THE HAND-SPINDLE. 217
perhaps within the historic period. The discoveries in the lake- villages, however, undeceive us in this matter. Complete hand- spindles of the stone age have been there found ; one of these is shown in Fig. 168 (1). The bob is made of burnt clay, and occurs in various ornamentally-moulded forms. This may point to the earlier part of the stone-age, a time when the possession of such a thing was a special matter ; or, on the other hand, may indicate the later period of the stone age.
With the hand-spindle comes the notable dynamical discovery that if the rotation be in any way once started it can be kept up for a time by means of a fly. The spindle still used here and there in Bohemia and Silesia, Fig. 168 (2), has obviously grown up from pre-historic times. It has a fly of wood, pewter, or clay, and is pointed at both ends. The spinner takes the upper end between two fingers, in order to start the turning motion, and by repeated twists to continue it until the spindle reaches the ground, a method of working which we can recognise in the story of the Princess Dornroschen. This hand-spindle of German life and story is by no means the only one still used in Europe ; in Lower Italy and in Greece different forms, also of great age, are in continual use. One of these is the Tuscan spindle, Fig. 168 (3), in which the bob is re- placed by a considerable thickening in the middle, but which is used like the German one. The spindle of the Neapolitan and Sicilian peasant, to whom our spinning-wheel is entirely unknown, is made of wood. Apart from small local variations, it consists of a cylindric spindle carrying two discs, one at the top and one in the middle, between which the thread already spun is held, Fig. 168 (4). The spinner generally sits at her work, she places the spindle upon her knee, over which she gives it a quick rolling motion with the palm of her right hand. She makes use of this motion to draw out from the distaff a new thread, which is twisted by the spindle by means of a little hook attached to its upper disc. The rotation ceases gradually, as the spindle sinks lower and lower ; the thread spun is then wound on, fastened in the hook and the process repeated anew. In Egypt, also, the distaff is still employed. Fig. 168 (5) shows the form now used there, which almost exactly coincides with one of the forms used in ancient Egypt. 37 It is set iu motion by the fingers of the right hand at its lower end, this being made necessary by the squatting position of the worker (in
