Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/398

 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 ; the corresponding word in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic versions is [Greek: Linon], 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.