Page:Costume, fanciful, historical, and theatrical (1906).djvu/206

162 short ends in front. This skirt or tunic reached to the knee or calf, and sometimes even as far as the ankle; the legs, arms, and chest were bare, and the face clean-shaven.

A great warrior is depicted wearing a tightly-fitting shirt of mail composed of bronze scales sewn on to soft leather, displaying short sleeves and descending below the knees, a white metal gauntlet protecting the left wrist. On the head is a high, narrow helmet which completely conceals the hair, and from it floats three pendent ends of striped material. About the throat is a jewelled and enamelled collar, and from a thick gold chain hangs a large gold ornament engraved with figures.

It is known that the finest and most transparent muslins were first manufactured by the ancient Egyptians, and doubtless these were used for making dresses; indeed in proof of this many representations are extant of female musicians clad in diaphanous muslin through which the body can be clearly seen. The loose robe is drawn under the right arm and fastened on the left shoulder.

Did Egyptian women ever grow old, I wonder, and if so, what did they wear? The artists have left us no record save of the eternal feminine eternally youthful.