζώοντι, καὶ εἰς ἔτος ἄλλο φυόντι. - - Mallows, alas! die down, and parsley, and flourishing fennel; - Then they spring up afresh, and live next year in the garden. - -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_[191]. - - [191] Hist. Plant. l. vii. c. 8. p. 142. Heinsii. 240. Schneider. - -Horace in two passages signifies his partiality to mallows, calling -them “_leves_,” _light to digest_. - - Let olives be my food, endive, and mallows light. - _Od._ _l._ i. 31. _v._ 16. - - 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 by Athenæus_, _l._ ii. _p._ 58. E. -_Casaub._), after enumerating the medical virtues of the Common Mallow, -says, that “the wild was better than the cultivated kind.” - -Without quoting other classical authorities, the ancient practice may -be illustrated by the observations of modern travellers, who mention -that the Common Mallow is still an article of consumption in the same -parts of the world. - -Biddulph, 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 and Travels from the Library of the E. of Oxford_, _p._ 807.) - -Dr. Sibthorp states, that the _Malva Silvestris_ grows wild in Cyprus, -and is called Μόλωχα. He also says, “The wild mallow is very common -about Athens: the leaves are boiled and eaten as a pot-herb, and an -ingredient in the Dolma.” (_Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic -Turkey_, _edited by Walpole_, _p._ 245.) Dr. Holland mentions both -_Malva Silvestris_ and _Althæa Officinalis_ among the officinal -plants, which he found in Cephalonia. (_Travels in Greece_, _p._ 543, -_4to._). - -The _Althæa Officinalis_, or Marsh Mallow, is called by the Greek -authors Ἀλθαία, by the Latin, Hibiscus. Theophrastus says, that it went -also under the name of wild mallow[192]. 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 Medica[193]; and, as its peculiar properties were likely to -be more matured in the wild than cultivated state, it does not appear -to have been grown in gardens[194]. Theophrastus describes it by -comparing it with the Common Mallow, and mentions its application, both -internally and externally, as a medicine[195]. Dioscorides (_l._ 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 mallow.” -Palladius (_l._ xi. _p._ 184. _Bip._) explains “_Hibiscus_” to be the -same as “_Althæa_.” See also Pliny, _l._ xx. _c._ 14. _ed. Bip._ Virgil -alludes to the use of it as fodder for goats, and as a material for -_weaving baskets_[196]. - - [192] Hist. Plant. l. ix. cap. 15. p. 188. Heinsii. - - [193] Calpurnius (Eclog. iv. 32,) mentions the “Hibiscus” as used for - food, but only by persons in a state of great destitution. - - [194] At a later period, however, we find the Althæa Officinalis under - the name of “_Ibischa Mis-malva_” in a catalogue of the plants, - which Charlemagne selected for cultivation in the gardens attached - to his villas. See Sprengel, Hist. Rei Herb. i. 220. - - [195] Hist. Plant. l. ix. cap. 19. p. 192. ed. Heinsii. - - [196] Eclog. ii. 30. and x. 71. See Servius, Heyne, and J. II. Voss., - _ad loc._ - -The Hemp-leaved Mallow, _Althæa Cannabina_, is once mentioned by -Dioscorides (_lib._ iii. _c._ 141.). Giving an account of hemp, he -distinguishes between the cultivated and the wild. He says of the wild -hemp, that the Romans called it _Cannabis Terminalis_[197]. After -mentioning the medical properties of the plant, Dioscorides says, that -its bark was useful for making ropes. The truth of this observation -will be apparent to every botanist. The plants belonging to the natural -order _Malvaceæ_ are all remarkable for the abundance of strong and -beautiful fibres in their bark[198]. - - [197] Meaning literally Hedge-hemp. - - [198] We have the following testimony respecting the actual fabrication - of mallow-cloth in modern times: - - “Nous avons vu à Madrid, chez le savant pharmacien D. Casimir - Ortéga, de ces tissus, qui nous ont semblé fort remarquables. - Ils étaient faits avec l’écorce des _Althéas officinalis_ et - _cannabina_, et avec celle du _Malva sylvestris_.” Fée, Flore de - Virgile, Paris 1822, p. 66. - -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 Silvestris_. We have seen that the _ancients_ were -familiarly acquainted with this plant; that it was commonly cultivated -in their gardens; and that they gathered it, when growing wild, to be -taken as food or medicine. In these circumstances they could scarcely -fail to observe 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 produced -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 positive fact, -we shall begin 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 explanations: - - Malbella vestis quæ ex malvarum stamine conficitur, - quam alii molocinam vocant. - Molocina vestis quæ albo stamine sit: quam alii malbellam vocant. - -These passages clearly describe a kind 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 Μολόχινη, is a Greek adjective from Μολόχη, and signifies -_made of mallow_. - -Papias, 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: - - _Melocinia_ (vestis est), quæ malvarum stamine conficitur, quam 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 mallow-cloth -was 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 in a mallow shawl the lady shines. - -The word “_fulgescit_” aptly describes the lustre of the material under -consideration. From the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea[199] 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. - - [199] P. 146. 169, 170, 171. Arriani Op. ed. Blancardi, tom. ii. - -The genus _Hibiscus_, Linn. is very abundant in India. The bark of a -certain species of this genus, especially of H. _Tiliaceus_ and H. -_Cannabinus_, is now very extensively employed for making _cordage_, -and might unquestionably have been used for making cloth[200]. - - [200] Cavanilles, Tab. 52, fig. 1, represents H. Cannabinus, the - leaf of which is like that of hemp. Tab. 55, fig. 1, represents H. - Tiliaceus, in the description of which we read “_cortice in funes - ductili_;” and Cavanilles says, the inhabitants of the South Sea - Islands (_Australium insularum_) use in their ships and boats ropes - made from the bark. - -H. _Tiliaceus_ is also represented in Rheede’s Hort. Malabaricus (vol. -i. fig. 30.). It grows about 15 feet high. - -Dr. Wallich (Cat. of Indian Woods, p. 18.) mentions two other species -as used for making cordage from the bark. - -The late Mr. John Hare, who lived in India a long time, says, that a -coarse kind of cloth, used for making sacks, &c., 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 refer to that admirable -specimen of Eastern taste and ingenuity, the Sacontăla of the great -Indian dramatist Calidāsa. Several passages of this poem make -mention of the _Valcăla_, which the Sanscrit Lexicons, themselves -of great antiquity, explain as meaning either bark, or a vesture made -from it. We learn from Dr. Wallich, a celebrated Indian botanist, that -many kinds of Hibiscus had this quality in an eminent degree, and, as -their bark was in common use for making all kinds of cordage, it might -undoubtedly be employed for weaving. - -The Sacontăla is of a date as ancient as the Periplus. Professor -Von Bohlen (_Das alte Indien_, _vol._ ii. _p._ 477.) asserts, that the -author Calidāsa 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 white, useful for small cabinet-work; the mucilage of -the whole plant is applied to some medical purposes.” The Molochina, -mentioned 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 -Malina, and, according to the representations given by the poet, the -Valcălas (translated by Sir W. Jones “_mantles of woven bark_,” and -by Chézy, “_vêtemens d’écorce_”), were worn both by the hermits and by -the beautiful Sacontăla, while she was their inmate[201]. - - [201] Translation of the Sacontăla, Sir W. Jones’s Works, vol. vi. pp. - 217. 225. 289. Original, ed. Chézy, Paris, 1830, p. 7, l. 10.; p. - 9, l. 10; p. 24, l. 7.; p. 131, l. 14. Chézy’s translation, pp. 10. - 27. 142. 143. See also Heeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 648. - -“Valcălas” 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. - -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_[202], mentions “_sheets made from trees_.” - - [202] Cap. 22. Fragmenta, ed. Bähr. p. 253. 326. - -Strabo’s account of the webs, which he calls _Serica_, an account -derived from the writings of Nearchus, admiral of Alexander 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 first stript from -the tree, and the fibres then scraped from the _inside of the bark_. - -To the same source we may, we think, trace the idea of Arethas (_in -Apoc._ _c._ 57.), that the Byssus, Rev. xix. 8., was “_the bark of an -Indian tree made 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. Inscriptionum_, _tom._ 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 Cæcilius, who -died 169 B. C., and Plautus, who died 184 B. C. - -Nonius Marcellus (_l._ xvi.) quotes the following line from the -_Pausimachus_ of the former dramatist: - - Carbasina, molochina, ampelina.[203] - - [203] See C. C. Statii Fragmenta, a Leonhardo Spengel, Monachii 1829, - p. 35. Statius chiefly copied Menander (_Gellius_, ii. _c._ - 16.); but it is not certain that Menander wrote any play called - _Pausimachus_. - -The passage of Plautus is in the Aulularia (_Act_ iii. _Scene_ v. _l._ -40.), where we have a ludicrous enumeration, extending through more -than ten lines, of all the persons concerned in the manufacture or sale -of garments. - - Solearii astant, astant molochinarii. - -All the lexicographers and commentators explain _Molochinarius_ to -be one who dyes cloth of the color of the mallow. _Lanarius_ was -a woollen-draper; _Coactiliarius_, a dealer in felts, a hatter; -_Lintearius_ a linen-draper; and _Sericarius_ a silk-mercer. According -to the same analogy, _Molochinarius_ would mean _a dealer in -Molochina_, i. e. _in all kinds of cloth made from mallows_. - -The class of writers, which will now be produced as affording testimony -respecting the use of the mallow for weaving, are Greek authors, -and who instead of the common Greek terms employ the Attic term -Ἀμοργὸς and its derivatives. - -Ἀμοργὸς has been explained by some of the lexicographers to be a kind -of flax (See Julius 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 Silvestris_ or _Common Mallow_, and that it was called -Ἀμοργὸς. - -According to the Attic lexicons of Pausanias (_apud Eustath. l. c._) -and of Mœris, Ἀμοργὸς was an Attic term. We now find traces of it in -seven Attic writers, four or five of whom wrote comedy. These are -Aristophanes, Cratinus, Antiphanes, Eupolis, Clearchus, Æschines, 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), - - Κᾂν τοῖς χιτώνιοισι τοῖς ἁμόργινοις - Γυμναὶ παριοῖμεν, - -“And if we should present ourselves naked in shifts of amorgos;” -showing that these shifts were transparent. Accordingly Mœris says, -that the ἀμόργινον was λεπτὸν ὕφασμα, “a thin web.” Bisetus in his -Greek commentary on this play, after quoting the explanations of -Stephanus Byzantinus, Suidas, Eustathius, and the Etymologicum Magnum, -judiciously concludes as follows: “From all these it is manifest, that -ἀμόργινοι χιτώνες, 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 ἀμοργις _without being peeled_ (ἄλοπον), and she goes _to peel it_ -(ἀποδείρειν). 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 line, from his comedy -called Μαλθακοὶ, represents a person spinning Ἀμοργός. - - Ἀμοργὸν ἔνδον βρυτίνην νήθειν τινα. - _Cratina Fragmenta, a Runkel_, _p._ 29. - -III. Julius Pollux, speaking of garments made of Ἀμοργὸς (L. vii. c. -13.) quotes the Medea of Antiphanes thus: Ἦν χιτὼν ἁμόργινος. This -author was contemporary with Aristophanes. - -IV. Eupolis 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[204]. - - [204] See Harpocration, p. 29. ed. Blancardi. 1683. 4to. Also Pher. et - Eupolidis Fragmenta, a Runkel, p. 150. - -V. Clearchus of Soli[205] mentions the use of a cover of Amorgos -for inclosing a splendid purple blanket. This application of it is -agreeable to the foregoing evidence, showing that the _amorgine webs -were transparent_. The silky translucence of the lace-like web of -mallow would have a very beautiful effect over the fine purple of the -downy blanket. - - [205] Ap. Athenæum, L. vi. p. 255, Casaub. Clearchus 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. - -VI. Æschines 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 “woman skilled in making cloths of -Amorgos.” - -VII. Plato in the 13th Epistle, addressed to Dionysius, tyrant 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 -manufacture seems to have declined, probably in consequence of the -abundance of silk and other rich and beautiful goods imported from -Asia. But the mention of these stuffs in the writings of Isidore and -Alcuin renders it probable, that they were brought again into use in -the fifth and following centuries of the Christian era. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -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 the fibre for - weaving--Pliny’s account of Spartum--Bulbous plant--Its fibrous - coats--Pliny’s translation of Theophrastus--Socks and garments--Size - of the bulb--Its genus 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. - - -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[206].” He also says, -that it grows spontaneously where nothing else will grow, and that it -is “the rush of a dry soil.” - - [206] L. xix. c. 2. - -The question now arises, what plant Pliny intended to describe. -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 Linnæus afterwards called Stipa -Tenacissima[207]. 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, _Linn._, so familiarly known under the name of -Spanish Broom. - - [207] Clusii Plant. Rar. Historia, L. vi. p. 219. 220. - -In the first place, the name _Spartum_ should be considered as -decisive of the question, unless some sufficient reason can be shown -for ascribing to it in this passage a sense different from that which -it commonly bore. _Spartus_ or _Spartum_, is admitted to be used by -all authors, Greek and Latin, and even by Pliny himself in another -passage[208], 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 owing to the Grecian -settlements on that coast, colonized from Marseilles. - - [208] 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. - -Besides the passages of Latin authors referred to by Schneider 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 foliis, ab asperitate vocatus; volumina -enim funium, quæ ex eo fiunt, aspera sunt.” _Originum_ L. xvii. _c._ 9. - -This is the definition of a learned and observant author, who lived -in 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[209]. The Stipa Tenacissima, 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 -(_l. c._) in laying 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, asserts that the -former is a shrub (_frutex_), the latter a herb with grassy leaves -(_herba graminacea folia proferens_). It is clear, therefore, that -the inhabitants of Spain in the time of Isidore still used the term -_Spartus_ in its original acceptation, viz. to denote the Spartium -Junceum of Linnæus. - - [209] Dioscorides also describes the Spanish Broom to be “a shrub - bearing long twigs without leaves.” Isidore’s etymology, deducing - Spartus from Asper, is manifestly absurd. - -When the Stipa Tenacissima was brought into use for making ropes and -for other purposes, for which the Spanish Broom was employed, the name -of the latter would naturally be extended to the former, and we may -thus account for the fact that the Stipa Tenacissima is now universally -known in Spain by the name _Esparto_. Indeed it is possible, that the -employment of the Stipa Tenacissima for these purposes may have been -as ancient as the time of Pliny; and his use of the word “_herba_” in -describing it, as well as the locality which he assigns to it, the -hilly country about Carthage, favors the common interpretation, and -perhaps even authorizes the conclusion, that his account is the result -of confounding the two plants together, so that he says of one supposed -plant things, which were partly true of both, and partly applicable -either to the Spanish Broom, or to the Stipa Tenacissima only. But, -even if this be admitted, it is still possible that the plant, from -whose fibres the “_pastorum vestis_” was manufactured, was not the -grassy Stipa, but the shrub, the Spanish Broom. - -In order to establish 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 specially favorable to the -manufacture, or where flax could not be cultivated. It is manufactured -into shirts in Albania according to Dr. Sibthorp[210]. 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 _Nettle_, and used it, when woven, in place of linen[211]. -Trombelli, 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 plant[212]. “Formerly,” he -says, “the people derived no other advantage from the shrub 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 bark 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 _any_ color, and -may be used for garments of _any_ kind[213].” In the vicinity of Pisa -we find that the twigs of the Spanish Broom were in like manner soaked -in the thermal waters, and that a coarse cloth was manufactured from -the bark[214]. - - [210] Flora Græca, No. 671. - - [211] Trombelli, Bononiensis Scient. atque Artium Instituti - Commentarii, tom. vi. p. 118. - - [212] Trombelli calls the plant Genista, and says it is the kind - called by botanists “Genista juncea flore luteo.” This is the - Spartium Junceum of Linnæus. See Ray, Catal. Stirp. Europ. and - Scopoli, Flora Carniolica, 1772, tom. i. No. 870. - - [213] Bononiensis Scientiarum atque Artium Instituti Commentarii, tom. - iv. Bonon. 1757, p. 349-351. A similar account of the manufacture - of the “Teladi Ginestia” at Bagno a Acqua is given by Mr. John - Strange, who says he had sent an account of it to the Society - for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Lettera sopra - l’Origine della carta naturale di Cortona, Pisa 1764. p. 79. - - [214] Mém. de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris 1763. - -But the manufacture has been carried to a far greater extent in the -South of France. In the _Journal de Physique_, _Tom._ 30. _4to._ An. -1787. p. 294., is a paper by _Broussonet Sur la culture et les usages -économiques du Genêt 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 Lodêve 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 twigs are dried in the sun, then beaten, macerated in water, -and treated in the same way as flax or hemp (See Zincke’s process, -Chapter XI.). 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 -of the Spanish Broom is as supple as that made from hemp; it might be -even as beautiful as real linen, if more pains were taken with it. -It becomes whiter, 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 lighting -fires. - -Let us now see how far Pliny’s account of the Spartum agrees with -these representations of the mode of manufacturing 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 -(_hinc 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 applied. The tender tops of Pliny’s Spartum served -as food for animals. According to Trombelli sheep and goats feed upon -the Spanish Broom in Italy; but we cannot find that this is the case -with the Stipa Tenacissima. Pliny’s Spartum, after being steeped in -water, was beaten in order to be made useful (_Hoc autem tunditur, ut -fiat utile_); and this process was quite necessary in preparing the -twigs of Spanish Broom, whereas the Stipa Tenacissima is most commonly -manufactured without going through any such process. Clusius indeed -states (_l. c._) that by macerating it in water like flax, and then -drying and beating it, the Spaniards of Valencia make a kind of shoes, -which they call _Alpergates_, 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 dried, 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[215].” 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 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 substitute for flax and hemp, and the primitive mode in which -this domestic manufacture was carried on in a retired and mountainous -region, seem to indicate the high antiquity of the practice. 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, adopting the common opinion that the -Spartum of Pliny is the Stipa Tenacissima, observes, that “at present -the meanest Spaniard would think clothing made from this grass very -rough and uncomfortable[216].” We shall only quote one other authority, -that of Löfling, the favorite pupil of Linnæus, 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 -Linnæus. 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 Hispaniam -ad storeas ob pavimenta lateritia per hyemem: ad funes crassiores pro -navibus ad que corbes et alia utensilia pro transportandis fructibus.” -(_p._ 119.) - - [215] Journey through Spain, vol. iii. p. 129, 130. - - [216] Carter’s Journey, vol. ii. p. 414, 415. - -Pliny’s remark, that the Spartum, of which he speaks, could not be -sown (_quæ non queat seri_), is not true of the Spanish Broom; but this -is of little importance in the present inquiry, because it is coupled -with the remark, that nothing else could be sown in the same situation -(_nec aliud ibi seri aut nasci potest_); a remark, which is totally -unfounded 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 forming his -decision. Notwithstanding the respect due to the authority of Clusius, -into which that of all the subsequent writers seems to resolve itself, -it appears to us that the evidence preponderates against the use of -Stipa Tenacissima for making cloth in ancient times, and points to the -conclusion, that the coarse garments, to which Pliny 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 certain natural -order for another of the same natural order in another 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, packing-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 macerated during -six or eight days. They are known to be ready, when the bark separates -easily from the pith. “The plant is then taken out of the water, -and a man, taking it up by handfuls, 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 to hemp, -that Europeans generally suppose them to be the produce of the same -plant[217].” - - [217] Account of the culture and uses of the Son-or Sun-plant of - Hindostan by Ironside, in the Phil. Trans., vol. lxiv.: Dr. F. - Buchanan’s Journey, vol. i. 226, 227, 291.; 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 Spartium and Crotalaria, might probably afford materials - of the same kind. Mr. Strange (_Lettera_, &c. p. 70.) mentions the - filamentous substance of the Lupin _as adapted for making paper_. - -Theophrastus[218] (Hist. Pl. viii. 13.) gives the following account -of a bulbous plant, called by him Βολβὸς ἐριοφόρος, the root of which -supplied 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.” - - [218] “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 anything else with greater exactness, except that the - bulb is called _eriophoros_; nor does he make any mention at all of - spartum, although he examined the whole subject with great care 390 - years before my time, as I have observed in another place (Viz., - lib. xv. 1.), from which circumstance it appears, that spartum came - into use since that time.” - -It is difficult to determine what plant is meant, though the -description seems accurate and scientific. Billerbeck absurdly supposes -it to be cotton-grass[219]. By former botanists, men of great eminence, -it was supposed to be Scilla Hyacinthoides. Sprengel objects, that -this species does not grow in Greece[220]. 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 acquainted with it. In another article, -Eriophorus, Sir J. Smith doubts whether either Scilla Hyacinthoides or -any other bulb produces wool of such quality and in such quantity as -to answer the description of Theophrastus. But, we learn from other -well-informed botanists, that various bulbs have under the outermost -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. - - [219] Flora Classica, p. 20. - - [220] German translation of Theophrastus, Notes, vol. ii. p. 283. - -Hoffmansegg and Link, who travelled in Portugal, in the description of -Scilla Hyacinthoides, say, “Bulbus tomento viscoso tectus[221].” - - [221] Annals of Botany, by König and Sims, Lond. 1805, vol. i. 101. - -Sonnini says of the Scilla Maritima, “The Greeks of the Archipelago -call it Kourvara-skilla, _kourvara_ signifying properly a ‘tuft of -thread’ (_peloton de fil_[222]).” 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 head[223]. Hoffmansegg and Link[224] say it grows -abundantly on barren hills in Spain and Portugal; but add, “The name -_maritima_ is not 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.” Redouté says the -same. - - [222] Voyage en Grèce, tom. i. ch. 14. p. 295. - - [223] “Bulbus ovatus, tunicatus, _crassitie ferè capitis humani_.” - Desfontaines’ Flora Atlantica, tom. i. p. 297. - - [224] An. of Bot. vol. i. p. 101. - -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 certainly 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 a kind similar -to Agave Vivipara, the leaves of which are extensively used in India -for making cordage[225]. - - [225] Dr. F. Buchanan’s Journey in Mysore, &c. i. p. 36. - -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 Commissioner 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 _paper_, made of mulberry foliage - 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 successful - 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 silk culture - into notice among the members of the Hampshire Agricultural Society, - believing that if we tried the right kind of trees, (such as used in - China,) we could raise silk, yet could not afford to pay $1 per tree, - as then asked for multicaulis; not reflecting how easily they could - be propagated by cuttings and layers. Under this view of the subject, - I wrote to the Rev. E. C. Bridgman, missionary at Canton, China, a - native of Hampshire county, with the request that he would procure and - forward 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 two years since, while Dr. Parker, with a Chinaman, was here on - a visit, on being shown the Canton foliage, it was readily recognized. - As the trees had grown here very luxuriantly, 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, with high commendations, that if it - would grow here, it would be of essential benefit 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 Asiatic for branch feeding. I have, however, almost every variety - which was cultivated during the mulberry speculation--covering, - altogether, some ten or twelve 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 Sandwich - Islands, with the young prince, called on me. At a former visit, I - had supplied him with 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 received there from China; but the cocoons raised - from them were not _one 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 would make a pound. - - “Mr. Titcomb, also a silk-grower in one of the islands, having the - American and Chinese, crossed them: but the crossing 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 mulberry bark. He - said rags were _not_ used in India[226], 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 - Canton 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 Americans--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 - abundant evidence that worms fed exclusively on the Canton mulberry - have been larger, and produced heavier cocoons, by one-third in size - of worms and weight of cocoons, than by other 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 genuine Canton mulberry trees, roots, or cuttings, - to go to Lima, where the applicant went on business, a few years - since, taking with him a few multicaules, at $2 each--now multiplied - 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. Samples had been sent by a - mercantile house in Lima to England, for an opinion of the quality; - 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 pounds per day of sewings, cords, braids, &c. He - represents the climate 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 little 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, &c., 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 favorable - accounts of this year’s success in growing silk, and in corroboration - of the prevalent opinion _that the silk cause will finally prevail_. I - have several letters on this subject--one from a gentleman presiding - over one of our most eminent literary 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 - consideration of the subject be not soon crowned with signal success, - it will not be for want of enterprize or skill in our countrymen, 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 this - department of productive industry, will not prevent its ultimate - _triumph_.’ - - “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 _wool_.’ 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 production_, and that the material was never - operated upon _by the silk-worm_(?). 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 - important 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 encouraged 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 - encouragement, raise ourselves, not only for our own consumption, but - for exportation.” - - Very respectfully, yours, &c. - Daniel Stebbins. - Henry L. Ellsworth, Esq., - Commissioner of Patents. - - [226] Abdollatiph who visited Egypt A. D. 1200, informs us (Chapter - iv. p. 188 of Silvestre 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 use - of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being employed 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.) - -The amount of silk imported into the United States annually, 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. - -ORIGIN AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -SHEEP’S WOOL. - -SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE -SCRIPTURES, ETC. - - The Shepherd Boy--Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia--Mesopotamia - and Syria--In Idumæa and Northern Arabia--In Palestine and Egypt--In - Ethiopia 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, Eubœa, and Bœotia--In Phocis, Attica, and - Megaris--In Arcadia--Worship 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 - Egyptian 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 Arcadia--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, - Where 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, - Went piping forth at the first gleam of morn, - And in their bowering thickets dreamt of joy, - And innocence, and love. 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-accustomed 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, scorn’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 glory-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 in 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 animals has, from the -earliest dawn of human history, formed a striking feature in the -condition of man. Of the materials employed by the ancients for making -cloth, by far the most important 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 -ancient 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, that -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 Ammon_ of Linnæus, which inhabits in vast numbers -the elevated regions of Central Asia, is the primitive stock of the -whole race of domesticated sheep. Agreeably 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 employments. The tribes of wandering shepherds, -which frequent 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 slightest change. - -As might be expected, we have little precise information respecting -the Scythians, who inhabited the elevated plains of inner Asia. Some -of their hordes are distinguished by Herodotus, Strabo, and others, -under the name of _Nomadic_ or _pastoral_ 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 Massagetæ, 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_[227].” But a much more distinct -account of the manners of this people is given us by Justin, who says, -that they were accustomed to wander through uncultivated solitudes, -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[228]. Hence it appears, that they were -too rude and ignorant to have acquired the arts of _spinning_ and -_weaving_. - - [227] Strabo, l. xi. cap. 8. p. 486. ed. Siebenkees. - - [228] Justin, l. ii. cap. 2. - -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 cattle[229].” Nevertheless, 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-reliefs of Persepolis. In one of them, which -represents a long procession sculptured on the wall of a splendid -staircase, two rams, attended by keepers, are accompanied in the same -train by horses, asses, camels, and oxen[230]. 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. - - [229] Strabo, l. xi. cap. 8. p. 567. - - [230] See Ancient Universal History, vol. vi. plates 6. 8. - -The superior excellence of the rich plains of Mesopotamia for -the pasture of sheep as well as oxen, is attested by Dionysius -Periegetes[231], and his account illustrates in an interesting manner -the history of Jacob as contained in the book of Genesis, 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 assembling from the neighboring pastures in the evening -to be watered 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 watering her -sheep. (Gen. xxix. 1-10.) Also on Jacob’s departure his remonstrance -with Laban presents to us an animated representation of the duties and -difficulties of the shepherd’s life; “These twenty years have I been -with thee; thy 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 my 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.) - - [231] Ὅσση δ’ Εὐφρήτου, &c. l. 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 he who tends flocks folded in the fields, - and honors with his syrinx Pan who has horny hoofs.” - -From Ezekiel we learn, that Damascus supplied the Tyrians with -wool[232], 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.)[233]. Aristotle, referring to the sheep of Syria, -mentions a variety with tails, which were a cubit broad[234]; and Pliny -in addition to this circumstance asserts generally the abundance of -the Syrian wool[235]. 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. - - [232] “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 Canneh, and Eden, the - merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. These - were thy merchants in all sorts of things, _in blue clothes_, and - _broidered work_, and _in chests of rich apparel_, bound with - cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.”--_Ezekiel_ xxvii. - 18-24. - - [233] “Et lana præcipua, quod usque hodie cernimus.” - - [234] Hist. Animalium, l. viii. cap. 28. - - [235] Plinii Hist. Nat. l. viii. c. 75. ed. Bipont. See Appendix A. - -In no part of the ancient world does 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 -hundred 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 Idumæa, in a part of which Job is represented to have dwelt, -being possessed of 7,000, and afterwards of 14,000 sheep (Job i. 3. -xlii. 12.): and we have a beautiful allusion to the pastoral habits -of the same country in the language of consolation employed by 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 Midianites, 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 shepherds rudely attempted to drive them -from the well. He afterwards married one of them, and was employed -by the father as his shepherd; and, having occasion according to the -practice of 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 Arabia in the following terms -addressed by the Almighty to his people (Ch. lx. 7.): “All the flocks -of Kedar shall be 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 -Nebatæi, or Arabs of Nebaioth, are depicted as follows by Diodorus -Siculus: “They live 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 invaders. _Their law -forbids them on pain of death either to sow corn, to plant fruit-trees, -to use wine, 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[236].” - - [236] Diod. Sic. l. xix. 94. p. 722. ed. Steph. - - Strabo (l. xvi. cap. 4. p. 460. ed. Siebenkees.), speaking - apparently of another division of the Nebatæi, says they have large - oxen, camels, and white sheep. - -Various ancient authors mention that extraordinary variety of sheep -among the Arabs, the tail of which grew to so great a size as to -require to be supported on a wooden carriage, which was dragged after -the wearer[237]. - - [237] The passages of ancient authors relating to this variety, with - various confirmations from modern travellers, are quoted with his - usual accuracy by Bochart, Hieroz. l. ii. cap. 45. p. 494-497. Ed. - Leusden. Lug. Bat. 1692. - -We have no reason to believe, that the Phœnicians 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, and enterprize were directed into other -channels, and they supplied themselves from foreign countries with wool -for their celebrated manufactures. - -On the other hand, the Hebrews, who were the immediate neighbors of -the Phœnicians, were altogether an agricultural and pastoral people. -The history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, presents to -us beautiful images of the kind of life, which still continues with -little variation among the Bedouins, or wandering Nomads of Arabia. Not -only was David _a shepherd boy_; 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 Sharonite: -and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of -Adlai. Over the camels also was Obil the Ishmaelite: 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 touching 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. lxv. 13.). “Be thou diligent,” 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. xxvii. 23. 26, 27.). We -would particularly refer the reader to the thirty-fourth chapter of -Ezekiel, where the prophet, reprimanding the rulers of Israel under -the character of shepherds, makes some allusion to every circumstance -connected 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 history of the sacrifices -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, already 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 precise idea of the wealth of -a considerable proprietor in this respect. That the “rams of the breed -of Bashan,” were particularly 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 difference 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 Idumæa 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 life, and produced the most -splendid 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 Egyptians[238].” - - [238] Gen. xlvi. 28.--xlvii. 6. Compare Josephus, Ant. ii. 7. 5. - -It appears that the Nabatæan law was far more effectual towards the -attainment of its object than the Egyptian. For, whereas the pastoral -tribes of Arabia have retained their independence and their national -peculiarities even to the present day; the Egyptians, on the other -hand, became a prey to foreign 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 commenced; -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[239]. Later historians afford distinct testimony 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 inhabitants of the Theban Nome, -who worshipped Ammon, 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, mentions 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 effect. Aristotle (_l. c._) mentions, that the sheep of -Egypt were larger than those of Greece. - - [239] It should be observed, that the Hebrew word translated _sheep_ in - Ex. ix. 3. included goats. - -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 forbidden to be buried in woollen or to use it in -the temples, yet Herodotus (ii. 81.) states, that on ordinary occasions -they wore a garment of white wool over their linen shirt. They also -used wool for embroidering. According to Pliny[240] 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 -country[241]. - - [240] Hist. Nat. l. viii. 73. See Appendix A. - - [241] De Pallio, c. 3. - -Strabo in an instructive manner contrasts the Ethiopians with the -Egyptians. Having observed, that the boundary between the two nations -was the smaller cataract above Syene and Elephantine, he says, that the -Ethiopians led for the most part a pastoral life without resources, -both on account of their intemperate climate and the poverty of their -soil, and also because they were remote from the civilized world; -whereas the Egyptians had always lived in a refined manner and under -a regular government, settled in fixed habitations, and cultivating -philosophy, agriculture, and the arts[242]. Thus do we find the nomad -life recurring immediately to the south of Egypt. Strabo further -states, that the Ethiopian sheep were small, and instead of being -woolly were hairy like goats, on which account the people wore skins -instead of woollen cloth[243]. That these sheep were held in some -estimation by the Egyptians is, however, manifest from the fact, -that in the splendid procession exhibited at Alexandria by Ptolemy -Philadelphus, there were 130 sheep from Ethiopia, 300 from Arabia, and -20 from Eubœa[244]. 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 (l. 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. - - [242] Strabo, l. xvii. c. 1. § 3. p. 476, 477. ed. Siebenkees. - - [243] 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 in the interior of Africa with “fleeces as coarse and hairy - as those of the goat.”--Travels in Barbary, part iii. chap. 2. § 1. - - [244] Callixenus Rhodius, apud Athenæum, l. v. p. 201. ed. Casaub. - -We find, that the people of Libya had attained to some distinction 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 year[245]. 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, -inasmuch as it represents, that the ewes brought forth not only twice, -but even _three_ times in the year, and that the lambs were immediately -provided with horns[246]. - - 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._ - - [245] Aristot. Problem. cap. x. sec. 46. - - [246] Odyss. iv. 85-89. - -Pindar (_Pyth_. ix. 11.) distinguishes Libya by the epithet πολύμηλος, -“abounding in flocks.” To the same district of Africa, 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. - - Why should I sing of Libya’s artless swains; - Her scatter’d cottages and trackless plains? - By day, by night, 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, - His 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 according 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 solitary wanderer, bearing with him all his -arms and implements, just as a Roman soldier (l. 346.) carried his -military accoutrements. 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 hundreds or perhaps scores, -of sheep and goats. - -Let us now pursue the progress of this employment in another direction, -viz. towards the north-west, and across the Euxine 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 Coraxi_. 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 directly refers. At -present we shall only consider the following evidence preserved by -Joannes Tzetzes. - - Τὸ παλαιὸν περὶ στρωμνὰς ἦν τῇ Μιλητῷ φήμη· - Ἔρια τὰ Μιλησία καλλίστα γὰρ τῶν πάντων, - Κᾂν ὦσι τῶν Κοραξικῶν φέροντα δευτερεῖα[247]. - - [247] Jo. Tzetzes, Chiliad. x. 348-350, in Lectii Corp. Poetarum - Græcorum. - - “Anciently Miletus was famed for carpets: for of all fleeces the - Milesian were the most beautiful, although the Coraxic bore the second - prize.” - - Περὶ τῶν Μιλησιῶν ἔφαν πολλοὶ ἐρίων· - Περὶ ἐρίων Κοράξων ἐν πρωτῷ δὲ Ἰαμβῷ - Ἱππῶναξ οὗτως εἴρηκε, μέτρῳ χωλῶν Ἰάμβων, - Κωραξικὸν μὲν ἠμφιεσμένη λῶπος.[248] - - “Of the Milesian fleeces many have spoken: and to the Coraxic Hipponax - has alluded in his Choliambic measure, where he mentions ‘a woman - enveloped in a Coraxic shawl.’” - - [248] Ib. 378-381. - -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 (l. vi. cap. 5.)