[ 91 ] 



starting point for evidence and precedent of the verity of the 

 subject on which be spoke, that be feared if he did otherwise be 

 might be thought out of fashion, presumptuous, and lacking in 

 reverence for the wisdom of the past. He would, therefore, refer 

 back to the earliest of time-servers and workers as a fit reference 

 for a textile fibrous lecture. He found in an edition of the Bible 

 — " Translated according to the ' Ebrew and Greeke,' and conferred 

 with the best translations in divers languages, with most profitable 

 Annotations upon all hard places, and other things of great im- 

 portance " (Barker, Printer to the Queen, 1599—276 years ago— 

 Genesis chap, iii., v. 7,) — it is written, " Then the eyes of them both 

 wei'e opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed figge 

 tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches." This was, he 

 thought, about the first intimation on record of the utilization of 

 vegetable fibres. This edition was known amongst old bookworms 

 as the " Breeches Bible." So much by the way of preface to the 

 paper, which, by request, he was about to read on the anniversary- 

 day of the first London daily paper, 1702. On the specimens of 

 vegetable textile fibrous materials now before them — which 

 attracted so much attention at the recent soii'ee of the society, 

 he should try to make the subject to which he had devoted years 

 of attention, much money, and in which he had foiind good instruc- 

 tion and delight, agreeable to them in so far as the limited time at 

 command for i^reparation and his feeble talents would permit his 

 giving them some details respecting their origin, from the rude to 

 the elaborate product of nature, and he might add, art ; shewing 

 their value and advantage to commerce, manufactui'es, and man- 

 kind — developing a new industry — and which had become a som'ce 

 of wealth as well as a benefit to the whole human family. 



RHEA, OR KAMIE. 



What was it ? A textile fibrous plant, within the last few 

 years introduced anew from British India to the European world, 

 and now grown extensively in the southern and western Pacific 

 States of America. The samples before them showed the whole 

 process progressively. — 1. From the root of the plant. 2. Stalk or 

 stem. 3. The epidermis and fibre freed of the wood, gum, resinous, 

 and glutinous matter. 4. The fibre separated and left in its purity 

 and strength. Finally — bleached, carded, roved, spun into thi-ead 



