Fibres 



313 



tombs of Egypt and constant references to the same material in the earliest books of the 

 Bible are well known to everyone. How and when mankind first became aware of the 

 possibilities of vegetable fibres as materials for clothing it is not easyto say, but it is not 

 improbable that he first employed the fibres to supply his need for string and cordage, 

 especially in his hunting expeditions, and that gradually the idea of weaving the strings to 

 form a fabric occurred to him. The apparatus employed must have been of extreme simplicity 

 and the finished product crude according to modern ideas ; but that thousands of years ago 

 textiles of superlative qual- 

 ity, rivalling anything that 

 can be produced to-day, 

 were manufactured by East- 

 ern races is a matter of 

 history and observation. 



The fibres employed at 

 the present day by both 

 civilised and uncivilised peo- 

 ples are as numerous as the 

 uses to which they are put, 

 and in classifying them for 

 purposes of description, there 

 is choice of several alterna- 

 tives. To the practical man, 

 however, classifications, al- 

 though of considerable inte- 

 rest, are of little value. He 

 is inclined to look upon all 

 fibres as suitable for textiles, 

 sacking, ropes, cordage, mat- 

 ting, packing, and numerous 

 -other purposes. In this ar- 

 ticle it is proposed to deal 

 with • the fibres from this 

 point of view. It should be 

 realised, however, that an 

 absolute economic classifica- 

 tion of uses with relation to 

 species is impossible, since 

 the same fibre may be used 

 in several ways. Manila 

 hemp, for instance, is chiefly 

 used for rope-making, but old manila is made into paper ; cotton is used for textiles, but also, 

 .for cordage, upholstery, and paper. In the space at our disposal it is quite impossible to 

 describe all the fibres met with in commerce, but the most important have been dealt witfr. 

 Cotton is of such great importance as to demand treatment in a separate article {q.v.). 



•*•- il iirt»i linl—MBM 



From Stereograph Copyright, Underwood & Underwood., London and NewjYprk^ 

 NATIVES MAKING MATTING, MONTENEY, MEXICO 





FABRIC FIBRES 



Flax 



Flax was one of the earliest plants cultivated for fibre, and from the times of the 

 first authentic record until the advent of cheaper Cotton during the last century it was. 

 more extensively used than any other. The flax-plant, Linum usitatissimum, probably 

 -originated in Western Asia, but at the present day it is extensively cultivated in northern and 