[249], that the Coraxi were situated -near Dioscurias, which, though deserted in his time, had been formerly -so illustrious that 300 nations, _speaking different languages_, -resorted to it. As we learn from other authorities, Dioscurias _was -a colony of Miletus 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 -Carthage[250]. 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 Dioscurias 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 Ægean in the vessels of -Miletus their fine wool, as well as the _carpets_ and _shawls_, which -they made from it. - - [249] See Appendix A. - - [250] Heeren, Handbuch, iii. 2. 2. p. 185. Mannert, Geographie, 6. 3. - p. 253, &c. - -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 present day have numerous herds of cattle -and vast flocks of sheep and goats. Their vallies are distinguished -by beauty and fertility. A late traveller says, that from whatever -country you enter Circassia, “_you are at once agreeably impressed -with the decided improvement in the appearance of the population, the -agriculture, and the beauty of their flocks and herds_[251].” With -respect to Dioscurias, we are informed, that “the memory of its ancient -name is still preserved in the present appellation of Iskouriah[252].” -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 obtain no provisions, the traders who anchor -there being obliged to construct temporary huts and booths of the -boughs of trees for their accommodation, whilst awaiting the arrival of -the natives of Mingrelia and Caucasus[253]. - - [251] Travels in Circassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol. - ii. p. 355. Julius von Klaproth, in the work quoted below, says, - (p. 582.), that the wealth of the Circassians consists principally - in their sheep, from whose wool the women make coarse cloth and - felt. In the summer they drive their sheep into the mountains, but - feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains. - - [252] Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, - vol. i. p. 110. See also Major Rennell’s Map of Western Asia. - - [253] Chardin’s Travels, vol i. p. 77. 108. of the English Translation. - London, 1686. - -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, consisting of -rather more than 250 families, which appears 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[254]. From him we learn the following -particulars respecting their appearance, manners, and employments. -They 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 by -large black eyes and a white skin._ Their language resembles that of -the Nogay-Tartars. They live 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 -grass 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 chiefly made of woollen cloth, which they weave themselves from the -produce of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole of -Caucasus. They sell their cloth_, called by them _Shal_[255], 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-Kalé, a Turkish fort on the Black Sea_, which contains shops -and ware-houses, and carries on a considerable trade with the Western -Caucasus. They receive here in return goods of _cotton_ and _silk_, -tobacco and tobacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. While -the men are employed out of doors, the women stay at home, make gold -and silver thread, and sew the clothes of their fathers and brothers. - - [254] Reise in den Caucasus, cap. 24. The author 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 that 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 della Colchide, hoggi delta - Mengrelia, Napoli, 1654, cap. 28. p. 196. - - [255] The origin of the English _shawl_. - -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-east of the same coast, to which they have always resorted -for commercial purposes[256]. - - [256] Souchom-Kalé is only twelve miles from _Iscuria_, a single - promontory intervening between the bay and river of the former - harbor and those of the latter. See Spencer’s Travels, vol. i. p. - 295-297, and his Map at p. 209. - -We cannot survey the now deserted Iscuria without observing, 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 life, and brought into close and peaceful contact -the most refined and the most uncultivated nations, under the direction -of the Ionians 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 Tzetzes we find -little said concerning the breeding of sheep in this part of Asia. -Aristotle, however, mentions the sheep of “Pontus near Scythia,” and -says that they were without horns[257]. The Melanchlæni also, who are -mentioned by Herodotus in his account of the Scythian tribes, and who -lived to the north of the Coraxi, were so called, because they wore -black palls. - - [257] Hist. Anim. viii. 28. - -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 preserve 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 people is compared to the -shepherd tending his flock, or to the strong and large ram, which leads -the sheep[258]. It is to be observed, that the geographical knowledge -expressed in the Homeric poems extended as far as the promontory -of Carambis on the south coast of the Euxine Sea, and included all -Phrygia, Ionia, and the western half of Asia Minor. - - [258] See Bochart’s Hierozoïcon, l. ii. cap. 44. De Gregum Pastoribus. - -The Greek mythology affords similar evidence. The well-known story of -Paris, adjudging the golden apple, is founded on the pastoral scenes -of Ida. Marsyas also was a shepherd on mount Ida[259]: the river -Marsyas, famed for his contest with Apollo, was among the Phrygian -mountains[260]. - - [259] Hyginus, Fab. 165. - - [260] It appears not impossible, that, when Theocritus in Idyll. iii. - 46, represents Adonis as “tending flocks upon the mountains,” he - 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 Anchises, as if the scene of both were - in the same region. Among the various accounts of Adonis, one makes - him the offspring of Smyrna; and Cinyras, _the father of Adonis, - is said to have founded the city of Smyrna in Ionia, calling it by - that name after his daughter_. (Hyginus, Fab. 58 and 275.) This - supposition accounts most satisfactorily for the production of the - beautiful elegy on the death of Adonis by Bion, who was a native of - Smyrna. - -The historical evidence to which we now proceed, though referring to -times much posterior to the mythological, is more exact 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[261].” The chief town of this -region was _Selge_, a very flourishing city, and hence Tertullian, -in a passage, mentions “oves Selgicæ,” Selgic sheep, among those of -the greatest celebrity. The superior whiteness of the fleeces of -_Pamphylia_ is mentioned by Philostratus. - - [261] Lib. xii. c. 7, § 3. - -We have reason to believe, that the _Lydians_ and _Carians_ bestowed -the greatest attention on sheep-breeding and on the woollen manufacture -before the arrival of the Greek colonists among them. The new settlers -adopted the employments of the ancient inhabitants, and made those -employments subservient to a very extensive and lucrative trade. Pliny -(viii. 73. 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 Colossæ, 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[262]:” and -Varro asserts, that in his time there were many flocks of wild sheep in -Phrygia[263]. - - [262] Aves, 492. - - [263] De Re Rusticâ, ii. 1. - -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 distinguished excellence -of the wool of Miletus, although in many of them the epithet _Milesian_ -may be employed only in a proverbial 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 fleeces[264]. 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. l. xii. p. 553), a -favorite lap-dog is described, lying on Milesian fleeces: - - Οὐκοῦν ὑποστορεῖτε μαλακῶς τῷ κυνί· - Κάτω μὲν ὑποβαλεῖτε τῶν Μιλησίων - Ἐρίων. - - Therefore make a soft bed for the dog: throw down for him Milesian - fleeces. - - [264] Ctesiæ fragmenta, a Bähr, p. 224. - -The Sybarites wore _shawls_ of Milesian wool[265]. Palæphatus 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 Miletus[266]. Eustathius says, the “Milesian -_carpets_[267]” had become proverbial. Virgil 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. - - [265] Timæus apud Athenæum, xii. p. 519. B. - - [266] De Incred. § 19. - - [267] In Dionysium, v. 823. - -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.) enumerates Milesian -fleeces among the articles of Tyrian importation. - -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. _Fœsii_. - - 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 - Alexandrinus, Pæd. ii. 30. - - Lying on Milesian carpets.--Aristoph. Ranæ, l. 548. - - Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus and Selge and Altinum, nor of - those, for which Tarentum and Bætica are famous, and which are colored - by nature.--Tertullian de Pallio, 3. - - If, from the beginning the Milesians were occupied _in shearing - sheep_, the Seres _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. Athenæus (xii. -p. 540. D.) cites two ancient authors who assert that, when Polycrates -was introducing into Samos the most excellent 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 Ælian (Hist. Anim. xii. 40.), that the 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 established in Thrace -as early as in any part of Europe; for in the Homeric poems it is -called “the mother of flocks” (Il. v. 222.). In a much later age the -sheep of Thrace are mentioned by Nicander (Nicand. Ther. 50.). We learn -from Plato (De Legibus, l. vii. p. 36. ed. Bekker) that in Thrace -the flocks were entrusted to the care of the women, who were there -compelled like slaves to work out of doors. - -Aristotle speaks of the sheep of Magnesia, and says that they brought -forth young twice a year[268]. - - [268] Problem. cap. x. sec. 46. - -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 flocks[269].” It was celebrated for a temple of -Minerva, who was called from it _Itonis_, or _Itonia_[270], and whose -worship was transferred from hence to Bœotia. - - [269] Il. B. 696. - - [270] Strabo, l. ix. c. 2. § 29. p. 458; and c. 5. § 14. p. 614. ed. - Siebenkees. Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. i. 551; and Schol. ad locum. - Alcæi Reliquiæ, a Maththiæ, No. 54. - -That Eubœa was famous for sheep we know from the testimony of two -different authors cited by Athenæus. That of Callixenus Rhodius has -been already produced; and that of Hermippus occurs in his metrical -enumeration of the most excellent and characteristic productions of -different countries[271]. - - [271] Athen. Deip. l. i. p. 27. D. - -Bœotia appears from very early times to have been rich in flocks. The -tragic history of Œdipus supposes, that his father Laius, the king -of Thebes, had flocks on Mount Cithæron. According to Sophocles (Œd. -Tyr. 1026-1140.) Œdipus was delivered to one of the royal shepherds -to be there exposed, and this shepherd through pity committed him to -another, and thus saved his life[272]. Seneca in his free version of -Sophocles (Œd. Act. iv. v. 815-850.) has added a circumstance, as it -appears, from the 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 countryman, Hesiod, represents -them fighting at the gates of Thebes “for the flocks of Œdipus” (Op. et -Dies, 163.), an expression, which must at least be understood to imply, -that sheep constituted a principal part of the king’s wealth. - - [272] This transaction is represented in Plate VIII. Fig. 5. - -Among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum we have an interesting -inscription relating to a contract made between the city of Orchomenos -in Bœotia and Eubulus of Elatea in Phocis, _according to which -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 -Böckh[273] and Ottfried Müller[274] this inscription may be referred to -the time of the Peloponnesian 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, were -bred in that country[275]. 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[276].” 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 -audiendo, p. 73. ed. Steph.), and by the Roman poet Laberius, who died -in the year 43 B. C. - - No matter whether in soft Attic wool, - Or in rough goats’-hair you be clothed[277]. - - [273] Corpus Inscrip. Græcar., vol. i. p. 740. - - [274] Orchomenos, p. 471. - - [275] 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 Bœotia near Platæa 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. - - [276] Contra Everg. et Mnesid. p. 1155. ed. Reiske. - - [277] Apud Non. Marcellum. - -We learn from Theocritus, that the shepherds of Acharnæ, one of the -Attic demi, excelled in playing on the pipe[278]. - - [278] Idyll. vii. 71. - -In the adjoining country of _Megaris_ was a temple of great antiquity -in honor of Δήμητηρ Μαλοφόρος. It was said, that Ceres was worshipped -under that title, THE BRINGER OF FLOCKS, by those who first kept sheep -in the country[279]. 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 _boys_ were -sometimes seen _naked_ after the Doric fashion, Diogenes, the cynic, -said in reference to these practices, _he would rather be the ram of a -Megarensian than his son_[280]. - - [279] Paus. i. 44. 4. - - [280] Diog. Laert. vi. 41. Æliani Var. Hist. xii. 56. - -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 lively genius and -imaginative disposition common to the Greek nation were directed to -the daily contemplation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties -of mountain 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, generally favorable -to the development of the domestic and social virtues. To attempt a -full investigation of this subject, and to show in what degree the want -of higher attainments _in religious knowledge_ and _moral cultivation_ -was supplied by the peculiar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, -would lead us too far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring -forward the principal facts and authorities, and to give a succint -account of the genuine Arcadian system of religion 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 constant and -manifest reference to the principal employments of the inhabitants, -was _Pan_. Hence he is called by Virgil and Propertius “the God -of Arcadia[281].” 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. C.[282]. - - [281] Virg. Buc. x. 26. and Georg. iii. 385. See also Propert. i. 17. - - [282] Hist. d’Herodote, par Larcher, tome vii. p. 359, 582. - -The circumstances of the birth of this divinity, with his habits and -employments, are described as follows in the most ancient document -which we have relating to him, viz. Homer’s Hymn to Pan. Mercury -tended rough flocks at Cyllene in the service of a mortal man, being -enamored of a beautiful nymph. In the course of time she bore him a -son, _having the feet of a goat, two horns upon his forehead, a long -shaggy beard, 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 inhabiting the most wild, rough, -and lofty summits of the sylvan Arcadia. There it is his business to -destroy the wild beasts; _and when, 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 in 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, 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 Mænalus. It is to be observed, that the care of dogs to guard the -flock was an indispensable part of the pastoral office. Philostratus, -in his Second Book of Pictures[283], supposes 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. - - [283] Philostrati Senioris Imag. l. ii. c. 11. - -In the Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil we find frequent invocations 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 Lycæi, - Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Mænala curæ, - Adsis, O Tegeæe, favens. - _Georg._ i. 16-18. - - God of the fleece, whom grateful shepherds love, - Oh, leave Lycæus and thy father’s grove; - And if thy Mænalus yet claim thy care, - Hear, Tegeæan Pan, th’ invoking prayer. - _Georg._ i. 16-18. - - Delightful Mænalus, ‘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 bowers and lowly cots, - To drive the kids to fold, the stags to pierce; - Then shouldst thou emulate Pan’s skilful verse, - 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 swains: - 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 Virgil, Pausanias informs us of several others, -in which he saw temples and altars erected to Pan. He says[284], that -Mount Mænalus was especially sacred to this deity, _so that those who -dwelt in its vicinity asserted, that they sometimes heard him playing -on the syrinx_. A continual fire burnt there near his temple. - - [284] L. viii. c. 36. 5. and c. 37. 8. - -Herodotus gives a very curious account of the introduction of the -worship of Pan into Attica[285]. He says, that before the battle -of Marathon the Athenian generals sent Philippides as a herald to -Sparta. “On his return Philippides asserted, that Pan had appeared to -him near Mount Parthenius above Tegea, 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 themselves -prosperous, erected a temple to Pan below the Acropolis, and continued -to propitiate him by annual sacrifices 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 Propylæa[286]. - - [285] Lib. vi. c. 105. - - [286] Eurip. Jon. 492-504. 937. Paus. i. 28. 4. Stuart’s Ant. of - Athens. Hobhouse’s Travels, p. 336. Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. 304. - - In Sir R. Worsley’s collection of Antiques at Appledurcombe 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 University 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 same cave, and from its style, - (the Æginetic,) may be supposed to have been carved soon after the - battle of Marathon. See Dr. E. D. Clarke s Greek Marbles, p. 9. No. - xi. Wilkins’s Magna Græcia, p. 71, and Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. - 304. - -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[287]. - - [287] Paus. l. i. 32. 6. Dodwell’s Tour, vol. ii. p. 162. Mapat, p. 330 - of Mem. on Eur. and As. Turkey, edited by Walpole. - -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 Rapsāna between Athens and Sunium. -ΠΑΝΟϹ is inscribed on the rock near the entrance, proving that it -was considered sacred to Pan. It is no doubt the Panīon mentioned by -Strabo[288]. - - [288] 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. Dodwell’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 - propitious by sacrificing a she-goat or lamb, by gifts of cakes or - fruit, and by libations of milk, oil, and honey; simply believing, - that this attention was pleasing to them, _that they were present - though unseen_, and partook without diminishing the offering; their - appetites as well as passions, caprices, and employments resembling - 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. - -The Corycian cave on Mount Parnassus was dedicated by the surrounding -inhabitants to Pan and to the Nymphs[289]. Theocritus also (Idyll. -viii. v. 103.) speaks of Homole, a mountainous tract in the south -of Thessaly, as belonging to Pan. Altars were dedicated to Pan on -the race-course at Olympia in Elis[290], as we may presume, out of -respect to the Arcadians, who resorted to the Olympic games. Pindar -states[291], that he had near his door a statue of Pan. Here, as his -able commentators Heyne and Böckh observe, his daughters with other -Theban virgins sung hymns in honor of the god. - -Time has spared the traces of hymns performed on such occasions, of -which the following Scholion is the most entire specimen. - - Ὦ Πάν, Ἀρκαδίας μέδων κλεεννᾶς, - ὀρχηστὰ βρομίαις ὀπαδὲ νύμφαις, - γελάσειας, ὦ Πὰν, ἐπ’ ἐμαῖς - εὐφροσύναις, ἀοιδαῖς κεχαρημένος[292]. - - O Pan, Arcadia’s sovereign lord, - Dancing and singing with the nymphs; - Smile, Pan, responsive to my joys, - O shout, delighted with my songs. - - [289] Paus. l. x. 32. 5. Strabo, l. ix. cap. 3. § 1. p. 488. ed. - Siebenkees Raikes’s Journal in Memoirs edited by Walpole, p. - 311-315. - - [290] Paus. l. v. c. 15. § 4. - - [291] Pyth. iii. 137-139. - - [292] Athenæus, l. xv. 50. 1547. ed. Dindorf. Pindari Op. a Böckh. ii. - 2. p. 592. Brunck, Analecta, vol. i. p. 156; and vol. iii. Lect. et - Emend. p. 27. - -On a vase of Greek marble in the Royal Museum at Naples (This vase -was first described in [Italian 275] Bayardi, Catalogo degli antichi -monumenti dissottarretti da Ercolano. Napoli, 1754, p. 290. No. 914.), -we see Pan dancing with 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 exhibited with goats’ feet and horns -(Hom. 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 emblems. 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 circular dances hold each other with a handkerchief, -and not by the hand[293]. - - [293] Dodwell’s Tour, vol. ii. p. 21, 22. - -That the Romans considered Pān 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, - And here 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. l. i. c. 17. v. 1-12. - -The names Pan and Faun, scarcely differ except in this, that the -one begins with P, the _lenis_, and the other with F, which is its -_aspirate_: in the second place, both were conceived 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[294] -and to Faunus in Italy[295], because 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 incarnation -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 worship into Arcadia from -Egypt, though found in the pages of an historian, is not given by him -as a matter of history, but only as a matter of opinion. The account of -the origin of the worship of Faunus at Rome, is as follows: _Evander, -the Arcadian, introduced a colony of his countrymen into Italy, and -established there the rights of Mercury and of the Lycean Pan on the -hill, which was afterwards called the Palatine Mount and became part of -the city of Rome_. A cave at the base of the hill was dedicated to Pan, -as we have seen was the case some centuries afterwards at Athens[296]. - - [294] Longi Pastor. l. ii. c. 17. In an epigram by Leonidas of Tarentum - (No. xxx. Brunckii Analecta, tom. i. p. 228.) Bito, an aged - Arcadian, dedicates offerings to Pan, to Bacchus, and to the - Nymphs. To Pan he devotes a kid. - - [295] Ovid. Fasti, ii. See also Hor. Od. l. i. 4. v. ii. - - [296] Dionys. Halicarn. Hist. Rom. l. i. p. 20, 21, ed. R. Steph. Paris - 1546. Strabon l. v. cap. iii. § 3. Aur. Victor, Origo Gentis - Romanæ. Livii l. i. c. 5. Pausanias, viii. 43. 2. Virg. Æn. viii. - 51-54. 342-344. Heyne’s Excursus ad loc. Ovidii Fasti, ii. 268-452. - v. 88, &c. - -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 influence this peculiar -belief and worship had upon their manners and their social life. -Whilst the elegant simplicity and innocence 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 earliest 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 pastoral 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 people[297]. 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 benevolence -towards all men, but especially on account of their _piety towards -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 surrounding states. Their division into -small independent communities, each presenting a purely _democratic_ -constitution, _rendered it impossible for them to acquire celebrity -in legislation_; and yet we are informed of some of the citizens of -Arcadia, who were reputed excellent lawgivers for the sphere in which -they acted[298]. It appears to be no inconsiderable evidence of their -progress in the art of government upon republican principles, _that -in the choice of magistrates at Mantinea they proceeded upon the plan -of a double election_[299]. We have the most decisive proofs of their -public spirit in the splendid cities, which they erected, and which -were adorned with theatres, temples, and numerous other edifices. We -are informed by Pausanias[300], that of all the temples in Peloponnesus -the most beautiful and admirable were those of Minerva at Tegea and -of Apollo at Phigalia; and these 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 enthusiasm, -when it is considered, _that among them property was exceedingly -subdivided; that they had no overpowering 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 sculptures, 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 deliberations and contributions of the -mass of the inhabitants. They seem therefore to _prove_ the _universal_ -prevalence both of a liberal patriotic feeling, and of a cultivated -taste for the beautiful and the sublime. - - [297] J. H. Voss, Virgil’s Ländliche Gedichte, tom. ii. p. 353. - - [298] Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterthumskunde, i. 1. p. 180; i. 2. p. 305. - - [299] Aristot. Polit. l. vi. 2. 2. - - [300] L. viii. c. 41. 5. p. 429, ed. Siebel. - -Virgil bears his testimony to their superior skill in vocal and -instrumental music. - - Arcadian swains, - Ye best artificers of soothing strains. - _Bucol._ x. 32.--_Warton’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 species -of poetry, by which the Greeks of other countries laid a foundation for -the instruction and delight of all succeeding 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 attempt to write them: of this fact we have sufficient proof -in the remains of the theatres found upon the sites of their principal -cities, and especially of the theatre of Megalopolis, which was the -greatest in all Greece[301]. - - [301] Pausanias, l. viii. 32. 1. Leake’s Travels in the Morea, vol. ii. - p. 32. 39, 40. - -But with respect to their cultivation of music and its influence on -their national character, we have upon record the full and explicit -testimony of one of their most distinguished citizens, the historian -Polybius, whose remarks will appear especially deserving of the -reader’s attention, when it is considered, that he must himself have -gone through the whole course of discipline and instruction which he -describes. Having had occasion to mention the turbulent character -as well as the cruel and perfidious conduct of the Cynætheans, who -occupied a city and district in the north of Arcadia, he proposes 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 with earnestness and -solemnity to explain upon the following principles the cause of this -extraordinary contrast. It was, as he states, that the Cynætheans -were the only inhabitants of Arcadia who had neglected to exercise -themselves in music; and he then gives the following account 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 required 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 pæans 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 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 -listening to singers hired for the purpose, but in singing themselves -in their turns when called upon. For, although a man may decline 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 military 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 assemblies and in numerous -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 communicating softness and refinement to -the otherwise rough and laborious life of the Arcadians, and he warns -them by the example of the half-savages of Cynæthæ never to abandon -such wholesome institutions[302]. 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 recreations, providing at the same time -exercise for the body, amusement for the imagination, and employment -for the finer and more amiable feelings, were made to relieve the -degrading and benumbing monotony of their protracted labors, whether in -the factory or in the field! - - [302] Polyb. l. iv. c. 20, 21. - -It will be readily perceived, that the education here described, and -the tastes and habits which it produced, were immediately associated -with the popular religion, and especially with the notions and rites -entertained towards the peculiar god of the shepherds. Other deities -indeed, such as Apollo, Diana, and Minerva, who were also worshipped in -Arcadia, may have contributed 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 with his offspring -to bless the flocks and to increase their produce[303]. Hence Homer, in -order to convey the idea that Phorbas was remarkably successful in the -breeding of sheep, says that he was beloved by Mercury above all the -other Trojans[304]. The inhabitants of one territory even in Arcadia, -viz. the city of Phineos, honored Mercury more than all the other gods, -and expressed this sentiment by procuring a statue of him made by a -celebrated sculptor in Ægina, in which he was represented carrying a -ram under his arm, and which they placed in the great temple of Jupiter -at Olympia[305]. 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 representation 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 little or nothing to do -with the tending of sheep and were devoted to commerce, we may ask what -interest had they in this attribute of Mercury? It is very evident -that it could only be an interest arising from the part which Corinth -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 attained, _unless they had been able to dispose of the -chief produce of their soil in a profitable manner_? 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 Corinth and -Patræ may be regarded as an intimation, that the Arcadians disposed of -their wool in those cities for exportation to foreign countries. - - [303] Buonaroti (Osservazioni sopra alcuni Medaglioni Antichi, p. - 41.) has exhibited brass coins, in one of which Mercury is riding - on a sheep; in a second the sheep is seen with Mercury’s bag of - money on its back; and in a third the caduceus is over the sheep, - and two spikes of corn, emblems of agricultural prosperity, 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. - represents Mercury sitting upon a rock with a dog by his side: - Winckelmann observes, that “the dog is the symbol 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 standing 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 manner to the - character of Mercury as the promoter of the trade in wool. - - The Honorable Keppel Craven (Excursions in the Abruzzi, 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, to MERCURIUS LANARIUS. This title evidently - represented Mercury as presiding over the growth of wool and the - trade in it. - - Perhaps the very ancient idea of Mercury making the fleece of - Phryxus golden by his touch may have originated in the same view. - See Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, l. 11. 1144, and Scholion ad - locum. - - [304] Il. xiv. 490. See also Hom. Hymn to Mercury, 569. Hesiod, Theog. - 444. - - [305] Paus. l. v. 27. 5. and l. viii. 14. 7. - -But, notwithstanding the important share, which Mercury had in the -religious sentiments and observances of the Arcadians, the proper god -of the shepherds of Arcadia was Pan, and we have already had abundant -evidence to suggest the conviction, 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 independence, of rustic -simplicity united with tasteful elegance, of social kindness and -domestic enjoyment undisturbed by the projects of ambition, which has -supplied many of the most beautiful pictures to the writers of poetry -and romance. The great natural features of the country are unalterable. -The pine-forests of Lycæus, its deep glens continually refreshed with -sparkling 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[306]. 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 their fire-arms instead of being charmed with the sweet -melody of the syrinx[307]. But a new dynasty has been established under -the sanction of the most powerful and enlightened nations of Europe. It -remains to be seen whether this or any other part of Greece will again -become 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, will not abandon those -of their descendants, who with superior means of knowledge, aim at -corresponding attainments in the excellencies of political, social, and -private life. - - [306] [German 283] Bartholdy, Bruchstücke zur Kenntniss des - heut. Griechenlands, p. 238. - - [307] 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 which he paid to the family of a shepherd, - consisting of twelve or fifteen individuals, who lived together in - a tent on Mount Lycæus:--“Milk and misithra (a preparation made - by boiling milk and whey together) is their usual food. ‘We have - milk in plenty,’ they tell me, ‘but no bread.’ Such is the life - of a modern Arcadian shepherd, who has almost reverted to the - balanephagous state of his primitive ancestors (Orac. Pyth. ap. - Pausan. Arcad. c. 42.). The children, however, all look healthy and - are handsome, having large black eyes and regular features with - very dark complexion.” - -According to the representation in the Odyssey (xiv. 100.) Ulysses -had twelve flocks of sheep, and as many of goats on the continent -opposite to Ithaca. At a much later period Neoptolemus, a king of -Molossis, in possession of flocks and herds, which were superintended -by a distinct officer appointed for the purpose[308]. In Macedonia -also the king, though living 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 goats[309]. Here then we find -in Europe a state of society _analogous 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 Arcadia in this respect, that, while the Athenians and Arcadians -were in general small landed proprietors, each shepherd tending his -flock upon his own ground, Phrygia[310], Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, -and even Bœotia belonged probably to an aristocracy, the richest -and most powerful individuals of which became shepherd kings, their -landed possessions giving them a superiority over the rest of their -countrymen, and leading to the employment of numerous persons as their -servants engaged in tending their cattle and in other rural occupations. - - [308] Plutarchi Pyrrhus, p. 705. ed. Steph. - - [309] Herod. viii. 137. - - [310] Theopompus, as quoted by Servius on Virgil, Buc. vi. 13, makes - mention of the shepherds, who kept the flocks of Midas, king of - Phrygia. - -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 was usual there to have one man to take care of 100 -coarse-wooled sheep (_oves hirtæ_), and two men for the same number of -“_oves pellitæ_,” 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 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[311]. Further notices respecting them -may be found in Virgil’s Georgics, l. iii. 404-413, and in the Notes of -his editors and translators, Heyne, Martyn, and J. H. Voss. See also -Ælian de Nat. An. iii. 2. and Plautus, Capt. l. i. 18. - - [311] Holland’s Travels, p. 443. Hughes’s Travels, vol. i. p. 483, 484, - 496. - -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 annual 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, &c. (_p._ 91-93.), gives a lively 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 occurred to our notice. We met on the - road a community of migrating shepherds, a wandering people of the - mountains of Albania, who in the 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 employed in carrying the moveable habitations and the - various goods of the community, which were packed with remarkable - neatness and uniformity[312]. The infants and smaller children were - variously attached to the luggage, while the men, women, and elder - children travelled for the most part on foot; a healthy and masculine - race of people, 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.” He then adds, “These migratory - tribes of shepherds generally come down from the mountains about the - latter end of October, and return thither from the plains in April, - 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 on the spot.” - - [312] No one has described this pastoral migration more minutely or - more beautifully, than Mr. Charles Fellows, in his _Discoveries in - Lycia_. - -According to Dr. Sibthorp (_in Walpole’s Memoirs_, _p._ 141.), “a -wandering tribe of Nomads” on the other side of Greece drive their -flocks from the mountains of Thessaly into the plains of Attica and -Bœotia 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 poetry--Sheep-breeding in - South Italy--Annual migration of the flocks--The ram employed to - aid the shepherd in conducting 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--Origin of sheep-breeding in Italy--Faunus the same - with Pan--Ancient sculptures exhibiting Faunus--Bales of wool and - the shepherd’s dress--Costume, appearance, 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 Sicilians was -marked by peculiar characters as well as that of the Arcadians. The -bucolic poems of Theocritus represent many of its circumstances in the -most lively colors; and, while their dramatic spirit and vivacity are -unrivalled, 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 well as by sheep. These animals 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 appear 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 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 -Peloponnesus 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 contend 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[313]. - - [313] 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 best 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 - modern Sicily in comparison with what it was in former ages. Many - towns and different nations are destroyed; immense riches are - dissipated; the whole island can at present scarce show 1,200,000 - inhabitants, _the number which Syracuse alone formerly had_. Many - beautiful spots, which used to produce corn and fruits, are now - deserted for want of laborers; many spacious ports are without any - ships for want of trade; and many people want bread, _whilst the - nobility and the monks_ are in possession of all the lands.” p. - 112, 113. - - “To conclude, the climate, the soil, and the fruits 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 inhabitants can only say, Fuimus - Troes.” p. 151. - -That this elegant recreation was of Sicilian origin we have clear and -abundant evidence. Bion (_Idyll_ vii. 1.) calls pastoral poetry “a -Sicilian 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, - - “I will set my verses to the tune of a Sicilian shepherd.” - _Buc._ x. 51. - -The historian Diodorus, himself a Sicilian, who lived about the -commencement of the Christian æra, supposes bucolic poetry and music -to be the peculiar invention and exercise of his own country, and -says, that it continued in use at his time and was held in the same -estimation as formerly[314]. In less than 200 years from this period -the art lost much of its original simplicity. Maximus Tyrius (Diss. -xxi.) says, that “the Dorians of Sicily became, to use the mildest -term, _more 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 tunes of the -Sybarites, and a style of dancing adapted to them, such as was required -by the Ionic pipe.” - - [314] L. iv. c. 84, p. 283. - -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 neighboring district of Magna -Græcia; for it is near _Sybaris_ 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 newly -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 Samos_, 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 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 contributed, if not to -excite feelings allied to religion, at least to amuse their imagination -and to contribute greatly to the variety and liveliness 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 summit of a mountain and plays upon the syrinx for the -amusement of himself and his flock[315]. - - [315] Theocritus, Idyll vi. and xi. Lucian, Dial. Doridis et Galateæ. - Ovid, Met. L. xiii. 739-870. - -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 Heræan mountains to the north -of Ætna, and did not mix in the society of men. At the time when the -beard was beginning to grow on his upper 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 in obeying her; but at length a Sicilian princess, having -intoxicated him with wine, accomplished her purpose. He shared the fate -of Thamyras, the Thracian, and was thus punished for his folly[316]. He -then pined away, and died of hopeless love for the nymph, whom he had -offended[317]. According to Virgil (_Buc._ v. 56-71.) _he was raised to -the stars_, and sacrifices were offered to him by the shepherds. - - [316] Timæus, author of the Hist. of Sicily, as quoted by Parthenius, - c. 29. Ælian, Var. Hist. L. x. c. 18. Diod. Sic. L. iv. c. 84. p. - 283. - - [317] Theocritus, Idyll i. 66-141. and vii. 72-77. - -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) -will no longer sing of Daphnis, but of Astacides.” The poet’s design -was to extol Astacides, by comparing him with Daphnis. According to -Ælian (_l. c._) the first bucolic 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 Daphnis are very frequent[318], -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 Mænalus and the -long ridges of Lycæus, and to come to Sicily in order to receive from -his own hand the syrinx, on which he had been accustomed to play. - - Ἔνθ’ ᾦναξ, καὶ τάνδε φέρ’ εὐπάκτοιο μελίπνουν - Ἐκ κηρῶ σύριγγα καλὰν, περὶ χεῖλος ἑλικτάν· - Ἠ γὰρ ἐγὼν ὑπ’ ἔρωτος ἐς ἅδᾶν ἕλκομαι ἤδη. - - 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._ - - [318] Idyll v. 20. See also v. 80. In Idyll vi. Daphnis is one of the - performers, and gives a description of Galatea. - -Pliny 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 Canusium; and that the wool of -Tarentum was admired for its tinge of black, and that of Canusium for -its fine brown or yellow color[319]. - - [319] See Appendix A. - -The directions for the management of sheep, given by Varro, 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 quality. - -The first of these authors (_De Re Rustica_, L. ii. _Præf._) 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 occasions, 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[320]. - - [320] De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. 