s clad in a jacket with a yellow ground and blue and
red embroidered border, beneath which is a diaphanous chemise. Her
left arm is bent, and her right stretched forward; her features are
piquant, if not beautiful, and a slight dimple shows at the corner
of her lips. Her long black hair, elaborately waved and crimped,
floats out on either side of her head as she turns in the movement of
the dance. The fragments of decoration which have survived help us
to realize a very beautiful room, gay with colour, yet never garish
because of the softness of the indirect illumination, in which we may
imagine the Minoan Court ladies, in their modern gowns, reclining
on the cushions of the long couch, discussing the incidents of the
last bull-grappling entertainment, the skill of the young Athenian
Theseus, and the obvious infatuation of Princess Ariadne, or employing
their time more usefully in some of the wonderful embroidery-work
in which the fashion of the period delighted. By night the scene
in the palace would be even more picturesque. Greatstone lamps,
standing on tall bases, and each bearing several wicks on the margin
of its broad bowl of oil, flared in the rooms and corridors, lighting
up the brightly coloured walls, and sending many-tinted reflections
dancing from the bronze and copper vases and urns which decorated
the passages and the landings of the stairways; while through the
breadths of light and shadow moved in an always changing stream
of colour the gaily dressed figures of the Minoan Court.

Even at this exceedingly early stage of human progress, the various
branches of industry had become fairly separated and specialized,
more so, perhaps, than in the Homeric period, and a considerable
variety of tools was employed in the various crafts. The carpenter
was evidently a highly skilled craftsman, and the tools which have
survived show the variety of work which he undertook. At Knossos a
carefully hewn tomb held, along with the body of the dead artificer,
specimens of the tools of his trade--a bronze saw, adze, and chisel.
'A whole carpenter's kit lay concealed in a cranny of a Gournia
house, left behind in the owner's hurried flight when the town was
attacked and burned. He used saws long and short, heavy chisels
for stone and light for wood, awls, nails, files, and axes much
battered by use; and, what is very important to note, they resemble
in shape the tools of to-day so closely that they furnish one of
the strong