Another design shows a woman catching a hare with a net and holding by a chain or cord a hound and spotted cheetah. Beneath this we see a woman with an eagle. From Arabian symbolism we learn that the catching of the hare signifies opulence and marriage. To dream of riding on an eagle's back foretells riches, and if a person should see a woman carried on an eagle's back, he will eventually arrive at government.

Another design of that period, often used nowadays in modern fabrics for chasubles, etc., in Catholic churches is the following:

Two stags fastened with chains and turning their heads to Heaven, kneel on a flowery ground, surrounded by large connected hexagons. Dewdrops and sunbeams fall from the disc of the sun which is partially hidden by clouds where two eagles are sitting. In this pattern the stag is supposed to be the symbol of the human soul weary of life and yearning for the delivery from its mortal body, therefore looking Heavenwards. We shall not be mistaken if we find in this interesting design a reference to the beautiful words of the 42nd Psalm: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God!"

We are thus able to discover a great number of interesting

In another a lion steps from the winged disc of the sun hold

ing in its claws a little animal. Another design

shows a fountain, the structure being decorated with dragon heads from which hang scoops. Two girls carrying hares stand at the side of the fountain. Hounds and cheetahs lap the water

flowing from the basin.

Lastly may be mentioned an interesting design woven in gold threads in which we see alternate repetitions of stars and a twisted ribbon bearing an Arabian inscription above which a pigeon is flying underneath a large crown.

But let us pursue the advancement of weaving in Europe. Whilst at the Hotel de Tiraz at Palermo, those splendid silk fabrics with gold thread designs, those magnificent velvets and embroideries, bearing precious stones in gold settings, were being manufactured, we see at the end of the 13th century the towns of Italy enter into competition with Palermo, and thus, especially as regards those towns in the north of Italy rise to great power and affluence.