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

SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 19
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, (fcc, 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 silkeji 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
Hues, 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 in-
cident 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, tlie son of Noah. The event re-
corded 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 in-
volve. The first inscription of ten lines is thus translated :
;