Very respectfully, yours, &c.
Daniel Stebbins.
Henry L. Ellsworth, Esq.,
Commissioner of Patents.
[226] Abdollatiph who visited Egypt A. D. 1200, informs us (Chapter iv. p. 188 of Silvestre de Sacy’s French translation, p. 221 of Wahl’s German translation.), “that the cloth, rags, &c. found in the catacombs, and used to envelope the mummies, was made into garments, or sold to the scribes to make paper for shop-keepers.” This cloth is proved to be linen (See [Part IV. p. 365]), and the passage of Abdollatiph may be considered as decisive proof, which however has never been produced as such, of the manufacture of linen paper as early as the year 1200. Professor Tychsen in his learned and curious dissertation on the use of paper from Papyrus (published in the Commentationes Reg. Soc. Gottingensis Recentiores, vol. iv. A. D. 1820), has brought abundant testimonies to prove that Egypt supplied all Europe with this kind of paper until towards the end of the eleventh century. The use of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being employed instead. The Arabs in consequence of their conquests in Bucharia, had learnt the art of making cotton paper about the year 704, and through them or the Saracens it was introduced into Europe in the eleventh century. Another fact should not be lost sight of, namely, “that most of the old MSS. in Arabic and other oriental languages are written on this sort of paper,” and that it was first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain. (For further proof, see [Appendix A.] Also [Part IV.] already referred to.)
The amount of silk imported into the United States annually, nearly equals that of linen and woollen together, and is equal to one half of all other fabrics combined. Is it not then, an important consideration, that this expenditure be saved to the nation?
PART SECOND.
ORIGIN AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP.
CHAPTER I.
SHEEP’S WOOL.
SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.
The Shepherd Boy—Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia—Mesopotamia and Syria—In Idumæa and Northern Arabia—In Palestine and Egypt—In Ethiopia and Libya—In Caucasus and Coraxi—The Coraxi identified with the modern Caratshai—In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &c.—In Caria and Ionia—Milesian wool—Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly, Eubœa, and Bœotia—In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris—In Arcadia—Worship of Pan—Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds—Introduction of his worship into Attica—Extension of the worship of Pan—His dances with the nymphs—Pan not the Egyptian Mendes, but identical with Faunus—The philosophical explanation of Pan rejected—Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians—Polybius on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians—Worship of Mercury in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade—Present state of Arcadia—Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus—Shepherds’ dogs—Annual migration of Albanian shepherds.
THE SHEPHERD BOY.
The rain was pattering o’er the low thatch’d shed