Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/51

 In India women of all castes prepare the cotton thread for the weaver, spinning it on a piece of wire, or a very thin rod of polished iron with a ball of clay at one end; this they turn round with the left hand, and supply the cotton with the right; the thread is then wound upon a stick or pole, and sold to the merchants or weavers; for the coarser thread the women make use of a wheel very similar to that of the Irish spinster, though upon a smaller construction. (For further information on the manufactures of India, their present state, &c., see Part III.)

The Reverend Mr. C. Forster of Great Britain, has lately published a very curious work on Arabia, being the result of many years' untiring research in that part of the world; from which we learn the very interesting fact, that the ancient Arabians were skilled in the manufacture of silken textures, at as remote a period as within 500 years of the flood!

Mr. Forster has, it appears, succeeded in deciphering many very remarkable inscriptions found on some ancient monuments near Adon on the coast of Hadramant. These records, it is said, restore to the world its earliest written language, and carry us back to the time of Jacob, and within 500 years of the flood.

The inscriptions are in three parts. The longest is of ten lines, engraved on a smooth piece of rock forming one side of the terrace at Hisn Ghorab. Then there are three short lines, found on a small detached rock on the summit of the little hill. There are also two lines found near the inscriptions, lower down the terrace. They all relate to one transaction, an incident in Adite history. The tribe of Ad, according to Mr. Sale, were descended from Ad the son of Aws or Uz, the son of Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah. The event recorded is the rout and entire destruction of the sons of Ac, an Arab tribe, by the Aws or tribe of Ad, whom they invaded. In Mr. Forster's book fac similes are given of the inscription; the Aditie and the Hamyaritie alphabet; and a glossary containing every word in them, its derivation, and its explanation; with notes of copious illustration upon every point which they involve. The first inscription of ten lines is thus translated: