The physical strain involved in drawing pictures every time one wanted to write down a word or two would obviously soon become intolerable. It is not therefore to be wondered at that, by the time of the Middle Minoan III period, the hieroglyphics have been simplified into conventional signs which are easier to make. Herein is the germ of what we call “linear” script, that is, of a system of writing based on a set of regular forms, such as our own alphabet. By the Late Minoan I period there was a full linear script in use throughout Crete, and it was extended to Melos and Thera. Sir Arthur Evans has called this script “Class A” to distinguish it from a parallel form of it which was introduced in the next period (Late Minoan II), and which he calls “Class B.” The latter is not a different script, but merely a variation introduced, it is supposed, by a new dynasty at Knossos. Most of the Knossian tablets that have come down to us belong to the “Palace period,” and are written in the Class B style. It was the usual practice to write the inscriptions with a stilus, that is a pointed rod of metal, on a clay tablet, and this is the form of most of the inscriptions that have been preserved. It is possible that wooden tablets covered with a layer of wax were also used; but even if they were, none of them, of course, could have survived the burning of the palaces. More interesting still is the fact that pen and ink must have been used even in those remote times. This fact is established by the discovery of two cups (Middle Minoan III) which are inscribed in ink. There can be little doubt, therefore, that long documents and any literature there happened to be were written in ink on papyrus. It is probable that we shall have to make up our minds to the complete loss of all such literature, for Cretan soil lacks the dryness of the Egyptian. If our worst fears prove true, we may experience the final anti-climax of the discovery that the clay tablets, when read, will contain nothing after all but lists and bills. It is obvious that many of the tablets do consist of bills or inventories. Although we cannot yet understand the language of the script, it has been found possible, by studying the clay tablets, to reconstruct the system of numbers that was used. We have, for instance, what is evidently an inventory of arrows, a record surmounted by a picture of an arrow. From this and other records it is apparent that thousands were expressed by “diamonds,” hundreds by slanting lines, tens by circles, units by straight lines, quarters by a small “v.” The highest number recorded is 19,000.