BOOK XIX. II. 12-15 



This may surprise people who do not know that in 

 a breastplate that belongcd to a forraer king of 

 Egypt named Amasis, preserved in the temple of 

 Minerva at Lindus on the island of Rhodes, eaeh 

 thread consisted of 365 separate threads, a fact 

 which Mucianus. who held the consulship three times 

 quite latelv, stated that he had proved to be true by 

 investigation, adding that only small remnants of the 

 breastplate now survive owing to the damage done 

 by persons examining this quaUty. Italy also values 

 the Pelignian flax as well, but only in its employment 

 by fullers — no flax is more brilHantly white or more 

 closely resembles wool ; and similarly the flax grown 

 at Cahors has a special reputation for mattresses : this 

 use of it is an invention of the provinces of Gaul, as 

 hkewise is flock. As for Italy, the custom even now 

 survives in the word " used for bedding. Egyptian Egyptian 

 flax is not at all strong, but it sells at a very good-^""^- 

 price. There are four kinds in that country, Tanitic, 

 Pehisiac, Butic and Tentyritic, named from the 

 districts where they grow. The upper part of Egypt, 

 lying in the direclion of Arabia, grows a bush which 

 some people call cotton, but more often it is called 

 by a Greek work meaning ' wood ' : hence the name 

 xylina given to hnens made of it. It is a small shrub. 

 and from it hangs a fruit resembhng a bearded nut, 

 with an inner silky flbre froni tlie down of which 

 thread is spun. No kinds of thread are more bril- 

 Hantly white or make a smoother fabric than this. 

 (iarments made of it are very popular with the priests 

 of Egypt. A fourth kind is called othoninum ; it is 

 made from a sort of reed growing in marshes, but 

 only from its tuft. Asia makes a thread out of 

 broom, of which specially durable fishing-nets are 



429 



