Chap. 66.] 



FLUTE HEEDS. 407 



beneficial to the teeth, having, in fact, an equal degree of pun- 

 gency with mustard. 



The terms of admiration in which they are spoken of by 

 the ancients compels me to enter into some more minute de- 

 tails relative to the reed-beds of Lake Orchomenus. Characias 38 

 was the name given there to a reed of stout and compact 

 quality, while a thinner one was known as the plotias; this last 

 was to be found growing on the floating islands there, while 

 the former grew upon the banks that were covered by the 

 waters of the lake. A third kind again, which had the name 

 of " auleticon," was the same that is now known as the mu- 

 sical pipe 39 reed. This reed used to take nine years to grow, 

 as it was for that period that the waters of the lake were 

 continually on the increase ; it used to be looked upon as a 

 prodigy of evil omen, if at the end of its rise its waters re- 

 mained overflowing so long as a couple of years ; a thing that 

 was observed at the period of the Athenian disasters at Che- 

 ronsea, and on various other occasions. This lake has the name 

 of Lebaida, at the part where the river Cephisus enters it. 



When this inundation has lasted so long as a year, the 

 reed is found large enough to be available for the purposes of 

 fowling : at this period it used to be called zeugites. 4fl On the 

 other hand, when the waters subsided at an earlier period, the 

 reeds were known as bombycise, 41 being of a more slender form. 

 In this variety, too, the leaf of the female plant was broader 

 and whiter than that of the others, while that upon which 

 there was little or no down bore the name of the eunuch reed. 

 The stem of this last variety was used for the manufacture of 

 concert 42 flutes. I must not here pass by in silence the mar- 

 vellous care which the ancients lavished upon these instru- 

 ments, a thing which will, in some measure, plead as an apo- 

 logy for the manufacture of them at the present day of silver 

 in preference. The reed used to be cut, as it was then looked 

 upon as being in the best condition, at the rising of Arcturus ; 43 



38 The Arundo phragmites of Linnaeus. The Plotias, no doubt, was 

 only a variety of it. 



39 " Arundo tibialis." The story about the time taken by it to grow, and 

 the increase of the waters, is, of course, fabulous. 



40 The " yoke reed," or "reed for a double flute." 



41 Perhaps so called from the silkiness of its flossy pinicules. 



42 This seems to be the meaning of " ad inclusos cantus." 



43 B. xviii. c. 74. 