1. p. 161. ed. Bip. See also, c. 2. p. - 167. - -Of the nature and circumstances of these annual migrations we are -enabled to form some judgment, not only from the animated 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 1818 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 Apulia. He mentions the following 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 poultry, 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 - 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 proceeding towards the sites of the -modern Aquila and of the ancient Amiternum. - - “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 extended 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 congregations 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 - exciting kind, nearly allied 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 his crook, he walks some - paces in advance of his 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, which bear a very small proportion to the sheep, and - are in general 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 belonging to the same proprietor, are under the - immediate management and inspection of an agent, entitled _fattore_, - 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 care required by cattle, and indeed animals - of all kinds, that all the helpers in the stables of the capital are - natives of these provinces, or of the adjoining county of Molise. In - addition to these 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 - are almost invariably marked by the same expression, which combines - mildness and sagacity with immovable gravity, and, it is painful to - add, a look of deep-seated sadness; the whole caravan, animal as well - as human, exhibiting, at least while engaged in one of those tedious - peregrinations, a general appearance of suffering and depression, - distinguishable in every individual that composes it. The shepherd - that opens the march, the independent manso jingling his brazen bell, - the flocks that follow, the dogs that watch over their security, and - even the Fattore who directs the procession, all appear to be plodding - through a wearisome existence of monotony 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 - which are but too perceptible after a journey of more than a month’s - duration, may well account for this impression. - - “The 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, becomes 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 various 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, - composed 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 the lower flanks of the mountain ridges, but sufficiently - elevated above the larger plains to afford 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 quarters, as the heat increases, till they reach the - highest spots, which are the last divested 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 afford the _ne plus ultra_ - of enjoyment allotted 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 the comparison of kings to -shepherds, and to their leading rams in Homer and in the Scriptures. - -The Greek word Κτίλος, originally an adjective, corresponds exactly to -the Italian _manso_. It appears to have been applicable 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 during their long migrations. In the third book -of the Iliad (_l._ 196-198), where Priam is described surveying the -Greek troops from the Scæan 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 shepherd and aids him in -conducting the flock. The same image is repeated in the thirteenth book -(_l._ 492, 493), where Pope’s translation, though very paraphrastic, is -an admirable representation of the real circumstances. - - In order follow all th’ embodied train, - Like Ida’s flocks 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 similar picture in the following lines: - - Corniger Idæi 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 horned 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 by name by the shepherd, placed himself at the head of the -flock_, and was trained to execute this office from an early age[321]. -The employment of the _manso_ was probably the ground, on which many of -the Orientals adopted the ram as the emblem of military authority[322]. -According to this supposition it would rather denote secondary than -supreme command; and if so, _the representation of the king of Persia -by the symbol of a ram in the 8th 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 Shahpoor 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 -stones[323]. - - [321] Hist. Animal. viii. 19. - - [322] E. F. K. Rosenmuller, Bibl. Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 83. - - [323] Ammianus Marcell. xix. 1. - -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 ancient laws and other -evidence[324] that the shepherds fastened bells upon their sheep as -they do at the present day. - - [324] See note of Sweertius on the treatise of Hieron. Magius de - Tintinnabulis, cap. viii. - -There is a striking correspondence between the words of Varro, “crates, -retia, cæteraque utensilia,” and Craven’s account of the provision of -nets, &c. for making folds, and of the other necessary utensils. - -At Sepino, the ancient Sæpinum, 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[325]. This inscription has been -accurately published by Muratori[326]. It clearly distinguishes between -the “fattores” (_conductores gregum oviaricorum_) and the shepherds -who were under them (_pastores quos conductores habent_). These were -molested by the magistrates of Sæpinum and the neighboring town 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 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 (_Cosmus, Augusti Libertus a Rationibus_); and he writes in -the terms of the inscription to Basseus Rufus and Macrinus Vindex, -officers of rank in the army, in order that the evil might be remedied. -This inscription must have been erected about the commencement of the -Christian æra. 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 line 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.” - - [325] See Excursions in the Abruzzi, vol. ii. p. 135, 136. - - [326] Novus Thesaurus Vet. Inscriptionum, p. DCVI. - -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 procession 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 _bagpipe_ may have -contributed to this effect[327]. At least Mr. Craven’s account of a -modern pastoral march is strikingly contrasted with the following -description 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. - - Ὡς δ’ ὁπότ’ ἀγραύλοιο κατ’ ἴχνια σημαντῆρος - μυρία μῆλ’ ἐφέπονται ἄδην κεκορημένα ποίης - εἰς αὖλιν, ὁ δέ τ’ εἶσι πάρος σύριγγι λιγείῃ - καλὰ μελιζόμενος νόμιον μέλος· ὥς ἄρα τοί γε - ὡμάρτευν· πὴν δ’ αἰὲν ἐπασσύτερος φέρεν οὖρος. - _Argon_, _L._ i. 575-579. - - 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._ - - [327] According to Montfaucon (Ant. Expliquée, Suppl. Tom. iii. -p. 188.) the bagpipe was seen under the arm of a shepherd in the -collection of Cardinal Albani at Rome. - -The testimony afforded by Varro relative to the management of the South -Italian sheep, having been given and illustrated, it is to be deplored -that Italy, once so renowned for its sheep, can now boast little of -this production of her bounteous clime. The Romans, whose dress was -woollen, cultivated in an especial 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 Calabria, -being the eastern parts of the present kingdom of Naples[328]. - - [328] 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, because it wore better. By _lana Gallicana_ 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, cum peritus Appulam emat pluris, quod in usu firmior sit. - - _De Lin. Lat._, lib. ix. 28. p. 484. ed. Spengel. - - -We now proceed to the other writers on Rural Affairs, viz., Columella -and Palladius. - -The first attests the high estimation in which the sheep of Calabria -and Apulia were held by the Romans, especially before his own time, -and he says that among them the Tarentine sheep were the best of all. -In speaking of the practice so prevalent in this district of covering -them with skins, he shows, that these “oves pellitæ” were also called -“soft” (_molles_), and “covered” (_tectæ_). 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 Græcia Magna, and Tarentine, because -the best of all were bred at Tarentum. According to Palladius they -were also sometimes called Asiatic (_Asianæ_). It is to be observed -that by _Asia_, Palladius and his contemporaries would understand -the celebrated sheep-country of which Miletus was the centre[329]; -and considering the frequent, long-established, and very friendly -intercourse between Miletus and Tarentum[330], we may infer that the -Milesians imported 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 Romans, were called -_Italian_ by the Egyptians and others, to whom the word _Greek_ would -not have been distinctive. Columella (vii. 4.) insists particularly -on the great pains and care, which it was necessary to bestow upon -this description of sheep, the “covered” or “soft,” in regard to food, -warmth, and cleanliness, and he says that they were principally brought -up in the house[331]. - - [329] Cellarii Ant. Orbis Notitia, iii. 1. 7, 8, 9. - - [330] Herod. vi. 21. and Wesseling _ad locum_. - - [331] 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 - Epirus, in regard to which countries positive evidence has been - produced, we find that soft sheep, or “oves pellitæ” were kept by - an inhabitant of Cynethæ in Arcadia (Polybius, L. ix. c. 17.), by - the Roman settlers in the North of Gaul and in Spain. - -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 supposed 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, utters -the following exclamation, showing that it was customary to give proper -names to sheep, and thus confirming the fact, that in ancient times -they were regarded as the objects of affection, and not of profitable -speculation merely: - - Οὐκ ἀπὸ τᾶς δρυὸς οὗτος ὁ Κώναρος, ἅ τε Κυναίθα· - Τουτεὶ βοσκησεῖσθε ποτ’ ἀντολὰς, ὡς ὁ Φάλαρος. - - 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 following -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. - - “He 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 flee 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 informed 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 observed in any other animal. It is also true of the sheep - in this country, _that a stranger will they not follow, but will - flee 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 - TAME.”--_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 that the sheep which drank of the -Crathis, were white, and those which drank of the Sybaris, black. They -attributed similar virtues to other streams in various parts of the -world[332]. - - [332] Ælian, Nat. Anim. xii. 36. Plinii Hist. Nat. xxxi. 9. Kruse’s - Hellas, i. p. 369. (See Appendix A.) - -According to Strabo (L. vi. _cap._ 3. § 9. _p._ 303. _ed. Siebenkees_) -the hilly promontory of Garganus was particularly celebrated for its -sheep. He says, that their wool was softer than the Tarentine, but less -shining. - -The Roman poets allude in various instances to the excellence of -the Apulian wool, and especially to that of Tarentum. Horace in the -following stanza expresses his predilection 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._ _l._ 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. _l._ 3, 4. - -The poet intended here to describe a toga of the most expensive and -fashionable kind. - - You give, O Chloe, to Lupercus, - Your tender favorite, lacernas - Of Spanish, Tyrian, scarlet fleeces, - And togas wash’d in warm Galesus. - L. iv. _ep._ 28. _l._ 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. _l._ 1, 2. - -The last lines were written by Martial on the death of Erotion 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 expressing his admiration of -it, the poet enumerates the places from which the Romans of his time -obtained 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 addition to the toga. - - -De Partheniana toga. - - Dic, toga, facundi gratum mihi munus amici, - Esse velis cujus fama, decusque gregis? - Appula Ledæi tibi floruit herba Phalanthi, - Quà saturat Calabris culta Galesus aquis? - An Tartessiacus stabuli nutritor Iberi - Bætis in Hesperia te quoque lavit aqua? - An tua multifidum numeravit lana Timavum, - Quem prius astrifero Cyllarus ore bibit? - Te nec Amyclæo decuit livere veneno; - Nec Miletus erat vellere digna tuo. - Lilia tu vincis, nec adhuc dilapsa ligustra, - Et Tiburtino monte quod albet ebur. - - Spartanus tibi cedet olor, Phaphiæque columbæ: - Cedet Erythræis eruta gemma vadis. - Sed licet hæc primis nivibus sint æmula dona, - Non sunt Parthenio candidiora suo. - Non ego prætulerim Babylonica picta superbè - Texta, Semiramia quæ variantur acu. - Non Athamantæo potius me mirer in auro, - Æolium dones si mihi, Phryxe, decus. - 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 herb of famed Phalantus blow, - Where clear Galesus bids his waters flow? - Did thy wool count the streamlets, more than seven, - Of him, who slaked the warrior horse of heaven? - Or did Tartessian Guadalquiver lave - Thy matchless woof in his Hesperian wave? - Thou didst not need to taste Amyclæ’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 Erythrean 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 Æolian gold. - But O! what laughter will the contrast crown, - My worn lacerna on th’ imperial gown! - -It may be observed, that in this ingenious epigram, as well as in two -of the preceding, which relate to togas, Martial supposes the Tarentine -wool to be white: for the Roman toga was of that color except in -mourning, 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 Apulia. - - -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 lines Martial alludes to the large and numerous -flocks of Apulia, and to the whiteness of their wool. - - Of white thou hast to clothe a tribe sufficient stock, - The produce fair of more than one Apulian flock. - L. ii. _Ep._ 46. _l._ 5, 6. - -On the other hand the wool from the vicinity of Canusium was no less -esteemed for its dark colors, whether inclining 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 (_l._ -xiv. 127 _and_ 129.) Martial alludes to the peculiar 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[333]. - Rome in the brown delights, gay Gaul in red: - This pleases boys, and whose is blood to shed. - - [333] It appears from this epigram that, when shaken, it had the - color of the brown wool of Canusium, a kind of drab. The lacerna - was a mantle, which the Romans 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. - -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 second only to Apulia for -the whiteness of its wool. Besides the two epigrams of Martial already -cited, he refers to Parma as a great place for sheep-breeding in the -following passage, addressed to the wealthy Callistratus: - - And Gallic Parma shears thy num’rous flocks. - L. v. _ep._ 13. - -Columella speaks moreover (_l. c._) of the superiority of the wool -of Mutina, now Modena; and Martial (_l._ 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 Scutana, which is the -modern Scultenna, 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_[334]. 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 Campi_, or the Barren -Plains, was esteemed for the production of the fine white wool. - - [334] Strabo, L. v. c. 1. § 12. p. 119. ed. Siebenkees. - -That the tending of both sheep and goats was a principal occupation -of the people of Mantua we learn from Virgil, a native of that city, -who places the scene of most of his pastorals in its vicinity. His -First and Ninth Eclogues more particularly relate to the calamities, -which the Mantuans were compelled to sustain, when Augustus seized -on their lands to reward 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 Sicilians. 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 which mountainous regions -are subject, in order to become foreign mercenaries, others, on the -contrary, entered into foreign service as shepherds 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 together 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 (_l._ 12, -13), and who were either born in Arcadia, or were at least of Arcadian -origin. - - Two blooming swains had join’d their flocks in one, - Thyrsis his sheep, and tuneful Corydon - His goats, which bore their treasur’d milk along; - Arcadians both, both skill’d in amœbean song. - -At a considerable distance to the North-East of Mantua lay Altinum, -which is mentioned by Columella[335], Tertullian, and Martial, as -one of the principal places for the produce of _white_ wool. Martial -says, that it ranked in this respect next to Parma[336], 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 previously 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 principal places for the growth of white wool, he indicates each -of them by its river, the three rivers being the Galesus, the Bætis, -and the Timavus; and he probably did so on account of the supposed -effect of the waters of these rivers in improving the wool. - - [335] L. vii. cap. 2. - - [336] L. xiv. Ep. 155. - -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 Alps -about the sources of the Brenta, the Piave, and the Tagliamento. We may -also trace the wool, after it was manufactured, in its progress towards -Rome, where was the chief demand for garments of this description. 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 merchandize intended to be sent thither, and -especially for every kind of cloth[337]. It appears, therefore, that -the wool-growers and clothiers of the country to the North-East of -Padua, the modern Trevisano, employed that city as an entrepôt where -they disposed of their goods to the Roman dealers. At the same time we -learn, that this place served as a market for _carpets_ and _blankets_ -made of a stronger and more substantial material, which, according to -the same authority[338], was produced in its more immediate vicinity. - - [337] L. v. cap. 1. § 6, 7. Strabo alludes to the pastoral occupations -of the territory about Altinum and the Timavus. - - [338] Strabo. - -In the North-Western portion of Cisalpine Gaul the wool was generally -coarse, and according to Strabo (_l. c._) the garments 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 Stura, which is a tributary of the -Po[339]. The following two Epigrams of Martial (_l._ xiv. 157 and 158.) -allude to the use of the dark wool of Polentia for mourning and for the -dress of inferior domestic servants. - - 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. - _Elphinston’s Translation._ - - [339] Pliny, L. viii. Columella, vii. 2. To these testimonies may be - added Silius Italicus de Bello Punico, l. viii. 597. - -The country people about Modena and in other parts of the Northern -Apennines still wear _undyed_ 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 mixing with their gray wool the -hair of oxen, asses, or other animals_[340]. - - [340] Dissertazioni sopra le Antichità Italiane, Diss. 30. tomo ii. - 48, 49, 4to edition. This author in his 21st Dissertation endeavors - to assign reasons for the decline of the modern Italians in the - growth and manufacture of wool. - -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 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 management of -sheep were also introduced at the same time. According to Dionysius of -Halicarnassus, Evander with his companions was said by the Romans to -have migrated to Latium _about sixty years before the Trojan war_[341]. -The same historian alleges that this colony taught in Italy the use -of letters, of instrumental music and other arts, established laws, -and brought some degree of refinement instead of the former savage -mode of life. The story of the birth of Romulus and Remus supposes -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 Faustulus, who discovered -them, kept the king’s flocks. He was “magister regii pecoris[342].” - - [341] Hist. Rom. l. 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 have been the 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. - - [342] Livii l. i. c. 4. - -According to Pausanias (_l._ viii. _c._ 3. § 2.) the first Greek -colony, which went into Italy, was from Arcadia, being conducted -thither by Œnotrus, an Arcadian prince[343]. This was several centuries -before the expedition under Evander, and the part of Italy thus -colonized was the southern extremity, afterwards occupied by the -Bruttii[344]. If with Niebuhr we regard this tradition 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. - - [343] As further evidence for this tradition see Pherecydis Fragmenta, - a Sturtz, p. 190. Virg. Æn. i. 532, and iii. 165. Compare Heyne, - Excursus vi. ad Æn. l. iii. - - [344] Heyne, Excursus xxi. ad Æn. l. i. Niebuhr, Röm. Geschichte, i. p. - 57. - -The reader will have perceived from the observations already made on -the worship of Faunus in Italy, that the Roman Faunus was the same with -the Arcadian Pan. It seems no sufficient objection to this hypothesis, -that a few Roman authors have supposed Faunus to be either the son of -Mars[345], 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 repute[346]. It is here sufficient to remark, that we find him -extensively recognized in Italy as a pastoral divinity. - - Stretch’d on the springing grass, the shepherd swain - 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. - - [345] Appian apud Photium. - - [346] Virgil, Æn. vii. 48, 81-105, and Heyne, Excursus v. ad loc. - -From ancient monuments as well as from the language of the poets we -find, that the worship of other divinities was associated with that -of Faunus in reference to the success of all agricultural pursuits -including that of sheep-breeding. Boissard, in the Fourth Part of his -Antiquitates Romanæ, has published somewhat rude engravings of the -bas-reliefs upon two altars, one of them (No. 130) dedicated to _Hope_, -the other (No. 134) to _Silvanus_. The altar to Hope was erected, as -the inscription expresses, in a garden at Rome by M. Aur. Pacorus, -keeper of the temple of Venus. He says, that he had been admonished -to this deed of piety by _a dream_; and, if the representation in the -bas-relief was the image thus presented to his mind, his dream was -certainly a very pleasant one. Hope, wearing on her head a wreath of -flowers, places her right hand upon a pillar and holds in her left -poppy-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. - -The altar to Silvanus exhibits that divinity crowned with the cones and -foliage of the pine. A pine grows moreover beside 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 whispering 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[347]. 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[348]. The extremities are in -part restorations. A cameo in the Florentine Museum[349] 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 shepherd -of that period. He wears a _tunica cucullata_, 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 injuries of the weather. This -garment has also sleeves, which Columella mentions (_tunica manicata_) -as an additional comfort. On his feet the shepherd wears high shoes, or -boots, which, as we may suppose, were made of leather. - - [347] The bas-relief on the first altar is copied from Boissard by - Montfaucon, Ant. Expliquée, 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. - - [348] Museo Pio-Clementino, tomo iii. tav. 34 and p. 44. - - [349] Museum Florentinum. Gemmæ Antiquæ a Gorio illustratæ, tav. ii. - No. 10. - -The appearance of the shepherds, who are represented in these ancient -works of art, is, doubtless, adapted to produce the impression, that -their condition, even if it were that of slaves, was nevertheless one -of comfort and respectability. 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 written 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 _Apulian_ mountains, we will here quote some parts of -Horace’s Second Epode, in which he describes 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; - He shuns the courtier’s haughty 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 they 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 unbought dainties she prepare, - And this year’s wines attend the homely fare; - No fish would I from foreign shore - Desire, nor relish Lucrine oysters more. - - Olives, fresh gather’d from the tree; - _Mallows, the frame from heaviness to free_[350]; - 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_ plough; - And then his num’rous slaves to view - Round his domestic gods their mirth pursue. - - [350] See chap. xii. p. 191. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -SHEEP BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--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 Bætica--Native - colors of Bætic 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[351], 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 material[352]. - - [351] Terra pecorum fecunda, sed plerumque improcera.--Germania, v. 2. - - [352] Nudi, aut sagulo leves.--Germania, vi. 3. Tegumen omnibus sagum. - xvii. 1. - -We find almost as little in any ancient author in favor of the wool of -Gallia Transalpina, the modern France. Pliny mentions a coarse kind, -more like hair than wool, which was produced in the neighborhood of -Pezenas in Provence[353]. 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: - This fence shall bid thee scorn the winds and showers; - The Tyrian lawn pretends no equal powers. - - _Elphinston’s Translation._ - - [353] See Appendix A. - -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 manufactures -of Gaul. In the following passage the needy dependant of a rich man -is speaking of the lacernas from that country, which were sometimes -presented to him 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 attendants on Prince -Sigismer at his marriage wore green _Saga_ with red borders, and he -describes a friend of his own as wearing the Endromis[354]. 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 during the night with musical contests, while their cattle -were grazing with bells upon their necks. - - [354] Viridantia saga limbis marginata puniceis. L. iv. Ep. 20. Tu - endromidatus exterius. L. iv. Ep. 2. - -All these passages are confirmed and illustrated by the testimony -of Strabo. According to him Gaul produced cattle of all kinds[355]. -The Belgæ, who occupied the most northern part, opposite to Britain, -excelled the rest of the Gauls in their manufactures. 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, in the most northern parts had flocks of covered -sheep, and their wool was consequently very fine[356]. - - [355] L. iv. cap. i. § 2. p. 6. ed. Siebenkees. - - [356] L. iv. cap. iv. § 3. pp. 56-59. ed. Siebenkees. - -Here also may be 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 stream[357]. - - [357] Arat illam terribilem aliquando ripam inermis agricola, et toto - nostri greges flumine bicorni mersantur. p. 152. - -Cæsar informs us, that the ancient inhabitants of Britain had abundance -of cattle (_pecoris magnus numerus_); 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, lived to the -North of the Thames, the Belgians having expelled them and taken -possession of the part to the South, called _Cantium_ or _Kent_. These -last were by far the most civilized inhabitants of the island, not much -differing in their customs from the Gauls. With respect to the others, -Cæsar says, that for the most part they did not sow any kind of grain, -but lived upon milk and flesh, and clothed themselves with skins[358]. - - [358] Ex his omnibus longè sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt; - quæ regio est maritima omnis; neque multum a Gallicâ differunt - consuetudine. Interiores plerique frumenta non serunt; sed lacte et - carne vivunt, pellibusqe sunt vestiti. De Bello Gallico, I. v. cap. - 10. - -It appears therefore, that before our æra, sheep, and probably goats, -were bred extensively in England, their milk 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 Augustodunum, now -called Autun, delivered his Panegyric in praise of the Emperors -Constantius and Constantine in the city of Treves about A. D. 310. -In the following passage he congratulates Britain on its various -productions, and also on the circumstance, that Constantine had been -recently declared Emperor at York on the death of his father: - - O fortunate 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 summer, thy harvests are so fruitful as to supply all the gifts - both of Ceres and of Bacchus; thy woods contain no savage beasts, thy - land no noxious serpents, but an innumerable multitude of tame cattle, - distended with milk, and loaded with fleeces[359]. - - [359] Panegyrici Veteres, ed. Cellarii, Halæ Magd. 1703. pp. 147, 148. - -The improvements in sheep-breeding which were first introduced into -England by the Belgians, appear to have been advanced still further by -the Saxons. - -The only country, which now remains to be surveyed in relation to the -production of sheep’s wool, is Spain; and, as this kingdom retains -its pre-eminence at the present day,[360] so we find none, in which -sheep-breeding was carried to a greater extent in ancient times. - - [360] For accounts of the state of sheep-breeding in modern Spain, - including the 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. - -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 productions than any -other region of the like extent in Europe, produces a great variety of -breeds of sheep, from the larger animals of the richer plains, to the -smaller races of the higher mountains 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 Phœnician colonies; secondly, from -Africa by the Carthaginians, during their brief possession; thirdly, -from Italy by the Romans, during their dominion of six hundred years; -and fourthly, again from Africa, by the Moors, who maintained a footing -in the country for nearly eight centuries. The large sheep of the -plains have long wool, often 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 fine-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 Bætis, or Guadalquiver[361]. - - [361] See Appendix A. - -Among the natural colors of the Bætic wool, Columella, a native of -Cadiz, (vii. 2.) mentions, as has been already stated, _gray_ and -_brown_. The latter is what we call _drab_, and the Spaniards _fusco_. -It is now commonly worn by the shepherds and peasants of Spain, the -wool being made into clothes without dyeing. - -Nonius Marcellus (_cap._ 16. _n._ 13), explaining the word _pullus_, -which was called a _native_ color, because it was the natural color of -the fleece, also shows, that this was a common quality of the Spanish -wool. Another testimony is that of Tertullian. - -The sheep of Tarentum were 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 Bætica, in crossing his Tarentine breed with -some wild rams of an extraordinary 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 migrated into Italy from -Arcadia. In the following lines of Calpurnius (Ecl. iv. 37-49.), -Corydon, a young shepherd, tells his friend and patron, Melibœus, -that he should have been transported into Bætica, had not the times -improved, and his master’s favor enabled him to remain in Italy. - - Through thee I rest secure beneath the shade, - Such plenty hath thy generous bounty made, - But for thy favor, Melibœus, sent - Where Bætis’ waves the western 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 have 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 be my solace more. - -Juvenal in his Twelfth Satire (_l._ 37-42.) describes a merchant -overtaken by a dreadful storm, and to save the ship throwing his -most valuable goods into the sea. It will be observed, that the poet -attributes the excellence and fine natural color of the woollen cloth -of Bætica 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 Bætic plain. - - _Owen’s Translation._ - -Strabo (iii. 144. p. 385. _ed. Sieb._) gives the following account of -the wool of Turdetania. - - Πολλὴ δὲ καὶ ἐσθὴς πρότερον ἤρχετο· νῦν δὲ καὶ ἔρια μᾶλλον τῶν - Κυραξῶν, καὶ ὑπερβολή τις ἐστὶ τοῦ κάλλους· ταλαντιαίους γοῦν ὠνοῦνται - τοὺς κριοὺς εἰς τὰς ὀχείας, ὑπερβολὴ δὲ καὶ τῶν λεπτῶν ὑφασμάτων, ἅπερ - οἱ Σαλτιῆται κατασκευάζουσιν. - - “Much cloth used formerly to come from this country. Now also fleeces - come 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 are made by the - Saltiatæ.”--_Yates’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 -Bætica 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.) 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 Bætis rears - Her wealthy domes; and where the fleeces show - Metallic tints, like living 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 surmount’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._ - - Bætis, 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. - - -Lacernas from Bætica. - - My wool disdains a lye, or caldron hue. - Poor Tyre may take it: me my sheep imbue. - xiv. 133.--_Elphinston’s Translation._ - - Charming Ero’s golden lock - Beat the fleece of Bætic flock. - v. 37. See § 21.--Ib. - - Bætic fleeces, many a pound. - xii. 65. l. 5. - - Let him commend the sober native hues; - Of Bætic drab, or gray, lacernas 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 line of -Virgil, in which he describes the clothing of a warrior; - - With broider’d chlamys bright, and Spanish rust. - Æn. ix. 582. - -The poet probably intended to describe an outer garment, a chlamys, -made of undyed Spanish wool of a clear brown or yellowish color, -resembling that of rust; and afterwards enriched with embroidery. - -Ramirez de Prado, the Spanish commentator on Martial (_4to. Paris_, -1607.), says, that two native colors were common 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. _tom._ i. _p._ 356. -_Wesseling_.), and woven _double_ according to Appian[362]. - - [362] Appiani Hist. Rom. l. vi. de Rebus Hispan., vol. i. p. 151. ed. - Schweighäuser. - -At Salacia in Lusitania, according to Pliny, a chequered pattern -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 natural difference of the white and black wool -to produce this variety of appearance. (See Appendix A.) - -Estremadura, a part of the ancient Bætica, 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 conducted 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 Bætica, where the vegetation -is remarkably favorable to the improvement of their wool. - -As bearing directly upon the present inquiry it may be observed, that -sheep have always been bred principally for the weaver, not for the -butcher, and that this has been more especially 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 solemn or extraordinary occasions. - - -The Ram’s head. - - Hast pierc’d the neck of the Phryxean lord, - Who oft had shelter’d thine? O deed abhorr’d! - xii. 211.--_Elphinston’s Translation._ - -The customs of the shepherd tribes in the East are in this respect -remarkably like 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 favorite dish at Aleppo, -but seldom eaten except by the rich[363].” When the Arabs have a -sheep-shearing, they perhaps 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 ceremonies are -of great antiquity and derived from Arab heathenism. On the pilgrimage -to Mecca every one is required to sacrifice a sheep at a certain place -near Mecca[364]. - - [363] Harmer s Observations, vol. i. p. 393. ed. Clarke. - - [364] Harmer, p. 39. - - Pallas (Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasc. xi. p. 79.) speaks of the - beautiful lamb-skins from Bucharia, as being admired for their - curled gray wool. - -By the Law of Moses the sheep was 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 _Sam._ 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 wall of Jerusalem. -(_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 with 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 watched the tomb of Cyrus. -(_Arrian_, _vol._ i. _p._ 438, _Blancardi_.) In the Odyssey (ρ. -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. (Il. γ. 103, 104.) Sheep are -sacrificed to Apollo at Delphi in Euripides, Ion, _l._ 230. 380. -The rare instances 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 religious 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 _milk_ for food. -In like 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 _before any -other animal_ on account of their usefulness and placidity, and he -represents their use to consist in supplying cheese and milk for food, -fleeces and skins for clothing[365]. In like manner Columella in his -account of the use of sheep (vii. 2.) says, they afforded 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 obtaining food, to wit, by ploughing and -other agricultural processes, the sheep, on the other hand, supplies -materials for clothing[366]. - - [365] De Re Rustica, l. ii. cap. i. - - [366] See Appendix A. - -The fact, that wool was among the ancients by far the most common -material for making clothes, accounts for the various expressions in -scripture respecting the destructiveness of the moth. - -“Your garments are moth-eaten.” James v. 2. “He, as a rotten thing, -consumeth, as a garment that is moth-eaten.”--Job xiii. 28. “They all -shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.”--Is. l. 9. -“The moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worms shall eat -them like wool.” Is. li. 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 signify the larva[367] of the clothes-moth -(_Phalæna Vestianella_, Linn.), or of some insect of the same kind. - - [367] When an insect first issues from the egg, it is called by - naturalists _larva_. - - - - -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 Grecian 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[368]. - - [368] Virgil, Georg. iii. 305-321. - -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 Proverbs[369]. The management and use of goats has from time -immemorial formed a striking feature in the condition of man, and -especially of those nations which belong to the Caucasian, or, as Dr. -Prichard more properly denominates it, the _Iranian_ or _Indo-Atlantic_ -variety of our race[370]. 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 distinguished: 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 the Argali; and in the opinion of Pallas, -which has been very generally adopted by zoologists, the goat is the -same with the Ægagrus, 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[371]. -Indeed the history of these animals is so interwoven with the history -of man, that those naturalists 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 civilization, as his -wants multiplied, and he became more ingenious and active in inventing -methods of supplying them, the thought struck him, that he might obtain -from these 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. - - [369] “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 shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy - food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy - maidens.” Prov. xxvii. 23, 26, 27. - - Bochart has quoted a great variety of ancient testimonies to the - value of goats’-milk in his Hierozoicon, l. ii. cap. 51. pp. 629, - 630. ed. Leusden. - - [370] See Prichard’s Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, - third edition, 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 for _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 British 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 _Yang of the mountains_, Yang being a general term like the - Hebrew צאן, including both sheep and goats. Ib. 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 Terræ, l. 935, 936. - - - [371] Pallas, Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasciculus xi. pp. 43, 44. See also - Bell’s History of British Quadrupeds, London, 1837, p. 433. - -We have no reason to assume, that man and the two lesser kinds of -horned cattle were originally independent of one another. 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, that these animals 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 state 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 variety of the human race, to whose habits and mode of life -the use of them has always been so essential; and, if we assume, that -this abode was somewhere in the elevated land of central Asia, in the -region, for example, of Armenia, we adopt an hypothesis, 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 immense regions of the globe. - -With regard to historical evidence, it is certainly very defective. -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 -importance than the smaller; but we find none, which were accustomed to -breed sheep without goats, or goats without sheep. - -The reader will find numerous illustrations of this fact on reviewing -the evidence contained in the preceding chapters. General terms were -employed in the ancient world to include both sheep and goats[372]. -Where more specific terms are used, we still find “rams and goats,” -“ewes and she-goats” mentioned together. 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, included -both these animals. - - [372] It should be observed, that the Hebrew word translated _sheep_ in - Ex. ix. 3. included Goats. - -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 the sheep and lamb in another, -the artist probably designed to represent a flock of each. For, though -sometimes mixed in the same flock, 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[373]. - - [373] “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy - angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: - and before him shall be gathered 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. 31-33. - -A sheep and a goat are seen reposing together in a Roman bas-relief in -the Monumenta Matthæiana, vol. iii. tab. 37. fig. 1. - -Rosselini gives two paintings from Egyptian tombs, which exhibit both -sheep and goats[374]; 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. - - [374] Monumenti dell’ Egitto, parte ii. Mon. Civili, tomo i. cap. iii. - § 2. tavola xxviii. xxix. - -In the account given in chapter II. of the Sicilian Daphnis, an epigram -by Callimachus 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. - - Ἀστακίδην τὸν Κρῆτα, τὸν αἰπόλον, ἥρπασε Νύμφη - Ἐξ ὄρεος· καὶ νῦν ἱερὸς Ἀστακίδης - Οἰκεῖ Δικταίῃσιν ὑπὸ δρυσίν· οὐκέτι Δάφνιν - Ποιμένες, Ἀστακίδην δ’ αἰὲν ἀεισόμεθα. - - A nymph has snatch’d Astacides away; - Beneath Dictæan oaks our goatherd lies: - Shepherds! no more your songs to Daphnis pay; - For now with him the sacred Cretan vies. - _Yates’s Translation._ - -Theocritus (_Idyll._ vii. 12-20.) describes a goatherd of Cydon 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 he-goat, -which was brought from Lybia to Sicily. The design of its -transportation was, no doubt, to improve the breed. Probably Chromis, -the Lybian (_Idyll._ i. 24.), who resided in Sicily, had migrated there -to undertake the management of goats and to improve their quality. - -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 depriving them of their leader and guide, you destroy the flock, -which by nature 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._ l. 8. “Mine anger was -kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats.” _Zech._ x. -3. In Proverbs xxx. 31., according to the Septuagint version, we read -of “the goat which leads the flock.” Julius Pollux (Lib. i. _cap._ 12. -_sect._ 19.) says, that “The he-goat leads the goats[375].” - - [375] See also Ælian, Hist. Anim. vi. 42. and Pausanias, ix. 13. 4. - -On a cameo in the Florentine Museum there is a representation of an -ancient goatherd[376]. 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 formed in the rock, upon -which the goatherd is seated. The herdsman is represented sitting under -an aged ilex. At least this supposition accords with the language of -Tibullus already quoted. - - [376] Mus. Florentinum. Gemmæ antiquæ a Gorio illustratæ. tab. xc. No. -7. - -A modern authoress, who spent some of the summer months in the year -1819 among the mountains east of Rome, notices goats in the following -terms as part of the stock of the farmers in that country. - -“We frequently walked to one of these little farms, to meet the goats -coming in at night from the mountain. As the flock crowded down the -broken road leading to the fold, followed 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 described by the poets, and represented in the pictures of -Herculaneum 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[377].” - - [377] Three Months passed in the Mountains east of Rome, by Maria - Graham (Lady Calcott), p. 36. 55, 56. - - The same writer says, that “black sheep are rather encouraged here - for the wool,” and that “the clothing of the friars is of this - undyed wool.” p. 55. - -From Athenæus[378] we learn the superior excellence of the goats of -Scyros and Naxos. - - [378] Quoted in Chapter I. p. 236. Ælian bears testimony to the same - fact, observing, that the cows of Epirus were said to yield the - greatest quantity of milk, and the goats of Scyros. Hist. Anim. l. - iii. cap. 33. - - From Tournefort, Sonnini, and other modern travellers we learn, - that both Scyros and Naxos are very rocky and mountainous, and that - they still produce goats. See also Dapper, Description des Isles de - l’Archipel, p. 256. 