Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/24

 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 Sacont[)a]la of Calidāsa—Valc[)a]las, or Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Ramayana, a noted poem of ancient India—Sheets made from trees—Ctesia's 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—*