404 putty's natural history. [Book XVI. 



seams, a thing that it does most effectually, being more tena- 

 cious than glue, and adhering more firmly than pitch. 



CHIP. 65. REEDS USED FOE ARROWS, A.WD EOR THE PURPOSE 



OE WRITING. 



It is by the aid of the reed 25 that the nations of the East 

 decide their wars ; fixing in it a barbed point, they inflict a 

 wound from which the arrow cannot be withdrawn. By the 

 addition of feathers they accelerate the flight of this instru- 

 ment of death, and the weapon, if it breaks in the wound, 

 furnishes the combatants with a weapon afresh. With these 

 missiles the warriors darken the very rays of the sun. 26 It is 

 for this reason more particularly that they desire a clear and 

 serene sky, and hold in abhorrence all windy and rainy weather, 

 which has the effect of compelling them, in spite of them- 

 selves, to be at peace with one another. 



If a person were carefully to enumerate the peoples of 

 Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, India, Scythia, Bactria, and Sarmatia, 

 together with all the numerous peoples of the East, and the 

 vast realms of the Parthians, he would find that fully one-half 

 of mankind throughout the whole world live under a dominion 

 imposed by the agency of the arrow. It was their surpassing 

 excellence in this arm that so ennobled the warriors of Crete, 

 though in this respect, as well as in all others, Italy has 

 gained the mastery ; there being no reed in existence better 

 adapted for making arrows than that found in the Rhenus, a 

 river of the territory of Bononia : filled with a greater quan- 

 tity of pith than any of the others, it is light, and easily 

 cleaves the air, while at the same time it has sufficient weight 

 to resist the action of the wind ; an advantage that is not 

 possessed in an equal degree by those employed among the 

 BelgaB. These advantages, however, are possessed by the 

 most approved kinds that are found in Crete, although those 



25 « Calamus." The so-called reed of the East, used for making darts and 

 arrows, does not belong to the genus Arundo, but to those of the Bambos 

 and Nastus. 



26 Few readers of history will fail to recollect the report made to Kmg 

 Henry V. by Davy Gam, before the battle of Agincourt :— " The enemy 

 are so numerous," said the messenger, "that their arrows will darken the 

 sun." "We must e'en be content to fight in the dark then," was the 

 warrior's reply. 