350. - -Virgil (_l. c._), after mentioning the use of goats for food, goes on -to show their 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 plain. - _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 the 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 said to be derived - from the circumstance, that 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 female goat -was shorn as well as the male; and that the excellence of goats’-hair, -which was used only for coarse articles, consisted in its length. -Columella mentions the long bristly hair of the Cilician goats[379]. - - [379] Setosum, quale est in Cilicia. De Re Rustica, l. i. Præf. p. 20. - ed. Bip. - -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, Callisthenes, who says (_ap. Ælian. -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 goats[380], 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 already -cited from Varro and Virgil, that the longest and best goats’-hair was -obtained in Cilicia, and on the coast of Africa opposite to Sicily and -Malta, the modern Tripoli. It is remarkable, that Virgil, in order to -designate the latter district, 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 countries 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[381]. - - [380] L. viii. c. 76. See Appendix A. - - [381] 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. - -The geographer Avienus asserts that goats’-hair was obtained for the -purpose of being _woven_ in the country of the Cynetæ in Spain[382]. -Isidore of Seville, in his enumeration of the different kinds of -cloth (_Orig._ xix. 22.), uses the following expressions: “Fibrini -(vestis est) tramam de fibri lanâ habens: caprina.” Thus the text -now stands, evidently defective. The writer no doubt alluded to a -kind of cloth called _caprina_, because 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 lanâ habens, -stamen de caprinâ,” 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’-_hair_ in the case referred to, since the “Vestes Fibrinæ” were -of great value, as will soon be shown, and not made in any part of -coarse materials. - - [382] _Rufi Festi Avieni Ora Maritima_, l. 218-221. - -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 will be -noticed presently. - -The employment of goats’-hair for military and naval purposes was -far more extensive, and is proved by the following passage from the -Geoponica (xviii. 9.) in addition to the former testimonies. - -Προσοδόυς δίδωσιν οὐκ ὀλίγας, τὰς ἀπὸ γάλακτος καὶ τύρου καὶ (σἀρκός)· -πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς τριχός. ἡ δὲ θρὶξ ἀναγΚαία πρός τε σχοίνους -καὶ σάκκους, καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια, καὶ εἰς ναυτικὰς ὑπηρεσίας, -οὔτε κοπτόμενα ῥᾳδίως, οὔτε σηπόμενα φυσικῶς, ἐὰν μὴ λίαν κατολιγωρηθῇ. - - The goat yields no small profit from its milk, cheese, and (flesh). - It also yields a profit from its hair, which is necessary for making - ropes, sacks, and similar articles, and for nautical purposes, since - it is not easily cut, and does not rot from natural causes, unless it - be 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 (_p._ -95. _ed. Crenii._) gives the following explanation: “Cilicia texta de -pilis in castrorum usum atque nautarum.” Servius on Virgil, Georg. iii. -313. says, that these Cilicia, 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 military -engines, and to L. v. Dial. ix. for passages from Thucydides, 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 weapons hurled against them, and especially of -the arrows, which carried fire. - -From Exodus we learn[383], that the Israelites in the wilderness among -their contributions to the Tabernacle gave goats’-hair, and that it -was spun by women. 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 Septuagint “curtains of goats’-hair.” Such -curtains, or _Saga_, of spun goats’-hair seem to have been commonly -used for the covering of tents[384]. - - [383] “And thou shalt make curtains of goats’-hair to be a covering - upon the tabernacle: 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 forefront - of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of - the 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 - remaineth, 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 this side and on that side, to - cover it.”--Ex. xxvi. 7-13. - - [384] “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. - -Cloths of the same kind were used for rubbing horses[385]. The term for -goats’-hair cloth in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syraic, is שק or סק, i. e. -SHAC, or SAC, translated ΣΑΚΚΟΣ in the Septuagint, and SACCUS in the -Vulgate version of the Scriptures. The Latin SAGUM, appears to have -had the same origin. In English we have _Sack_ and _Shag_, scarcely -differing from the oriental and ancient terms either in sound or sense. - - [385] _Vegetii Ars Veter._ _l._ i. _c._ 42. - -_Cilice_, the modern French term for a hair-shirt, is immediately -derived from _Cilicium_, the origin of which has been explained[386]. - - [386] Menage, Dict. Etym. v. _Cilice_. - -This kind 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[387], and in Is. -l. 3. “I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sack-cloth their -covering.” It was worn 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 both of men and beasts, and -one was worn even by the king of Nineveh himself[388]. When Herod -Agrippa was seized at Cæsarea 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.--_Josephus_, _Ant. Jud._ _l._ xix. _cap._ 8. _p._ 872. -_Hudson_. So according to Josephus (_Ant. Jud._ _l._ vii. _cap._ 7. -_p._ 299.), David fell down upon sack-cloth of the same description and -lay on the ground praying for the restoration of his son. - - [387] “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. - - [388] “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, - and put on sack-cloth, from the greatest of them even to the least - of them. The word came 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 - Hebrew. - -Hence the use of the hair-shirt by devotees in more recent times. -St. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in the fourth century, in answer to the -question, Whether a monk ought to have besides his night-shirt (_post -nocturnam tunicam_) a Cilicium or any other, says, “Cilicii quidem usus -habet proprium tempus. Non enim propter usus corporis, sed propter -afflictionem carnis inventum est hujuscemodi indumentum, et propter -humilitatem animae[389].” He then adds, that as the word of God forbids -us to have two shirts, we ought not to have a second except for the -purpose here mentioned. From this it is clear, that the Cilicium was -not commonly worn by the monks, but only at particular times for the -sake of humiliation. - - [389] From the ancient version of Rufinus, p. 175. ed. 1513. - -Dr. Sibthorp (_in Memoirs, edited by 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[390]. - - [390] Dodwell’s Tour, vol. i. p. 144. - -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 made[391]. The Arabs also hang bags of the same -cloth, containing barley, about the heads of their horses to supply -them with food[392]. - - [391] Harmer’s Observations, ch. ii. Obs. 36. Dr. Shaw’s Travels, Part - iii. ch. 3. § 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 Lycia_, - p. 8. - - [392] D’Arvieux and Thevenot, ap. Harmer, ch. v. Obs. 9. - -The goat, as is the case with some other quadrupeds, if confined to -a country, which is hot in summer and very cold in winter, 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 interesting -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, 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 climates, 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 agricultural tour -on the Continent, directed my attention to the Cashmere flocks of Mons. -Ternaux, and in October 1828, I met this distinguished man at his seat -at St. Onen (Mons. Ternaux is a great shawl 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 -exclusively; 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 sanguine anticipations, -and in consequence of his enlightened 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 -character of long coarse but very soft down, he solicited permission -to try the effects of a union with this fine animal and his own pure -Cashmeres. The improvement even in 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. Polonceau to part with any -number of them at this period (the only alienation he has made from the -favorite products of his solicitude being two males and two females -to the _King_ of _Wirtemberg_, for the sum of 3400 francs,) caused -my father again to postpone his intentions until my return from the -Australasian Colonies, judging that M. Polonceau would then probably be -enabled to dispose of a sufficient number, and that the constancy and -properties of the race would by that time be more decidedly determined. - -“On my arrival in England at the close of 1831, he again recurred to -his favorite project of introducing these animals into our colonies, -for which purpose I went to France with the intention 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 -_common goats_ of the country with this valuable breed, in full -expectation that they may, exclusive of their own pure down, become -thus the means of forming a desirable addition to the already much -prized importations from New South Wales and Van Dieman’s Land. I am -led to the conclusion that the latter result may be accomplished, as M. -Polonceau, who has tried the experiment with the native goat of France, -has obtained animals 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 pure 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 Angora.” - -Mr. Polonceau has unremittingly persevered in the improvement so -immediately effected, and has proved during the several 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, _abundance_, _length_, _fineness_, _lustre_, and _softness_, -was accomplished by the first cross, without 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 themselves, 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 quality with the smallest -proportion of hair. - -In 1826; 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 than 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 Industry, the -jury appointed to judge the merits of the objects exposed, also awarded -him their medal. - -At present the animals are in the twelfth generation, their health and -vigor, the constancy of their qualities, and abundance 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 valuable 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 -qualities of their down may yet be improved as has been so eminently -the case with the wool of the merino and Saxon sheep imported 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 of his herd -produce from twelve to twenty ounces; thus showing the astonishing -advantages this new breed has _over the uncrossed Cashmere_, 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 in 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 with equal facility on heaths, and on the most abrupt -declivities, 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 having had any. M. P. arranges they -should kid in March, but occasionally he takes _two_ 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 off 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 collection is completed in the space -of eight or ten days. Sometimes 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--Beavers’-wool--Dispersion of -Beavers through Europe--Fossil bones of Beavers. - - -The passage quoted from Isidore of Seville, in the last chapter, shows -that the ancients made a cloth, the woof of which was of Beavers’-wool -(_de fibri lanâ_), and which was therefore called _Vestis Fibrina_. -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, quæ fibros vocant: ipsos et castores existimant.” - -The following Epigram of Claudian seems intended, as Beckmann (iv. _p._ -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. _p._ 313. _Paris_, 1599, 4_to._ - -Gerbert, or Gilbert, surnamed the Philosopher, and afterwards Pope -Silvester II., commenting on the qualities of a good Bishop according -to 1 Timothy iii. 1., says in reference to the word “ornatum:” - - “Quod si juxta sensum literæ tantûm respiciamus, non aliud, - sacerdotes, quam amictum quæremus clariorem; verbi gratiâ, castorinas - quæremus et sericas vestes: et ille se inter episcopas credet esse - altiorem, qui vestem induerit clariorem. Sed S. Apostolus taliter - se intelligi non vult, quia non carne, &c.”--_De Informatione - Episcoporum, seu De Dignitate Sacerdotali, in ed. Benedict. Opp. S. - Ambrosii, tom._ ii. _p._ 358. - -“An upper garment of this cloth was worn by the Emperor Nicephorus II. -at his coronation in the year 936.”--_Beckmann_, _l. c._ § 31. - -“This method of manufacturing beavers’-hair,” observes Beckmann, “seems -not to have been known in the time of Pliny; for, though he speaks much -of the _castor_, and mentions _pellis fibrina_ three times, he says -nothing in regard to manufacturing the hair, or to beaver-fur.” - -It seems probable, that the Greeks and Romans did not use cloth of -beavers’-wool until the 4th century. 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 Vestes Fibrinæ, since we -have traces of the existence of beavers in almost all parts of Europe. -Their appearance in Wales, Scotland, Germany, and the North of Europe -generally, is attested by Giraldus Cambrensis[393]. - - [393] Topographia Hiberniæ, c. 21, and Itinerarium Cambriæ, l. ii. c. 3. - -Dr. Patrick Neill, in a valuable paper on this subject,[394] has -given an account of the bones of recent beavers found in Perthshire -and Berwickshire. They have also been found in Cambridgeshire[395]. -We learn from the life of Wulstan[396], that _beaver-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 occurrence in Austria, Hungary, and -the North of Italy[397]. They are still found in Sweden[398]. Strabo -informs us, that in his time they frequented the rivers of Spain[399]. - - [394] Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 177-187. - - [395] Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. i. part - i. p. 175. - - [396] See Extracts in Henry’s History of Britain, vol. iv. - - [397] Muratori, Antichità Italiane, tomo ii. p. 110. Napoli, 1783. The - authors, cited by Muratori, are Gervase of Tilbury, and Mathioli. - - [398] Travels in Sweden, by Dr. Thomas Thomson, p. 411. - - [399] Lib. iii. 163. vol. i. p. 737, ed. Siebenkees. - -Buffon says (_Hist. Nat._ _tome_ 26. _p._ 98.), “There are beavers in -Languedoc in the islands of the Rhone, and great numbers of them in -the North of Europe.” “But as human population extends,” he observes, -“beavers, like other animals, are dispersed, become solitary, 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[400], “after the most -scrupulous comparisons, if the Castors or Beavers, which burrow along -the Rhone, the Danube, and the Weser, are different 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 hones preserved in our mosses, or turbaries.” 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[401]. - - [400] Règne Animal, vol. iii. p. 65. of Griffith’s Translation. - - [401] Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, tome v. partie Ière, p. 55.; partie - 2nde, p. 518. See also Annales du Museum d’Hist. Naturelle, tome - xiv. p. 47. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR. - - Camels’-wool and Camels’-hair--Ctesias’ account--Testimony of modern - travellers--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 garments for the priests and -the other potentates[402]. - - [402] Apollonii Mirabilia xx. Ælian, Hist. An. xvii. 34. Ctesiæ - Fragmenta, a Bähr, p. 224. - -John the Baptist wore a garment of camels’-hair; but this must be -supposed to have been coarse. (_Matt._ iii. 4., _Mark_ i. 6.)[403]. -This passage of scripture is illustrated by Harmer in the following -observation[404]: - -“This hair, Sir J. Chardin tells us (in his MS. note on 1 _Sam._ xxv. -4.) is not shorn from the camels like 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.” - - [403] “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. - - [404] Ch. xi. Obs. 83. vol. iv. p. 416. ed. Clarke. - -Campbell, the poet, mentions a tent of camels’-hair cloth, which he -saw at an Arab encampment between Oran and Mascara in the kingdom of -Algiers. It was 25 feet in diameter and very lofty. (_Letters from -the South_, 1837, _vol._ ii. _p._ 212.) He also mentions (_vol._ i. -_p._ 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 _carpets_ of the same material[405]. _Coverlets_ of goats’ or -camels’-hair are used by the soldiers in Turkey to sleep under[406]. -“The Circassians, 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 impenetrable by -rain; and it forms their bed at night, and protects them from the -scorching sun by day[407].” - - [405] China, its Costume, Arts, Manufactures, &c., by Bertin: - translated from the French. London, 1812, vol. iv. - - [406] Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer, vol. i. p. 202. - - [407] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 219. - -Fortunatus, in his life of St. Martin (l. iv.), describes a garment 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 according 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, beneath the long hair of the camel. It has -been doubted whether cloth so fine and beautiful as Ctesias asserts, -could possibly 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[408], “In this city they manufacture 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 cloth, which is used in its natural color, -and is extremely warm, soft, and light.” According to Prosper Alpinus, -(_Hist. Nat. Ægypti_, _l._ 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. - - [408] Book i. ch. 52. p. 235. of Marsden’s Translation. - -Elphinstone, in his account of Cabul (_p._ 295.), mentions, that -“Oormuck, a fine cloth made of camels’-wool,” is among the articles -imported into Cabul from the Bokhara country. This country lies 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 authority 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[409].” - - [409] Journal of the Royal Geographical 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 embroidering 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 insert the skins of eels and serpents. - - According to M. de Busson, the negresses of Senegal, embroider - the skins of various beasts, representing figures, flowers, and - animals, in every variety of color. - - -[Illustration: - -Plate V. - - Drawn from the life. - -INDIAN LOOM with the process of Winding off the THREAD.] - - - - -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 climates--Cotton characteristic of India--Account of - Cotton by Herodotus, Ctesias, Theophrastus, Aristobulus, Nearchus, - Pomponius Mela--Use of Cotton in India--Cotton known before silk - and called Carpasus, Carpasum, Carbasum, &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 Theophylus Presbyter--Use of Cotton - by the Arabians--Cotton not common anciently 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 Abbé Clavigero--Fishing nets made from Cotton by the - inhabitants of the West India Islands, and on the continent of - South America--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, both in hot and cold countries. -Linen has, indeed, in some respects the advantage; it forms a smooth, -firm, and beautiful cloth, and is very agreeable wear in temperate -climates; but it is less comfortable than cotton, and less conducive -to health, either in heat or in cold. Cotton, being a bad conductor -of heat, as compared with linen, preserves the body at a more -equable temperature. The functions of the skin, through the medium -of perspiration, are the great means of maintaining the body at an -equable temperature amidst the vicissitudes of the atmosphere. But -linen, like all good conductors of heat, freely condenses the vapor -of perspiration, and accumulates moisture upon the skin: the wetted -linen becomes cold, chills the body, and checks perspiration, thus -not only producing discomfort, but endangering health. Calico, on the -other hand, like all bad conductors of heat, condenses little of the -perspiration, but allows it to pass off in the form of vapor. Moreover, -when the perspiration is so copious as to accumulate moisture, calico -will absorb a greater 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 climates, or -in the nocturnal cold of tropical climates, cotton clothing is much -better calculated to preserve the warmth of the body than linen. In -hot climates, also, it is more conducive to health and comfort, by -admitting of freer perspiration[410]. - - [410] Bains’s “History of the Cotton Manufacture,” p. 12. - -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 Asia[411]. In like manner cotton has _always_ -been characteristic of India. We find this circumstance distinctly -noticed by Herodotus[412]. Among the valuable products, for which -India was remarkable, he states, that “the wild trees in that country -bear fleeces as their fruit, surpassing those of sheep in beauty and -excellence; and the Indians use cloth made from these trees.” In the -same book (c. 47.) Herodotus says, that the thorax or cuirass sent -by Amasis, king of Egypt, to Sparta, was “adorned with gold and with -fleeces from trees.” These substances were perhaps used in the weft to -form the figures (ζῶα), 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 (_Gossypium_), 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, “_wool_” or “_fleeces from -trees_.” The thorax may have been made in Egypt; but the materials, -used to enrich it, were probably 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. - - [411] See Map Plate VII. at the end of Part IV. - - [412] L. iii. c. 106. - -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 spinning -and weaving among the Indians. It is evident 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 Æn._ i. 649.). -“Ctesias ait in Indiâ esse arbores, quæ lanam ferant.” - -The expedition of Alexander the Great into India contributed to make -the Greeks better acquainted than before with cotton. 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 Mulberry; 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[413].” 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 in the Persian -Gulf, near the Arabian coast[414]. According to his account in the -latter passage, “The wool-bearing trees, which grew abundantly in this -island, had a leaf like that of the vine, but smaller; they bore no -fruit, but the capsule containing 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.” - - [413] Hist. Pl. iv. c. 4. p. 132. ed. Schneider. - - [414] See the Map,--Plate vii. at the end of Part iv. Bochart, Geogr. - Sacra, p. 766. Cadomi, 1651. Heeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 214-219. - -Sprengel in his German translation (_p._ 150. _vol._ ii.) supposes -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, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη, 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 Linnæus, 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 applying, not to -the Cotton Tree (_Gossypium Arboreum_), but to the Cotton Plant (_G. -Herbaceum_), from which the chief supply 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 Wool-bearing Tree, and stated that -its capsule contained seeds, which were taken out, and that what -remained was combed like wool[415]. - - [415] Strabo, L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi. p. 43. ed. Siebenkees. - -The testimony of Nearchus, who was the admiral of Alexander, 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 -linen 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 -rather the two later authors who quote him, viz. Arrian and Strabo, use -the terms for linen in a general sense, as including all fine light -cloths made of vegetable substances[416]. - - [416] Arriani Rer. Indic. p. 522. 539. ed. Blancardi. Strabo, L. xv. c. -1. vol. vi. p. 40. ed. Sieb. - -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.) Nevertheless -it seems necessary to understand other authors of the same period as -meaning cotton by the term λίνον, or _linum_. Thus Dyonisius Periegetes -(_l._ 1116), speaking of the employments of the Indians, says, Οἱ δὲ -ἱστοὺς ὑφόωσι λινεργέας, which probably meant “some weave muslins”. In -the same manner we must interpret the assertion of Quintus 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 _carbaso_ velant, soleis pedes, capita linteis - vinciunt. - - They cover their bodies from head to foot with _carbasus_; they bind - shoes about their feet, linen cloths about their heads. - -Again, speaking of the dress of the King, he says, - - Distincta sunt auro et purpurâ _carbasa_, quæ indutus est. L. viii. 9. - The _carbasa_ 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. _p._ 153. ed. Sieb.) - - That the Indians use white raiment, and fine white cloths and - _carpasa_. - -Also the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea states, that the region about -the Gulf of Barygaza in India was productive “of _Carpasus_ and of the -fine Indian cloths made of it[417].” These were what we now call _India -muslins_. These muslins we are informed by Dr. Vincent, were imported -into Egypt, and accordingly Pacatus[418] represents Antony’s army as -wearing cotton in that country. - - [417] Arriani Opp. v. ii. p. 165. ed. Blancard. - - [418] Paneg. Theodosii, c. 33. - -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 became acquainted with cotton -much earlier than with silk, we find that _Carpas_, 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[419]. - - [419] Celsii Hierobot. vol. ii. p. 159. Sir W. Jones, in As. - Researches, vol. iv. p. 226. London Edition. Schlegel, Indische - Bibliotek, ii. p. 393. E. F. K. Rosenmüller, Biblische - Alterthumskunde, 4. 1. p. 173. - -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 occasion of the great feast -given by Ahasuerus, are thus described in the common version of the -Scriptures:-- - - “Where were white, green, and blue 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_ -(כרפס). It has been translated “green” -by the authors of the common version on the authority of the Chaldee -Paraphrase. - -The earliest instance of the use of the oriental name in any classical -author is the line from Statius Cæcilius, who died 169 B. C. as quoted -by Nonius Marcellus (_l._ xvi.) from the _Pausimachus_ of Statius: - - Carbasina, molochina, ampelina[420]. - -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 -Statius translated it according to his usual custom from one of the -writers of the New Comedy. We may therefore 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. - - [420] See C. C. Statii Fragmenta, a Leonhardo Spengel, Monachii 1829, - p. 35. - - Statius chiefly copied from Menander (_Gellius_ ii. _c._ 16.); but - we cannot find, that Menander wrote any play called _Pausimachus_. - -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 cheaper and commoner article than silk, but it was particularly -adapted for this purpose on account of its lightness, as well as -its beauty and fineness; and, besides the instance already cited -from the book of Esther, we may observe also, that where the _Latin_ -authors mention the use of “Carbasa,” it is sometimes for purposes -of this kind. “Tabernacula carbaseis intenta velis,” _i. e._ “Tents -with coverings of cotton,” were among the expensive novelties which -contributed to the luxury of Verres, when Prætor in Sicily[421]. The -same species of ornament was first displayed at Rome in the magnificent -ædileship of P. Lentulus Spinther, at the Apollinarian games and in the -year 63 B. C. - - “At a later period awnings of linen were used to keep out the sun, - but originally 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 introduced cotton awnings in - the theatre at the Apollinarian games. By and by Cæsar 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. Afterwards, without exhibiting games, Marcellus the son of - Octavia, sister of Augustus, when he was Ædile and his uncle consul - the eleventh time[422], on the day before the Kalends of August, - protected the forum from the rays of the sun, that the persons engaged - in lawsuits might stand with less injury to their health. What a - change from the manners which prevailed under Cato the Censor, who - thought that the forum should even be strewed with caltrops! Of late - sky-blue awnings, spotted with stars, have been extended by means - of strong ropes, even in the amphitheatre 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, white linen has always remained - in favor. This plant was honored in the Trojan war. _For why should - it not perform 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 argue that by the term _sparta_ he meant - _sata_, or things that are sown.”--_Pliny_, Lib. xix. chap. vi. - - [421] This was about the year 70 B. C. Cic. in Verrem, Act. ii. l. v. - c. 12. - - [422] The following are the dates of the display of awnings on the - several occasions referred to:-- - - _Linen_ awnings first used in the theatre at the dedication of the - temple of Jupiter by Catulus 69 B. C. - _Cotton_ awnings 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 Caesar 46 B. C. - Linen awnings extended over the forum by Marcellus, - July 31st 23 B. C. - - -Lucretius apparently refers to the introduction by Lentulus Spinther of -the cotton awnings above mentioned (vi. 108.), when he is theorising -on the cause of thunder, and compares the clouds spread over the sky -to the awnings 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 mast to beam. - -We now find frequent mention of cotton by the poets of the Augustan -age and by many subsequent writers. As in the case of silk, these -authors introduce cotton, not only historically, but for the purpose -of embellishment; and, considering _Carbasus_ as a poetical term, they -often by a _catachresis_ employ it where they mean to speak of linen. -Also as was before observed in regard to silk (Part I. chapter II.), it -may likewise be noticed here, that the wars against Mithridates and the -Parthians may have contributed to make the Romans familiar with the use -of cotton, although their chief supply of it was more probably through -Egypt, than through Persia and Babylonia. - -Catullus (64.), speaking of the black sail which Ægeus furnished 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 Colchis (as will be shown in Part IV.) the Greeks and -Romans obtained a great supply of flax and sail-cloth. - -Tibullus, or Lygdamus, entreats (iii. 2. 17.), in the contemplation of -his death and funeral, that after his bones have been washed, first -with wine, and then with milk, they may be dried “carbaseis veils,” -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 following passage -(iv. 3.) he probably used _Carbasa_ 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 reposceret ignes, - Exhibuit vivos carbasus alba focos. - - The fire had died, and Vesta urged her claim, - When the white 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 _carbasum, quam optimum habebat_, -foculo imposuisset, subito ignis emicuit.” This description is well -suited to the nature of cotton, than which nothing was more easily -ignited. - -The passage in Virgil’s Georgics, which mentions cotton, has been -already quoted (See Part I. chapter II. p. 24.). By the Æthiopians, -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 Herbaceum, to which the word “groves” (_nemora_) -would not apply, as to groves of Gossypium Arboreum and Bombyx Ceiba. -In the following passages of Æneid he mentions cotton under its proper -name, though probably not intending to distinguish accurately between -cotton and linen, and only using the term for the sake of ornament:-- - - Jamque dies, alterque dies processit, et auræ - Vela vocunt, tumidoque inflatur carbasus austro. iii. 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 læti nautæ imposuere coronas. iv. 417. - - The flapping sail invites the gales; the poops - By the glad seamen are already crown’d. - - Eum (_fluvium Tiberim_) tenuis glauco velabat amictu - Carbasus, et crines umbrosa tegebat arundo. viii. 33. - - Thin muslin veils him with its sea-green folds; - His head a copious shade of reeds sustains. - - Tum 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 Chloreus, -the Phrygian, whose muslin chlamys may have rustled in consequence of -being interwoven with gold. - - -OVID. - - Totaque malo - 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, præbebis carbasa ventis.--_Epist._ vii. 171. - - When the gale favors, give the wind your sails. - - Sed non, quo dederas a litore carbasa, vento - Utendum, 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. - - Dumque parant torto subducere carbasa lino.--_Fast._ iii. 587. - - They now with 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, with which the -Romans had become familiar, 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, Œd._ ii. _prope fin._ - - The dolphin curved pursues the flying sails. - - Strictaque pendentes deducunt carbasa nautæ.--_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 primo, - 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 nautæ. - _Martial_, _l._ xii. _ep._ 29. - - The trembling seamen haste to reef their sails. - - Primæ, carbasa ventilantis, auræ.--_Statius, Sylv._ iv. 3. 106. - - Of the first gale, which breathes upon the sails. - -Statius also mentions “Carbasei sinus,” the folds of cotton in the -chlamys of a Bacchanal (_Theb._ vii. 658.). - - Æstivos penetrent oneraria carbasa fluctus.--_Rutilius_, i. 221. - - Postquam tua carbasa vexit--Oceanus.--_Val. Flaccus_, i. - - Necdum aliæ viderunt carbasa terræ.--_Ibid._ - -Valerius Flaccus also introduces muslin among the elegances in the -dress of a Phrygian from the river Rhyndacus. - - Tenuai non illum candentis carbasa lini, - Non auro depicta chlamys, non flava galeri - Cæsaries, pictoque juvant subtemine braccæ. vi. 228. - - No aid to him his chlamys white as snow, - Muslin with gold enrich’d, his yellow curls - Of artificial hair, and _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. - - Tantâ tamque multiplici fertilitate abundat rerum omnium Cyprus, ut - nullius externi indigens adminiculi, indigenis viribus, a fundamento - ipso carinæ ad supremos usque carbasos ædificet onerarium navem, - omnibusque armamentis instructam mari committat.--_Amm. Marcellinus_, - xiv. 8. - -Apuleius mentions _carbasina_ in conjunction with _bombycina_ and other -kinds of cloth[423]. 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 Apollinaris[424]. -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 cymbæ. - _Descr. Orbis_, 799. - - [423] Metamorphoseon l. viii. p. 579, 580. ed. Oudendorpii. (Quoted in - Part First, Chapter ii. p. 35.) - - [424] L. ii. _Epist._ 2. (Quoted in Part First, Chapter iii. p. 61.). - -Here the writer not only professes to give geographical information, -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 καρπασίναι in describing the official dress of a -certain class of priestesses among the Cimbri[425]. Although it is -possible, that muslin may have been conveyed to them to be used on -solemn occasions, it appears more probable that fine linen or cambric, -which was manufactured at no great distance among the Atrebates, ought -here to be understood. - - [425] L. vii. cap. 2. § 3. p. 336. ed. Siebenkees. - -Pliny mentions cotton in four different passages of his Natural -History. Two of them are translated with some inaccuracies 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, Carbasa. -It would imply that cotton was first grown or manufactured 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 authority Pliny depended, or from what source he -derived his information, 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 Egypt, towards Arabia, there grows a shrub, which some call - _gossypium_, 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 be preferred to these stuffs for whiteness or - softness: beautiful garments are made from them for the priests of - Egypt.[426] - - [426] Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xix. c. 1. (Delph. Ed. c. 2.) - -This passage seems however deserving of more consideration, when taken -in conjunction with the following from the Onomastícon of Julius -Pollux, who wrote 100 years later than Pliny:-- - - There are also Byssina; 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-cleft. 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 regard 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, we have had no previous evidence respecting 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 flax 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 (cotton 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 rendered by washing white as snow. - -Philostratus, who wrote in the third century, makes distinct mention -of cotton in two passages[427]. - - [427] Vita _Appollonii_, _l._ ii. _cap._ 20. Ibid. _l._ iii. _cap._ 15. - -Martianus Capella (_l._ ii. § 4. _p._ 99. _ed._ Goetz.) makes distinct -reference to a tunic and shawl white as milk, and made either of cotton -or fine linen. - -Theophilus Presbyter, who 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 Græca, quæ fit ex lanâ -ligni_[428]. - - [428] De Omni Scientiâ Picturæ 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.) - -From the travels of the two Arabians who visited China in the ninth -century, we 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 silk[429].” 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 employed in Europe either for clothing, or for any -other purpose, until very lately. - - [429] See the Travels as published by Renaudot, and translated from his - French into English. - -It is unnecessary to further discuss the question as to whether cotton -was or was not cultivated in Egypt in ancient times. This vexed -question having been lately set at rest, by a discovery which reduces -a great deal of the learning that has been expended upon it _to the -character of old lumber_. The difficulty 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 -decided by that important aid to scientific scrutiny, the microscope. -(See Chapters I. and II. Part IV.) - -The following observations of Dr. Robertson in his “Historical -Disquisition concerning the knowledge which the Ancients had of -India[430],” 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 precious stones. Such a specification - would have been equally necessary for the direction both of the - merchant and of the tax-gatherer. - - [430] _Note_ xxv. p. 370. _Second ed._ 1794. - -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 ancients 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 herbaceous -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 spinning, 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[431].” Sir -John Mandeville, on the other hand, who travelled in the fourteenth -century, 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 -grows[432].” Forbes also, in his Oriental Memoirs, 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 planted 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 flower, 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 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 objects in the agriculture of Hindostan[433].” - - [431] Book iii. chap. 29. - - [432] Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 169. - - [433] Forbes’s Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 405. - -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, Maduré, Marawar, Pescaria, and the coast of Malabar, -produce the finest cotton[434].” He elsewhere says--“Cotton is -cultivated in every part of India: the finest grows in the light rocky -soil of Guzerat, Bengal, Dude, and Agra. The cultivation of this plant -is very lucrative, an acre producing about nine quintals of cotton in -the year[435].” - - [434] Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 30. - - [435] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 303. - -On the discovery of this continent by Columbus, Cotton formed the -principal article of clothing among the Mexicans. - -We are informed by the Abbé Clavigero that “of cotton the Mexicans -made _large webs_, 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 feathers interwoven with cotton, they made -_mantles_ and _bed-curtains_, _carpets_, _gowns_, and other things, -not less soft than beautiful. With cotton also they _interwove the -finest hair of the belly of rabbits and hares, after having spun -it into thread_: of this they made most beautiful cloths, and in -particular winter waistcoats for their lords[436].” Among the presents -sent by Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, to Charles V., were “cotton -mantles, some all white, others mixed with white and black, or red, -green, yellow, and blue; waistcoats, handkerchiefs, counterpanes, -tapestries, and carpets of cotton; and the colors of the cotton were -extremely fine[437].” 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 _indigo_ and -_cochineal_ among their native productions. - - [436] Clavigero’s History of Mexico, book vii. sect. 57, 66. - - [437] Clavigero’s History of Mexico, book vii. sect. 58. - -Columbus also found the cotton plant growing 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[438]; and -when Magellan went on his circumnavigation of the globe, in 1519, -the Brazilians were accustomed to make their beds of this vegetable -down[439]. - - [438] Sommario dell’Indie Occidentali del S. Don Pietro Martire, in - Ramusio’s Collection, tom. ii. pp. 2, 4, 16, 50. (See Appendix D.) - - [439] Vincentino’s Viaggio atorno il Mondo, (with Ferd. Magellan,) in - Ramusio, tom. 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 textures of Bengal--Cæsar Frederick, Tavernier, - and Forbes’s testimony--Extraordinary fineness and transparency of - Dacca muslins--Specimen brought by Sir Charles Wilkins; compared - with English muslins--Sir Joseph Banks’s experiments--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 account--Decline of the manufactures of Dacca - accounted for--Orme’s testimony of the universal diffusion of the - Cotton manufacture 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 manufacturers of Cotton throughout - the world.) Spinning wheel--Spinning without a wheel--Loom--Mode of - weaving--Forbes’s description--Habits and remuneration of Spinners, - Weavers, &c.--Factories of the East India Company--Marvellous 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 (Author of _Robinson Crusoe_.)--Indian fabrics - prohibited in England, and most other countries of Europe--Petition - from Calcutta merchants--Present condition 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 having 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 industry,--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 and almost -incredible perfection in their fabrics of cotton. Indeed some of their -muslins might be thought 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[440]. - - [440] Bains’s “History of the Cotton Manufacture,” p. 55. - -We learn from two Arabian travellers of the ninth century, that -“in this country (India) they make garments of such extraordinary -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 size[441].” Marco Polo, -in the thirteenth century, mentions the coast of Coromandel, and -especially Masulipatam, as producing “the finest and most beautiful -cottons that are to be found in any part of the world[442];” 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. - - [441] Anciennes Relations des Indes et de la Chine, de deux Voyageurs - Mahometans, qui y allerent dans le neuviéme siecle, p. 21. - - [442] Travels of Marco Polo, book iii. c. 21, 28. - -Odoardo Barbosa, one of the Portuguese adventurers who visited India -immediately after the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good -Hope, celebrates “the great quantities of cotton cloths admirably -painted, also some white and some striped, held in the highest -estimation,” which were made in Bengal[443]. Cæsar Frederick, a -Venetian merchant, who travelled in India in 1563, and whose narrative -is translated by Hakluyt, describes the extensive traffic carried -on between St. Thomé (a port 150 miles from Negapatam) and Pegu, in -“_bumbast_ (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 become; and there is made such account of this kind of cloth, that -a small bale of it will cost 1000 or 2000 ducats[444].” - - [443] Ramusio’s “Raccolto delle Navigationi et Viaggi,” tom. i. p. 315. - - [444] Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 366. Edition of 1809. - -Tavernier, who, like Marco Polo, Barbosa, and Frederick, was a -merchant as well as a traveller, and therefore accustomed to judge -of the qualities of goods, and who travelled in the middle 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 Mogulistan, and are carried to Raioxsary and -Baroche[445] to be whitened, because 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-water_. Some calicuts are made -so fine, _you can hardly feel them in your hand_, and the thread, when -spun, is scarce discernible[446].” 