266 DICKSON ON THE LINEN AND 



trade. It was carried on partly by ships from the Malabar 

 coast, and partly by caravans arriving at the Euxine Sea, or 

 passing down through Syria to Eyre, or even to Egypt. In 

 the age of Homer we find a Mediterranean trade in iron 

 flourishing in full vigour. When Telemachus inquires of 

 Mento whither he was bound, the goddess in disguise informs 

 the prince that she was conveying iron to Brundusium, where 

 she would take up a return cargo of copper. Doubtless 

 the other goal of this voyage was on the coast of Pontus. 

 The Chalybes, or Chaldeans, were famous for their iron, 

 whether they got it from the higher Asia or forged it them- 

 selves. At all events this tract was one of those by which 

 Asiatic goods found their way into Europe for centuries. In 

 the age of Pliny, iron came from the Seres in company with 

 wearing apparel and skins. But the earliest certain indication 

 of the arrival of cotton in Europe is given by Herodotus. 

 He relates the gift by Amesis, King of Egypt, to the 

 Lacedemonians, of a linen corslet ornamented with gold and 

 cotton, B.C. 556. The embroidery on this corslet, whether 

 executed with the needle or the loom, was a triumph of 

 Egyptian art. Devices of all kinds, more especially of a 

 religious character, were produced by the Egyptian craftsmen, 

 who wrought, according to Julius Pollus, with a warp of linen 

 and a woof of cotton, or with coloured threads, or gold. 

 According to Pliny, whose information as to their operations 

 was most accurate, they were familiar with the use of 

 mordants. "In Egypt," he says, "they produce coloured 

 delineations with marvellous skill, not by applying the colours 

 to the fabric, but drugs which take up the colour. After 

 the drug is applied there is no visible result ; but the cloth, 

 once plunged in the seething bath, is raised again partially 

 coloured. And marvellous it is, when there is but one colour 

 in the vessel, how a succession of hues is given to the robe, 

 produced by the quality of the drug which calls them out ; 

 nor can they be subsequently effaced by washing." 



