LOOM AND SPINDLE—HOOPER. 635 
Figure 6 is from Roth’s “ Natives of Sarawak” and shows the 
spindle attached to a small wheel, actuated by a large one, which 
keeps it regularly rotating. 
With this wheel, as with the weighted spindle, twisting and wind- 
ing on are alternate operations. The manner of using the wheel is 
as follows: The thread is first tied to the spindle, a convenient length 
of fiber being drawn out. The spinner turns the large wheel, which 
causes the spindle to revolve and twist the length of fiber, the latter 
being held in a line with the spindle. When sufficient twist has been 
given to the thread, the spinner adroitly moves the hand holding it 
so that the thread is brought at right angles with the spindle. The 
rotation of the wheel being continued in the same direction, the 
length of spun thread will be quickly wound upon the spindle. These 
alternate movements are repeated until the spindle is conveniently 
filled up with spun thread. 
Spinning wheels working on this principle are widely distributed. 
They are still used in China and Japan and various countries of the 
East; also in Central America, as well as in many remote islands 
where native textile arts still survive. The large spinning wheel, 
still used in parts of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland for spinning wool, 
works in this manner. In Scotland it is called the muckle wheel. 
Spinning with a wheel may have been practiced in Europe in 
ancient times, but there is no evidence to prove it. The thread is the 
same whether spun with or without the help of a wheel. The best 
and finest workable thread ever produced has been spun in India by 
means of the spindle, at Dacca, where the famous Dacca muslins are 
still woven by hand from hand-spun thread. 
The well-known ordinary spinning wheel, sometimes called the 
Saxony or German wheel, has been in use since the sixteenth century. 
It has an ingenious arrangement by means of which the two opera- 
tions of twisting the thread and winding it are done simultaneously. 
As, however, it carries the art of spinning beyond the primitive stage, 
I must leave its description to my next lecture. 
After this rather lengthy but necessary digression we may resume 
the inquiry as to the loom in its ancient and primitive form. 
The presence amongst the textile relics of the lake dwellers of a 
few circular and conical-shaped objects of stone and earthen ware, 
gives a clue to the form of loom on which the prehistoric webs were 
woven. Such objects, pierced with holes and sometimes elaborately 
ornamented, are found in excavations all over Europe. These objects 
are precisely like the weights which the Greeks and Romans and 
other ancient European peoples used for the purpose of stretching 
the threads of warp in their peculiarly constructed upright looms. 
(See fig. 4, pl. 1.) 
