134 IPLINY'S KATUEAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



passed ilirougli a man's ring, running ropes and all, a single 

 individual being able to carry an amount of nets sufficient to 

 environ a whole forest — a thing which we know to have been 

 done not long ago by Julius Lupus, who died prefect of Egypt. 

 This, however, is nothing very surprising, but it really is quite 

 wonderful that each of the cords was composed of no less 

 than one hundred and fifty threads. Those, no doubt, will be 

 astonished at this, who are not aware that there is preserved 

 in the Temple of Minerva, at Lindus, in the Isle of Ehodes, 

 the cuirass of a former king of Egypt, Amasis by name, each 

 thread employed in the texture of which is composed of three 

 hundred and sixty-five other threads. Mucianus, who was 

 three times consul, informs us that he saw this curiosity very 

 recently, though there was but little then remaining of it, in 

 consequence of the injury it had experienced at the hands of 

 various persons who had tried to verify the fact. Italj^, too, 

 holds the flax of the Peligni in high esteem, though it is only 

 employed by fullers ; there is no kind known that is whiter 

 than this, or which bears a closer resemblance to wool. That 

 grown by the Cadurci^^ is held in high estimation for making 

 mattresses ;^^ which, as well as flock,^^ are an invention for which 

 we are indebted to the Gauls : the ancient usage of Italy is 

 still kept in remembrance in the word " stramentum,"^^ the 

 name given by us to beds stuffed with straw. 



The flax of Egypt, though the least strong^^ of all as a tissue, 

 is that from which the greatest profits are derived. There are 

 four varieties of it, the Tanitic, the Pelusiac, the Butic, and 

 the Tentyiitic — so called from the various districts in which 

 they are respectively grown. The upper part of Egypt, in 

 the vicinity of Arabia, produces a shrub, known by some as 

 *' gossypium,"" but by most persons as ** xylon;" hence the 



32 See B. iv. c. 33. Now Querci, the chief town of which is Cahors. 



33 "Culcitse." 34 ''Toraenta." 



33 Exactly corresponding to our "paillasse," a ''bed of straw." 



36 This is doubtful, though at the same time it is a well-known fact that 

 the Egyptian flax grows to the greatest size. Hasselquist speaks of it 

 attaining a height of fifteen feet. 



37 Our cotton, the Gossypium arboreum of Linn«us. See B. xii. c. 21. 

 The terms xylon^ bj/ssus, and gossypmm, must be regarded as synonymous, 

 being applied sometimes to the plant, sometimes to the raw cotton, and 

 sometimes to the tissues made from it. Gossypium was probably the bar- 

 barous name of the cotton tree, and byssiis perhaps a corruption of its 

 Hebrew name. 



