Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 7. 7. The stem of the bastard-saffron (κνῆκος) was used as a spindle by the women of remote antiquity. vi. 14. 3. ----- Among the finest and most elegant fabrics of Greece were those manufactured in the Achæan city of Patræ,[1291] where the women being twice as numerous as the men, would alone appear to have worked in the factories, from which the greater number of the inhabitants, doubtless, derived their livelihood. The flax, from which the fine linen and head-nets[1292] of this town were made, was not grown in the neighbourhood, but in the plains of Elis,[1293] where alone, in Greece, the plant attained the highest degree of perfection, not yielding in fineness to the best produced in India, while it was possessed of superior whiteness.[1294] The fine cloths manufactured from it sold for their weight in gold.[1295] Another species of very fine flax was cultivated in the island of Amorgos,[1296] where were likewise manufactured linens of the most beautiful texture, frequently dyed purple, on which account the word Amorgis[1297] has sometimes been supposed to denote a purple stuff, though the fabrics of the island were as often white as of any other colour. In imitation of the Egyptians, they wove a sort of fine napkins, which were evidently used in the same manner as our pocket-handkerchiefs.[1298] ----- Footnote 1291: Pausan. vii. 21. 14. Cf. Dutens, Origine des Découvertes, p. 285. Herod. ii. 105. Footnote 1292: Foës. Œconom. Hippoc. v. κεκρύφαλος. p. 202. These head-nets were purple among the Spartans. Athen. xv. 28. The Grecian ladies, it would appear, sometimes wore upon their heads cauls of fine skin, probably semi-transparent, which obtained the name of πομφόλυγες. Mœris, p. 206. Bekk. In a former part of this work, I have supposed this word, where it occurs in Pollux, to signify beads, because water-bubbles, which transparent beads resemble, were so called. Etym. Mag. 682. 10. Suid. v. πομφόλ. t. ii. p. 565. d. Martial alludes to the cauls above-mentioned in the following verses: Fortior et tortos servat vesica capillos, Et mutat Latias spumâ Batavâ comas. Epigram. viii. 23. 19. Footnote 1293: Not as Mr. Bœckh supposes in Achaia, this name signifying Greece in general. It grew, observes Pliny, _circa Elim in Achaia_. Nat. Hist. xix. 4. Bœckh. i. 142. Footnote 1294: Paus. vi. 26. 6. v. 5. 2. vii. 21. 14. Winkel. Hist. de l’Art, i. 498. Sixteen matrons wove the peplos of Hera in Elis. Meurs. Gr. Fer. iii. 130, sqq. Footnote 1295: Quaternis denariis scripula ejus permutata quondam, ut auri reperio. Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. 4. Footnote 1296: