ragments in the Egyptian Collection,
University College, London, it would appear to have been originally
more than a meter (three feet) long. It may have been used as a sort
of a "raddle," a tool used for assisting to keep the warp threads in
position when being beamed, _i.e._ put on to the loom. At Bankfield we
have an old local hand loom the warp beam of which is provided with a
series of holes in which pegs were once inserted to keep the coloured
warp threads in position.

[Illustration: Fig. 24.

1/2 size of end of Fig. 24.

1/2 size section of Fig. 24.

A long piece of perforated wood described by Prof. Flinders Petrie,
_Kahun_, p. 29, as a Weaver's Beam for making rush mats. Length 96.8
cm. x 8.0 x 3.0 (3 ft. 1-1/4 in. x 3-1/4 in. x 1-3/16 in.) From
Manchester Museum.]

A piece of frame, Fig. 24, has been described as a "weaver's beam" for
making rush mats like the modern _hasira_. It is provided with 28
holes which are arranged about 27 to 40 mm. apart. The holes may have
been more or less circular originally, and worn into present shape by
threads, etc., and look more irregular inside than they really are, as
the inside surface of the holes is fairly smooth; the holes are
slightly larger, on an average about 4 mm., on the face shown than on
the other face. Prof. Flinders Petrie seems to think it resembles the
frame on which the modern Egyptian mat is made.

We now come to the two reeds in the Museum of the Liverpool Institute
of Archaeology, which Dr. John Garstang discovered near Abu Kirkas,
tomb No. 693, of which he tells us: "They are 27 and 29 inches (68.6
and 73.7 cm.) in length respectively, and are precisely similar in
general form. They are constructed on a system of nineteen or twenty
reeds to the inch, and they may be seen to be exactly similar to the
modern reed taken from a loom in the village of Abu Kirkas. It is not
possible, unfortunately, to assign a precise date to these objects.
They were found in a tomb which contained no other remains; this tomb
was surrounded by others, all of them likewise very much disturbed,
but equally characteristic of the general nature of the Middle Empire
tombs, and containing nothing but Middle Empire objects. Since, in
general, few tombs of this site show signs of intrusive burial of a
later age, there is no reason to suppose that these objects are of any
date later than the XII. Dynasty (_The Burial Customs of Ancient
Egypt_, London, 1907, pp. 134-136)."