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flattened crown, the projecting occiput, and the great length in its anteroposterior diameter. In a Guanche mummy in the museum of Cambridge, each of the toes and fingers is bound separately by a strip of leather, the same as we find in the higher class of Egyptians. Mr. Marsden has given a table of affinities between the Berber or Numidian, and the Guanche tongues, which in many respects is synonymous with that of the Tuariks near Egypt, as shown by the vocabulary of Mr. Norneman.

On the whole, there seem to be many points of resemblance between the Guanches of the Canaries, and one of the races of the ancient Egyptians. Since the first edition of this work appeared, I had an opportunity of examining some Guanche remains at Paris. One of these, the skull of a full-grown male, discovered by Mons. Bertelot at St. Tesedro, on the road leading to Laguna, in Teneriffe, presented the following peculiarities: The points of sustentation were the last molar teeth and the posterior margin of the foramen magnum. It was characterised by its great length from before, backwards, or in the antero-posterior diameter, not unlike the form of skull found in the oldest monuments in Ireland-the occipital bone projecting more than ordinarily on the side view; it presented a good oval, with rather a high, marked forehead, and prominent frontal sinuses, similar to those I have already described in the heads in this country. There was some lateral projection of the cheek-bones, and the orbits were rather square, in this respect approaching the Mongolian or Turanian races. The nasal bones were remarkably strong and projecting, so that this race must have had very large prominent noses. The sphenoid bone articulated with the parietal by a suture three-quarters of an inch long. The sutures generally were well marked, and the skull was rather thick and dense in structure.

In the skeleton of a small female, in the collection of the Jardin du Roi, the head possessed similar characters; and the pelvis, which was roomy and well-formed, had its greatest diameter in the antero-posterior direction.

D. PAGE 135.

LANCELETS.

As I obtained several of these animals during our stay at Algiers, I may be permitted to offer some observations on them. There were two descriptions the first and most common, about an inch and a half long-the Amphioxus Lanceolatus of Yarrell; and the Limax of Pallas, who first noticed it. The body is diaphanous, and enclosed in a thin flexible envelope, not circular, but preserving a five, and in some instances a seven-sided figure.

This in every respect resembles the calamus or pen of some of

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the Mollusca, especially that in the common cuttle-fish. These little animals had a power of attaching themselves to each other in a remarkable manner, sometimes clustering together, and at others, forming a string six or eight inches long; the whole mass seemed to swim in unison, and with great rapidity, going round the vessel with a snake-like form and motion. They adhered to one another by their flat sides-when in line, the head of one coming up about one-third on the body of the one before it; no doubt those sides are of use in forming this attachment. The other variety was thinner, and from two and a half to three inches long, having a large dorsal fin, which moved continually in an extraordinary manner, describing a circle by rotating upon its narrow base. The mouth was a circular disk, surrounded by ciliæ that continued in constant motion. When put into a tumbler of water, it moved round the glass, and although no eyes were perceptible, it carefully avoided the finger, or any substance put in its way, stopping suddenly, or turning aside from it. Both these animals when taken out of the water kept up a strong pulsatory motion for some time. The small one (the Amphioxus Lanceolatus) by this means pumped out of its interior a quantity of air and water; and they could be seen coming to the surface to inhale, and a globule of air was observed floating through the internal cavity. In the larger species the internal tube was perfectly distinct, and of a blue colour. When put into spirits and water it died almost immediately, and turned opaque. A number of circular bands also appeared on it. Mr. Yarrell, in his beautiful work on British fishes, has placed this singular little animal among the finny tribe. With all due deference to that learned naturalist, I would suggest the following reasons for it belonging to the mollusca :-The absence of vertebral column, the transparency, and the thin flexible skeleton of the animal being external.

