220 THE CLASSICAL PLANTS OF SICILY. 
was laid in the Nile, “an ark of Bulrushes, daubed with 
slime, and with pitch,”—(Zaod. chap. ii. v. 3,) was a small 
boat, constructed with Papyrus, the common reed, bul- 
rush, or rush of the Nile. On which Scheuchzer, in 
Phys. Sac. vol.i. p. 115, writes, — En! trimestrem infantulum, 
nondum Mosem, primum et nascentis mundi historicum, 
natantem inter Papyros, et forte singulari fato, expositum in 
Arculá ex Papyro facta. It is also supposed to signify the 
Rush mentioned by Job, chap. viii. v. 11. Bruce relates, that 
in Abyssinia boats are still made of this plant.—** On vessels 
made of the Papyrus,” (by the author,) see Loudon’s Mag. 
of Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 324—332, and figs. 88, 89, 90, 91, 92. 
And, on the Bagdad reed-boats, with tab. p. 54, confer 
Mignan's Travels in Chaldea, &c., where the form of the 
vessel there given, exactly corresponds with that ancient one, 
figured No. 92, p. 329, in Loudon’s Magazine. See also 
Jig. 6, tab. 22, of the plates to Hamilton’s ZEgyptiaca. 
The Papyrus was indigenous, according to ancient authors, 
in Syria and Egypt, particularly on the banks of the Nile, 
Where Cassiodorus (lib. xi. 38.) thus describes its appearances 
— Surgit Nilotica sylva sine ramis, nemus sine frondibus, 
aquarum seges, paludüm pulchra cesaries.—Ovid applies the 
epithet Papyrifer to the Nile. But Strabo relates, that it is 
only found in Egypt and India; he says of it, — H mè» Exec 
Np £d(30og ori 2x” xow exovsw wmm. The head of the P apyrus 
resembling a Thyrsus of many grassy filaments, which Strabo 
names yár, and Theophrastus, xo»;— coma, a panicle, or 
head, was used to crown the statues of the gods, and to 
adorn the temples in Egypt. Hence Athenzeus has,—S/9%% 
ersgavazeíc.— ( Deipn. lib. xv. cap. 18.) The Egyptian priests 
likewise wore shoes made of it: and the plant is of frequent 
occurrence in the ancient Hieroglyphics. 
I am not aware that the Sicilian Papyrus is mentioned in 
any old classical author. Domenico Cyrillo has described it 
in a beautiful Monograph, published at Parma, anno 1796, 
and illustrated with two large and accurate engravings. On 
the authority of Linnaeus and Persoon, it is also found in 