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 was 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 noblemen’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 them[447].” -Speaking of the turbans of the Mohammedan Indians, Tavernier says, “The -rich have them of so fine cloth, that twenty-five or thirty ells of it -put into a turban will not weigh four ounces[448].” - - [445] “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 muslin 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 - very extensive. The weavers’ houses are mostly near the shade of - tamarind and mango trees, under which, at sun-rise, they fix 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 the Coromandel coast.”--Forbes’s Oriental Memoirs, vol. - ii. p. 222. - - [446] Tavernier’s Travels, contained in Dr. Harris’s Collection of - Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 811. - - [447] Ibid. vol. i. p. 829. - - [448] Tavernier’s Travels, Harris’s Collection, vol. i. p. 833. - -An English writer, at the end of the seventeenth century, in a -remonstrance against the admission of India muslins, for which, -he says, the high price of thirty shillings a yard was paid, -unintentionally compliments the delicacy of the fabric by stigmatizing -it as “only the _shadow_ of a commodity[449].” - - [449] The Naked Truth, in an Essay upon Trade, p. 11. - -The 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 Vilkrum-pooru, -muslins are made by a few families so exceedingly fine, that four -months are required to weave one piece, which sells at five hundred -rupees. When this muslin is laid on the grass, and the dew has fallen -upon it, _it is no longer discernible_[450].” - - [450] View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos, by - William Ward; vol. iii. p. 127. 3d edition. - -After such statements as the above, from sober and creditable -witnesses, the Oriental hyperbole which designates the Dacca muslins as -“_webs of woven wind_,” seems only moderately poetical. - -Sir Charles Wilkins brought a specimen of Dacca muslin 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 handling of visitors, it is of exquisite delicacy, softness, -and transparency; yet the yarn 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 writing, together with a specimen of the -muslin:-- - - “The portion of skein which Mr. Wilkins gave to me weighed 34-3/10 - 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 avoirdupoise of 7000 grains; that is, 115 miles, 2 - furlongs, and 60 yards.” - -Cotton yarn has been spun in England, making _three hundred and fifty -hanks_ to the _lb. weight_, each hank measuring 840 yards, and the -whole forming a thread of 167 miles in length[451]. 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 would form a thread measuring 119⅓ 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 softer 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. - - [451] Pliny, in speaking of linen yarn, gives us an account (L. xix. - cap. 2.) of the cuirass 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. - -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. 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[452].” 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 beautiful cloth, named _cassas_ -(cossaes,) and the fabrics it still produces justify to the present -generation its ancient renown[453]”. But it seems that there has been a -great decline in the manufacture of the finest muslins, which is both -stated and accounted for by Mr. Hamilton in the following passage on -the district of Dacca Jelulpoor:-- - - [452] Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 390; edit. 1809. - - [453] A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of - Hindostan, by Walter Hamilton, Esq. vol. i. p. 187--(1820.) - -“Plain muslins, are distinguished by different names, according to the -fineness or closeness of the texture, as well as _flowered_, _striped_, -or _chequered_ muslins, are fabricated chiefly in this district, where -a species of cotton named the banga grows, necessary, although not of a -very superior quality, to form 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 muslins, 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 muslins is in -danger of being lost, the orders for them being so few that many of the -families who possess by _hereditary_ instruction 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 stagnation 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 recent causes also -may be adduced the French revolution, the degree of perfection to which -this peculiar manufacture has lately 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 -muslins 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 English 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. Colebrook respecting the Dacca cotton, and had an opportunity of -perusing the manuscripts of the late Dr. Roxburgh, which contain an -account of it; he calls it a variety of the common herbaceous annual -cotton of India, and states that it is longer in the staple, and -affords the material from which the Dacca muslins 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 spinning; and almost every village -contains its weavers, and supplies its own inhabitants with the scanty -clothing they require[454]. Being a domestic manufacture, and carried -on with the rudest and cheapest apparatus, it requires neither capital, -mills, or an assemblage of various trades. The cotton is separated from -the seeds by a small rude hand-mill, or gin, turned by women. - - [454] 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 manufacture.” (p. - 409.) “The progress of the cotton manufacture includes no less than - a description of the lives of half the inhabitants of Indostan.” - (p. 413.) - -The mill consists of two rollers of teak wood, fluted longitudinally -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 revolving 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[455]. - - [455] 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 comes 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, 1765. - His parents belonged to that respectable class in society, who, by - the labors of husbandry, manage, _by uniform 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 - country, 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 thousands who - had conspired to defraud him of his just and lawful rights, were - enriched 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 - machine--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 1825, 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 following 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, 1765.--DIED JAN. 8TH, 1825. - - The convention of American Geologists and Naturalists who met at - New Haven in May last (1845.), were invited, together with their - ladies, by Mrs. Whitney, the _widow of the inventor of the Cotton - gin_, to attend an evening party at her house, which was accepted, - where they had an elegant supper and conversazione. - - “It is melancholy,” says Mr. Bains in his History 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 occasions, genius, instead - of realizing fame and fortune, has been pursued by disaster 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 memory of - the inventor of the Cotton gin? - -The next operation is that of bowing the cotton, to clear it from dirt -and knots. A large bow, made elastic by a complication of strings, is -used; this being put in contact with a heap of cotton, the workman -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 with a metallic spindle, and sometimes 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 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 netting needle, and of a length rather -more than the breadth of the web[456]. 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 -rolling 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 him[457].” - - [456] 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.) - - [457] Mill’s History of British India, book ii. ch. 8. - -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 from the root called _kandri_. When chequered muslins are -wrought, three persons are employed at each loom. - -Some authentic particulars concerning the habits and remuneration -of the Hindoos engaged in the making of cotton cloth, are contained -in an unpublished account of the districts of Puraniya (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 Madras to Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.” This account of -the above-named provinces near the Ganges is in several manuscript -volumes in the library of the India House, in London. We learn from -his elaborate survey that the spinning and weaving of cotton prevails -throughout these provinces. The fine yarns are spun with an iron -spindle, and without distaff, 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, 2½ 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 2¼ rupees (4_s._ 6_d._) a month. -The finest goods cost 2 rupees a piece for weaving. Dr. Hamilton, in -his observations on another district, states the average profit of a -loom engaged in weaving coarse goods to be 28 rupees (£2. 16_s._) a -year, or something less than 13_d._ a week. At Puraniya and Dinajpur -the journeymen cotton-weavers usually made from 2 to 2½ rupees (from -4_s._ to 5_s._) a month. At Patna a man and his wife made from 3 to 4 -rupees (from 6_s._ to 8_s._) a month by beating and cleaning cotton; -and each loom employed in making chequered muslins, has a profit of -108½ rupees a year (£10. 16_s._), that is, 1_s._ 4_d._ 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_s._ to 1_s._ 4_d._ -per week. At Bangalore, and in some other parts of southern India, this -author states that weavers earn from 3_d._ to 8_d._ a day, according -as they are employed on coarse or fine goods[458]; 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 application. On the -same authority, a woman spinning coarse yarn can earn 1⅔_d._ per -day[459]. - - [458] Buchanan’s Journey through Mysore, vol. i. pp. 216-218. - - [459] Ibid. vol. iii. p. 317. - -A fact is mentioned by Dr. Hamilton, in his unpublished account of -Patna, which affords a striking indication as to the national character -of the Hindoos--“All Indian weavers, who 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 -opportunity of gaining by this means, yet he continues the practice, -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 manufacturing district, where the -spinners, weavers, and other workmen are chiefly employed in providing -the goods which 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 execution -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 the funds necessary in order -to produce the goods. The consequence of this system is, that the -manufacturers and their men are in a state of dependence almost -amounting to servitude. The resident obtains their labor at his own -price, and, being supported by the civil and military power, he -establishes a monopoly of the worst kind, and productive of the most -prejudicial effects to industry. 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 industry, -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 exquisite delicacy 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 gentleness, and by the hereditary continuance -of a particular species of manufacture in families through many -generations, which 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 instruments which are all that an -Indian employs in making a piece of cambric (muslin). It is further -remarkable, that every distinct 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_[460].” The last mentioned fact -may be considered as a kind of division of labor. - - [460] Ormes’s Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 413. - -Mr. Mill thus explains the unequalled manual skill of the Indian -weaver:--“It is a sedentary occupation, and thus in harmony with his -predominant inclination. It requires patience, of which he has an -inexhaustible fund. It requires little bodily exertion, of which he -is always 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 -unrivalled; and the flexibility of his fingers is equally remarkable. -The hand of the Hindu, therefore, constitutes an organ adapted to -the finest operations of the loom, in a degree which is almost or -altogether peculiar to himself[461].” - - [461] Mill’s History of British India, book ii. c. 8. - -It is, then, to a physical organization in the natives, admirably -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 brilliant 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 barbarous 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_, _amâns_, 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. Thomé, and Paliamcotta. The long cloths and -fine pullicats are produced in the presidency of Madras. The coarse -piece-goods, under the name of baftas, doutis, and pullicats, as well -as common muslins and chintzes, are extensively manufactured in the -district of which 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 extensive, from -the Christian era to the end of the last century. For many hundred -years, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, and all the eastern -parts of Africa, were supplied with a considerable portion of their -cottons and muslins, and with 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 Abbé Raynal[462] 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 Calicut, the former of which is near to -Baroche, the manufacturing capital of Guzerat, in which province a -considerable part of the exported cottons of India were made; and on -the east coast, Masulipatam, Madras, and St. Thomé, whence the varied -and extensive products of the Coromandel coast are exported. - - [462] Histoire Philosophique et Politique des Etablissements du - Commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes, tom. ii. liv. iv. ch. 4. - -Owing to the beauty and cheapness of Indian muslins, chintzes, -and calicoes, there was a period when the manufacturers of all the -countries of Europe were apprehensive of being 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 furniture, and the coarse calicoes were used to line -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 incomparably the most extensive branch of -manufactures till the close of the eighteenth century. A few extracts -from pamphlets 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 interference 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 line men’s coats with, is used sometimes a glazed calico, -which in the whole is not above 12_d._ cheaper, and abundantly worse. -And sometimes is used a _Bangale_ that is brought from India, both -for linings to coats, and for petticoats too; yet our English ware is -better and cheaper than this, only it is thinner for the summer. To -remedy 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, saltpetre, indigo, &c. -The advantage of the Company is chiefly in their muslins and Indian -silks, (a great value in these commodities being comprehended in a -small bulk,) and these becoming the general wear in England.”--p. 4. -“Fashion is truly termed a witch; the dearer and scarcer any commodity, -the more the mode; 30_s._ 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, that it was not -merely injurious to the woollen and silk manufactures, a 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 _chintz_ 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 quality 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 calicoes or Indian stuffs; and in short, almost -everything that used to be made of wool or silk, relating either 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_, _January_ 31st, 1708. - -However exaggerated and absurd De Foe’s estimate of the injury caused -to the 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 he wrote, -but of one a few years earlier; for he says in another place, that -the “PROHIBITION OF INDIAN GOODS” had “AVERTED 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 introduction 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 continent 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 _will 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 _female perverseness_, 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. -180. - -“Two things,” says the writer, “among us are too ungovernable, viz. our -_passions_ and our _fashions_. - -“Should I ask the ladies whether they would dress by law, or clothe by -act of parliament, they would ask me _whether they were to be 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, their _passion_ for their -_fashion_, has been frequently injurious to the manufactures 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 like nature. The -ladies have suffered some little restraint that way, as in the wearing -East India silks, instead of English; 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 cotton 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 PROTECT THEIR OWN MANUFACTURES. -How surprising a revolution 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 under the competition of a power -which is as it were but of yesterday: 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 DUTIES ON COTTON AND SILK. - - “Calcutta, 1st. Sept. 1831. - - “_To the Right Honorable the Lords of His Majesty’s Privy Council for - Trade, &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 fabrics of Great - Britain into Bengal, the importation of which augments every year, to - the great prejudice of the native manufactures. - - “That the fabrics of Great Britain are consumed in Bengal, without - any duties being levied thereon to protect the native fabrics. - - “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’ consideration - 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 British - 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_[463]. - - “Your Lordships must be aware of the immense advantages the - British manufacturers derive from their skill in constructing and - using 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 Lordships’ 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 respectability.] - - [463] This reasonable request was not complied with, the duty on India - cotton being still 10 per cent. The extra duty of 3½_d._ per yard - on printed cottons was taken off when the excise duty on English - prints was repealed, in 1831. English cottons imported into India - only pay a duty of 2½ per cent. - -Dacca, notwithstanding its present insignificance as compared with -its former grandeur, may nevertheless still be classed among second -rate cities. It has a population of 150,000 inhabitants, which is -nearly a third more than the city of Baltimore 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[464]. On the whole, an increase -may be looked for, rather than the contrary, in the wealth, population, -and importance of the city of Dacca. - - [464] Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. - -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 -world[465]. 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 rupees[466]. 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 Company was scarcely more considerable. And in 1817, the English -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 manufacture of fine muslins. 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 manipulation -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 _replace it by one of a finer texture_. The cotton -used for the finest thread, was grown in the immediate neighborhood -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 muslin fabrics is now lost--and a pity it is that it should be so. - - [465] 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. - - [466] _Lac of rupees_ is one hundred thousand rupees, which at 55 cents - each amount to fifty-five thousand dollars, or at 2_s._ 6_d._ - sterling, to £12,500. - -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 supplied 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 Khás,” for the royal wardrobe -at Delhi, absorbed a great part of the finest fabrics in former -times: the extreme beauty of some of these muslins, was sufficiently -indicated by the names they bore: such as, “_Abrowan_,” running water; -“_Siebnem_,” evening dew, &c. The cotton manufacture has not yet -arrived at anything like this perfection with us, and probably never -will.[467] - - [467] The manufacture 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 yarn. 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 - yarn, 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 Manufacture of this Country,” made in the - year 1793, it is said, that “_every shop offers 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 Glasgow, 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 own 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 neighborhood. - 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 exclusively made there and in - Paisley.”--_Encyclopædia Britannica_. - -Coarse cotton piece goods still continue to be manufactured at Dacca, -though from the extreme cheapness of English cloths, it is not -improbable that the native manufacture will be altogether 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 969,952 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, amounted to 29,475 rupees only. - -Annexed are two statements--one showing the comparative prices of -muslins 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. |Manufactured|Produce of | - | | at |the British | - | | Dacca. | Looms. | - +------------------------------------------+------------+------------+ - |Jamdaní, with small spot, 1st sort | 25 | 8 | - |Jamdaní, with small spot 2nd ditto | 16 | 5 | - |Jamdaní, Mabíposh, | 27 to 28 | 6 | - |Jamdaní, Diagonal pattern, | 12 to 13 | 4 to 4½ | - |Jaconet Muslin, 40½, } 1st ditto | 38 to 40 |20 to 22 | - | corresponding } 2nd ditto | 24 to 25 | 9 to 10 | - | with Jungle Cossas, } | | | - |Nyansook, 40 to 2¼, | 8 to 9 | 5 to 6 | - |Cambric, corresponding with Camiz Cossas, | 13 to 14 | 6 to 9½ | - |Jamdaní blue or red sprigs, | 15 to 16 | 4 to 5 | - |Jamdaní Sarîs, | 12 to 13 | 5 to 5½ | - |Book Muslin, corresponding with Mulmulls, | 10 to 11 | 7 to 8 | - |Sahun, 48 by 3, | 28 to 30 |14 to 15 | - +------------------------------------------+------------+------------+ - -COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF DACCA CLOTHS, MANUFACTURED WITH -COTTON YARN SPUN IN THE COUNTRY, AND FROM BRITISH COTTON YARN. - - +----------------------------------------------------------------+ - | | DACCA MUSLINS. | - | +----------------+--------------+ - |ASSORTMENTS. | Manufactured | Manufactured | - | | with Country | with Europe | - | | Cotton Thread. | Cotton Yarn. | - +--------------------------------+----------------+--------------+ - |Mulmuls, 40 by 2, 1st sort | 8 to 9 | 3 to 4 | - | 2nd ditto | 10 to 12 | 5 to 6 | - | 3rd ditto | 14 to 15 | 9 to 10 | - | | | | - |Sablams, 40 by 2, 1st ditto | 4 to 4½ | 2½ | - | 2nd ditto | 5½ to 6 | 3 | - | 3rd ditto | 11 to 12 | 6 | - | 4th ditto | 14 to 15 | 8 | - | 5th ditto | 17 to 18 | 10 to 11 | - | | | | - |Sarbans, 40 cubits, 1st ditto | 3 | 1½ | - | 2nd ditto | 3½ to 3¾ | 1¾ | - | | | | - |Allabalís Adí, 1st ditto | 5 to 5½ | 3 | - | 2nd ditto | 7 to 7½ | 4 | - | 3rd ditto | 8 to 9 | 5 to 5½ | - | 4th ditto | 9 to 10 | 6 to 6½ | - | | | | - |Tarindans, 40 cubits, 1st ditto | 4½ to 5 | 3 | - | 2nd ditto | 6½ to 7 | 4 | - | 3rd ditto | 11 to 12 | 7 to 8 | - | 4th ditto | 13 to 14 | 10 to 11 | - |Sarí, per pair, 1st ditto | 5 | 3 | - | 2nd ditto | 5 to 5½ | 3½ to 4 | - | 3rd ditto | 9 to 10 | 5½ to 6 | - | | | | - |Dhotis, per pair, 1st ditto | 5 | 3 | - | 2nd ditto | 6 to 6½ | 3½ | - | 3rd ditto | 7 to 7½ | 5 | - | 4th ditto | 8 to 8½ | 6 | - | 5th ditto |10½ to 11 | 8 to 8½ | - | 6th ditto | 9 to 11 | 7 to 7½ | - | | | | - |Sheraganj Cossas, 1st ditto | 4 | 2¾ | - | 40 cubits, 2nd ditto | 5 | 3¼ | - | 3rd ditto | 5½ to 6 | 4 | - | 4th ditto | 7 to 7½ | 5 | - | 5th ditto | 8 to 8½ | 6 | - | | | | - |Sheraganj Hamam, 1st ditto | 5 | 3½ | - | 40 by 3, 2nd ditto | 6 to 6½ | 4 | - | 3rd ditto | 7½ to 8 | 5 | - | 4th ditto | 9 to 9½ | 6 to 7 | - | 5th ditto | 11 to 12 | 8 to 9 | - | 6th ditto | 14 to 15 | 10 to 11 | - | | | | - |Jamdan Dhotis, 1st ditto | 5½ to 6 | 4 | - | 10 cubits, 2nd ditto | 6½ to 7 | 4½ | - | 3rd ditto | 7½ to 8 | 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 which time it had -already 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 neighboring empire of China. Though so well -suited to hot climates, 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[468]. In Spain the -manufacture, after flourishing to some degree, became nearly extinct. -In Italy, Germany, and Flanders, it had also a lingering and ignoble -existence. - - [468] In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came - gradually into use; and the manufacture was spread, by the - commercial activity and enterprise 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 slippers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a - walking staff.”--_Crichton’s History of Arabia_, _vol._ i. _pp._ - 397, 403. - - - - -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 Egyptians--Linen - worn by the priests of Isis--Flax grown extensively in Egypt--Flax - gathering--Envelopes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies--Examination - of mummy-cloth--Proved to be Linen--Flax still grown in - Egypt--Explanation of terms--Byssus--Reply to J. R. Forster--Hebrew - and Egyptian 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, Cisalpine 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 account of the -plague of hail, which devastated Lower Egypt, Ex. ix. 31. The Hebrew -term for flax in this and various other passages of the old Testament -is פשתה; the corresponding word in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic -versions is כתנא Λίνον, 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 flax_,” and which -was one of the chief employments of the Egyptians. According to -Herodotus (ii. 37, 81.) the Egyptians universally wore linen shirts, -which were fringed 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. - -[Illustration: _PLATE VI_ Egyptian flax-gathering.] - -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 -linen was used for all sacred purposes, is clearly expressed in the two -following passages from Apuleius and Jerome. - - Etiamnè cuiquam mirum videri potest, cui sit ulla memoria religionis, - hominem tot mysteriis Deûm conscium, quædam sacrorum crepundia domi - adversare, atque ea lineo texto involvere, quod purissimum est rebus - divinis velamentum? Quippe lana, segnissimi corporis excrementum, - pecori detracta, jam inde Orphei et Pythagoræ scitis, profanus - vestitus est. Sed enim mundissima lini seges, inter optimas fruges - terrâ exorta, non modò indutui et amictui sanctissimis Ægyptiorum - sacerdotibus, sed opertui quoque in rebus sacris usurpatur. - - _Apuleii Apolog. p. 64. ed. Pricæi._ - - Can any one impressed with a sense of religion wonder, that a man who - has 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 covering 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 holy priests of - the Egyptians, 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 Ægyptii sacerdotes non solum extrinsecus, sed - et intrinsecus.--_Hieron. in Ezek. 44. folio 257._ - - The Egyptian priests use linen garments, not only without, but also - within. - -Plutarch says[469], that the priests of Isis wore linen 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 resembles the etherial -blue which surrounds the world_; and he states, that the priests of -Isis were also buried in their sacred vestments. According to Strabo, -Panopolis was an ancient seat of the linen manufacture[470]. - - [469] L. xvii. § 41. p. 586. ed. Siebenkees. - - [470] De Iside et Osiride, prope init. Opp. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1572, - tom. i p. 627, 628. - -Celsius in his Hierobotanicon (_vol._ ii. _p._ 287-291.), and Forster -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 grown anciently in Lower Egypt, and more -particularly in the vicinity of Pelusium, 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 -Mediterranean[471]. - - [471] “Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and _linen yarn_” - (טקוח): 1 Kings x. 28. 2 Chron. i. 16. - -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 authors, 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 -ancient times from India to Egypt; and the term _linum_ was undoubtedly -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 inferior 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.” (_See Description de l’Egypte: -Antiquités; Planches, tome_ i. _pl._ 68. _and the Plates to Hamilton’s -Ægyptiaca_, 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 _transparent_[472]. 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. - - [472] This circumstance is adapted to illustrate the mention of - “transparent garments” in Isaiah iii. 23. Lowth’s Translation. - -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 catacombs 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 Pyramidographia, 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 -linen, 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 _Mémoires de -l’Académie R. des Sciences_ for the year 1750. He there asserts (_p._ -150), that the cloth of every mummy which he had an opportunity of -examining, even that of embalmed 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 examined, “linen.” He says, -it was in fillets of different breadths, but the greater part 1½ -inches broad. “They were torn longitudinally; 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 convinced, 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[473]. Larcher -informs us, that he remarked the same thing in these mummies in 1752, -when he was accompanied by Dr. Maty[474]. It is to be observed, -however, that neither Larcher, Rouelle, nor Forster mentions the -criterion which he employed to distinguish linen from cotton. They -probably formed their opinion only from its apparent softness, its -want of lustre, or some other quality, which might belong to linen no -less than to cotton, and which therefore could be no certain mark of -distinction. - - [473] Forster, De Bysso Antiquorum, London 1776, p. 70, 71. - - [474] Herodote, par Larcher. Ed. 2nde, Par. 1802, livre ii. p. 357. - -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[475]. -In his _Beiträge (i. e. Contributions to Natural History, 2nd part, p. -73, Göttingen_, 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 mummy 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 experience 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 mummy cloth, and which is either ragged -or loose in its texture, cannot be distinguished from cotton by the -unassisted use of the external senses. - - [475] On the authority of this paper the mummy-cloth is supposed to be - cotton by Heeren, Ideen, i. 1. p. 128. - -Relying, however, on the same evidence of ocular inspection, another -distinguished author, who travelled in Egypt and published 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[476].” - - [476] Ægyptiaca, by William Hamilton, Esq. F. R. S. London, 1809. p. - 320. - -M. Jomard, one of the authors of the great French work on Egypt, -published about 1811, paid great attention to this subject. He -concluded, that both linen and cotton were employed in the bandages of -mummies, grounding his opinion partly on their appearance and touch, -and partly on the testimony of Herodotus, whom he misinterpreted in the -manner, which will hereafter be mentioned[477]. - - [477] Description de l’Egypte. Mémoires.--Sur les Hypogées, p. 35. - -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 cotton[478]. - - [478] Ibid. tom. i. p. 60. - -An important paper on the same subject appeared in the Philosophical -Transactions for 1825. In this Dr. A. B. Granville describes a mummy, -which he opened. He dwells more particularly on the circumstances, -which have reference to anatomical 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 alternate with the complete - swathing of the whole body. They occurred four distinct times; while - the bandaging, with rollers and other fasciæ, was repeated, at least, - twenty times. The numerous bandages, by which the mummy was thus - enveloped, were themselves wholly covered by a roller 3½ inches - wide and 11 yards long, which after making a few turns around both - feet, ascended in graceful spirals 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 l’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 external 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 preparation of our mummy, although Herodotus mentions only - cotton (_byssus_) 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 existence 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 manufacturer,” -Dr. Granville here proposes a new test, that of rubbing in the manner -described. But, although cotton cloth in all circumstances has less -lustre than linen, still this cannot be considered a satisfactory -criterion. - -The ingenious John Howell of Edinburgh[479] paid some attention 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 _practical_ experience, most of them thought that -the cloth was altogether linen: some however thought that certain -specimens of it were cotton. - - [479] Author of an Essay on the War Galleys of the Ancients, Edinburgh - 1826, 8vo. - -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 observant and experienced -cotton-manufacturers in Great Britain. He obtained about 400 specimens -of mummy cloth, and employed Mr. Bauer of Kew to examine them with -his microscopes. By the same method the structure and appearance of -the ultimate fibres of modern cotton and flax were ascertained; and -were found to be so distinct that there was no difficulty in deciding -upon the ancient specimens, and it was also found that they were -universally linen. About twelve years after Mr. Thomson had commenced -his researches he published the results of them in the Philosophical -Magazine[480], and he has accompanied 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 person, 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. - - [480] Third Series, vol. v. No. 29, November 1834. - -The difference, here pointed out, will explain why linen 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 satisfactory test of the absolute nature of - flax and cotton, and in the course of his microscopic researches - on the structure of textile fibres he has succeeded in determining - their distinctive characters. From a most precise and accurate - examination of these substances he has 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 transversely 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 appear 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, like 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[481]. - - [481] Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London 1837, vol. - iii. p. 115. - -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 furniture being found with the -long fillets and the entire webs), they prove the general application -of linen in Egypt to all the purposes of ordinary life. - -Even to the present day flax continues to be a most important article -of cultivation and trade in Egypt[482]. 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. - - [482] Browne’s Travels in Africa, p. 83. - -The following remark of Hasselquist respecting the _soft_ and _loose_ -texture of the linen made in Egypt in his time agrees remarkably with -the appearance of that found in mummies. “The Egyptian linen is not -so thick,” says he, “as the European, being softer and of a looser -texture; for which reason it lasts longer and does not wear out so -soon as ours, which frequently wears out the faster on account of its -stiffness.” He also observes, “The common people in Egypt are clothed -in linen only, dyed blue with _indigo_; but those of better fortune -have a black cloak over their linen shirt.” - -The coarse linen of the Ancient Egyptians was called Φώσων. It was made -of thick flax, and was used for towels (σουδάρια, _Julius Pollux_, vii. -_c._ 16.), and for sails (Φώσσωνας, _Lycophron_, _v._ 26.)[483]. Φώσων -may be translated _canvass_, or sail-cloth. - - [483] Jablonski Glossarium Vocum Ægyptiarum, in Valpy’s edition of - Steph. Thesaur. tom. i. p. CCXCV. - -Fine linen, on the other hand, was called Ὀθόνη. This term, as well -as the preceding, was in all probability an Egyptian word, adopted by -the Greeks to denote the commodity, to which the Egyptians themselves -applied it. It seems to correspond, as Salmasius[484], Celsius[485], -Forster[486], and Jablonski[487] have observed, to the אטון מצריס “Fine -linen of Egypt,” in Proverbs vii. 16. For אטון, put into Greek letters -and with Greek terminations, becomes ὀθόνη and ὀθόνιον. Hesychius -states, no doubt correctly, that ὀθόνη was applied by the Greeks to any -fine and thin cloth, though not of linen[488]. But this was in later -times and by a general and secondary application of the term. - - [484] Salmasius in Achill. Tat. l. viii. c. 13, ὀθόνης χιτών. - - [485] Celsii Hierobotanicon, t. ii. p. 90. - - [486] Forster, De Bysso, p. 74. - - [487] Ubi supra, p. CCXVII. - - [488] The ancient Scholia (published by Mai and Butmann) on Od. η. - 107, state that ὀθόναι were made both of flax and of wool. The silks - of India are called Ὀθόναι σηρικὰ. - -It appears also that in later times ὀθόνη was not restricted to fine -linen. It is used for _a sail_ by Achilles Tatius in describing a storm -(l. iii.), and by the Scholiast on Homer, _Il._ σ. - -Agreeably to the preceding remarks, the ὀθόναι mentioned in the two -passages of the Iliad may be supposed to have been procured from Egypt. -Helen, when she goes to meet the senators of Ilium at the Scæan Gate, -wraps herself in a white sheet of fine linen (Il. γ. 141.). The women, -dancing on the shield of Achilles (Il. σ. 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 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 Phœnix to lie upon in the tent of -Achilles, and for Ulysses on his return to Ithica from the country of -the Phæacians[489], though not called by the Egyptian 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. - - [489] Il. ι. 657. Od. ν. 73. 118. - -The term Σινδών (_Sindon_), was used to denote linen cloth still more -extensively than ὀθόνη, inasmuch as it occurs both in Greek and Latin -authors[490]. According to Julius Pollux this also was a word of -Egyptian origin, and Coptic scholars inform us that it is found in the -modern _Shento_, which has the same signification[491]. - - [490] E. g. Martial. - - [491] Jablonski, ubi supra, p. CCLXXIV. - -Serapion was called Sindonites, because he always wore linen (Palladii -_Hist. Lausiaca_, p. 172). He was an Egyptian, and retained the custom -of his native country. - -Although Σινδών originally denoted linen, we find it applied, like -Ὀθόνη, to cotton cloth likewise; and although both of these terms -probably denoted at first those linen cloths only, and especially the -finer kinds of them, which were made in Egypt, yet as the manufacture -of linen extends itself into other countries, 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 Ὀθόνη and -Σινδών. - -Another term, which is probably of Egyptian origin, and therefore -requires explanation here, is the term Βύσσος 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.” Celsius, in his Hierobotanicon (_vol._ ii. -_p._ 173.), gives the same explanation. This was indeed the general -opinion of learned men, until J. R. Forster advanced the position, that -_Byssus 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 Æschylus. He represents -Antigone wearing a shawl or sheet of fine flax[492]. In the Bacchæ -of Euripides (_l._ 776.) the same garment, which was distinctive of -the female sex, is introduced under the same denomination. We cannot -suppose, that dramatic writers would mention in plays addressed to -a general audience clothing of any material with which they were -not familiarly acquainted. But the Greeks in the time of Æschylus -and Euripides knew little or nothing of cotton. They had, however, -been long supplied with fine linen from Egypt and Phœnice; and the -βύσσινον πέπλωμα of Antigone is the same article of female attire with -the ἀργενναὶ ὀθόναι of Helen, described by Homer. Indeed Æschylus -himself in two other passages calls the same garment linen. In the -Coephoræ (_l._ 25, 26.) the expressions, Λινόφθοροι δ’ ὑφασμάτων -λακίδες and Πρόστερνοι στολμοὶ πέπλων, describe the rents, expressive -of sorrow, which were made in the linen veil or shawl (πέπλος) of an -Oriental woman. In the Supplices (_l._ 120.) the leader of the chorus -says, she often tears her linen, or her _Sidonian veil_. - - [492] Septem contra Thebas, l. 1041. See also Persæ, l. 129. - -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 universally linen; 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 σινδόνος βυσσίνης τελαμῶσι. 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 mentions (_l._ iv. _c._ 20. 181.; _l._ vii. _c._ -16. _and_ 25. 72.) these bandages 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 (_l._ i. § 85. _tom._ i. _p._ 96.) records a -tradition, that Isis put the limbs of Osiris into a wooden cow, covered -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 accordance with all the ideas and -practices of the Egyptians. - -V. Plutarch, in his Treatise de Iside et Osiride (_Opp._ _ed. -Stephani_, 1572, _vol._ iv. _p._ 653.) says, that the priests enveloped -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 addition 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 Philopator, which -is described at length in Athenæus, had a sail of the fine linen of -Egypt[493]. It is not probable, that in a vessel, every part of which -was made of the best and most suitable materials, the sail would be -of cotton. Moreover Hermippus describes Egypt as affording the chief -supply of sails for all parts of the world[494]: and Ezekiel represents -the Tyrians as obtaining cloth from Egypt for the sails and pendants of -their ships[495]. - - [493] Deipnos. l. v. p. 206 C. ed. Casaubon. - - [494] Apud. Athenæum, Deipnos. l. i. p. 27 F. - - [495] Ez. xxvii. 7. שש ברקמה ממצרים. - -VII. It is recorded in the Rosetta Inscription (_l._ 17, 18.), that -Ptolemy Epiphanes remitted two parts of the fine linen cloths, which -were manufactured in the temples for the king’s palace; and (_l._ 29.) -that he also remitted a tax on those, which were not made for the -king’s palace. Thus in an original and contemporary monument we read, -that Ὀθόνια βύσσινα were at a particular 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. - -VIII. Philo, who lived at Alexandria, and could not be ignorant upon -the subject, plainly uses Βύσσος 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 _fine 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[496]. - - [496] De Somniis, vol. i. p. 653. Mangey. - -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 circumstance, that much of it was 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 -scissors[497]. Professor Greaves[498] and Lord Sandwich found them -as firm _as if they were just taken from the loom_. Abdollatiph, who -visited Egypt A. D. 1200, mentions that the Arabs employed the mummy -cloth to make garments[499]. Much more recently the same practice has -been attested as coming under his observation by Seetzen[500]. 