242 
Che Hilton Carpet Andustrp. 
By Pagpor Yates. 
[Read at the Wilton Meeting, 1891.] 
Th ancient character of the Wilton carpet industry doubtless 
asia prompted the selection by Mr. Medlicott of the present 
subject as one suitable for an Archeological Meeting ; otherwise it 
would be difficult to reconcile a paper on modern industrial enterprise 
with those subjects connected with the remote past which are nor- 
mally within the province of archeology. It may be of interest 
first to give a brief sketch of the history of textile weaving forming 
the elementary stage to the heavier fabrics now the products of 
carpet looms. The use of the spindle and shuttle was evidently 
known to mankind in ages of which no records remain, for we find 
that in the time of Joseph, 1700 B.C., the Egyptians knew the art 
of weaving fine linen, while the cerements in which mummies were 
encased in the time of the early Pharaohs show that the industry had 
been brought to a wonderful state of perfection perhaps two thousand 
years before Jacob made the coat of many colours that was the cause 
at once of his youngest son’s misfortunes and prosperity. Paintings 
representing the flax plant have been found on the walls of the 
sepulchres at Beni-Hassan and elsewhere in Upper Egypt, as well 
as illustrations of a rude kind of loom. The transition from the use 
of linen for clothing (and there is reason to believe it was the only 
clothing known to the Egyptians until a date scarcely anterior to 
the Christian era) to that of decoration was simple, and with the 
demand for increased luxury the making of tapestries, rugs, and, 
finally carpets, followed as a matter of course. It is stated that the 
1The Society is indebted to Mr. Pardoe Yates for the gift of the plate accom- 
panying his paper. 
