The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 361
VEgyjite : Antiqiiites ; Planches, tome i. pi. 68. mid the
Plates to Hamilton's jEgi/ptiaca, xxiii.)
In Plate VI. is inserted so much of the painting as relates to
our present subject. Five persons are employed in plucking up
the flax by the roots, viz., four men and one woman. The
woman wears a shift reaching to her ancles, but transj)arent*.
The four men wear shirts which reach to their knees, and are
not transparent. Another man binds the flax into sheaves : a
sixth carries it to a distance : and a seventh separates the seed
from the stem by means of a four-toothed ripple. The back of
the ripple rests on the ground ; its teeth being raised to the
proper elevation by a prop, as shown in the drawing. The man
sets his foot upon the back to keep the instrument firm, and,
taking hold of a bunch of flax near the root, draws it through
the comb. This method is now employed in Europe. At the
left-hand corner of the Plate lies a bundle of flax stript of its
capsules, and underneath the ripple is the heap of seed which
has been separated from the stem.
Evidence equally decisive is presented in the innumerable
mummies, the fabrication of successive ages through a period
of more than two thousand years, which are found in the cata-
combs of Egypt. It is indeed disputed, whether the cloth in
which they are enveloped is linen or cotton.
It was believed to be linen by all writers previous to Rouelle.
More especially, this opinion was advanced by the learned
traveller and antiquary, Professor John Greaves, in his Pyra-
midographia, published A. D. 1646. He speaks of the " linen
shroud " of a mummy, which he opened, and he says, " The
ribbands" {or fillets) " by what I observed, were of hnen, which
was the habit also of the Egyptian priests." He adds, '' of
these ribbands I have seen some so strong and perfect as if
they had been made but yesterday."
Rouelle's dissertation on Mummies is published in the M€moires
de VAcademic R. des Sciences for the year 1750. He
there asserts {-p. 150), that the cloth of every mummy which
* This circumstance is adapted to illustrate the mention of " transparent gar-
ments" in Isaiah iii. 23. Lowth's Translation.
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