Glass was known to the Egyptians and from it they made bottles, vases, and other utensils, beads and other ornaments, and they were quite skillful in the use of glass in counterfeiting the amethyst and other precious stones. They had glazed ware a long time before they used glass. There were quite a large number of people engaged in pottery work and they were quite skillful in the manufacture of this ware. There were many varieties and forms of their work and it included rough unglazed ware up to fine glazed vases, highly decorated and colored. There were bottles not only of glass and earthenware but also of leather and of stone and there were glass bottles enclosed in wicker-work and others encased in leather. There were all kinds of vases, earthenware, stone, bronze, alabaster, glass, porcelain, ivory, bone, silver, and gold. Some of the vases were most beautiful in make and design, inlaid with precious stones and tastefully ornamented. There was quite an industry in metal working among them. There was probably very little of any kinds of metals found in Egypt, having been brought in from other countries. Gold was early used for the making of ornaments. They soon found a way of hardening gold by alloying it with silver. They learned to work gold in various ways. They cast it into figures, molded it into beads by pressure, soldered it, drew it out into wire, used it in plaiting, beat it out into sheets for gilding, engraved it and inlaid it with precious stones. Silver came into use later than gold and in early times it was scarcer than gold. Copper was greatly in use among the ancient Egyptians and by alloying it with tin produced bronze. They made many utensils and implements of it and learned to make it so hard as to be used for woodcutting tools and chisels for cutting limestone. Lead was used by them, as was also tin and antimony. Iron was perhaps used in the early times, but it would appear that it was not greatly in use till the time of the Greeks and the Romans in Egypt. They were quite skillful in working in wood and there was a large class of wood-workers, divided into carpenters, cabinet-makers, wheelwrights, coopers, coffin-makers, and boat-builders. There was quite a good deal more wood in Egypt in ancient times than now and yet not a great variety. The principal trees were the date-palm, used for beams; the Theban palm, used for rafts, and other purposes connected with water, and for beams and rafters; the sycamore, used for large planks for boxes, tables, doors, and the like; the tamarisk, a hard and compact wood, used for the handles of tools and wooden implements; and the acacia, used for planks and masts of boats. For ornamental purposes and where fine woods were required, they were brought in from other countries, as, the cedar, cypress, cherry, walnut, and deal from Syria, and ebony and other rare woods from Ethiopia.