Vji Vessels made of the Papyrus, 331 



their shoulders wheresoever they could find any water. {^Ach, 

 Tat,^ lib. iv. p. 248.) Hence Prudentius against Symmach. 

 (lib. ii. p. 242.) calls them ' slender barks and weak canoes.' 



" The Rabbies observe the same things on this passage of 

 Isaiah, whose words R. Solomon Ben Melech has abridged 

 into the following head: — ' Goma has a very light wood; 

 and our learned men observe that small boats are made of the 

 paper reed, which are daubed over with pitch, that they may 

 not admit water ; and which, moreover, may be carried on the 

 waters with a swift course, by reason of their lightness.' Tre- 

 mellius and Junius notice ' skiffs constructed of papyrus, 

 such as the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, near Catadupa, the 

 cataracts, and dangerous fords, make use of; both because they 

 were smaller, and also that they gave way to rough waves and 

 rocks, with which the Nile abounds, and did not split and break 

 in pieces like wood.' " * 



" In this chapter of Isaiah, if Egypt be the country spoken 

 to," says Bishop Horsley, " ' vessels of bulrushes ' might be 

 understood of those light skiffs ; but, if the country spoken to 

 be distant from Egypt, those vessels may only be used as an 

 apt image of quick-sailing boats of any material." 



But the learned and elegant Dr. Lowth adds : " this is one 

 of the most obscure prophecies of Isaiah : the end and design 

 of it, the people to whom it is addressed, the person who sends 

 the messengers, and the nation to whom the messengers are 

 sent, are all doubtful." 



There is one more passage in the Old Testament where 

 these vessels are alluded to, in the 26th verse of the 9th chap, 

 of Job, " as the swift ships," or " ships of Ebeh," that is, ac- 

 cording to Parkhurst, of the Egyptian papyrus, which seems 

 here to be meant, the woody part of which was anciently used 

 to build light vessels with. Schultens, also, very ingeniously 



* " Ite, leves niintii ; '* nempe fuerunt cymbae papyrinae admirandae levi- 

 tatis. Refert Achilles Tatius, majores non fuisse, quam ut singulos vectare 

 possent. Si aliusmodi fuerint, limo praepeditae, retinentur. Qiiare parva 

 lis ac levia navigia, et exiguae aquae satis sunt : quod si quandoqae aquam 

 deesse contingat, sublatam humeris naviculam asportant, quousque aquam 

 inveniant." {Ach. Tat., lib. iv. p. 248.) Inde " tenues cymbas fragilesque 

 phaselos " appellat Prudentius contra Symmach. (lib. ii. p. 242.) 



Eadem ad locum Esaiae annotant Rabbini, quorum verba in summam 

 contraxit R. Salomon Ben Melech. " Goma est lignum admodum leve. 

 Et observant doctores nostri b. m. quod ex papyro parva navigia fiant, quae 

 pice oblinuntur, ne aquam admittant ; quae et jam ob levitatem celeri cursu 

 in aquis feruntur." Tremellius et Junius : " naviculis e papyro contextis ; 

 qualibus iEgyptii, iEthiopesque, propter Catadupa, catarhactas, et pericu- 

 losa vada, utebantur, tum quod breviores essent, tum quod adversis flucti- 

 bus, scopulisque, quibus Nilus abundat, cederent, ac non dissilirent, aut 

 frangerentur sicut hgnum." {Celsii Hierobot.f vol. ii. p. 147, 148.) 



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