Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/82

 karpasos are uncertain, because those words were applied also to flax, which was in very general use in all the Mediterranean countries.

It is noteworthy that the word used in the Periplus is uniformally othanion, meaning simply "cloth," but usually cotton cloth; which the himatismos, translated as "clothing," was very likely cloth in suitable lengths to be worn as tobe or toga.

6. Monachê cloth.—Vincent says cloth "singularly fine," and for sagmatogênê would read "the sort used for stuffing" (from sasso, to stuff; sagma a saddle) being the down from the tree-cotton, Gossypium arboreum. But these words may be Greek corruptions of some Indian trade-names for different grade or dyes of cloth, as to the particulars of which we cannot determine.

Fabricius alters monachê to molochinê because of the occurrence of the same word in the following line, and makes a similar alteration wherever the word appears in the text, but it is difficult to see just what is gained.

This "broad cloth" was no doubt used for garments such as the modern Somali "tobe," described by Burton (First Footsteps, p.29): "It is a cotton sheet eight cubits long, and two breadths sewn together. It is worn in many ways; sometimes the right arm is bared; in cold weather the whole person is muffled up, and in summer it is allowed to fall below the waist. Generally it is passed behind the back, rests upon the left shoulder, is carried forward over the breast, surrounds the body, and ends hanging on the left shoulder, where it displays a gaudy silk fringe of red and yellow. This is the man's Tobe. The woman's dress is of similar material, but differently worn; the edges are knotted generally over the right, sometimes over the left shoulder; it is girdled round the waist, below which hangs a lappet, which in cold weather can be brought like a hood over the head. Though highly becoming and picturesque as the Roman toga, the Somali Tobe is by no means the most decorous of dresses; women in the towns often prefer the Arab costume—a short-sleeved robe extending to the knee, and a Futah or loin-cloth underneath."

McCrindle, Ancient India, p.26, notes that India has two distinct species of cotton, Gossypium herbaceum, and Gossypium arboreum or tree-cotton. The former only is made into cloth, while the latter yields a soft and silky texture, which is used for padding cushions, pillows, etc. Pliny says (XIX, 1) that Upper Egypt also produces "a shrub bearing a nut from the inside of which wool is got, white and soft."