755), who describes the courtiers at Karakorum as clad in white _purpura_. The London prices of _Chermisi_ and _Baldacchini_ in the early part of the 15th century will be found in Uzzano’s work, but they are hard to elucidate. Babylon, of which Baghdad was the representative, was famous for its variegated textures in very early days. We do not know the nature of the goodly Babylonish garment which tempted Achan in Jericho, but Josephus speaks of the affluence of rich stuffs carried in the triumph of Titus, “gorgeous with life-like designs from the Babylonian loom,” and he also describes the memorable Veil of the Temple as a πέπλος Βαβυλώνιος of varied colours marvellously wrought. Pliny says King Attalus invented the intertexture of cloth with gold; but the weaving of damasks of a variety of colours was perfected at Babylon, and thence they were called Babylonian. The brocades wrought with figures of animals in gold, of which Marco speaks, are still a _spécialité_ at Benares, where they are known by the name of _Shikárgáh_ or hunting-grounds, which is nearly a translation of the name _Thard-wahsh_ “beast-hunts,” by which they were known to the mediæval Saracens. (See _Q. Makrizi_, IV. 69–70.) Plautus speaks of such patterns in carpets, the produce of Alexandria—“_Alexandrina_ belluata _conchyliata tapetia_.” Athenaeus speaks of Persian carpets of like description at an extravagant entertainment given by Antiochus Epiphanes; and the same author cites a banquet given in Persia by Alexander, at which there figured costly curtains embroidered with animals. In the 4th century Asterius, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, rebukes the Christians who indulge in such attire: “You find upon them lions, panthers, bears, huntsmen, woods, and rocks; whilst the more devout display Christ and His disciples, with the stories of His miracles,” etc. And Sidonius alludes to upholstery of like character: “Peregrina det supellex * * * * Ubi torvus, et per artem Resupina flexus ora, It equo reditque telo Simulacra bestiarum Fugiens fugansque Parthus.” (_Epist._ ix. 13.) A modern Kashmír example of such work is shown under ch. xvii. (_D’Avezac_, p. 524; _Pegolotti_, in _Cathay_, 295, 306; _I. B._ II. 309, 388, 422; III. 81; _Della Decima_, IV. 125–126; _Fr.-Michel, Recherches_, etc., II. 10–16, 204–206; _Joseph. Bell. Jud._ VII. 5, 5, and V. 5, 4; _Pliny_, VIII. 74 (or 48); _Plautus, Pseudolus_, I. 2; _Yonge’s Athenaeus_, V. 26 and XII. 54; _Mongez_ in _Mém. Acad._ IV. 275–276.)