MATERIALS TO WRITE UPON BEFORE INVENTION OF PRINTING. 653 



cloak. Ill foriiiiii islands of Polynesia, and |)arlicularly in- New 

 Zealand, (lie taltooiii^ of (lie men was <r()venied by (he brilliancy of 

 ilieir deeds. 'I'lie desifjns, which covered (he face and (he body, repre- 

 seii(ed symbolically a description of events. P^veii the linman skin 

 has incitlentally been used (o wri(e upon. Between tanned skin and 

 pai-chnien( (liere was bii( a brief interval. In ordei' to diminish the 

 weiuht of (he leadier, man lirst had (o thin it. Then he tried to 

 bleach it — hence the orio;in of ])archment. It is possible that it was 

 :\t Periiamus the im|)i()vement was made. They must have manu- 

 factured it and dealt in it there, since the product derives its name 

 from that ])Iace. It is believed that it was known lifteeii centuries 

 before the })resen( era. 



The skin of the <>x)at, the sheep, and the ass Avas prepared by 

 methods nearly identical with tluise of our own day." The first pro- 

 fhictions of parchment were so defective that they were only used to 

 cover books made of papyrus and tablets and for hibels. It is 

 only toward the fifth century before our era that the practice of 

 writino- on parchment became general. As its preparation impi'oved 

 its use spread more and more. After the eleventh century this 

 material entirely supplanted papyrus, which had become rare and 

 poor. We know that books of importance, manuscript and printed, 

 ai-e composed of parchment. ITp to the eighteenth century it was 

 alwaA's used for ro^al acts and private transactions. 



It is from the stem of the Cypefits papyrus (paper rush) that 

 according to Baillon, paper was manufactured. This rush, a native 

 of Egypt, it is said, was very abundant up to the middle ages, but 

 it has become rare and is not met with except on the marshy banks 

 of streams in the far south. The root, as thick as a man's arm, 

 spreads out horizontally, the stalks rise from it at right angles to 

 a height of from 7 to 10 cubits '^ — that is, about 3,G to 4.5 meters. 

 The slender stem, tenuous, triangular almost through its entire 

 length, is terminated by an umbel comjiosed of green filaments, 

 producing a most beautiful effect. But it is not in Egypt only that 

 the papyrus was found, it grew in Sicily, Spain, the southern part 

 of France, as far up as Avignon, in the shallo\vs of the Rhone,'^ as 

 well as in the greater part of the streams of Africa and Madagascar." 



n Lafaye, Art. IMembrana., Dictiomi. dos antiquites grecques et romaines. 



6 The Greek cubit varied from city to city ; its average length was 0.43 centi- 

 meters. 



cWe gathered some in 1879 near tlie sate of tlie Oullo at the l>ase of tlio 

 bridge which leads from Avignon to tlie island of Karthehissc. 



^Poivre: Voyage d'un philosophe, 17G8. Bruce: A'oyage en Abyssinie, t. 

 V, p. 10 et seq. 