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 -washed eight times without any perceptible injury. “With a sort of -veneration,” says he, “I unfolded every day this venerable linen, which -had been woven more than 1700 years.” (_Voyage à Meroe et au Fleuve -Blanc._) - - [497] Blumenbach’s Beiträge, Th. 2. p. 74. - - [498] Pyramidographia. - - [499] P. 221 of the German translation; p. 198 of Silvestre de Lacy’s. - See App. A. - - [500] See his letter to Von Hammer in the Fundgruben des Orients, 1 St. - p. 72. as quoted by Blumenbach, l. c. - -IX. According to Josephus the Jewish priests wore drawers of spun -flax, and over the drawers a shirt. He calls a garment made of -Βύσσος a _linen_ garment. It had _flowers woven into it, which were -of three different substances_[501]. He soon after mentions the same -materials _as used for making the curtains of the tabernacle_. In all -these instances the figures or ornaments _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, Βύσσος must have -denoted a kind of flax. - - [501] 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, _but adorned with - flowers_, “Byssina, sed floridè depicta.” Apuleius, Met. l. xi. - -X. Jerome on Ezekiel xxvii. says, “Byssus grows principally in Egypt” -(_Byssus in Ægypto quàm maximè nascitur_). Of the celebrity of the -Egyptian flax we have the most abundant 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 in other countries, and of this fact he could scarcely -be ignorant. - -XI. Martianus Capella plainly distinguishes between that substance and -_Byssus_[502]. He seems to have considered cotton as an Indian, Byssus -as an Egyptian product. He certainly supposed, that they were not the -same thing. - - [502] Etym. L. Lat. v. Byssus. - -XII. Isidorus Hispalensis expressly states, that _Byssus_ was a kind of -flax, very white and soft. - - Byssus genus est quoddam lini nimium candidi et mollissimi, quod Græci - papatem vocant.--_Orig. l._ xix. 27. - - Byssina (vestis) candida, confecta ex quodam genere lini grossioris - Sunt et qui genus quoddam lini byssum esse existiment.--_Ibid. c._ 22. - -Forster conjectures (_p._ 4.) that for _genus quoddam lini_ we should -read _genus quoddam lanæ_, and conceives _tree_-wool (as 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 was a kind of flax -or something else. - -XIII. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, testifies to the great strength of the -threads of Byssus. - - Cloth made of Byssus indicates firm faith: - For threads of Byssus, it - is said, surpass - E’en ropes of broom in firmness and in strength[503]. - _Ad Cytherium in Max. Biblioth. Patrum_, _vol._ vi. _p._ 264. - - [503] See Part First, Chapters XII. and XIII. - -Vossius 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 Singularis de Bysso Antiquorum_, -Lon. 1776, _p._ 11. 50. - -I. His first argument is as follows. Julius Pollux says (_l._ -vii. _c._ 17.), that Βύσσος was “a kind of flax among the Indians.” -The Jewish rabbis indeed all explain the Hebrew שש (Shesh), which in -the Septuagint is always translated Βύσσος, as signifying _flax_. 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 λίνον 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 Journal, -vol i. p. 383. He also appeals to a passage of Philostratus (_Vita -Apollonii_, _l._ 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 testimony of -Julius Pollux, was furnished by Olaus Celsius in his Hierobotanicon, -published in 1747, a work which Forster had better have consulted, when -he was writing a treatise expressly 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 Βύσσος is a kind of flax, without adding that it grew -among the Indians[504]. 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. - - [504] Celsii Hierobot. vol. ii. p. 171. - -Forster is also exceedingly incorrect in his mode of reasoning upon -the passage of Pollux, supposing it to be accurate and genuine. He -argues, that Pollux must have meant cotton by “_a kind of flax among -the Indians_,” because real flax does not grow in India at all; “In -Indiâ verò linum non erat, nec quidem nostrâ ætate linum reperitur in -Indiâ, quod jam Osbeckius in Itinerario ostendit, p. 383. vol. i. edit. -Anglicæ.” 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 linen 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 whole 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 Βύσσος to denote cotton. Besides its proper and original sense, -this word was occasionally used, as λίνον, ὀθόνη, _Sindon_, _Carbasus_, -and many others were, in a looser and more general application. -But the use of the term in this manner by a single writer, or even, -if they could 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 Βύσσος properly meant -flax only. - -II. Forster produces a passage from the Eliaca of Pausanias[505] from -which he argues, that βύσσος was not flax, because Pausanias here -distinguishes it from flax as well as from hemp. - - [505] Paus. l. vi. cap. § 4. - -But we know, that all plants undergo great changes by cultivation and -in consequence of the varieties of soil and climate. What can be more -striking than the innumerable tulips derived from the original yellow -tulip of Turkey, or all the varieties of pinks and carnations from a -single species? To make all the descriptions of cloth from the coarsest -canvass or sail-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 λίνον to denote the common kind of flax, and βύσσος to -signify a finer variety[506]. In another passage, where he speaks of -the Elean Byssus, his language shows, that its peculiar 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 Hebrews, but was not equally yellow[507].” - - [506] Pausanias also distinguishes between λίνον and βύσσος in his - account of the clothing of a reputed statue of Neptune, l. 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. - - [507] 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. - -It may further be remarked in opposition to the idea, that βύσσος meant -cotton in these passages, that there is not the slightest ground for -supposing, that cotton was cultivated either in Elis or in any other -part of Europe so early as the time of Pausanias, nor indeed until a -comparatively recent age. - -III. Forster (_p._ 69-71.) considers the testimony of Herodotus, that -the embalmed bodies of the dead were wrapt in fillets of Byssus, as -decisive in favor of his opinion, because those fillets 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 -linen. - -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 arguments 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 especially since the same opinion was embraced by Blumenbach, have -generally been content to adopt it. But, although such eminent names -as those of Porson[508], Dr. Thomas Young[509], Mr. Hamilton[510], -Dr. T. M. Harris[511], Mr. Wellbeloved[512], E. H. Barker[513], -Dr. A. Granville[514], Jomard[515], Wehrs[516], J. H. Voss[517], -Heeren[518], Sprengel[519], Billerbeck[520], Gesenius[521], E. F. K. -Rosenmuller[522], and Roselini[523], stand arrayed against the evidence -now produced, i. e. to prove that βύσσος meant _flax_ and _not_ -cotton, as those authors have supposed. Yet their evidence may be -considered as going all for nothing, because they express not their own -opinion formed by independent inquiry and investigation, but merely the -opinion which they have adopted from Forster and Blumenbach. - - [508] In his translation of the Rosetta Inscription, Clarke’s Greek - Marbles, p. 63. - - [509] Account of Discoveries in Hieroglyphic Literature, p. 101. 114. - - [510] Ægyptiaca, p. 321. - - [511] Natural History of the Bible, 2nd edition, p. 447. - - [512] Translation of the Bible, Gen. xli. 42. - - [513] Classical Recreations. - - [514] As quoted at p. 364. - - [515] Description des Hypogées, p. 35. - - [516] Vom Papier, p. 201. - - [517] Virgil’s Ländliche Gedichte, iii. p. 313. - - [518] Ideen über die Politik, &c. - - [519] Historia Rei Herbariæ, tom. i. c. i. p. 15. - - [520] Flora Classica, p. 177. - - [521] Thesaurus Philologico-Criticus, v. נוצ. - - [522] Biblische Alterthumskunde, 4. l. p. 175. - - [523] Monumenti dell’ Egitto. Mon. Civili, tomo. i. Pisa, 1834, capo. - iv. § 6. - -There is, however, no reason to doubt, that Forster is right in -considering Βύσσος, or Byssus, as an Egyptian word with a Greek or -Latin termination. In the Septuagint version it is always used as -equivalent to the Hebrew שש (_Shesh_ or _Ses_), which according to -the Hebrew Rabbis was a kind of flax, that grew in Egypt only and was -of the finest quality[524]. Another term, used in the Pentateuch for -linen cloth is בד (_bad_), which seems to be nearly the same as שש. -The Egyptian term שש or בוץ (_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 שש and בד. - - [524] Forster De Bysso, p. 5. - -The distinction between Βύσσος and the Egyptian terms formerly -explained is very obvious. Φώσων, Ὀθόνη, and Σινδών denoted linen -cloth; Βύσσος the plant, from which it was made. Hence we so commonly -find the adjective form Βύσσινος or Byssinus, i. e. made of Byssus, as -in Σινδὼν βύσσινη, Ὀθόνη βύσσινη, Ὀθόνια βύσσινα, Στόλη βύσσινη, &c., -and this is agreeable to the remark of the Patriarch Photius in his -192nd Epistle, Φυτὸν δὲ ἡ βύσσος, “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 -Carthage[525]. Pollux (_l._ v. _cap._ 4. § 26.) says, 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 (_l._ xi. § 17. -_vol._ iv. _p._ 402. Tschuz.) testifies to the celebrity of Colchis for -the growth and manufacture of flax, and says, that the linen of this -country was exported to distant places. - - [525] De Venat. ii. 4. Gratius Faliscus, in his directions on the same - subject, recommends the flax from the rich moist plains about the - river Cinyps, not very far from Carthage. - - Optima Cinyphiæ, ne quid contere, paludes Lina - dabunt.--_Cynegeticon_, 34, 35. - - -It seems still to maintain its ancient pre-eminence: Larcher refers to -Chardin (_tom._ i. _p._ 115.), as saying, that the Prince of Mingrelia, -a part of the ancient Colchis, paid in his time an annual tribute of -linen 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 (_l._ 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 Hebrew 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 bundles_. The Chaldee -Paraphrast Onkelos also uses the expression מעוני כחנא, _bundles of flax_. -Agreeably to these explanations, the history must be understood as -implying, that the stalks of flax, tied into bundles, as represented in -the painting at El Kab[526], were stacked, probably crossways, upon the -flat roof of Ahab’s house, so as to allow the wind to blow through and -dry them. - - [526] See Plate VI. p. 358. - -Other passages, referring to the use of flax for weaving in 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 described in this -chapter, “seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.” -(See Part First, Chapter I. p. 13.). This proves, that flax was still -an important article of cultivation in Palestine. - -In 1 Chron. iv. 21. there is an allusion to a great establishment for -dressing the fine flax, called _Butz_, or _Byssus_. It was conducted by -certain families of the tribe of Judah[527]. - - [527] _Hebr._ משפחת בית־עבדת הבץ, i. e. “the families, or perhaps the - partnerships, of the manufactory of Byssus;” _Vulg._ “Cognationes - domus operantium byssum.” - -Jeremiah (xiii. 1.) mentions אזור פשתים, “_a linen girdle_;” Lumbare -lineum, _Vulgate_; περίζωμα λινοῦν LXX. זרז רכתן _Jonathan_; סוזרא -רכהנא (sudarium) _Syriac_. - -Hosea (ii. 5. 9.) mentions wool and flax as the two chief articles 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 -linen garments, including a turban and drawers of linen[528]. The use -of wool is here prohibited and linen prescribed for those who were to -be engaged in sacred services, on account of its superior cleanliness -and purity. They were not to “_gird themselves with anything that -causeth sweat_.” 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. - - [528] It is remarkable that the Chaldee Paraphrast Jonathan here uses - בוצ (byssus) for the Hebrew פשתיס. - -In the Old Testament we also find flax used _for making cords_, Judges -xv. xvi.; for the _wicks of lamps_, Is. xiii. 17.; and for a _measuring -line_, Ezek. xl. 3[529]. - - [529] 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. l. xix. c. 18. De instrumentis - ædificiorum. - -According to Herodotus vii. 25, 34, 36, the Phœnicians furnished Xerxes -with _ropes of flax_ for constructing his bridge, while the Egyptians -supplied ropes of Papyrus, which were inferior to the others in -strength. - -Whilst פשת, derived probably from פשט, to strip or peel, is used for -flax in every state, we find another term, נערת, used for tow. This -term therefore corresponds to _Stuppa_ in Latin[530]; Etoupe in French; -Στύπη, στυππίον or στιππίον in Greek; סרקהא, from סרק, to comb, in -Syriac; _Werg_ in modern German. - - [530] 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. Hæc secundum antiquam orthographiam - stuppa (stipa?) dicitur, quod ex eâ rimæ navium _stipentur_: unde - et stipatores dicuntur, qui in vallibus eam componunt.” Isid. Hisp. - Orig. xix. 27. - -Eccles. xl. 4. represents poor persons as clothed in coarse linen, -ὠμολίνον (Lino crudo, _Jerome_), meaning probably flax dressed and spun -without having been steeped[531]. - - [531] See Bodæusa Stapel on Theophrasti Hist. Plant. l. viii. p. 944. - -In Rev. xv. 6. the seven angels come out of the temple clothed “_in -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. _Luke_ xxiii. 53. xxiv. 12. -_John_ xix. 40. xx. 5, 6, 7.); and the case of the “sheet” let down in -vision from heaven (_Acts_ x. 11. xi. 5.), the sacred writers employ -the equivalent Egyptian terms, Σινδών, and Ὀθόνη or Ὀθόνιον. - -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 (_l. c._) observes, that the Greeks called the Colchian flax -Σαρδονικόν. The epithet must be understood as referring to Sardes, from -the vicinity of which city flax was obtained according to the testimony -of Julius Pollux (_l. 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 Lam. ii. 20, were, no doubt, made of the flax of this -country, although Forster (_De Bysso_, _p._ 92.), on account of the -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 -life, mentions shirts from _Laodicea_. Some commentators have supposed -linen shirts to be meant. - -According to Julius Pollux (vii. _c._ 16.) the Athenians and Ionians -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 Ionians, who -would adopt the practice in consequence of the cultivation of flax -in their own country as well 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 affirmed by Pliny (_l._ -xix. _c._ 4.), and by Pausanias in three passages already quoted. - -When Colonel Leake was at Gastūni near the mouth of the Peneus in -Elis, he made the following 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 separate 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[532]. - - [532] Journal of a Tour in the Morea, vol. i. p. 12. - -In one of the Pseudo-Platonic Epistles (No. xiii. _p._ 363.) mention -occurs of linen shifts for ladies, made in Sicily, which certainly -implies 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 for its fineness and softness[533]; but the raw -material was in all probability imported. - - [533] Diod. Sic. l. v. 12. tom. i. p. 339. ed. Wesseling. - -“Flax,” observes Professor Müller, “was grown and manufactured 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 Falerii[534].” This account agrees remarkably with the -views of Micali, and those historians who maintain the Egyptian origin -of the Etrurians. - - [534] Etrusker. vol. i. p. 235, 236. - -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 Cumæ in -Campania[535]. No flax, he says, was whiter or more like wool than that -of the Peligni. - - [535] Probably Cumæ is intended by Gratius Faliscus in the expression - “Æoliæ de valle Sibyillæ.”--_Cyneg._ 35. - -In the next chapter Pliny gives an account of the mode of preparing -flax; plucking it up by the roots, tying it into bundles, drying it in -the sun, steeping, drying again, beating it with a mallet on a stone, -and lastly hackling 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 Bartholomæus 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[536]. According to -Pliny (_l. c._) remarkably beautiful flax was produced 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 linen _sudaria_, or -handkerchiefs: - - Setabis et telas Arabum sprevisse superba - Et Pelusiaco filum componere lino. - _Silius Ital._ iii. 373. - - Nam sudaria Setaba ex Hiberis - Miserunt mihi muneri Fabullus - Et Veranius.--_Catullus_, xx. 14. - - Hispanæque alio spectantur Setabis usu. - _Gratius Faliscus_, l. 41. - - [536] Strabo, l. iii. cap. 4. vol. i. p. 428. ed. Siebenkees. - -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 this 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 beyond 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[537]. - - [537] Fœminæ sæpiùs lineis amictibus velantur.--_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, -Λίνον· Latin, Linum; Slavonian, Len; Lithuanian, Linnai; Lettish, -Linni; German, Lein; French, Suio; Gothic, and Anglo-Saxon, Lin; Welsh, -Llin. - -Jerome mentions the shirts of the Atrebates as one of the luxuries of -his day, 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 garments in question to -have been linen, it is remarkable that this manufacture should have -flourished in Artois for 1800 years[538]. - - [538] Erasmus makes the following remarks on the words “Atrebatum et - Laodiceæ:” - - “Apparet ex his regionibus candidissima ac subtilissima linea mitti - solere. Nunc hujus laudis principatus, si tamen ea laus, penes meos - Hollandos est. Quanquam et Atrebates in Belgis haud ita procul a - nobis absunt.” - - See also Mannert, Geogr. 2. l. p. 196. - -The following translation of a passage from Eginhart’s Life of -Charlemagne (c. 23.) shows, that during several succeeding centuries -the Franks wore linen for their under garments. - - Vestitu patrio, hoc est Francisco utebatur: ad corpus camiseam - lineam, et feminalibus lineis induebatur: deinde tunicam, quæ limbo - serico ambiebatur, et tibialia............Sago Veneto amictus. In - festivitatibus veste auro textâ, et calceamentis gemmatis, et fibulâ, - aureâ sagum astringente, diademate quoque ex auro et gemmis ornatus - incedebat. Aliis autem diebus habitus ejus parum a communi et plebeio - abhorrebat. - - Charles drest after the manner of his countrymen, the Franks. Next - to the skin 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[539]. - - [539] The trowsers worn by the Franks were sometimes linen, sometimes - made of skins.--Agathias ii. 5. - -The Veneti here mentioned were, no doubt, the people who lived in the -country near Vannes in Britany. We have formerly 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 -Eginhart[540], the Lombards and the Anglo-Saxons used principally linen -garments. - - [540] Ed. Schmincke, Trajecti 1711, p. 110. - -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 _table-covers_ and for _napkins_ to wipe -the hands, an application of them which was the more necessary on -account 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 following -anecdote of Archelaus. When a loquacious hair-dresser was throwing -the ὠμόλινον about him in order to shear him, he asked as usual, “How -shall I cut your majesty’s hair?” “_In silence_,” replied the king. -Alciphron tells of the barber putting on him a linen cloth (σινδών) in -order to shave him (_l._ iii. Ep. 66.); and Phaneas, in an Epigram, -calls the cloth used in shaving by the same name, Σινδών. 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 police-officers -(οἱ ἀστύνομοι) having charged him with wearing a linen 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 linen 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[541]. - - [541] See p. 321. - -The Emperor Alexander Severus, as we learn from the following passage -of his Life written by Ælius Lampridius, was a great admirer of good -linen, 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 purpurâ?’ In - lineâ autem aurum mitti, etiam dementiam judicabat, quum asperitati - adderetur rigor. - - He took great delight in good linen, and preferred it plain. “If,” - said he, “linen 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 Flavius -Vopiscus is remarkable as proving the value attached by the Romans of -that age to the linen imported from Egypt and Phœnice, especially to -the _transparent_ and _flowered_ varieties. - - Jam quid lineas petitas Ægypto loquar? Quid Tyro et Sidone tenuitate - perlucidas, micantes purpurâ, plumandi difficultate pernobiles? - - Why should I mention the linen cloths brought from Egypt, or - those imported from Tyre and Sidon, which are so thin as to be - _transparent_, which _glow with purple_, or are prized on account of - their _labored embroidery_? - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -HEMP[542]. - -CULTIVATION AND USES OF HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS--ITS USE -LIMITED--THRACE--COLCHIS--CARIA--ETYMOLOGY OF HEMP. - - [542] 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). - - -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’-hair[543]. - - [543] See Chap. IV. p. 299, 301. - -The only reason for introducing hemp in this enumeration is, that, -according to Herodotus (iv. 74.) _garments were made of it by the -Thracians_. “They were so like linen,” says he, “that none but a very -experienced person could tell whether they were of hemp or flax; one, -who had never seen hemp, would certainly suppose them to be linen.” The -coarser kinds of linen would, it is certain, be scarcely, if at all -distinguishable from the finer kinds of hempen cloth. - -Hesychius (_v._ Κάνναβις) quotes the preceding remark of Herodotus, -only saying that the Thracian _women_ made _sheets_ of hemp (ἱμάτια). -In substituting these expressions he puts upon the words of Herodotus -an explanation derived from his familiar 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 -horses, which drag the boats upon the Danube between Pest and Vienna, -_now wear coarse tunics of hemp_[544]. - - [544] Travels in Circassia, &c., by Edmund Spencer, 1837, vol. i. p. 13. - -Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi. 2. _p._ 474.), speaking of the Huns, who -lived beyond the Palus Mæotis, says, - - They cover themselves with tunics made of linen, or of the skins of - _wild mice_ sewed together. - -These _tunics_, though called “lintea,” may have been the hempen -garments, which, according to Herodotus, were scarce to be -distinguished from linen. - -The next writer, who mentions hemp after Herodotus, is Moschion, -rather more than 200 years B. C. He states[545], that the magnificent -ship Syracusia, built by the command of Hiero II., was provided with -hemp from the Rhone for making ropes. The common materials for such -purposes were _the Egyptian 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 Linnæus. - - [545] Apud Athenæum, l. v. p. 206. Casaub. - -Hemp, as well as flax, was grown abundantly in Colchis[546]. It was -brought to the ports of the Ægean 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 (_l._ xix. _c._ 9.) from Alabanda and Mylasa in that country. -Pliny also mentions a kind, which grew in the country of the Sabines, -and which was remarkable for its height. - - [546] Strabo, l. xi. § 17. vol. iv. p. 402, ed. Siebenkees. - -Automedon, who lived a little before Pliny, complains in an Epigram -of a bad dinner given him by one of his acquaintances, and compares -the tall stringy cabbages to hemp[547]. As this author was a native -of Cyzicus, he would probably have abundant opportunities of becoming -familiar with the plant. - - [547] Κανναβίνη. Brunck’s Analecta, ii. 209. - -In the time of Pausanias hemp was grown in Elis. See his _Eliaca_, _c._ -26. § 4. - -Dioscorides (_l._ iii. _c._ 141.) gives an account of hemp, in which he -distinguishes between the _cultivated_ and the _wild_. By _Wild Hemp_ -he means the Althœæ Cannabina, _Linn._[548]. 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.” - - [548] See Chap. XII. p. 194. - -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 connexion 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 tongues[549]. - - [549] Sanscrit, GONI, SANA, or SHANAPU; Persic, CANNA; Arabic, KANNEH, - or KINNUB; Greek, ΚΑΝΝΑΒΙΣ; Latin, CANNABIS; Italian, CANNAPA; - French, CHANVRE, or CHANBRE; Danish and Flamand, KAMP, or KENNEP; - Lettish and Lithuanian, 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 - uses 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 - important:-- - - 1. The considerable length of the fibres, which renders it - difficult, on the one hand, to form a fine, level, regular thread, - on the other, gives the yarn a considerably greater tenacity, so - that it cannot be broken by pulling out the threads from each - other, but by tearing them across. - - 2. The smooth and slim structure of the filaments, which gives to - linen its peculiar polished aspect, and feel so different from - cotton, and especially from woollen stuffs, 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 small 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 flax 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 undissevered filaments. Tow differs from - flax in having shorter fibres, of very unequal length, and more - or less entangled. Hemp agrees in its properties essentially with - flax, and must be similarly treated in the spinning processes. - - The manufacture of linen and hemp yarn, and the tow of either, may - be effected by different processes; by the distaff, the hand-wheel, - and spinning machinery. It will be unnecessary to occupy the pages - of this volume with a description 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 spinning 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 yarn, its cohesive - force, was greatly impaired; or these attempts were restricted to - the spinning of tow, which on account of its short and somewhat - tortuous fibres, could be treated like 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 perfection 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 heckling. - - 2. The conversion of the flax into a band of parallel rectilinear - filaments, which, forms the foundation of the future yarn. - - 3. The formation of a sliver from the riband, by drawing it out - into a narrower range of filaments. - - 4. The coarse spinning, by twisting the sliver into a coarse and - loose thread. - - 5. The fine spinning, by the simultaneous extension and twisting - of that coarse thread. - - All heckle machines have this common property, that the flax - is not drawn through them, as in working by hand, but, on the - contrary, 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 by - which the adhering tow is removed from them. The simplest and most - common construction is to place the heckles upon the surface of a - horizontal cylinder, while the flax is held either by mechanical - means or by the hand during its exposure 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 the 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 copied from the practice of housewives moistening their - yarn 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 this hot process goes on. Being a new expedient, it receives - daily changes and ameliorations. When first employed, the troughs - of hot water were quite open; they are now usually covered in, so - as almost 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 roving, whereby it - is carried through the water without imposing a necessity on the - spinner 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 yarn. - - This may be considered the inherent evil of flax-spinning,--the - spray thrown off by the wet yarn, as it whirls about with the flier - of the spindles. A working dress, indeed, is generally worn by the - spinners; but, unless it be made of stuff 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 kind of fixed - guard or _parapluie_. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -ASBESTOS. - - Uses of Asbestos--Carpasian flax--Still found in Cyprus--Used in - funerals--Asbestine-cloth--How manufactured--Asbestos used for fraud - and superstition by the Romish monks--Relic at Monte Casino--Further - impostures of the monks--Remarks thereon. - -Varro mentions the name _Asbestos_ as a proof, that the cloth so called -was a Greek invention[550]. His argument is obviously correct. The term -(ἄσβεστος) means _inextinguishable_, and was most properly applied to -the wicks of lamps, which were made of this substance and were never -consumed. - - [550] De Lingua Lat. L. v. p. 134. ed. Spengel. - -The fullest account of the properties and uses of Asbestos is contained -in the following passage from Sotacus, a Greek author who wrote on -Stones[551]. The passage occurs in the Historiæ Commentitiæ, attributed -to Apollonius 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 washed 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 Elmæum, as you go from Gerandros to - Soli.--_Yates’s Translation._ - - [551] Sotacus is several times quoted by Pliny (L. xxxvi., xxxvii.) as - a foreign writer on Stones. - -“At Carystus,” says Strabo, “under Mount Ocha in Eubœa is produced the -stone, which is combed and woven so as to make _napkins_ (χειρόμακτρα) -or _handkerchiefs_. When these have become dirty, instead of being -washed, they are thrown into a flame and thus purified[552].” - - [552] Lib. x. p. 19. ed. Sieb. - -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, like hairs, being discoverable in the -rock[553]. - - [553] De Oraculorum Defectu, p. 770. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1572. - -Mr. Hawkins ascertained, that the rock, which was quarried in Mount -Ocha, now called St. Elias, above Carystus, is the Cipolino of the -Roman antiquaries[554]. Further north in the same island Dr. Sibthorp -observed “rocks of _Serpentine_ in beds of saline marble, forming the -Verdantique of the ancients[555]:” and he states, that on the shore -to the north of Negropont “the rocks are composed of serpentine stone -with veins of asbestos and soapstone intermixed[556].” Tournefort -speaks of Amiantus as brought from Carysto in his time, but of inferior -quality[557]. - - [554] Travels in various Countries of the East, edited by Walpole, p. - 288. - - [555] Ibid. p. 37. - - [556] Ibid. p. 38.--N. B. Asbestos is always found in rocks of - Serpentine. - - [557] Voyage, English Translation, vol. i. p. 129. - -Pausanias (i. 26. 7.) says, the wick of the golden lamp which was kept -burning night and day in the temple of Minerva Polias 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 Cyprus, which retains -its ancient name, _Carpas_. - -Dioscorides (L. v. c. 93.) gives a similar account of the qualities and -uses of Amiantus, and says it was produced in Cyprus[558]. - - [558] See p. 392. - -Majolus says[559], that in the year 1566 he saw at Venice Podocattarus, -a knight of Cyprus, and a writer on the history of that island, who -exhibited at Venice cloth made of the asbestos of his country, which he -threw into the fire, and took it out uninjured and made quite clean. - - [559] Dier. Canicular. Part I. Collog. xx. p. 453. - -Referring to Cyprus, Sonnini (_Voyage en Grèce_, i. _p._ 66.) says, - - L’amiante, _asbestos_, ou lin incombustible des anciens, est encore - aussi abondant qu’il le fut autrefois; la carrière qui le fournit est - dans la montagne d’Akamantide, près du cap Chromachiti. - - Le talc est commun, surtout près de Larnaca, où on l’emploie à - blanchir les maisons; et le plàtre a de nombreuses carrières. - -The “talc” may be the same with the “Lapis specularis,” 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 Solæ 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 existing -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 entertainments, 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 relates, 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[560]. The nap of linen cloths, obtained chiefly - from the sails of ships, is of great use in surgery, and their ashes - have the same effect as spodium. There is a certain kind of poppy - the use of which imparts the highest degree of whiteness to linen - cloths.”--Pliny, Lib. xix. ch. 4. - - [560] i. e. eighteen grains of this flax were worth 2_s._ 10_d._ stg., - being equal in value to its weight in gold. - -Besides the manufacture of napkins, this description exactly agrees -with the accounts of Strabo, Sotacus, Dioscorides, and Plutarch. -Pliny’s account of the use of this material in funerals 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 Barberini gallery[561]. Another was found in 1702 a -mile without the gate called Porta Major in Rome. We have an account of -the discovery in a letter written 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 cloth, which was -about 5 feet wide, and 6½ 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 Constantine. 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 corner of it, and the very same part burnt repeatedly with - great rapidity and brightness without being at all injured[562]. - - [561] Keysler’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 292. London 1760. - - [562] Tour on the Continent, vol. ii. p. 201. - -Also in the Museo Barbonico at Naples there is a considerable piece of -asbestine cloth, found at Vasto in the Abruzzi, the ancient Histonium. - -Hierocles, the historian, as quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus, gives the -following account of the Asbestos of India:-- - - The Brachmans 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 Polo[563] mentions, that incombustible cloth was woven from a -fibrous stone found at Chenchen in the territory of the Great Khan. -It was pounded in a brass mortar; then washed to separate the earthy -particles; spun and woven into cloth; and cleansed, when dirty, by -being thrown into the fire. - - [563] Marsden’s Translation, p. 176. - -Bugnon, in his _Rélation Exacte concernant les Caravanes_ (_Nancy_, -1707, _p._ 37-39.) mentions, that Amiantus was found in Cyprus and on -the confines of Arabia. He says, _they spun it and made stockings, -socks, and drawers_, which fitted closely; 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 Cæsarea, shows that he was acquainted with the -properties of this substance, _by comparing the three children 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[564].” - - [564] Homilia de Jejunio, p. 111. - -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, -Tilingius, Mahudel, and Bruckmann on this particular subject. We are -informed, that it is softened and rendered supple by being steeped in -oil, and that _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 remains[565]. - - [565] Tournefort’s Travels, vol. i. p. 129. Bruckmann, Hist. Nat. - Lapidis. Brunswic. 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. - -Ignorance of the true nature of Asbestos caused it to be employed in -the dark ages for purposes of superstition and religious fraud. Of this -we have a proof in the following account which we find in the Chronicon -Casinense of Leo Ostiensis, L. ii. _c._ 33. - - His diebus Monachi quidam ab Jerusolymis venientes particulam lintei, - cum quo pedes discipulorum Salvator extersit, secum detulerunt, et - ob reverentiam sancti hujus loci devotissimè hic obtulerunt, sexto - scilicet Idus Decembris; sed, cum a plurimis super hoc nulla fides - adhiberetur, illi fide fidentes protinus prædictam particulam in - accensi turibuli igne desuper posuerunt, quæ mox quidem in ignis - colorem conversa, post paululùm vero, amotis carbonibus, ad pristinam - speciem mirabiliter est reversa. Cumque excogitarent qualiter, vel - quanam in parte pignora tanta locarent, contigit, dispositione - divinâ, ut eodem ipso die, transmissus sit in hunc locum loculus - ille mirificus, ubi nunc recondita est ipsa lintei sancti particula, - argento et auro gemmisque Anglico opere subtiliter ac pulcherrimè - decoratus. Ibi ergò christallo superposito venerabiliter satis est - collocata: morisque est singulis annis, ipso die Cœnæ Dominicæ ad - mandatum Fratrum eam a Mansionariis deferri et in medium poni, duoque - candelabra ante illam accendi et indesinenter per totum mandati - spatium ab Acolito incensari. Demum verò juxta finem mandati a - singulis per ordinem fratribus flexis genibus devotissimè adorari et - reverentèr 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 especially 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 -manufactured in Asia during the middle ages, and the reputed relic 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 _in its natural -state_ was often sold to devotees AS THE WOOD OF THE TRUE CROSS, and -its incombustibility 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 incombustibili_.” - - Antonius Musa Brassavolus Ferrariensis tradit, impostores lapidem - Amiantum simplicibus mulierculis ostendere vendereque sæpenumero pro - ligno crusis Servatoris nostri. Id quod facile credunt, cùm igne - non comburatur, quodque ligni modo plurimis constet lineis intercur - santibus.--_Miscellanea Curiosa Naturæ Curiosorum_, _Decuriæ_ ii. - _Ann._ ii. _p._ 111. _Norembergæ_, 1684. - -The monks on their arrival at Monte Casino would naturally display the -same evidence, by which they themselves had been convinced; 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 (_p._ 381. _English ed._ 8_vo._), -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 Casino, 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 -engraving 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 -with 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 written. “_Brother_ John of Marsicana” 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 Monastery, some of the brotherhood wished to choose John, -although he, foreseeing that the choice would be likely 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[566]. Seventeen -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 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 commencement of his history, calls himself “Frater Leo, cognomine -Marsicanus[567]”. 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 -veneration 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. - - [566] Dominum Johannem, cognomine Marsicanum, qui tunc Capuæ erat - præpositus, &c.--_Leonis Ostientis Chronicon Casinense_, L. ii. - _c._ 92. - - [567] Marsicana (civitas) was in Marsica, the territory of the ancient - Marsi. - -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 Library[568]. 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 Istorica del Monastero di Monte -Casino, Napoli, 1775.” - - [568] Excursions in the Abruzzi, by the Hon. Keppel Craven, vol. i. p. -54. - -A large glove of this substance is in the Hunterian Museum at -Glasgow. An English traveller states that he has lately seen at Parma -a _table-cloth_, made of Amiantus from Corsica, for the use of the -ex-Empress Maria Louisa, who resided there after the fall of Napoleon. - -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. - -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 commencement 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. - - -[Illustration: _Plate VII_ - -_SERICA_ - -_MAP showing the Divisions of the ANCIENT WORLD -according to the Raw Materials principally produced in them for -Weaving._] - - - - -APPENDICES. - - - - -APPENDIX A. - -ON PLINY’S NATURAL HISTORY. - - - Sheep and wool--Price of wool in Pliny’s time--Varieties of wool - and where produced--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--Figured 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 - Colchians--Manner of transacting business. - - -LIB. VIII. c. 47s. 72. 50s. 76.[569] - - [569] The edition here followed is that of Sillig, Lipsiæ, 1831-6, 5 - vols., 12mo. - -“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.... There are two principal kinds of sheep, the _covered_ -and the _common_. The former is softer, the latter 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 wool of Greek sheep_ in Italy, and _the Italic wool_ 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 pænulas. 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 -$3,60.). Sheep are not shorn everywhere: in certain places the practice -of pulling off the wool continues. There are various colors of wool, -so that we want terms to denote all. Spain produces some of those -varieties which we call _native_; Pollentia, near the Alps, furnishes -the chief kinds of black wool; Asia and Bætica those ruddy varieties -called _Erythrean_; Canusium a sandy-colored[570] wool; and Tarentum -one of a dark shade peculiar to that locality. New-shorn greasy wools -have all a medicinal virtue. The wool of Istria and Liburnia being -more like hair than wool, is unsuitable for making the cloths which -have a _long_ nap. This is also the case with the wool of Salacia in -Lusitania; but the cloth made from it is recommended by its _plaided -pattern_. A similar kind is produced about Piscenæ (i. e. _Pezenas_), -in the province of Narbonne, and likewise in Egypt, the woollen cloth -of which country, having been worn by use, is _embroidered_ and lasts -some time longer. The _coarse wool with a thick staple was used in -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 together by themselves_[571]. 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 invention -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 _gausapa_ 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 coverings for the stomach, called -_ventralia_. For the tunic with the laticlave is now first beginning -to be woven after the manner of the _gausapa_. 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 Cæcilia, in the temple of -Sangus; and that there remained in the temple of Fortune 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 originally one of the most admired; from it was -derived the _soriculate_[572]. Fenestrella writes, that _scraped_ and -_Phryxian_ togas came into favor about the end of the reign of the -Divine Augustus. The _thick poppied_ togas are of remoter origin, being -noticed even so far back as by the poet Lucilius in his Torquatus. -The _toga prætexta_ was invented among the Etruscans. I find evidence -that kings wore the _striped toga_[573], 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 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 cloths), was first taught in -Alexandria; 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 _prætexta_ of Servius -Tullius, 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 murex, 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 _apicæ_, 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 are 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 Æthiopia 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.” - - [570] This term is adopted as the best translation of the Latin - _fulvus_, which, as well as the corresponding Greek adjective - ξανθὸς, 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_. - - [571] See Appendix C. - - [572] 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_. _Soriculata_ may have been - changed into _sororiculata_ by repeating or at the beginning of the - word. - - [573] The toga worn by the kings and other supreme magistrates among - the Romans was called _trabea_ from the stripes, which were - compared to the joists or rafters of a building (_trabes_). - - -LIB. VI. c. 5. - -“The remaining shores are occupied by savage nations, as the -Melanchlæni 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 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.” - - - - -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--Schönemann - 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 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 linen 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 linen paper; and, as the invention must have been at least -a little previous to the preparation of this document, he fixes upon -1300 as its probable date[574]. Various writers on the subject, as Von -Murr, Breitkopf, Schönemann, &c., concur in this opinion. - - [574] Vom Papier, p. 309, 343. - -Gotthelf Fischer, in his Essay on Paper-marks[575], cites an 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, firm, and well grained; and its water-lines and -water-marks (_vergures et pontuseaux_) may readily be distinguished. - - [575] This Essay, translated into French, is published by Jansen, in - his Essai sur l’origine de la gravure en bois et en taille-douce, - Paris 1808, tome i. p. 357-385. - -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 Göss 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, -“_Chartam linteam antiquissimam, omnia hactenus producta specimina -ætate suâ superantem, ex cimelüs Bibliothecæ Augustæ Vindobonensis -exponit Jo. Ge. Schwandner_,” &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 Göss respecting the -property of the latter in Carinthia. Schwandner proves the date of it -to be 1243. He does not say whether it has any lines or water-mark, -but is quite satisfied from its flexibility and other qualities, that -it is linen. 