Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/421

 that the flax for the same purpose should be either from those countries, or from Egypt or Sardes. Callimachus (Frag. 265.) mentions the flax of Colchis under the name of "the Colchian halm." Strabo (l. xi. § 17. vol. iv. p. 402. Tschuz.) testifies to the celebrity of Colchis for the growth and manufacture of flax, and says, that the linen of this country was exported to distant places.

It seems still to maintain its ancient pre-eminence: Larcher refers to Chardin (tom. i. p. 115.), as saying, that the Prince of Mingrelia, a part of the ancient Colchis, paid in his time an annual tribute of linen to the Turks.

That flax was extensively cultivated in Babylonia appears from the testimony of Herodotus, who says (i. 195.), that the Babylonians wore a linen shirt reaching to the feet; over that a woollen shirt; and over that a white shawl. Strabo (l. xvi. cap. 1. p. 739. ed. Casaub.) shows where these linen shirts were chiefly made; for he informs us that Borsippa, a city of Babylonia, sacred to Apollo and Diana, was a great place for the manufacture of linen.

The cultivation of flax in the region of the Euphrates may also be inferred from the use of the linen thorax, as attested by Xenophon (Cyropedia, vi. 4. 2.).

From Joshua ii. 6. we have evidence, that flax was cultivated in Palestine near the Jordan. Rahab concealed the two Hebrew spies (according to the common English version) "with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof." According to the Septuagint translation, "the stalks of flax" were not merely "laid in order," but "stacked." Josephus says, she was drying the bundles. The Chaldee Paraphrast Onkelos also uses the expression, bundles of flax. Agreeably to these explanations, the history must be understood as implying, that the stalks of flax, tied into bundles, as represented in the painting at El Kab, were stacked, probably cross-*ways, upon the flat roof of Ahab's house, so as to allow the wind to blow through and dry them.

Other passages, referring to the use of flax for weaving in