E. PAGE 138.

REMARKS ON THE LINEN OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

THE great antiquity of the manufacture of linen, and the numerous uses to which it has been applied by the ancients and moderns, gives this subject a degree of interest, almost greater, perhaps, than any other connected with the arts and manufactures. This is increased by the difference of opinion that exists at present amongst professed antiquaries: those of the continent, in many cases, maintaining that all the specimens of woven fabrics found by them in Egypt, or brought home from that country, excepting those made of silk and wool, were composed of cotton; while the British antiquaries, with few exceptions, maintain, that all similar articles

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found by them in Egypt, when examined by a microscope of sufficient power, are evidently made of flax.

My friend, Mr. Edward Clibborn, to whom I am indebted for the following remarks, and who has been connected with the Irish linen trade, has carefully examined the specimens that I brought home, as well as numerous others lately introduced by travellers into this country. He entertains the opinion, that though he has not found a single specimen of cotton in many hundred specimens of mummy cloths, and other woven fabrics from Egypt, yet he thinks it more than probable, that some specimens of cotton have found their way from that country to the continent of Europe. "The probability is decidedly in favour of the Egyptians having had this substance, which they may have, with silk, obtained from India; or the plant, or some varieties of it, may have been cultivated in Egypt or Arabia, or other neighbouring countries, or the cotton may have been imported in a raw or manufactured state into Egypt. Yet there appear to be several reasons against our admitting the assertion that the Egyptians had cotton up to a certain period, for we find fabrics of flax so very fine, and so very like Indian muslin, we are led to infer, that they would not have wasted flax, and the enormous labour necessary to bring it to this degree of fineness, if they had had cotton. It may, however, be urged, that these fabrics may have been made in imitation of Indian cotton goods* which they imported; in this case, the inference would be against the Egyptians having the cotton-plant at a very early period, but the chances would be in favour of their introducing it in the course of time, and also it would be in favour of our finding some specimens of cotton in their tombs, &c. In May, 1838, when discussing the subject of the material of the Egyptian mummy-bandages, a gentleman from Manchester present, stated that he actually manufactured a peculiar kind of calico, which was readily sold in Egypt, and there applied to the purpose of mummy-bandages by certain Arabs, &c. who made a trade of manufacturing mummies; now, it is possible that some of this American cotton, manufactured in Manchester, and sold in Egypt, may have been the cause of the difference of opinion between our British and continental antiquarians. The specimens were obtained by different travellers, and

"The cotton-plant may have been introduced into Egypt long after cotton in the manufactured and raw states had been imported as articles of merchandise from India; and though it may have been much used in clothing the living, as a substitute for linen, yet the mummymakers, from some peculiar notions, may have avoided its use altogether in the preparation of mummies. The specimens in the collection referred to were, in some instances, worn out rags, while in others, the cloth was perfectly good and new, and had never been washed or worn; and though in many cases it appeared to the eye and touch to be cotton, yet, when examined by the microscope, it was in every instance found that the fibre of the material was the same, and so like that of modern flax, no doubt was entertained of their identity. On the other hand, the fibre of cotton had quite a different appearance. It is a curious fact, not noticed by writers on Egyptian antiquities, that the flax and cotton plants are not believed to be natives of Egypt, and if so, that their manufacture in that country is consequently an exotic art."

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found frequently under different circumstances. They may be arranged under the following denominations-the material in every instance is flax :

"1. Simple or single thread, called yarn, used in sewing, and also as the material of the woven fabrics.

"2. Doubled and twisted yarn, used for thread. In one specimen the warp is composed of this thread. This piece appears to have been very broad, above six feet, and how much more cannot now be told. The rolling of the edge and overcasting to prevent ravelling, is a curious specimen of needle-work. The quality is very coarse. It appears to have been used for a sheet, and came to this country about twenty years since. "3. Fabrics made of (No. 1) simple yarn, of equal and different degrees of fineness, which may be divided into two classes; those which have nearly an equal number of threads in the same measured surface of warp and weft; and,

"4. Those which have a considerable difference in the numbers of the threads, the difference being always in favour of the warp, in a superficial inch, of which we always find more threads than in one of the weft.

