The linen =mummy swathings= must now be mentioned. These were made from =flax=, and were of various thicknesses. Surviving examples vary in length from a few inches to about 15 feet, and in width from 2 to 10 inches; some are made with fringe at each end. Mummies are often found wrapped in linen sheets, several feet square, and the outside covering of all is sometimes of a purple or salmon colour. Under the Ancient Empire, mummy swathings were quite plain, but under the Middle Empire, blue stripes occasionally appear at the ends, and the sheets in which the mummies of kings were wrapped, _e.g._, Ȧmenḥetep III and Thothmes III, were covered with hieroglyphic texts from the Book of the Dead. At a later period texts in the hieratic character appear on the swathings, accompanied by vignettes drawn in outline. The principal seat of the linen industry in Egypt was Panopolis, the modern Akhmîm, and, at a very early period, the weavers attained to such skill, that in a square inch 540 threads may be counted in the warp and 110 in the woof. About the third century of our era, the mummies of wealthy people were wrapped in “royal cloth” made wholly of silk and decorated with figures of gods, animals, etc. The visitor will find a large collection of mummy swathings and sheets exhibited in Table-case E, in the Third Egyptian Room. Here are the fringed linen =winding-sheet= of Teḥuti-sat, a singing woman of Queen Ȧāḥmes-nefert-ȧri, B.C. 1550 (No. 1); two swathings inscribed with texts from the Book of the Dead (Nos. 11, 12); a roll of linen inscribed with the names of Piānkhi Seneferef-Rā, B.C. 700 (No. 13); grave shirts from Akhmîm (Nos. 18-27); and specimens of =embroidered linen=, with figures of saints, etc. (No. 39 ff.); a portion of a =Coptic stole= embroidered with scenes from the life of Christ, and squares of linen worked with coloured figures of birds (doves?), and the Cross and symbol of “life” 𓋹 within wreaths (Nos. 40-51).