hay-fork. The resemblance to a hay-fork
seems satisfactory enough, though the three prongs are much longer
than the two of the implement used nowadays, and the hook attached
remains unexplained; but if the implement must be supposed to be a
military weapon, it seems singularly ill-contrived and inadequate
for such rough service. It might conceivably be a trident for spearing
fish, but, on the whole, the hay-fork idea seems most satisfactory.

Hand-querns were used for the grinding of corn, and numbers of
these and of mortars for pounding grain remain. Indeed, in some
cases the actual grains of barley and the pease which were stored
for future use still remain in the great jars. In a jar at Hissarlik,
Schliemann found no less than 440 pounds of pease, and some of his
workmen lived for a time on this food, which might conceivably
have been stored against a siege of Troy earlier than that recorded
in the Iliad. The olive-tree was of great importance, as yielding
the staple product of the island, and the fig-tree seems also to
have been in general cultivation, and was held to be sacred; but,
strangely enough, though wine must have been in constant use, as
is shown by the vessels for its storage and service, there is only
one representation of the vine, and even in that case the identity
of the object depicted is doubtful. Weaving was an art in which
the Minoans were well skilled, to judge from the fabrics which
are represented in the frescoes. As in Penelope's time, it was a
domestic art, and probably almost every household had its loom,
where the women turned out the materials for ordinary wear. In
many of the houses have been found the loom-weights, mostly of
stone or clay, which took the place of the more modern weaver's
beam in serving to keep the threads taut; and there are also numbers
of the stone discs which were attached, in spinning, to the foot of
the spindle, to keep it straight and in motion. These loom-weights
and spindle-discs are frequently ornamented with spiral incisions.

But the arts in which the islanders were supreme were those of the
potter and the metal-worker, the chief evidences of whose skill
have been already discussed. The reputation of Crete as a centre
of metal-working became legendary in ancient times, and, in all
likelihood, the bronze-worker and his fellows, the gold- and
silver-smiths, attained the height of their skill before their
brethren the potters, since, as we have seen, many of