BOOK XIX. III. 18-1V. 21 



inen. Then it is polished in the thread a second time, 

 after beine; soaked in water and repeatedly beaten 

 out against a stone, and it is woven into a fabric and 

 then ao^ain beaten with clubs, as it is ahvays better 

 for rousfh treatment. 



IV. Also a hnen has now been invented tliat is in- incombus- 

 combustible. It is called ' Hve ' hnen, and I have seen otherlinens. 

 napkins made of it glowing on the hearth at banquets 

 and burnt more brilUantly clean by the fire than 

 they could be by being waslied in water. This 

 hnen is used for making shrouds for royalty which 

 keep the ashes of the corpse separate from the rest of 

 the pyre. The plant " grows in the deserts and sun- 

 scorched regions of India where no rain falls, the 

 haunts of deadly snakes, and it is habituated to hving 

 in burning heat ; it is rarely found, and is difficult to 

 weave into cloth because of its shortness ; its colour is 

 normallv red but turns white by the action of fire. 

 When any of it is found, it i-ivals the prices of excep- 

 tionally fine pearls. The Greek name for it is 

 ashestinon,^ derived from its pecuhar property. 

 Anaxihius states that if this hnen is wrapped round a 

 tree it can be felled \Aithout the blows being heard, 

 as it deadens their sound. Consecjuentlv this kind of 

 linen holds the highest rank in the whole of the 

 workl. The next place belongs to a fabric made of 

 fine flax grown in the neighbourhood of EHs in Achaia, 

 and chiefly used for women's finery ; I find that it 

 formerly changed hands at the price of gold, four 

 denarii for one twenty-fourth of an ounce. The nap 

 of Hnen cloths, principally that obtained from the 

 sails of sea-going ships, is much used as a inedi- 

 cine, and its ash has the efficacy of raetal dross. 



" It ia really the mineral aabestos. * ' Tnextin^iiiishable.' 



433 



