That the Egypt of the Pharaohs was famous from the earliest times for the manufacture of linen is evident not only from the splendid specimens of linen bandages and sheets in which mummies are wrapped, but also from the testimony of ancient writers. Egyptian linen was, for the most part, made of flax, and a good idea of what an important matter the success of the flax crop was in Egypt may be gathered from the fact that the smiting of the flax when in. bloom by the hail (mentioned in Exodus ix. 31), was considered to be as great a calamity as the smiting of the barley when in the ear. The finest and best linen was worn by the priests of Egypt in the form of shirts, the κιθῶνας λινέους of Herodotus, ii. 37, 81, a commoner and coarser sort was used for the final bandages and “sheet” of mummies, perhaps also for sleeping upon, compare the of Prov. vii. 16, and the coarsest sort of all for sails, awnings, etc. Nearly all the flax woven in Egypt was grown in the Delta, and the best quality appears to have come from Pelusium; according to Strabo, Panopolis was famous in olden times for the manufacture of linen, and working in stones, and it is easy to show that the art of weaving linen and of ornamenting garments with woven or worked designs did not pass away from that town until ten or eleven centuries after the birth of Christ.