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 evidence, that it is -not noticed at all by Schönemann, Ebert, Delandine, or by Horne. Due -attention is, however, bestowed upon it by August Friedrich Pfeiffer -_Uber Bücher-Handschriften, Erlangen_ 1810, _p._ 39, 40. - -With regard to the circumstances which led to the invention of the -paper _now in common use_, or the country in which it took place, -we find in 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 linen and partly cotton, -and that this led by degrees to the manufacture of paper from linen -only[576]. Wehrs also endeavors to claim the honor of the invention -for Germany, his own country; but Schönemann gives that distinction -to Italy, because there, in the district of Ancona, a considerable -manufacture of cotton paper was carried on before the fourteenth -century[577]. All however admit, that they have no satisfactory -evidence on the subject. - - [576] Vom Papier, p. 183. - - [577] Diplomatik, vol. i. p. 494. - -A clear light is thrown upon these questions by a remark of the Arabian -physician, Abdollatiph, who visited Egypt A. D. 1200. He informs -us[578], “_that the cloth 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_.” Having shown (See Part IV. Chapter I.) that -this cloth was linen, the passage of Abdollatiph, therefore, may be -considered as a decisive proof, which, however, has never been produced -as such, of the manufacture of linen paper as early as the year 1200. - - [578] 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 Edward Pococke, the younger:--“Et qui - ex Arabibus, incolisve Rifæ, aliisve, has arcas indagant, hæc - integumenta diripiunt, quodque in iis rapiendum invenitur; et - conficiunt sibi vestes, aut ea chartarüs vendunt ad conficiendam - chartam emporeaticam.” - - 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. - -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 (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 -use of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being employed 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[579]. -We may therefore consider it as in the highest degree probable, that -the mode of making cotton paper was known to the paper-makers of Egypt. -At the same time endless quantities of linen cloth, the best of all -materials for the manufacture of paper, were to be obtained from the -catacombs. - - [579] _Wehrs vom Papier_, p. 131, 144, _Note_. _Breitkopf, p._ 81. - -If we put together these circumstances, we cannot but perceive how -they conspire to illustrate and justify the statement of Abdollatiph. -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 intelligence, supported as it is by collateral -probabilities, 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 connection with it -the following passage from Petrus Cluniacensis:-- - - [Latin 444]Sed cojusmodi librum? Si talem quales quotidie in usu - legendi habemus, utique ex pellibus arietum, hircorum, vel vitulorum, - sive ex biblis, vel juncis orientalium paludum, aut ex rasuris veterum - pannorum, seu ex qualibet alia forte viliore materia compactos, - et pennis avium vel calamis palustrium locorum, qualibet tinctura - infectis descriptos.--_Tractatus adv. Judæos_, c. v. _in Max. Bibl. - vet. Patrum, tom._ xxii. p. 1014. - -All the writers upon this subject, except Trombelli, suppose the -Abbot of Clugny to allude in the phrase “ex rasuris veterum pannorum” -to the use of woollen and cotton cloth only, and not of linen. But, -as we are now authorized to carry up the invention of linen paper -higher than before, and as the mention of it by Abdollatiph 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 -Cluniacensis alluded 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 full and accurate. The expression -“_scrapings of old cloths_” agrees exactly with the mode of making -paper from linen rags, but is not in accordance with any facts known to -us respecting the 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 him to have been sufficiently acquainted with the -manners and productions of Egypt to introduce any allusion 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[580]. - - [580] Gibbon says (vol. v. p. 295, 4to edition), “The inestimable art - of transforming linen into paper has been diffused from the - manufacture of _Samarcand_ over the Western world.” This assertion - appears to be entirely destitute of foundation. - -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. 787, containing an Arabic -version of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, in Casiri’s _Bibliotheca -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 Catalogues 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 Chrysostom, written in all probability -not later than the thirteenth century. It is on linen paper, with the -water-lines perfectly distinct in both directions. The water-mark is a -tower, the size and form of which are shown in Plate IX. Fig. 18. From -the appearance 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 metallic. They were placed so close, -that of the water-lines produced 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 quarter apart. - -The preceding facts coincide with the opinion long ago expressed 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[581]. - - [581] Old and New Testament connected, Part I. chapter 7. p. 393, 3rd - edition, folio. - -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 paper-maker_, and a most perfect and intelligent 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 how to reduce vegetable fibres to a pulp, and then -unite 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 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 -manufacturers 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_l._ 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 line, 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 -something from their perfect knowledge of what is within their 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 known how 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. - -Réaumur has given a very interesting account of the wasps of Cayenne -(_Chartergus nidulans_), which hang their nests in trees[582]. 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 abode is so smooth, so strong, so uniform in its -texture, and so white that the most skilful manufacturer of this -substance might be proud of the work. It takes ink admirably! - - [582] Mémoires sur les Insectes, tom. vi., mem. vii. See also Bonnet, - vol. ix. - -The nest of the pasteboard-making wasp 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 platforms stretch -internally across, like so many floors, and fixed all round to the -walls of the nest. They are smooth above, with hexagonal cells on the -under surface. These platforms are not quite flat, but rather concave -above, like a watch-glass reversed; the centre of each platform is -perforated for the admission of the wasps, at the extremity of a short -funnel-like projection, and through this access is gained from story to -story. On each platform, therefore, can the wasps walk leisurely about, -attending to the pupæ 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 rule 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 _Myraptera 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 -vegetable 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 lime be used, there must 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[583]. - - [583] Mr. Edmund Shaw, of Fenchurch Street, London, obtained a - patent in England bearing date September 14, 1837, for a method - of manufacturing paper from the leaves which cover the ears of - Indian-corn. - - According to this patent the envelopes or leaves which 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 interposed 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 substance. - - 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 making - white paper by the application of bleached pulp, produced from the - stalks or leaves of Indian-corn. - - - - -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--Petasus--Statue of Endymion--Petasus in works of ancient - art--Hats of Thessaly and Macedonia--Laconian or Arcadian hats--The - Greeks manufacture Felt 900 B. C.--Mercury with the pileus and - petasus--Miscellaneous uses of Felt. - - -There seems no reason to question the correctness of Professor -Beckmann’s observation[584], that the making of felt was invented -_before_ weaving[585]. 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[586], and to whose simple and uniform 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. Carpini, 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 passage of -smoke, _the whole being covered with felt, of which likewise the doors -are made_[587].” Very recently the same account of these “portable -tents of felt” has been given by Julius von Klaproth[588]. Kupffer says -of the Caratchai, “Leurs larges manteaux de feutre leur servent en même -tems de matelas et de couverture[589].” The -large mantle of felt, here mentioned, is used for the same purpose in -the neighboring country of Circassia[590]. One of these mantles now in -the possession of Mr. Urquhart was made of black goats’-hair, and had -on the outside a long shaggy villus. The 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 Leake[591]: -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 like those of the Chinese, except that they -made use of felt and stuffs (_du feutre et des étoffes_[592]). - - [584] _Anleitung zur Technologie_, p. 117, _Note_. - - [585] See Gilroy’s Treatise on the _Art of Weaving_, p. 14. - - [586] Malcolm’s _Hist. of Persia_, ch. vi. vol. i. pp. 123, 124. - - [587] 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 - Argippæi evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modern - Tartars. He says, “They live under trees, covering the tree in - winter with strong and thick undyed felt (πίλῳ στεγνῷ λευκῷ), and - removing the felt in summer.” Among the ceremonies 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.) - there is an evident allusion to the practice of living under tents - made of felt (ὑποδύνουσι ὑπὸ τοὺς πίλους). - - [588] _Reise in dem Kaucasus und nach Georgien_, ch. vi. p. 161. - - [589] _Voyage dans les Environs du Mont Elbrouz._ St. Petersburg, 1829, - 4to, p. 20. - - [590] _Travels in Circassia_, by Edmund Spencer. - - [591] _Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor_, p. 38. - - [592] Ch. ii. p. 7, of Rémusat’s Translation, Par. 1836, 4to. - -[Illustration: PLATE VIII.] - -In conformity with the prevailing use of this manufacture in the -colder regions of Asia, scarlet or purple felt (such as that lately -_re-invented_ at Leeds, in England), was used by the Babylonish -decorators for the drapery of the funeral pile, when Alexander -celebrated the splendid obsequies of Hephæstion: for so we must -understand the expression φοινικίδες πιληταί (Diod. Sic. xvii. 115. p. -251, Wess.). Xenophon (_Cycrop._ 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 (Athenæus, 1. xii. p. 540 _c._ -Casaub.). - -The process, by which wool is converted into felt, was called by the -Greeks πίλησις (Plato _de Leg._ 1. viii. p. 115. ed. Bekker), literally -a compression, from πιλέω, to compress[593]. The ancient Greek scholion -on the passage of Plato here referred to thus explains the term: -Πιλήσεως· τῆς διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐρίων πυκνώσεως γινομένης ἐσθῆτος, _i. e._ -“cloth made by the thickening of wool.” With this definition of felt -agrees the following description of a πέτασος in a Greek epigram, which -records the dedication of it to Mercury:-- - - Σοὶ τὸν πιληθέντα δι’ εὐξάντου τριχὸς ἀμνοῦ, - Ἑρμᾶ, Καλλιτέλης ἐκρέμασε πέτασον. - - Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 41. - - [593] Xenophanes thought that _the moon_ was _a compressed cloud_ - (νέφος πεπιλημένον, Stobæi _Eclog._ i. 27. p. 550, ed. Heeren); _and - that the air was emitted from the earth by its compression_ - (πίλησις, i. 23. p. 484). - -The art of felting was called ἡ πιλητικὴ, (Plato, _Polit._ ii. 2. p. -296, ed. Bekker). According to the ancient Greek and Latin glossaries, -and to Julius Pollux (vii. 30), a felt-maker, or hatter, was πιλοποιὸς -or πιλωτοποιὸς, in Latin _coactiliarius_. From πῖλος (_dim._ πίλιον, -_second dim._ πιλίδιον), the proper term for _felt_ in general, derived -from the root of πιλέω, came the verb πιλόω, signifying _to felt_, -or _to make felt_, and from this latter verb was formed the ancient -participle πιλωτὸς, _felted_, which again gave origin to πιλωτοποιός. - -It may be observed, that our English word _felt_ is evidently a -participle or a derivative, and that its verb or root FEL -appears to be the same with the root of πιλέω. - -The Latin _cogo_, which was used, like the Greek πιλέω, to denote the -act of compressing, or forcing the separate hairs together, gave origin -to the participle _coactus_, and its derivative _coactilis_. Pliny (H. -N. viii. 48. s. 73.), after speaking of woven stuffs, mentions in the -following terms the use of wool for making felt: “Lanæ et per se coactæ -(_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 woollen felt:_-- - -M. BALLORIUS M. L. LARISEUS, LANARIUS COACTILIARIUS, CONJUGA -CARISSIMÆ B. M. FEC. - -Helvius Successus, the son of a freed man, and the father of the Roman -emperor Pertinax, was a hatter in Liguria (_tabernam coactiliariam in -Liguria exercuerat_, Jul. Cap. _Pertinax_, c. 3.). Pertinax himself, -being fond of money, having 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 conveying his goods to a distance by the agency of -slaves. The Romans originally received the use of felt together with -its name[594] from the Greeks (Plutarch, _Numa_, p. 117, ed. Steph.). -The Greeks were acquainted with it as early as the age of Homer, who -lived about 900 B. C. (_Il._ x. 265), and Hesiod (_Op. et Dies_, 542, -546). - - [594] _Pileus_ or _Pileum_ (Non. Marc. iii., _pilea virorum sunt_, - Servius _in Virg. Æn._ ix. 616.), dim. _Pileolus_ or _Pileolum_ - (Colum. _de Arbor._ 25). - -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 shown in Plate VIII. -fig. 1. taken from a sepulchral bas-relief which was found by Mr. -Dodwell in Bœotia[595]. The original is as large as life. The person -represented appears to have been a Cynic philosopher. He leans upon -the staff (_baculus_, βάκτρον, σκῆπτρον); he is clothed in the blanket -(_pallium_, χλαῖνα, τρίβων) with one end, which is covered, over his -left breast, and another hanging behind over his left shoulder; he -wears the beard (_barba_, πώγων); his head is protected by the simple -skull-cap (_pileus_, πῖλος). All these were distinct characteristics of -the philosopher, and more especially of the Cynic[596]. The dog also -probably marked his sect. Leonidas of Tarentum, in his enumeration -of the goods belonging to the Cynic Posochares[597], including a -dog-collar (κυνοῦχον), mentions, καὶ πῖλον κεφαλᾶς οὔχ ὁσίας σκεπανὸν, -_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 was the _fess_ of the modern Greeks, was worn by -philosophers, and therefore throws light on a passage of Antiphanes -(_ap. Athen._ xii. 63. p. 545 a) describing a philosopher of a -different character, who was very elegantly dressed, having a small cap -of fine felt (πιλίδιον ἁπαλὸν), also a small white blanket, a beautiful -tunic, and a neat stick. When Cleanthes advanced the doctrine, _that -the moon had the shape of a skull-cap_ (πιλοειδῆ τῷ σχήματι, Stobæi -_Ecl. Phys._ 1. 27. p. 554, ed. Heeren), he probably intended to -account for its phases from its supposed hemispherical 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 fishermen[598]. In an -epigram of Philippus[599], describing the apparatus of a fisherman, the -author mentions πῖλον ἀμφίκρηνον ὑδασιστεγῆ, “the cap encompassing his -head and protecting it from wet.” Figure 2. in Plate VIII. 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 Dies_, 545-547). The use of this cap -by seamen was no doubt the ground, on which the painter Nicomachus -represented Ulysses wearing one. “Hic primus,” says Pliny (H. N. xxxv. -36. s. 22.), “Ulyssi addidit pileum[600].” For the same reason the cap -is an attribute of the Dioscuri; and hence two caps with stars above -them are often shown on the coins of maritime cities and of others -where 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 ΔΙΟΣΚΟΥΡΙΑΔΟΣ. Figure 4. -represents both sides of a silver coin in the same collection, with -the legend ΒΡΕΤΤΙΩΝ. 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 (ΑΜΑΣΣΕΙΑΣ) in -Pontus. It shows the cornucopia between the two skull-caps. Charon also -was represented with the mariner’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 _Grüber der Hellenen_, t. 47, 48, -which is copied in Becker s _Charicles_, vol. ii. taf. i. fig. 1, and -in Smith’s _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_, p. 404. - - [595] _Tour through Greece_, vol. i. pp. 242, 243. - - [596] See the articles _Baculus_, _Barba_, _Pallium_, p. 703, in - Smith’s _Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities_. - - [597] Brunck, _Anal._ i. p. 223. Nos. x. xi. - - [598] Theocrit. xxi. 13. - - [599] Brunck, _Anal._ ii. p. 212. No. v. - - [600] Compare Eustathius _in Hom. Il._ x. 265, as quoted below. - -A pileus of the same general form was worn by artificers; and on -this account it was attributed to Vulcan and to Dædalus, who, as well -as Ulysses and Charon, are commonly found wearing it in works of -ancient art. Arnobius says, that Vulcan was represented “cum pileo -et malleo”--“fabrili expeditione succinctus;” and that on the other -hand Mercury was represented with the petasus, or “petasunculus,” on -his head.[601] This observation is confirmed by numerous figures of -these two divinities, if we suppose the term _petasus_, which will be -more fully illustrated hereafter, to have meant a hat with a brim, and -_pileus_ to have denoted properly a fessor cap without a brim. - - [601] _Adv. Gentes_, lib. vi. p. 674, ed. Erasmi. When Lucian - ludicrously represents Jupiter wearing a skull-cap, which we may - suppose to have been like that of the philosopher in Plate VIII. - figure 1. he must have intended to describe the “Father of gods and - men” as a weak old man; Διεῖλε τὴν κεφαλὴν κατενεγκών· καὶ εἴ γε μὴ - ὁ πῖλος ἀντέσχε, καὶ τὸ πολὺ τῆς πληγῆς ἀπεδέξατο, &c. _Dial. - Deor._, vol. ii. p. 314. ed. Hemster. - -Fig. 6. Plate VIII. is taken from a small bronze statue of Vulcan in -the Royal Collection at Berlin. He wears the _exomis_, 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-Clementino_, 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[602]. Figure 8. -is the head of Dædalus from a bas-relief, formerly belonging to the -Villa Borghese, and representing the story of the wooden cow, which -he made for Pasiphae[603]. 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 -published by the Society of Dilettanti,” vol. i. pl. 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 countenance -decide the question; but also the small bronze of Mr. Knight’s -collection agrees in attitude and costume with many small statues of -Vulcan, who is represented in all of them wearing the exomis, holding -the hammer and tongs, and having the felt cap on his head[604]. Fig. -11. is another representation of Ulysses from an ancient lamp[605]. -It exhibits him tied to the mast, while he listens to the song of the -Sirens. The cap in this figure is much more elongated than in the -others. - - [602] Montfaucon, _Ant. Expl._ t. i. pl. 46. No. 4. - - [603] Winckelmann, _Mon. Ined._ ii. 93. The skull-cap, here represented - as worn by Dædalus, is remarkably like that which is still worn by - shepherd boys in Asia Minor. Fig. 12, in Plate VIII. is copied from - an original drawing of such a Grecian youth, procured by Mr. 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 - Scythia, and the extensive use of its products among them so as to - be employed even for their habitations, perhaps we shall be right - in considering felting as the appropriate invention of this people. - - [604] Montfaucon, _Ant. Expl._ vol. i. pl. 46. figs. 1. 2. 3; _Mus. - Florent. Gemmæ Ant. a Gorio illustratæ_, tom. ii. tab. 40. fig. 3. - - [605] Bartoli, _Lucerne Antiche_, P. III. tab. 11. There is a beautiful - figure of Ulysses in _Picturæ Antiquæ Virgiliani cod. Bibl. 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 _Dict._ p. 762. - -The felt cap was worn not only by _desultores_, but by others of the -Romans upon a journey, in sickness, or in cases of unusual exposure. -Hence Martial says in _Epig._ xiv. 132, entitled “Pileus,” - - Si possem, totas cuperem misisse lacernas: - Nunc tantum capiti munera 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 pileo vel galero_, Sueton. _Nero_, 26), and the _cucullus_ -and _cudo_ for both rich and poor. On returning home from a party, -a person sometimes carried his cap and slippers under his arm (Hor. -_Epist._ l. xiii. 15). - -The hats worn by the Salii[606] are said by Dionysius of -Halicarnassus to have been “tall hats of a conical form[607].” Plutarch -distinctly represents them as made of felt. He says (_l. c._), that -the _flamines_ were so called _quasi pilamines_, 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 pileus 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 the Lagidæ, 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[608]. Telephus, king of Mysia, is represented as wearing a -“Mysian cap[609].” This “Mysian cap” must have been the same which is -known by the moderns under the name of _the Phrygian bonnet_, and with -which we are familiar from the constant repetition of it in statues -and paintings of Priam, Paris, Ganymede[610], Atys, Perseus, and -Mithras, and in short in all the representations not only of Trojans -and Phrygians, but of Amazons and of all the inhabitants of Asia Minor, -and even of nations dwelling still further to the East. Also, when -we examine the works of ancient art which contain representations 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 intended 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 forwards. -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 πῖλος and πιλίδιον 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 for the handkerchief, and sometimes for the -purse. Others wear the red skull-cap, or _fess_.” The Lycians, as we -are informed 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[611]. - - [606] Smith’s _Dict. of Gr. and R. Antiquities_, art. Apex. - - [607] _Ant. Rom._ L. ii. - - [608] Bartoli, _Luc. Ant._ P. I. tab. 35. - - [609] Aristoph. _Acham._ 429. - - [610] Stuart, in his _Antiquities of Athens_, vol. iii. ch. 9. plates - 8, 9, has engraved two beautiful statues of Telephus and Ganymede - from a ruined colonnade at Thessalonica. In these the cap is very - little pointed. - - [611] Fellows’s _Discoveries in Lycia_, Plate 35. Nos. 3, 7. The - “Phrygian bonnet” is seen in the bas-reliefs brought from Xanthus - by this intelligent traveller, and now deposited in the British - Museum. - -The cap worn by the Persians is called by Greek authors κυρβασία or -τιάρα[612], and seems to have had the form now under consideration. -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 that the Cissii wore -a mitra instead (vii. 61, 62, 64). On the other hand he says, that the -Sacæ wore _cyrbasiæ_, which were sharp-pointed, straight, and compact. -The Armenians were also called “weavers of felt” (Brunck, _Anal._ ii. -p. 146. No. 22). The form of their caps is clearly shown in the coins -of the Emperor Verus, one of which, preserved in the British Museum, -is engraved in Plate VIII. fig. 14. The legend, surrounding his head, -L. VERVS. AVG. ARMENIACVS, refers to the war in Armenia. The reverse -shows a female 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 Persian cap “felt in the shape of a tower” (L. -xv. p. 231). The king of Persia was distinguished by wearing a stiff -cyrbasia, which stood erect, whereas his subjects wore their tiaras -folded and bent forwards.[613] 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 cap[614].” - - [612] Herod, v. 49. According to Mœris, _v._ - Κυρβασία, this was the Attic term, τιάρα meaning the same thing in - the common Greek. Plutarch applies the latter term to the cap worn - by the younger Cyrus: Ἀποπίπτει δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἡ τιάρα τοῦ Κύρου. - --_Artaxerxes_, p. 1858. ed. Steph. - -The “Phrygian bonnet” is called _Phrygia tiara_ in the following lines -of an epitaph (_ap. Gruter._ p. 1123): - - Indueris teretes manicas Phrygiamque tiaram? - Non unus Cybeles pectore vivet Atys. - - [613] Xenoph. _Anab._ ii. 5. 23; _Cyrop._ viii. 3, 13. Clitarchus, _ap. - Schol. in Aristoph. Aves_, 487. - - [614] Πῖλον ὀρθόν. Hesychius, _s. v._ Σκιαγραφαί. - -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 Lunus -or Mensis, who was the moon considered 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 -cyrbasia[615]. In another coin published by Patin (_l. 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 divinity. A -lamp found on the Celian Mount at Rome[616] represents 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, published by Hirt (_l. c._) from an antique gem at -Naples, has 7 stars upon the cap, perhaps referring to the 7 planets. - - [615] Hirt’s _Bilderbuch_, p. 88. tab. xi. figs. 8, 9. - - [616] Bartoli, _Luc. Ant._, P. II. tav. 11. - -Instead of the conical cap of the Asiatics many of the Northern -nations of Europe appear to have worn a felt cap, the form of which -was that of a truncated cone. Of this a good example is shown in the -group of Sarmatians, represented in the wood-cut in Smith s _Dictionary -of Greek and Roman Antiquities_ (p. 160), 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 Dacia sitting -as a captive with her hands tied behind her back, wearing trowsers -(_braccæ_) and a conical or oval cap with the edge turned up. Figure -17. represents Dacia 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 (πῖλον) -from home, but did not like being seen alone in a strange habit. In -later times we read of the “pileati Gothi” and “pileati sacerdotes -Gothorum[617].” - - [617] Jornandes, &c., _ap. Div. Gentium Hist. Ant._, Hamb. 1611, pp. - 86, 93. - -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[618]. When a slave obtained his freedom he had his head -shaven, and wore instead of his hair the pileus, or cap of undyed felt, -(Diod. Sic. Exc. Leg. 22. p. 625, ed. Wess.). Plutarch, in allusion to -the same custom, calls the cap πιλίον, which is the diminutive of πῖλος. -It is evident, that the Latin _pileus_ or _pileum_ is derived from the -Greek πῖλος and its diminutive, and this circumstance in conjunction -with other evidence tends to show, that the Latins adopted this use of -felt from the Greeks. Sosia says in Plautus (_Amphit._ i. l, 306), as a -description of the mode of receiving his liberty, “Ut ego hodie, raso -capite calvus, capiam pileum.” Servius (_in Virg. Æn._ viii. 564) says, -the act of manumitting slaves in this form was done in the temple of -Feronia, who was the goddess of freedmen. In her temple at Terracina -was a stone seat, on which was engraved the following verse: - - “Benemeriti servi sedeant, surgent liberi.” - - [618] Hæc mea libertas; hoc nobis pilea donant.--Persius, v. 82. - -In allusion to this practice it appears that the Romans, though they -did not commonly wear hats, put them on at the Saturnalia.[619] At -the death of Nero, the common people to express their joy went about -the city in felt caps.[620] In allusion to this custom 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. - - [619] Pileata Roma. _Martial_, xi. 7; xiv. 1. - - [620] Plebs pileata. _Sueton. Nero_, 57. - -In contradistinction to the various forms of the felt cap now -described and represented, all of which were more or less elevated, -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 _pileus_, πῖλος, &c.,[621] corresponded more nearly -to our modern _hat_. The Greek word πέτασος, _dim._ πετάσιον, derived -from πετάννυμι, _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 already -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 encircles his -head, and his scarf is spread over a rock as described by Lucian[622]. -He sleeps upon it, holding the fibula in his left hand. His feet are -adorned with boots (_cothumi_) and his simple petasus is tied under his -chin. In this form the petasus illustrates the remark of Theophrastus, -who, in describing the Egyptian Bean, says, that the leaf was of the -size of the Thessalian petasus[623]. For the purpose of comparing -these two objects, a representation of the leaves of the plant referred -to, is introduced 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, certainly resembles very -closely both in size and in form the leaf of the Egyptian Bean, which -is the Cyamus Nelumbo, or Nelumbium Speciosum of modern botanists. - - [621] Plutarch (_Solon_, 179) says that Solon, pretending - to be mad and acting the part of a herald from Salamis, ἐξεπήδησεν - εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἄφνω πιλίον περιθέμενος. Here πιλίον seems to mean - the πέτασος. - - [622] In the Dialogues of the Gods (xi.), the Moon says in answer to - Venus, that Endymion 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 (Dallaway’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 sufficient to say that every beautiful youth may have been - meant either for Mercury, who was never represented asleep, or - for Adonis. We know that the fable of Endymion and the Moon was - a favorite subject with the ancient artists. In the _Antichita - d’Ercolano_, tom. iii. tav. 3, we find a picture, which was - discovered at Portica, and which represents this subject. It is - still more frequent in ancient bas-reliefs. See _Mus. Pio-Clem._ - tom. iv. v. 8, pp. 38, 41; Sandrart, _Sculp. Vet. Adm._ p. - 52; Gronovii _Thesaur._ tom. i. folio O; _Proceedings of the - Philological Society_, vol. i. pp. 8, 9. - - [623] Πετάσῳ Θετταλικῇ. _Hist. Plant._ iv. 10. p. 147, ed. Schneider. - -The flowers of umbelliferous plants are aptly called by Phanias[624] -πετασώδη, _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[625], is certainly not unlike the umbel of a plant. See Plate -IX. Fig. 4. - -Callimachus ascribes the same head-dress to shepherds in the following -lines: - - Ἔπρεπε τοι προέχουσα κάρης εὐρεῖα καλύπτρη, - Ποιμενικὸν πίλημα.--_Frag._ cxxv. - - The wide covering projecting from your head, the pastoral hat, became - you. - - [624] _Apud Athen._ ix. 12. p. 371 D. ed. Casaub. - - [625] Museo Pio-Clementino, tom. v. tav. 24. This bas-relief formerly - belonged to the Mattei collection. See _Monumenta Matthæinana_, - tom. iii. tab. 37. - -This pastoral hat, if we may judge from the representation of the -two shepherds in the bas-relief 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 Œdipus to be exposed. His name ΟΙΔΙΠΟΔΑΣ -is written beside him. The shepherd ΕΥΦΟΡΒΟΣ, 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[626]. The -shepherd Zethus wears a petasus hanging behind his back in a bas-relief -belonging to the Borghese collection, published by Winckelmann (_Mon. -Inediti_, ii. 85). See Plate IX. Fig. 6. - - [626] See [Italian 469]_Monumenti Inediti pubblicati dall’ Instituto di - Correspondenza Archeologica_, vol. ii. tav. 14. - -The Athenian ephebi wore the broad-brimmed hat, together with the scarf -or chlamys[627]. Meleager, in an epigram on a beautiful boy, named -Antiochus, says, that he would be undistinguishable from Cupid, if -Cupid wore a scarf and petasus instead of his bow and arrows and his -wings[628]. - - [627] Pollux, _Onom._ x. 164; Philemon, p. 367. ed. Meineke; Brunck, - _Anal._ vol. ii. p. 41; Jacobs _in Athol. Græc._ i. l. p. 24. - - [628] Brunck, _Anal._ vol. i. p. 5. - -When a young Greek conquered in the games, his friends sometimes -bestowed a hat (_petasus_) upon him as a present[629]. - - [629] Eratosthen. _a Bernhardy_, p. 249. 250. - -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 religion 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 these horsemen (from the slab No. -54.) with his petasus tied under his chin. - -2. It is worn by Theseus, as represented on a vase in the Vatican -collection. See Winckelmann, _Mon. Inediti_, vol. ii. 98, and Fig. 8, -Plate IX. - -3. Also by Œdipus, as represented on one of Sir William Hamilton’s -vases (vol. ii. Plate 24.), standing before the sphinx. - -4. The coins of Ætolia 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 ΑΙΤΩΛΩΝ. Figure 12, which is of gold[630], -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. ΑΙΤΩΛΩΝ 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. - - [630] This is engraved by Taylor Combe, _Vet. Populorum Nunmi._ tab. v. - No. 23. - -The broad-brimmed hat, or petasus, was more especially worn by the -Greeks when they were travelling[631]. Its appearance is well shown in -Fig. 14, taken from a fictile vase belonging to the late Mr. Hope[632]. -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 supposed to be worn by a person -to indicate that he was coming from a journey. In the prologue to the -Amphitryo, Mercury says, - - Ego has habebo hic usque in petaso pinnulas, - Tum meo patri autem torulus inerit aureus - Sub petaso: id signum Amphitruoni non erit. - - [631] Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 170, No. 5. - - [632] Hope, _Costume of the Ancients_, vol. i. pl. 71. - -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 i. l. 287, 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 -personating 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.) Caligula -permitted the senators to wear them at the theatres as a protection -from the sun (Dio. Cass. lix. 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 collection in the British Museum is copied -in Plate IX. Fig. 15. It is a coin of the reign of Alexander I. and -exhibits a Macedonian 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_ -(καυσία)[633], and was adopted by the Romans[634], and more 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. 16. Plate IX. for example, is taken from the head -of Bellerophon, on one of Sir William Hamilton’s vases[635]; and -the left-hand figure from a fictile vase at Vienna, engraved by -Ginzrot[636]. This hat is remarkable for the boss at the top, which we -observe also on the Ætolian coins, and in various other examples. - - [633] Val. Max. v. 1. _Extem._ 4. Pausan., _ap. Eustath. in Il._ ii. - 121. It is to be observed, that the _causia_ and _petasus_ are - opposed to one another by a writer in Athenæus (L. xii. 537, e), as - if the _causia_ was not a petasus! - - [634] Plautus, _Mil._ iv. 4. 42. _Pers._ i. 3. 75. Antip. Thess. in - _Brunck Anal._ ii. 111. - - [635] Vol. i. pl. 1. - - [636] _Uber die Wägen und Fuhrwerke der Alten_, vol. i. p. 342. - -In connection with the above quoted expression of Dio Cassius 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 Laconian. 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 Thessalian 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, _Œd. Col._ 316. - -And about his head lay a felt, newly come from Thessaly, as a -protection from wet.--_Frag._ 124. _ed._ Ernesti. - -The frenzied Cynic philosopher Menedemus, among other peculiarities, -wore an Arcadian hat, HAVING THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC WOVEN INTO -IT[637]! Ammianus (Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 384.) represents an orator -dedicating “an Arcadian hat” to Mercury, who was the patron of his art, -and also a native of Arcadia. - - [637] Diog. Laërt. vi. 102. See Gilroy’s Treatise on the _Art of - Weaving_, American edition, p. 446. - -Herodes Atticus wore “the Arcadian hat” at Athens, as a protection -from the sun; and the language of Philostratus, in recording the fact, -shows that the Athenians of his time commonly wore it, more especially -in travelling[638]. Arrian, who wrote about the middle of the second -century, says, that “Laconian or Arcadian hats,” were worn in the army -by the peltastæ instead of helmets[639]. This circumstance shows a -remarkable change of customs; for in the early Greek history we find -the Persian soldiers held up as the objects of ridicule and contempt, -because they wore hats and trowsers[640]. 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 πῖλος, -which was the skull-cap, or hat without a brim. - -This supposition suits the representations of the only imaginary beings -who are exhibited in works of ancient art wearing the petasus, viz. the -Dioscuri and Mercury. - - [638] _Vit. Sophist._ ii. 5. 3. - - [639] _Tactica_, p. 12. ed. Blancardi. - - [640] _Herod._ v. 49. - -It has been already 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 mariner[641]; but on ancient -vases we find them sometimes painted with the petasus; and if this -was the same with the πῖλος Λακωνικὸς, it would coincide with their -origin as natives of Sparta. In Plate IX. Fig. 16, an example is shown, -on one of Sir William Hamilton’s vases, in which their attire resembles -that of the Athenian ephebi. They wear boots and a tunic, over which -one of them also wears the scarf or chlamys. They are conducted by the -goddess Night. - - [641] See p. 419. - -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 wings to -indicate his office of messenger, as his talaria also did[642], has a -great variety of forms, and sometimes the brim is so narrow, that it -does not differ from the cap of the artificer already described, or -the πῖλος in its ordinary form. 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[643]. 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 admire in -the works of ancient art. The petasus is also still commonly worn by -agricultural laborers in Greece and Asia Minor. - - [642] Servius (on _Virg. Æn._ 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. - - [643] These hats are sold in the shops for sixpence, ninepence, or a - shilling each. - -A bas-relief in the Vatican collection[644], represents the birth -of Hercules, and contains two figures of Mercury. In one he carries -the infant Hercules, in the other the caduceus. In both he wears a -large scarf, and a skull-cap, like that of Dædalus[645], without a -brim. This example therefore proves that, although the petasus, as -distinguished from the pileus, was certainly the appropriate attribute -of Mercury[646], 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. - - [644] _Museo Pio-Clementino_, tom. iv. tav. 37. - - [645] See Plate VIII. Fig. 8. - - [646] See Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 41, and Arnobius, _Adv. Gentes_, lib. vi. - See also Ephippus, _ap. Athen._ xii. 53. p. 537 F. Casaub. - - It is remarkable that the person who acted the part of a Silenus - in the Dionysiac procession instituted by Ptolemy Philadelphus at - Alexandria, wore a hat and a golden caduceus (_Athen._ v. 27. p. - 198 A.). In this case the imagination appears to have been indulged - in decorating a mere festive character with the peculiar attributes - of Mercury. 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. - -Another bas-relief in the Vatican[647], represents the story of -the birth of Bacchus _from Jupiter’s thigh_. Thus the subject of it -is very similar to that, which relates to the birth of Hercules, -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 the fancy of the artist. -In the bas-relief now under consideration, Mercury holds the skin -of a lynx or panther to receive the child. He wears the scarf or -chlamys and cothumi. This was a very favorite subject with the -ancients. It occurs on a superb marble vase with the inscription -ΣΑΛΠΙΩΝ ΕΠΟΙΗΣΕ[648], and on one of Sir W. Hamilton’s fictile -vases[649]. - - [647] _Museo Pio-Clementino_, tom. iv. tav. 19. - - [648] Spon., _Misc. Erud. Ant._ § xi. art. 1. - - [649] Vol. i. No. 8. - -Figure 4. in Plate X. is from Hope’s _Costume of the Ancients_, vol. -ii. pl. 175. The money-bag is in Mercury’s right hand. - -In a painting found at Pompeii[650], Mercury is represented with wings -(_pinnulæ_) on his petasus, though not very ancient, is also recognized -in the Amphitryo of Plautus. - - [650] Gell’s _Pompeiana_, London 1819, pl. 76. - -Figure 5. in Plate X. is from the Marquis of Lansdowne’s marble bust, -published by the Dilettanti Society[651]. In this beautiful bust the -brim of the hat is unfortunately damaged. - - [651] _Specimens of Ancient Sculpture_, London 1809, pl. 51. - -Figures 6 and 7, Plate X., are from coins engraved in Carelli’s _Nummi -Veteris Italiæ_ (plates 58 and 65). Figure 7 is a coin of Suessa in -Campania. - -To these illustrations might have been added others from ancient gems, -good examples of which may be found in the second volume of Mariette’s -_Traité des Pierres Gravées_, 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 helmet worn by Ulysses we read - - Μέσσῃ δ’ ἐνὶ πῖλος ἀρήρει[652], - -we may suppose πῖλος to be used in its most ordinary sense, -consequently that the interior of the helmet was a common skull-cap. - -[Illustration: PLATE IX.] - - [652] Homer, _Il._ 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 painters - to exhibit him 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 Æn._ ii. 44), - represents Nicomachus, and not Apollidorus, as having first adopted - this idea. - -Being generally thicker than common cloth, felt presented a more -effectual obstacle to missile weapons. Hence, when the soldiers under -Julius Cæsar were much annoyed by Pompey’s archers, they made shirts -or other coverings of felt, and put them on for their defence[653]. -Thucydides refers to the use of similar means to protect the body from -arrows[654]; and even in besieging and defending cities felt was used, -together with hides and sackcloth, to cover the wooden towers and -military engines[655]. - - [653] Jul. Cæsar, _Bell. Civ._ iii. 44. - - [654] Thucyd. iv. 34. Schol. _ad loc._ - - [655] Æneas Tacticus, 33. - -Felt was also sometimes used to cover the bodies of quadrupeds. -According to Aristotle[656], the Greeks clothed their _molles oves_ -either with skins or with pieces of felt; and the wool became gray in -consequence. The Persians used the same material for the trappings of -their horses (Plutarch, _Artax._ II. p. 1858. ed. Stephani). - - [656] _De Gen. Animalium_, v. 5. p. 157. ed. Bekker. - -The loose rude coverings for the feet called _Udones_ were sometimes -made of felt, being worn within the shoes or brogues of the rustic -laborers[657]. - - [657] Hesiod, _Op. ed Dies_, 542; Grævius, _ad loc._; Cratini, - _Fragmenta_, p. 29. ed. Runkel. - -In concluding this investigation it may be proper to observe, that, -although πῖλος 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 Athenæus (lib. vi. p. 274. Casaub.) speaking of -the Romans, says, that they wore about their heads πίλους προβατείων -δερμάτων δασεῖς, _i. e._ “thick caps made of sheep skins.” - - - - -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--Hunting-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 purse-net--Road-net--Hallier--Dyed - feathers used to scare the prey--Casting-net--Manner of throwing - 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 prætor. - - -The raw materials, of which the ancients made nets, were flax, -hemp[658], and broom[659]. Flax was most commonly used; so that -Jerome, when he is prescribing employment for monks, says, -“Texantur et _lina_ capiendis piscibus[660].” The operation of -netting, as well as that of platting, was expressed by the verb -πλέκειν[661]. The meshes were called in Latin _maculæ_[662], in Greek -βρόχοι, _dim._ βροχίδες[663]. - - [658] Rete cannabina. Varro, _De Re Rust._ iii. 5. p. 216, ed. Bipont. - - [659] Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2; xxiv. 9. s. 40. - - [660] Hieron. _Epist._ l. ii. p. 173, ed. Par. 1613, 12mo. Hunting-nets - are called “lina nodosa” by Ovid, _Met._ iii. 153, and vii. 807. - Compare Virg. _Georg_, i. 142; Homer, _Il._ v. 487; Brunck, _Anal._ - ii. 94, 494, 495; Artimedorus, ii. 14. See also Pliny, H. N. xix. - 1. s. 2. - - [661] Πλεξάμενος ἄρκυς, Aristoph. _Lysist._ 790. Τῶν πεπλεγμένων - δίκτυων, Bokkeri _Anecdota_, vol. i. p. 354. - - [662] Varro, _De Re Rust._ iii. 11; Ovid, _Epist._ v. 19; Nemesiani - Cyneg. 