The nineteenth Booke of 
called Orchomenium; it commeth froma certainefennie reed growing in matifhes, Imeane G © 
the tender muchets or chats thereof. batt <o® otiisval irterieeyase 
In Afiathey havea certaine kind of brobme, the flalke and braunches whereof they water 
and leavein fteepe ten daies togither, and thereof make thread; pafling good for to be ewi- 
fted and knit into fither-nets, for they will abide the water very well, and endure without rotting, 
The Aithiopians and Indians both, finda ftuffe in manner of Line or cotton-in fome apples * 
or fuch like fruit: and the Arabians meet with the like in gourds, growing asl have beforefaid 
“upon trees. in Lilin too sdatieny alsapers il cee 8 th eds edtiawenoue 
: To come againe to our countrey Line or Flaxwithin Italy, we goe by two fignes,-and know 
thereby when itis ripe and readie to be gathered;to wit, citherbythefwelling of thefeed, or the 
colour of the plant it {elfe, leafe and ftalkeenclining to yellow. Then is it plucked upandbound 
into certaine bunches asmuch as handfuls which done, they are hung up to-:drie inthe fun one 
day,with their heeles or roots upward: the morrow after;they beturned quitecontrarie, andfo 
for five daies after they hang with the forefaid roots downward;thatthe {eed may fall down from 
their heads into the mids of every bunch or bundle aforefaid: forthe feed thereof is medicina- 
ble and of effe€tuall operation in Phyficke : yea'and the rurall peafants in Lombardie and Pies 
mont beyond the Po, ule to make theteof a good countrey meat of a moft {weer and pleafant 
taft: but nowfor this good while, that kind of meator breadismade onely forto be employed 
in their facrificesto the gods. Then after wheat harveft, theftems or ftalkes thereof are laid in 
fome water that is warme with the Suns heat, charged with {tones or other weights thereupon, 
thatthey may be borne downe and finketo thebotome: forthereis not athing befideslighter -] 
than Line,or loveth better tofwim. When they be fufficiently watered (whichyou {hall knowby 
the skin or rind thereof if itbe loofeand readieto depart from the towie fubftance of the ftem) 
then muft the forefaid javels or {talks be hung outa fecond time to be dried inthe fim; with their 
heads and heeles one while up and another while downe,as before. After they be well dried, 
they are to be beaten and punned in a greatftone mortar, or upona ftone floore,with an burden 
mallet or tow-beetle made for the purpofe. Nowthat part thereof which 1s utmoft and next to 
the pill or rind,is called Tow or Hurds, and itisthe worft of the Line or Flax, good for little or 
nothing but to make lampe-match or candle-wicke: and yet the fame muft bee better kembed, 
with hetchell teeth of yron, untill it bee cleanfed from all the groffebarke and rind among. As 
for the good Flax indeed, which isthe teere or marrowas it were within of the Line, therebee 4g 
diverfe and {uridrie forts and degrees of it, diftin&t according either.to the whitenefle or foftnefle 
thereof. And the {pinning of this fine Flax (I may tell you) isfo cleane a worke, that it will be- 
come aman ywis to lay his fingers to it. But what thall bee done with all the hard refufe, the long 
buns of the ftalkes , the {hort {huds or fhives which areeitherdriven from the reft in the knocs 
king, or parted in the hetchelling 2 marry they will ferve very wellto heat ovens and furnaces, 
or to maintaine fire under kills and leads, Andhere there is a prettie cunning and skill inthe 
hetchelling and difpenfing of Flax to the proofe; for if the Line bee good and well ordered, 
every fiftie pounds of it in bunches or bundles aforefaid, mutt yeeld fitceene ordinarily of tri- 
edand carded Flax. Moreover,when it is {pun into thread, it muft be polifhed againe and white- 
ned in water, with much punning and knocking upon a ftone togither with the water. Andyet 7 
there isno end, for afterit is woven to cloath, 1t ought to bee followed and beaten athird time 
with good club-headed cudgels: in fuch fort, as the more injurie that is done ‘unto it, the ber- 
ter it Is. ; ie" 
Purthermore,there is a kind of Line found out which will not confiume in the fire : this in Ita. 
lie they call Quicke-line: and I my felfe have feen table-cloaths, towels,and napkins therof,which 
being taken foule from the bourd ata greatfeaft, have been eaftinto the fire,and there they bur- 
ned before our face upon the hearth ; by which meanesthey became better fcoured,and looked 
fairer and brightera hundred times, than if they had been rinfed and wathed in water; and yet 
no part of their fubftance, but the filth only, wasburntaway. Attheroyall obfequies and funerals 
of KK. the manner was to wind and lap the corps within a fheet of this cloth, of purpofe tofe- M — 
parate the cinders comming of the bodie, from other afhes [ of the {weet wood that was burnt 
> therewith.] This manner of Line groweth in the deferts of India,where no rain falls, where the 
~ éountrey is all parched and burnt with the Sunne, among the fell dragons and hideous fer- 
pents. Thusitis enured there to live burning; which is the reafon,that ever after it will — 
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te 
