Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/465

 likewise the doors are made ." Very recently the same account of these "portable tents of felt" has been given by Julius von Klaproth . Kupffer says of the Caratchai, "Leurs larges manteaux de feutre leur servent en même tems de matelas et de couverture ." The large mantle of felt, here mentioned, is used for the same purpose in the neighboring country of Circassia . One of these mantles now in the possession of Mr. Urquhart was made of black goats'-hair, and had on the outside a long shaggy villus. The Circassians sleep under this mantle by night, and wear it, when required, over their other dress by day. A similar article is thus described by Colonel Leake : the postillions in Phrygia "wear a cloak of white camels'-hair, half an inch thick, and so stiff that the cloak stands without support, when set upright on the ground. There are neither sleeves nor hood; but only holes to pass the hands through, and projections like wings upon the shoulders for the purpose of turning off the rain. It is the manufacture of the country." The Chinese traveller, Chy Fa Hian, who visited India at the end of the fourth century, says, that the people of Chen Chen, a kingdom in a mountainous district situated about the Lake of Lob, wore dresses like those of the Chinese, except that they made use of felt and stuffs (du feutre et des étoffes ).

In conformity with the prevailing use of this manufacture in), and removing the felt in summer." Among the ceremonies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the erection of three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) there is an evident allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt ([Greek: hypodynousi hypotous pilous]).]