Yates as having the appearance
of a flat ribbon, with the edges thickened like a hem.

[132] This rough bark is probably the reason that it
absorbs colour into its substance (perhaps under the
scales); and it may also account for its being capable
of felting.

[133] It may be laid down as a fundamental rule in
technical style, that the product shall preserve the
peculiar characteristics of the raw material.
Unfortunately, the artist is often ignorant of the
qualities of the fabric for which he is designing, and
the workman who has to carry it out is a mechanic, in
these days, instead of a craftsman.

[134] Molochinus, or malva silvestris (wild hemp),
Yates, pp. 292-317, is sometimes spoken of as a mallow,
sometimes as a nettle. In the Vocabulary of Papias (A.D.
1050) it is said that the cloth called molocina is made
from thread of mallow, and used for dress in Egypt.
Garments of molochinus were brought from India,
according to the Periplus (see Pliny, 146, 166, 170,
171). It was seldom used by the ancients, but both
Greeks and Romans made it serve for mats and ropes. The
Thracians wove of it garments and sheets. It is not
named in the Scriptures.

[135] See Gibbs' "British Honduras."

[136] Spartum was a rush. Pliny says it was used for the
rigging of ships.

[137] The bark of trees such as the Hybiscus Tiliaceus,
and that of the Birch (see Yates, p. 305-6). Birch bark
was embroidered, till latterly, by the Indian women in
North America with porcupines' quills. Pigafetta says
(writing in the sixteenth century) that in the kingdom
of Congo many different kinds of stuff were manufactured
from the palm-tree fibre. He instances cloths on which
patterns were wrought, and likewise a material
resembling "velvet on both sides."

[138] "Camoca" or caman in the Middle Ages is supposed
to have been of camels' hair, mixed with silk. Edward
the Black Prince left to his confessor his bed of red
caman, with his arms embroidered on each corner. Rock
(p. xliv) gives us information about the tents and
garments of camels' hair found throughout the East,
wherever the camel flourishes and has a fine hairy
winter coat, which it sheds in the heat. The coarser
parts are used for common purposes, and the finest serve
for beautiful fabrics, especially s