"This difference is so great in some specimens, that the threads of the weft are completely hid by the others, which gives the linen manufactured on this principle, a very silky or shining surface like satin.

"There are other considerations which lead to the supposition that this is the kind of linen known by the epithet ww, applied to the Egyptian linen of the superior kind, which this certainly is, for it contains more flax yarn than the other kind. It must have been the more valuable, on account of the great quantity of labour consumed in its manufacture.

"There are specimens of this linen which are of different degrees of fineness, varying from the finest duck to the coarsest sail-cloth. It is quite opaque, that is, it cannot be seen through; it is stiff, like the Egyptian dresses represented in ancient pictures, and was probably used for clothing men, when the form of the person underneath was not intended to be seen. On the contrary, the open linen, in which the threads of both warp and weft appeared, was probably used by women when the person was exhibited. Linen of this kind was made of different degrees of fineness and openness, varying from the coarsest sacking and straining canvas, the material used for working worsted patterns on, to the finest cambric, and a fabric which comes very near silk crape in appearance, and used probably for ladies' dresses. This article must have been very dear, on account of the extreme fineness of the threads. It was so very transparent it might have been used for veils and other articles of female attire, according to the paintings found on the sides of the tombs.

"There are several specimens of the open linen, embroidered with a double-threaded worsted, exactly like modern Berlin worsted. One of these is interesting. The pattern represents roses, with four petals, shaped like hearts, arranged in lozenges composed of buds of different colours, which cross the linen obliquely, and thus present the appearance of an

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embroidered net of many colours. There is another specimen in which we have a double pyramid in the centre of the lozenges, and the diagonal lines forming the pattern, like the centre pieces, made of little squares. In this pattern there are only green and orange worsteds-in the former we have three kinds of red, two blues, a white, and a yellow. In both cases the linen ground appears to have been died nankeen colour.

"One specimen is embroidered with a pattern like a shell, which is of different colours. The helix or whirl is in purple worsted; and, as the famous colour of Hellas, or the Tyrian dye, was most probably found in this part of the shell, the chances are in favour of the artist using it, for the purpose of making the spiral, from an ordinary association of ideas, or, as Square would have said, a certain fitness or propriety in devoting the colour to that part of an artificial shell, in which it exists in the natural shell.

"Worsted of the same colour, which is decidedly purple, was found, not worked in, as was the case in the specimen already mentioned, but actually wove into the piece, and the pattern of the weaving changed, so that the colour of the thread is boldly and completely thrown out, forming a triple stripe, through which the weft cannot be seen. This pattern strongly resembles some representations of Persepolitan dresses, and is not very unlike some Arabic manufactures, but is much superior to any thing now made in the East. The quality of this piece of linen, like that on which the shell pattern is worked, is so very even both in the number of the threads of warp and weft, in the squareness of the work, and so different from the majority of the other specimens, a suspicion may be entertained that they are not Egyptian, but Asiatic, probably Persian; for the Egyptian perpendicular looms, represented in Wilkinson's and Rossellini's works, could not be used to weave an article of this kind, though they are exactly calculated to make a fabric with a very loose warp like the duck, &c. and with a comparatively tight weft. In Mexico and Peru* we find a loom of this kind still in use, and the article manufactured exactly similar to the Egyptian duck. When the warp and weft are of equal or nearly equal tightness, the piece in the loom must be horizontal, and the thread of the weft thrown by a shuttle, and pressed into its place by a reed or combtwo processes which the Egyptians do not appear to have known or practised, though probably common in Asia, where linen and its manufacture appear to have commenced; a supposition strengthened by the fact that flax is still found growing native in the mountain defiles of Mongolia, where it is, with hemp, manufactured into linen and other articles, as mats, ropes, &c.

* I witnessed this form of loom at work both in Barbary and Syria, particularly in Jerusalem, differing from the Egyptian only in the greater brea ith of the piece, and in being workel by one person instead of two.

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