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No. LXXIX.—WEAVING. 
By JOHN EVANS, Esq., F.R.S. 
Weaving, like spinning, dates back to a very early period; 
and the tissues found in the ancient Swiss Lake-dwellings are 
of more than one kind. The looms used for weaving vary con¬ 
siderably ; but the simplest form of complete loom may be thus 
described:—There is a roll, or “yarn-beam,” on which the 
“warp” of unwoven thread is wound or “beamed,” and another 
roll, or “ cloth-beam,” on which the woven tissue is received. 
The “warp,” or the threads passing from one roll to the other 
are kept in a state of tension, and each thread passes through 
an eyelet-hole in a vertical cord or “ heddle.” The alternate 
heddles are attached to two separate frames, so that one set of 
alternate threads in the loom can be drawn away from the 
other, either upwards or downwards, and leave a space or “shed ” 
between the two sets of threads, through which a shuttle can 
be thrown with the weft or transverse thread. This is then 
beaten up against the thread last thrown in, by means of a 
“reed,” or grating, through the intervals in which the warp- 
threads pass, and which is fixed in a swinging “ batten ” or 
“ lay,” so as to give weight to the blow. The two sets of warp- 
threads are of course alternately raised and depressed between 
each throw of the shuttle, and this is usually done by means of 
treadles. 
For weaving patterns, several sets of heddles are employed. 
The patterns may be either merely woven, as in diaper, or pro¬ 
duced by coloured threads being thrown in, as in figured rib¬ 
bons. In a still simpler form of loom, such as that in use in 
India, the reed and batten are dispensed with, a long shuttle 
like a netting-mesh being used, which first draws the weft into 
its place, and is then used to beat it up. In other cases, the 
threads of the warp are stretched in a frame, sometimes by means 
of weights, and the weft inserted by hand and beaten up with 
a sort of comb. Sometimes the surface of the tissue is hairy or 
piled like velvet, from short threads being woven in. 
Articles closely resembling woven fabrics are in some in¬ 
stances made by the simple process of plaiting, like our ordinary 
rush-matting. Some baskets also present the same texture as 