302. - - [663] Heliodor. l. v. p. 231, ed. Commelini. - -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. - -ΔΙΚΤΥΟΝ[664]. - - [664] From δικεῖν, _to throw_. See Eurip. _Bacc._ 600, and the Lexicons - of Schneider and Passow. - -_Retis_ or _Rete_ in Latin, and δίκτυον in Greek, were used to denote -nets in general. Thus in an epigram of Leonidas Tarentinus[665], 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 Ætolus[666], Antipater Sidonius[667], -Archias[668], and others[669]. In one of these epigrams (Ἰουλιάνου -Αἰγυπτίου) we find λίνα adopted as a general term for nets instead of -δίκτυα, no doubt for the reason above stated. In another epigram[670] -a hare is said to have been caught in a net (δίκτυον). Aristophanes -mentions nets by the same denomination among the contrivances employed -by the fowler[671]. Fishing-nets are called δίκτυα 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, Cas.; and by Plato, _Sophista_, 220, _b._ p. 134, ed. -Bekker. - - [665] Brunck, _Anal._ i. 225. - - [666] Brunck, _Anal._ i. 418. Alexandri Ætoli _Fragmenta_, a Capelmann, - p. 50. - - [667] _Ibid._ ii. 9, Nos. 15, 16. - - [668] _Ibid._ ii. 94, No. 9. - - [669] _Ibid._ ii. 494, 495. Jacobs, _Anthol._ vol. i. p. 188, 189. - - [670] Brunck, _Anal._ iii. 239, No 417. - - [671] _Aves_, 526-528. - -Netting was applied in various ways in the construction of _hen-coops_ -and aviaries; and such net-work is called _rete_[672]. It was used to -make pens for sheep by night. At the amphitheatres it was sometimes -placed over the podium. At a gladiatorial show given by Nero, the -net, thus used as a fence against the wild beasts, was knotted _with -amber_[673]. The way in which the net was used by the _Retiarii_ is -well known. The head-dress called κεκρύφαλος, was a small net of fine -flax, silk, or gold thread, and was also called _reticulum_[674]. 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. - - [672] Varro, _De Re Rust._ iii. 5. - - [673] Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 3. s. 11. - - [674] Nonius Marcellus, p. 542, ed. Merceri. See also the article - CALANTICA, in Smith’s _Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities_. - -The use of nets for catching birds was very limited, on which account -we find no appropriate name for fowlers’ nets[675]. Nevertheless -thrushes were caught in them[676], 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[677]. An account of the nets used by the -Egyptians to catch birds is given by Sir Gardner Wilkinson[678], being -derived from the paintings found in the catacombs. The net commonly -employed 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. - - [675] See Aristophanes, _l. c._ - - [676] Hor. _Epod._ ii. 33, 34. - - [677] Aristoph. _Aves_, 1083. - - [678] _Man. and Customs_, vol. iii. p. 35-38, 45. - - -II. - -CASSIS; PLAGA. - -ΕΝΟΔΙΟΝ, ΑΡΚΥΣ. - -In hunting it was usual to extend nets in a curved line of considerable -length[679], so as in part to surround a space, into which the beasts -of chase, such as the boar, the wild goat, the deer, the hare, the -lion, 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. - - [679] Τὰ δίκτυα περιβάλλουσι. Ælian, H. A. xii. 46. Uno portante - multitudinem, qua saltus cingerentur. Plin. H. N. xix. l. s. 2. - Oppian (_Cyneg._ iv. 120-123) says, that in an Asiatic lion-hunt the - nets (ἄρκυες) were placed in the form of the new moon. - -The following lines 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 shrill - To secret toils, along the aërial 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. - _Æn._ 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” -(_Æn._ iv. 121), he represents the hunting-party as going over a large -extent of country to collect the animals out of it: - - Postquam altos ventum in montes atque invia lustra, - Ecce feræ saxi dejectæ vertice capræ - Decurrere jugis; alia de parte patentes - Transmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cervi - Pulverulenta fuga glomerant, montesque relinquunt. - At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri - Gaudet equo, jamque hos cursu, jam præterit illos, - Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis - Optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem. - _Æn._ iv. 151-159. - -So Ovid (_Epist._ iv. 41, 42): - - In nemus ire libet, pressisque in retia cervis, - Hortari celeres per juga summa canes; -and (_Epist._ v. 19, 20): - - Retia sæpe comes maculis distincta tetendi, - Sæpe 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 description of a fawn, which has been driven -into the space inclosed by the nets, but has leaped over them and -escaped:-- - - ὡς νεβρὸς χλοεραῖς - ἐμπαίζουσα λείμακος ἡ- - δοναῖς, ἡνίκ’ ἂν φοβερὸν φύγῃ - θήραμ’ ἔξω φυλακᾶς - εὐπλέκτων ὑπὲρ ἀρκύων, &c. - -Here a Bacchanal, tossing her head into the air with gambols and -dancing, is said to be “like 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 solitudes remote from man, and hides -herself in the thickets of an umbrageous forest.” - -If hollows or valleys were inclosed[680], the nets were no doubt -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. _Æn._ xii. 749. - - [680] - Nec, velit insidiis altassi claudere valles, - Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent.--Tibullus, i. 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. Pliny, _l. c._ - - Cassibus impositos venor.--Propert. iv. 2. 32. - - ... alius raras - Cervice gravi portare plagas.--Sen. _Hippol._ i. l. 44. - - -The proper Latin term for the hunting-net, but more especially 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 _Georgics_ as quoted below. _Cassis_ seems to be derived from -the root of _capere_ and _catch_. But PLAGA was also applied -to hunting-nets, so that Horace describes the hunting of the boar in -the following terms: - - Aut trudit acres hinc et hinc multa cane - Apros in obstantes plagas.--_Epod._ ii. 31, 32. - -Lucretius (lib. v. 1251, 1252) aptly compares the setting up of the -_plagæ_ to the planting of a hedge around the forest: - - Nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum, - Quam sæpire plagis saltum, canibusque ciere. - -In the same manner _plagæ_ is used in the _Hippolytus_ of Seneca, as -above quoted, and in Pliny[681]. - - [681] H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. - -To dispose the nets in the manner which has been described, was called -“retia ponere” (Virg. _Georg._ i. 307) or “retia tendere” (Ovid, _Art. -Amat._ i. 45). - -In Homer a hunting-net is called λίνον πάναγρον, literally, “the flax -that catches everything[682].” But the proper Greek term for the -hunting-net, corresponding to the Latin _cassis_, was ἄρκυς, which is -accordingly employed in the passages of Oppian and Euripides cited -above. Also the epigram of Antipater Sidonius, to which a reference has -already been made, specifies the hunting-net by the same appellation: - - Δᾶμις μὲν θηρῶν ἄρκυν ὀρειονόμων. - -The word is used in the same sense by Cratinus[683]; also by -Arrian, where he remarks that the Celts dispensed with the use of -nets in hunting, because they trusted to the swiftness of their -greyhounds[684]. In Euripides[685] it is used metaphorically: the -children cry out, when their mother is pursuing them, - - Ὡς ἐγγὺς ἤδη γ’ ἐσμέν ἀρκύων ζίφους, - - _i. e._ “Now how near we are being caught with the sword.” - - [682] _Il._ v. 487. - - [683] Cratini _Fragmenta_, a Runkel, p. 28. - - [684] Καί εἰσὶν αἱ κύνες αὗται, ὅ τι περ αἱ ἄρκυς Ξενοφῶντι ἐκείνῳ, - _i. e._ “And here greyhounds answered the same purpose as Xenophon’s - hunting-nets.” _De Venat._ ii. 21. See Dansey’s translation, - pp. 72, 121. - - [685] _Medea_, 1268. - -Also in the _Agamemnon_ of Æschylus (l. 1085): - - Ἡ δίκτυον τί γ’ Αἴδου; - ἀλλ’ ἄρκυς ἡ ζύνευνος, ἡ ζυναιτία - φόνου. - -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 (l. 1353) compared to a casting-net, which in its -form bore a considerable resemblance to the _cassis_. In l. 1346, -ἀρκύστατα[686] denotes this net as set up for hunting. The same form -occurs again in the _Eumenides_ (l. 112); and in the _Persæ_ (102-104) -escape from danger is in nearly the same terms expressed by the notion -of overleaping the net. In Euripides[687] this contrivance is called -ἀρκύστατος μηχανὴ; and in the _Agamemnon_ of Seneca[688] the same -allusion is introduced: - - At ille, ut altis hispidus silvis aper; - Cum, casse vinctus, tentat egressus tamen, - Arctatque motu vincla, et incassum furit, - Cupit, fluentes undique et cæcos sinus - Disjicere, et hostem quærit implicitus suum. - - [686] Or, ἀρκύστατον, ed. Schütz. l. 1376. - - [687] _Orestes_, 1405, s. 1421. - - [688] L. 886-890. - -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: - - Καὶ πυρὶ θηγαλέους ὀξυπαγεῖς στάλικας; - _i. e._ “The sharp stakes hardened in the fire[689].” - -The term which Xenophon uses of the stakes is, according to some -manuscripts of his work, σχαλίδες. He says, they should be fixed so -as to lean backwards, and thus more effectually to resist the impulse -of the animals rushing against them[690]. The Latin term answering to -στάλικες was VARI. 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 Molossian dog, - when he lifts up the nets to the stakes arranged in order.” - - [689] Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 10. We find στάλικες in Oppian, - _Cyneg._ iv. 67, 71, 121, 380; Pollux, _Onom._ v. 31. - - [690] _De Venat._ vi. 7. - -Gratius Faliscus, adopting a Greek term, calls them _ancones_, on -account of the “elbow” or fork at the top: - - Hic magis in cervos valuit metus: ast ubi lentæ - Interdum Libyco fucantur sandyce pinnæ, - Lineaque extructis 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-hunt[691]. The prevalence of this method of -hunting in Persia might be inferred from the circumstance, that one of -the chief employments of the inhabitants consisted in making these nets -(ἄρκυς, Strabo, xv. 3. § 18). To watch the nets was called ἀρκυωρεῖν -(Ælian, H. A. i. 2), and the man who discharged this office ἀρκυωρὸς -(Xen., _De Ven._ ii. 3; vi. 1.). - - [691] Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 124, &c. - -The paintings discovered in the catacombs of Egypt show, that the -ancient inhabitants of that country used nets for hunting in the same -manner which has now been shown to have been the practice of the -Persians, Greeks and Romans[692]. - - [692] Wilkinson’s _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_, - vol. iii. p. 3-5. - -Hunting-nets had much larger meshes than fishing or fowlers’-nets, -because in general a fish or a fowl could escape through a much smaller -opening than a quadruped. In hunting, the important circumstance -was to make the nets so strong that the beasts could not break -through them. The large size of the meshes is denoted by the phrases -“retia rara[693]” and “raras plagas[694];” and it is exhibited in a -bas-relief in the collection of ancient marbles at Ince-Blundell in -Lancashire. See Plate X. fig. 1. This sculpture presents the following -circumstances, which are worthy of notice as illustrative of the -passages 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 chase[695]. 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 -quadrupeds which they have caught. Two men carry the net, holding in -their hands the stakes with forks at the top. These bas-reliefs have -been taken from sarcophagi erected in commemoration of hunters, and -they are engraved in the _Ancient statues, &c. at Ince-Blundell_, vol. -ii. pl. 89 and 126. An excellent representation of these forked staves -is given in a sepulchral bas-relief 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 _Eburacum_, pl. 14. fig. 2. The man, who holds -the varus in his right hand, and who appears 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 _Sepolcri 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 inclose a large space. In Montfaucon’s -_Supplement_, tome iii., is an engraving from a bas-relief, in which -a net is represented: but none of these are so instructive as the two -bas-reliefs at Ince-Blundell. - - [693] Virg. _Æn._ iv. 131; Hor. _Epod._ ii. 33. - - [694] Seneca, _Hippol._ l. c. - - [695] See Lucan, as quoted in the last page. - -Gratius Faliscus recommends that a net should be forty paces long, and -full ten knots high: - - Et bis vicenos spatium prætendere passus - Rete velim, plenisque decem 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 Ὕψος κρεῖσσον -ἐκπηδήματος, _i. e._ “a height too great for the animals _to leap -out_[696].” - - [696] Æschyli _Agamemnon_, 1347. - -Xenophon, in his treatise _on Hunting_, gives various directions -respecting the making and setting of nets; and Schneider -has added to that treatise a dissertation concerning the ἄρκυς. It -is evident that this kind of net was made with a bag (κεκρύφαλος, -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 (ἀρκυωρὸς) 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 (περίδρομος, vi. 9), and was -drawn tight by the impulse of the animal rushing in so as to prevent -its escape[697]. To this rope was attached another, called ἐπίδρομος, -which was used as follows. In fig. 1. of Plate X. we observe, that -the upper border of the net consists of a very strong rope. Xenophon -calls this σαρδὼν (vi. 9). In the purse-net it was furnished with -rings. The ἀρκυωρὸς, or watchman, lay in ambush, holding one end of the -ἐπίδρομος, which ran through the rings, and was fastened at the other -end to the περίδρομος, 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_[698]. - - [697] This effect of the περίδρομος 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 - cæcos sinus.” - - Homer (_Il._ v. 487) seems to allude to the same contrivance, and to - apply the term ἀχῖδες 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. xx.) the phrase ἀγκύλα - δίκτυα applied to hunting-nets. It was probably meant to designate - the ἄρκυς, which might be called ἀγκύλα, _i. e._ angular, because - they were made like bags ending in a point. The term νεφέλη, which - occurs in Aristophanes (_Aves_, 195), and denoted some contrivance - for catching 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. - - [698] Oppian, _Cyneg._ iv. 409. Pliny mentions these _epidromi_, or - _running ropes_: H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. - -In this treatise Xenophon distinguishes the nets used in hunting by -three different appellations; ἄρκυς, ἐνόδιον, and δίκτυον. Oppian also -distinguishes the δίκτυον used in hunting from the ἄρκυς[699]. The -ἄρκυς or _cassis_, _i. e._ “the purse- or tunnel-net,” was by much -the most complicated in its formation. The ἐνόδιον, or “road-net,” -was comparatively small: it was placed across any road, or path, to -prevent the animals from pursuing that path: it must have been used to -stop the narrow openings between bushes. The δίκτυον 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 hallier_[700]. These three kinds of -nets appear to be mentioned together by Nemesianus under the names of -_retia_ (i. e. δίκτυα), _casses_ (i. e. ἄρκυς), and _plagæ_ (i. e. -ἐνόδια.): - - 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. - - [699] _Ibid._ iv. 381. - - [700] See Arrian _on Coursing: the Cynegeticus of the younger_ - Xenophon, _translated from the Greek_, &c. &c. _by a graduate of - Medicine_ (William C. Dansey, M. B.). London, 1831, pp. 68, 188. - -Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, further informs us, that the cord -used for making the ἄρκυς, or purse-net, consisted of three strands, -and that three lines twisted together commonly made a strand (ii. 4); -but that, when the net was intended to catch the wild boar, nine lines -went to a strand instead of three (x. 2). - -It remains to be noticed, that, when the long range of nets, set up in -the manner which has been now represented, was designed to catch the -stag (_cervus_), it was flanked by cords, to which, as well as to the -nets themselves, feathers _dyed 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[701]. This -appendage to the nets was called the _metus_ or _formido_ (Virg. _Æn._ -xii. 750), because it frightened these timid quadrupeds so as to urge -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._ - - [701] Dum trepidant alæ.--Virg. _Æn._ iv. 121. - -The following passages likewise allude to the use of this contrivance -in the stag-hunt: - - Nec formidatis cervos includite pennis.--Ovid. _Met._ xv. 475. - - Vagos dumeta per avia cervos - Circumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnæ. - - 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 quinetiam, magnos circumdare saltus - Quæ possit, volucresque metu concludere prædas, - Digerat innexas non una ex alite pinnas. - Namque ursos, magnosque sues, cervosque fugaces - Et vulpes, acresque lupos, ceu fulgura cœli - Terrificant, linique vetant transcendere septum. - Has igitur vario semper fucare veneno - Cura tibi, neveisque alios miscere colores, - Alternosque metus subtemine tendere longo. - - _Cyneg._ 303-311. - -The same fact is asserted in a striking passage, which has been above -quoted from Gratius Faliscus. To the same effect are the following -passages: - - Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta - conterreat, et ad insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta - formido.--Seneca, _de Ira_, ii. 11. - -Feras lineis et pinna conclusas contine: easdem a tergo eques telis -incessat: tentabunt fugam per ipsa quæ fugerant, proculcabuntque -formidinem.--Seneca, _de Clementia_, i. 12. - - Picta rubenti lineo pinna - Vano claudat terrore feras. - - Seneca Frag. _Hippol._ i. 1. - - -III. - -FUNDA, JACULUM, RETE JACULUM, RETIACULUM. - -ΑΜΦΙΒΛΗΣΤΡΟΝ, ΑΜΦΙΒΟΛΟΝ. - -Fishing-nets[702] were of six different kinds, which are enumerated by -Oppian as follows: - - Τῶν τὰ μὲν ἀμφίβληστρα, τὰ δὲ γρῖφοι καλέονται, - Γάγγαμα τ’, ἠδ’ ὑποχαὶ περιηγέες, ἠδὲ σαγῆναι, - Ἄλλα δὲ κικλήσκουσι καλύμματα.--_Hal._ iii. 80-82. - - [702] Ἁλιευτικὰ δίκτυα. Diod. Sic. xvii. 43. p. 193, Wessel. - -Of these by far the most common were the ἀμφίβληστρον, or -_casting-net_, and the σαγήνη, _i. e._ the _drag_ or _sean_. -Consequently these two are the only kinds mentioned by Virgil and Ovid -in the following passages: - - Atque alius latum 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 Virgil the casting-net is called _funda_, which is the common term -for a sling. In illustration of this it is to be observed, that the -casting-net is thrown over the fisherman’s shoulder, and then whirled -in the air much like a sling. By this action he causes it to fly open -at the bottom so as to form a circle, which is loaded at intervals -with stones or pieces of lead, and this circle “strikes the broad -river[703]:” 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_)[704]. - - [703] 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. - - [704] 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. - -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 jactando _jaculum_ -dicitur. Plautus: - - Probus quidem antea jaculator eras[705].” - - [705] _Jaculator_ corresponds to the Greek ἀμφιβολεὺς. - - Ausonius, in the following lines, which refer to the methods of - fishing in the vicinity of the Garonne, appears to distinguish - between the _jaculum_ and the _funda_. - - Piscandi traheris studio? nam tota 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. - - -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_. l. i. 87, and _Truc._ l. i. 14. Pareus, as -we find from his _Lexicon Plautinum_, clearly understood the meaning -of the term, and the distinction between the casting-net and the -sean. Of the _Rete jaculum_ he says, “Sic dicitur ad differentiam -_verriculi_, quod non jacitur, sed trahitur et verritur.” He adds, that -Herodotus calls it ἀμφίβληστρον, 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 Lydians had no sooner -been brought into subjection by the Persians than the Ionians and -Æolians sent ambassadors to Cyrus at Sardis, entreating him to receive -them under his dominion on the same conditions on which they had been -under Crœsus. To this proposal he replied in the following fable. A -piper, having seen some fishes in the sea, _played for a while on 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 you did not choose to dance out of the water, when I played to -you on my pipe, you may put a stop to your dancing now_.” 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 lived about the marshes of Egypt, being -each in possession of a casting-net, and using 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 ἀμφίβληστρον, and once he calls the -same thing δίκτυον, because, as we have seen, this was a common term -applicable to nets of every description[706]. - - [706] _None of the commentators appear to have understood these - passages._ In particular we find that Schweighäuser in his _Lexicon - Herodoteum_ explains Ἀμφίβληστρον thus: “Verriculum, Rete quod - circumjicitur.” _Rete_, however, corresponds to δίκτυον, which meant - a net of any kind; and _Verriculum_ is the Latin for Σαγήνη, which, - as will be shown hereafter, was a sean, or drag-net. - -The antiquity of the casting-net among the Greeks appears from a -passage in the _Shield of Hercules_, attributed to Hesiod (l. 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 (ἀμφίβληστρον) for fishes, and seemed to be -throwing it from him.” We apprehend 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 inclose them. - -In two of the tragedies of Æschylus we find the term ἀμφίβληστρον -applied _figuratively_ by Clytemnestra to the _shawl_, in which she -enveloped her husband in order to murder him. - - Ἄπειρον ἀμφίβληστρον, ὥσπερ ἰχθύων, - περιστίχιζω, πλοῦτον εἵματος κακόν.--_Agamem._ 1353, 1354. - - Μέμνησο δ’, ἀμφίβληστρον ὡς ἐκαίνισαν.--_Choëph._ 485. - -Lycophron (l. 1101) calls this garment by the same name, when he refers -to the same event in the fabulous history of Greece. We have seen, that -in other passages the shawl so used is with equal aptitude called a -purse-net (ἄρκυς). - -One of the comedies of Menander was entitled Ἁλιεῖς, “the Fisherman.” -The expression, Ἀμφιβλήστρῳ περιβάλλεται, is quoted from it by Julius -Pollus (x. 132)[707]. - - [707] Menandri et Phil. _Reliquæ, a Meineke_, p. 16. - -Athenæus (lib. x. 72. p. 450 c. Casaub.) quotes from Antiphanes the -following line, which describes a man “throwing a casting-net on many -fishes”: - - Ἰχθύσιν ἀμφίβληστρον ἀνὴρ πολλοῖς ἐπιβάλλων. - -In an epigram of Leonidas Tarentinus we find the casting-net called -ἀμφίβολον instead of ἀμφίβληστρον[708]. - - [708] Brunck, _Anal._ i. 223, No. xii. Jacobs, _Anthol._ i. 2. p. 74. - -The ἀμφίβληστρον is mentioned together with two other kinds of nets by -Artemidorus, and which will be quoted presently. - -The following curious passage of Meletius _de Natura Hominis_, in -which that author, probably following Galen, describes the expansion -of the optic nerves, mentions the casting-net as “an instrument used -by fishermen”: - - Διασχίζονται δὲ τὰ νεῦρα εἰς τοὺς θαλάμους, ὥσπερ ἤν τις λαβὼν - πάπυρον, ταύτην εἰς λεπτὰ διατεμὼν καὶ διασχίζων ἀναπλέκηται πάλιν, - καὶ ποιῇ χιτῶνα λεγόμενον ἀμφιβληστροειδῆ, ὅμοιον ἀμφιβλήρτρῳ. ὄργανον - δὲ τοῦτο θηρευταῖς ἰχθύων χρήσιμον.--Salmasius, _in Tertull. de - Pallio_, p. 213. - -The χιτὼν ἀμφιβληστροειδὴς, or _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 universally -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:-- - - Πεσοῦνται ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοὶ, - _i. e._ “Sinners shall fall in _his_ casting-net.”--_Psalm_ cxli. 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 -מכמור, which Gesenius translates “Rete,” _a net_. This word -must have been more general in its meaning than the Greek ἀμφίβληστρον, -and included the purse-net, or ἄρκυς. The Chaldee and Syriac versions -use in this passage a word, which denotes _snares_ in general. See -_Isaiah_ li. 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. - - Καὶ οἱ βάλλοντες σαγήνας, καὶ οἱ ἀμφιβολεῖς πενθήσουσι. - - _i. e._ “And they who throw seans, and they who fish with the - casting-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 - English Version._ - -It is to be observed, that this prophecy relates to Egypt. The Hebrew -verb פרש, 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 the Alexandrine version we may also observe the clear -distinction between the two principal kinds of nets, the sean and the -casting-net, and that the man who fishes with the latter is called -ἀμφιβολεὺς, as in Latin he was designated by the single term -_jaculator_. - - Εἵλκυσεν αὐτὸν ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ, καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς σαγήναις - αὐτοῦ· ἕνεκεν τοὺτου εὐφρανθήσεται καὶ χαρήσεται ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ. - Ἕνεκεν τούτου θύσει τῇ σαγήνῃ αὐτοῦ, καὶ θυμιάσει τῷ ἀμφιβλήστρῳ - αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλίπανε μερίδα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βρώματα αὐτοῦ - ἐκλεκτά. Διὰ τοῦτο ἀμφιβαλεῖ τὸ ἀμφίβληστρον αὐτοῦ, καὶ διαπαντὸς - ἀποκτένειν ἔθνη οὐ φείσεται. - - _i. e._ “He (the Chaldean) hath drawn him in a casting-net and - gathered him in his seans: therefore his heart shall rejoice and be - 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 he shall throw his casting-net, and not - spare utterly to slay nations.”--_Habakkuk_, 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 - burn 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 discrimination the terms -_rete_ and _sagena_, which latter is the Greek word in a Latin form. - -Ἀμφίβληστρον 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 original, -βάλλοντας ἀμφίβληστρον εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν; in the Vulgate version, -“mittentes rete.” It appears no sufficient objection to the sense -which has been assigned to ἀμφίβληστρον, that here two persons are -mentioned as using it at the same time. Being partners and engaged in -the same employment, 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 circumstances. 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 δίκτυα (nets), saying “they left their nets,” -and meaning 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 (δίκτυα). - -The same things are to be observed in Mark i. 16, which is the parallel -passage. - - -IV. - -ΓΡΙΦΟΣ, _or_ ΓΡΙΠΟΣ. - -Pursuing the order adopted by Oppian in his list of fishing nets above -quoted, we come to the Γρῖφος. 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 γρίφοι καὶ σαγήναι as -the common implements of the fisherman[709], and Artemidorus speaks of -this together with the casting-net and the sean in similar terms[710]. - - [709] Περὶ ἐνθυμίας, vol. v. p. 838, ed. Steph. - - [710] L. ii. c. 14. - -It may be observed, that Γριπεὺς is used for a fisherman[711], -apparently equivalent to ἁλιεὺς[712]. We also find the expression -Γριπηΐδι τέχνῃ, meaning, “By the fisherman’s art[713]”. - - [711] Jacobs, _Anthol._ vol. i. p. 186, Nos. 4 and 5. - - [712] Theocrit. i. 39; iii. 26. - - [713] Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 9, No. 14. - - -V. - -ΓΑΓΓΑΜΟΝ. - -The third fishing-net in Oppian’s enumeration is Γάγγαμον. We find -it once mentioned metaphorically, viz. by Æschylus, who calls an -inextricable calamity, Γάγγαμον ἄτης[714]. 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, which appears very doubtful, it may -have been the net used by the Indians in the pearl-fishery[715]. - - [714] _Agam._ 352. - - [715] Λέγει Μεγασθένης θηρεύεσθαι τὴν κόγχην αὐτοῦ δικτύοισι. - Arrian, _Indica_, vol. i p. 525, ed. Blancardi. - - -VI. - -ὙΠΟΧΗ. - -The ὑποχὴ, which is the fourth in Oppian’s enumeration, was the -landing-net, used merely to take fishes out of the water when they rose -to the surface, or in similar circumstances to which it was adapted. It -was made with a hoop (κύκλος) fastened to a pole, and was perhaps also -provided with the means of closing the round aperture at the top[716]. - -Of the Κάλυμμα we find nowhere any further mention. - - [716] See Oppian, _Hal._ iv. 251. - - -VII. - -TRAGUM, TRAGULA, VERRICULUM. - -ΣΑΓΗΝΗ. - -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_[717]. - -“At the proper season men are stationed on the cliffs to observe by -the color of the 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 _sean_ is frequently _three -hundred fathoms long, 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 fish_.” - - [717] Penzance, 1816, p. 91 - -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, who 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 as 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 light and buoyant branches of -the _date-palm_, while the lower part is loaded with lead. To either -extremity of this a rope is attached, by which, when the whole of the -net is laid out, about thirty or forty men drag it towards the shore. -The quantity thus secured is enormous; and what they do not require for -their own consumption is salted and carried into the interior. When, as -is very generally the case, the nets _are the common property of the -whole village_, they divide the produce into equal shares[718].” - - [718] Lieutenant Wellsted’s _Travels in Arabia_, vol. i. (_Ornam_), pp. - 186, 187. - -That this method of fishing was practised by the Egyptians from a -remote antiquity appears from the remaining monuments. The paintings -on the tombs show persons engaged in drawing the sean, which has -floats along its upper margin and leads along the lower border[719]. -An ancient Egyptian net, obtained by M. Passalacqua, is preserved in -the Museum at Berlin. Some of its leads and floats remain, as well as a -gourd, which assisted the floats[720]. - - [719] See Wilkinson’s _Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt_, vol. ii. - p. 20, 21; see also vol. iii. p. 37. One of these paintings, copied - from Wilkinson, is introduced in Plate X. fig. 3. of this work. - The fishermen 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 Egyptian - paintings. - - [720] Un filet de pêche à petites mailles, et fait avec du fil de lin. - Cet objet, qui est garni de ses plombs, conserve encore les - morceaux de bois qui garnissaient sa partie supérieure, ainsi - qu’une courge qui l’aidait à surnager.--Thèbes, Passalacqua, - _Catalogue des Antiquitiés découvertes en Egypte_, No. 445. p. 22. - -Besides the verses of Oppian, which are above quoted, we find another -passage of the same poem (_Hal._ iii. 82, 83), which mentions the -following appendages to the σαγήνη, viz. the πέζαι, the σφαιρῶνες, and -the σκολιὸς πάναγρος. As the πόδες, or _feet_ of a sail were the ropes -fastened to its lower corners, we may conclude that the πέζαι 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 _fune_ trahunt. - -The σφαιρῶνες, 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 σκολιὸς πάναγρος must have been a kind of bag formed in the sean -to receive the fishes, and thus corresponding to the purse or conical -bag in the ἄρκυς. The term is illustrated by the application of the -equivalent epithet ἀγκύλα or “angular,” to hunting-nets in a passage -from Brunck’s _Analecta_, which was formerly explained, and by the -epithet “cava” in the line just quoted from Ovid[721]. - - [721] Observe also the use of the word μυχὸς in the passage of Lucian’s - _Timon_, quoted below. - -In the following passage Ovid mentions the use both of the corks and of -the leads[722]. 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. - - [722] Μολύβδαιναι, J. Pollux, x. 30. § 132. - -This use of cork and lead in fishing is also mentioned by Ælian, -_Hist. Anim._ xii. 43; and that of cork by Pausanias, viii. 12. § 1; -and by Pliny, H. N. xvi. 8. s. 13, where, in reciting the various -uses of cork, he says it was employed “piscantium tragulis.” Sidonius -Apollinaris, describing his own villa, says:-- - - Hinc jam spectabis, ut promoveat alnum piscator in pelagus, ut - stataria retia suberinis corticibus extendat.--_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[723].” The earnest desire of a posterity, founded -on the wish for posthumous remembrance, which was a very strong -and prevailing sentiment among the ancients, is illustrated by the -language of Electra in the Choëphorœ of Æschylus, 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 Pelopidæ. For -thus you will live after you are dead. For a man’s children are the -preservers 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 -referred to, and in the following passage of Plutarch:-- - - Ὥσπερ τοὺς τὰ δίκτυα διασημαίνοντας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ φελλοὺς ὁρῶμεν - ἐπιφερομένους .--_De Genio Socratis_, p. 1050, ed. Steph. - - [723] Μικρὸν καὶ τοὺς φελλοὺς ἐδέησε κατασύραι ὕφαλον τὸ δίκτυον - ἐξογκούμενον.--_Epist._ i. 1. - -Passages have been already produced from Plutarch, Artemidorus, -and the Alexandrine version of Isaiah and Habakkuk, in which the -sean is mentioned by its Greek name σαγήνη, in contradistinction -to other kinds of nets. Also the passage above cited from Virgil’s -Georgics (“pelagoque alius trahit humida 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 -(_l. c._), and _tragum_, which is found in the ancient Glossaries and -in Isidore of Seville[724]. - - [724] Tragum genus retis, ab eo quod trahatur nuncupatum: ipsum est et - verriculum. Verrere enim trahere est.--_Orig._ xix. 5. - - The Latin name _verriculum_ occurs in a passage of Valerius - Maximus, which 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 denominate, _a - hawl of fish_. - - A piscatoribus in Milesia regione verriculum trahentibus quidam - jactum emerat.--_Memor._ lib. iv. cap. 1. - - We introduce here an expression of Philo, in which we may remark - that βόλος ἰχθύων corresponds exactly to _jactus_ in Latin, and - that the drawing of the net into a circle is clearly indicated: - βόλον ἰχθύων πάντας ἐν κύκλῳ σαγηνεύσας. --_Vita Mosis_, tom. ii. - p. 95. ed. Mangey. - -We find mention of the sean more especially for the capture of the -tunny and of the pelamys, which were the two principal kinds of fish -caught in the Mediterranean. Lucian speaks of the tunny-sean[725], -which was probably the largest net of the kind, and he relates -the circumstance of a tunny escaping from its bag or bosom[726]. -The sean is thrice mentioned in the Epistles of Alciphron (_l. -c._ and lib. i. epp. 17, 18.), and in the two latter passages, as -used for catching tunnies and pelamides. We read also of a dolphin -(δελφὶς) approaching the sean[727]; but this might be by accident. It -was not, we apprehend, employed to catch dolphins. - - [725] Σαγήνη θυννευτική.--_Epist. Saturn._ tom. iii. p. 406. ed. Reitz. - - [726] Ὁ θύννος ἐκ μυχοῦ τῆς σαγήνης διέφυγεν.--_Timon_, - § 22. tom. i. p. 136. - - [727] Οὐκ ἔτι πλησιάζει τῇ σαγήνῃ.--Ælian, H. A. xi. c. 12. In this - chapter the same net is twice called by the common name, δίκτυον. - -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: - - Ὥστ’ ἰχθύας, οὕσθ’ ἁλιήες - Κοῖλον ἐς αἰγιαλὸν πολιῆς ἔκτοσθε θαλάσσης - Δικτύῳ ἐξέρυσαν πολυωπῷ· οἱ δέ τε πάντες - Κύμαθ’ ἁλὸς ποθέοντες ἐπὶ ψαμάθοισι κέχυνται. - -The poet here compares Penelope’s suitors, who lie slain upon the -ground, to fishes, “which the fishermen by means of a net 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 δίκτυον is here used, it is evident that the net -intended was the sean, or dragnet. - -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 pelamides, inclose nearly -the whole bay with their sean, expecting to catch a very large -quantity[728]. This circumstance proves, that the sean was used with -the ancient Greeks, as it is with us, to encompass a great extent of -water. - - [728] Τῇ σαγῆνῃ μονονουχί τὸν κόλπον ὅλον περιελάβομεν. --_Epist._ i. 17. - - A few miscellaneous passages, which refer to the use of the sean, - may be conveniently introduced here: - - Diogenes, seeing a great number of fishes in the deep, says there - is need of a sean to catch them; σαγήνης δέησις.--Lucian, _Piscata_, - § 51. tom. i. p. 618, ed. Reitz. - - The sean is called, from its material, σαγηναίον λίνον, in an - epigram of Archias.--Brunck, _Anal._ ii. 94. No. 10. - - Plutarch, describing the _spider’s web_, says, that its _weaving_ - is like the labor _of women at the loom_, its hunting like that - of fishermen with the sean.--_De Solertia Animalium_, tom. x. p. - 29, ed. Reiske. He here uses the term σαγηνευτὴς for _a fisher with - the sean_. This verbal noun is regularly formed from σαγηνεύειν, - which means _to inclose or catch with the sean_: e. g. ἐν δίκτυοις - σεσαγηνευμένοι.--Herodian, iv. 9, 12. - - Lucian uses the same verb in reference to the story of Vulcan - inclosing Mars and Venus in a net; σαγηνεύει τοῖς δεσμοῖς.--_Dialogi - Deor._ tom. i. p. 243. _Somnium_, 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 ὁ πλατὺς - τριχῶν σαγηνευτήρ. Jacobs (_Annot. in Anthol._ i. 2. p. 63) supposes - this to mean the lady’s comb; but, judging from the known meaning - of σαγήνη and its derivatives, we may conclude that it was the - κεκρύφαλος, 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 instance of the adoption of the Greek word _sagena_ by a - Latin poet:-- - - Excipitur vasta circumvallata sagena. - -We have seen that the sean supplied figures of speech no less than the -purse-net (ἄρκυς), and the casting-net (ἀμφίβληστρον). It is applied -thus in the case of persons who are ensnared by the wicked[729], who -are captivated by the charms of love[730] or of eloquence[731], or who -are held in bondage by superstition[732]. But by far the most distinct, -expressive and important of its metaphorical 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:-- - - Τὴν δὲ Σάμον σαγηνεύσαντες οἱ Πέρσαι παρέδοσαν Σολυσῶντι, ἐρῆμον - ἐοῦσαν ἀνδρῶν. - - “The Persians, having dragged Samos, delivered it, being now destitute - of men, to Solyson.” - - [729] Σαγηνεύομαι πρὸς αὐτῶν.--Lucian, _Timon_, § 25. tom. i. p. 138, - ed. Reitz. - - [730] Brunck, _Anal._ iii. 157. No. 32. Here the sean is called by the - general term δίκτυον, but the particular kind of net is indicated by - the participle σαγηνευθείς. - - [731] - Τῶνδὲ μαθητὴν, - Οἳ κόσμον γλυκερῇσι Θεοῦ δήσαντο σαγήναις, - - _i. e._ “A disciple of those who bound the world in the sweet seans - of God.”--Greg. Nazianz. _ad Nemesium_, tom. ii. p. 141, ed. Paris, - 1630. (See Chap. III, p. 53.) - - [732] Plutarch, evidently referring to the siege of Jerusalem by - Titus, says, “The Jews on the Sabbath sitting down on coarse - blankets (ἐν ἀγνάμπτοις, literally, in ἱμάτια, or blankets, which - had not been fulled, or cleansed by the γναφεύς), even when the - enemy were setting the ladders to scale the walls, did not rise up, - but remained, as if inclosed in one sean, namely, superstition, - (ὥσπερ ἐν σαγήνῃ μιᾷ, τῇ δεισιδαιμονίᾳ, συνδεδεμένοι).”--_Opp._ - tom. vi. _De Superstit._ p. 647, ed. Reiske. - -As we speak of _dragging_ a pit, so the Greeks would have spoken, -in this metaphorical sense, of _dragging_ 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 linked 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 Plato[733], 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 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 σαγηνευθῆναι, “to be dragged,” used in the same manner by -Heliodorus[734]. - - [733] _De Legibus_, lib. iii. prope finem. - - [734] Lib. vii. p. 304. ed. Commelini. - -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 seans upon_, ψυγμὸς σαγηνῶν; “siccatio -sagenarum,” _Vulgate Version_; “a place for the spreading of nets,” -_Common English Version_. The Hebrew term for a drag or sean is here -חרם. - -The only passage of the New Testament which makes express mention of -the sean, is Matt. xiii. 47, 48: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a -net (σαγήνη) 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 (αἰγιαλὸν) 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 δίκτυον, -which denoted either a sean, or a net of any other kind. It is in this -passage translated _rete_ in the Latin Vulgate. - -The Greek σαγήνη having been adopted under the form _sagena_ in the -Latin Vulgate, this was changed into rezne by the Anglo-Saxons[735], -and their descendants, have still further abridged it into _sean_. In -the south of England this word is also pronounced and spelt _seine_, -as it is in French. We find in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History[736] 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 sean for catching fishes of all kinds.” - - [735] See Caedmon, p. 75. ed. Junii. - - [736] Page 294, ed. Wilkins. - - -VIII. - -RETICULUS or RETICULUM. - -ΓΥΡΓΑΘΟΣ. - -In the ancient Glossaries we find Γύργαθος translated _Reticulus_ and -_Reticulum_: it meant, therefore, _a small net_. It was not a name -for nets in general, nor did it denote any kind of hunting-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 creatures[737]. But the same term is applied to the -nets which were used to carry pebbles and stones intended to be thrown -from military engines[738]; and a similar contrivance was in common -use for carrying loaves of bread[739]. Hence it is manifest that the -γύργαθος was often much like 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 γύργαθος, “a bag-net,” as it was -made in the form of a bag. “To blow into a bag-net,” εἰς γύργαθον -φυσᾷν, became 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 Æneas Tacticus (p. -54. ed. Orell.) we may infer that it was sometimes not larger than a -purse for the pocket. Hence Aristotle[740] properly applies the term -γύργαθος to the small spherical or oval bag in which spiders deposit -their eggs. Among the luxurious habits of the Sicilian prætor Verres, -it is recorded, that he had a small and very fine linen net, filled -with rose-leaves, “which ever and anon he gave his nose[741].” This net -was, no doubt, called γύργαθος in Greek. - - [737] Ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ καὶ γύργαθοις αὐτὰς ἰδίως λινεύουσιν, - ἀντὶ δικτύων καθίεντες αὐτοὺς περὶ τὰ στόματα τῶν προράχων. - - [738] Athenæus, lib. v. § 43. p. 208, ed. Casaub. - - [739] Γύργαθον· σκεῦος πλεκτὸν, ἐν ᾧ βάλλουσι τὸν ἄρτον οἱ - ἀρτοκόποι.--Hesych. Reticulum panis.--Hor. _Sat._ i. l. 47. - - [740] _Anim. Hist._ v. 27. Compare Apollodorus, _Frag._ xi. p. 454, ed. - Heyne. - - [741] Reticulum ad nares sibi admovebat, tenuissimo lino, minutis - maculis, plenum rosæ.--Cic. _in Verr._ ii. 5. 11. --_Arrian, Per. - Maris Eryth._ p. 151. ed. Blancardi. - - - - -THE END. - - -[Illustration: _Plate X._] - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - - -A number of typographical errors have been corrected silently. - -Cover is in public domain. - -Footnote 731 may not be pointing to the exactly correct location as the -original was not marked. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SILK, COTTON, LINEN, -WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES; *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |