Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/402

 Strabo, Panopolis was an ancient seat of the linen manufacture.

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. 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 Déscription de