coloured "blue, and purple, and scarlet" before it was woven; and this agrees exactly with Egyptian custom. Specimens that have been examined, shew that the colour was applied to the thread. Minutoli remarks, that, from many experiments on ancient Egyptian cloth, it appears that the byssus was coloured in the wool [yarn] before the weaving.*

In the preceding picture there is the representation of two women weaving at a simple sort of loom. The woof is passed through, not by throwing the shuttle, but by means of a rod, with a hook at the end. The threads of the warp are separated, not by treadles, but by two sticks worked by hand. The cloth already woven is at the lower part of the warp, and has a fringe upon one selvage.

It would seem that the ephod of Aaron, as well as the "curious girdle" of the following passage, was not strictly embroidered, but woven in colours.

And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. Exod. xxviii. 5-8.

"Many of the Egyptian stuffs presented various patterns worked in colours by the loom, . . . and so richly composed, that they vied with cloths embroidered with the needle." +

In this scene, the loom is a frame stretched horizontally on the ground, held fast by four stout pegs

at the corners driven into the earth. The weaver is seated on that part of his work which is finished, which displays a neat pattern of green and yellow in

small chequers. The action of the workman does not give us any light as to the mode in which his work was effected.

But another mode of producing rich patterns of colours on linen, repeatedly alluded to in the Scriptures, was by embroidery or needle-work.

And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. Exod. xxvi. 36.

fine linen.

an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and Exod. xxxviii. 23.

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of

divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? Judg. v. 28-30. Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thon spreadest forth to be thy sail. Ezek. xxvii. 7.

Sir J. G. Wilkinson remarks that the art of embroidery was commonly practised in Egypt; and mentions some specimens of worked worsted upon linen observed by Lord Prudhoe in the Turin Museum," in which the linen threads of the woof had been picked out, and the coloured worsted sewed on the warp."* And it forms an interesting comment upon the passage just cited from the Prophet Ezekiel, that in the tomb of Remeses III. at Thebes, there are paintings of ships, the wide-spread sails of which are embroidered with the most gorgeous colours, some in stripes, some in chequers, and others in elaborate patterns of birds, flowers, and other devices of rich and varied hues. The descriptions given in preceding pages of the dresses of the Canaanitish nations + will illustrate the character of the raiment of "divers colours of needlework," which pleased the imagination of the mother of the ill-fated Sisera.

The allusions to the preparation and use of leather in the Holy Scriptures, are not very numerous, but they are sufficient to shew that the Hebrews, on leaving Egypt, were well acquainted with these arts.

And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that. Exod. xxxvi. 19. And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, * Wilk. iii. 128, 142. + See pp. 57, 75, 82, supra.

and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of the testimony with it: and shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon. And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it. And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar. And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof. And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar. And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it. Numb. iv. 5-14.

I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin. Ezek. xvi. 10.

The word nn (tahash), rendered "badger" in our English Bible, has much puzzled critics; it is tolerably certain that this is not the meaning. The ancient versions consider it a colour; the Seventy, for example, have dépμатa vaкívoiva, "violet skins;" while the Rabbis maintain that it is the name of an animal; and modern zoologists have believed they have found it in an amphibious creature of the Red Sea, the Dugong (Halicore tabernaculus), called Dahash by the Arabs, by whom its skin is dressed and manufactured into good leather. We may well

suppose both hypotheses to be correct; for when we consider the costliness and beauty of every thing else connected with the tabernacle, it seems highly probable that the outer covering would be dyed of some ornamental colour, as was that immediately beneath it.

In the above picture we see a person plunging what appears to be a spotted bull's hide into a vessel filled with a red liquid. A skin already prepared is stretched out behind him, while in the foreground another workman is engaged at a sloping bench cutting, with a knife of the same form as is still used by modern curriers, another skin before him. Beneath the bench is a sandal, and above it two thongs for latchets; and in front of the dyeing jar, we see several shields, which we know were made of bull's hide, stretched over a frame of wood, and ornamented with rims of metal.