THE GREAT REED. 101 



represent that of the idler? In any case the native 

 home-made pipe is of Reed, like the arrow, the flute, 

 and the vine prop. 



By the way, those Reed arrows of Humboldt's 

 appear to me to be very doubtful. Many Reeds look 

 straight enough as they grow, but if you examine 

 them with a view to arrow making, no fletcher would 

 pass one in a hundred as perfectly straight. Moreover 

 they split when they strike anything moderately hard. 

 I think that Reed arrows would not score heavily in a 

 modern archery match. Those sharp or " bitter " 

 arrows in the Iliad were no ordinary Arundo stems. 



In the south of Europe the Arundo is called a 

 " Cane." This, of course, is the ancient name ; but 

 we have two strong reasons for not adopting it. 

 First, the English word " Reed " is to hand, and is 

 attached to the genus Arundo, for the smaller Reed, 

 Arundo Phragmites is a British plant. Secondly, 

 the word " Cane " is already claimed by three plants 

 of different families, which have nothing in common 

 but a slender stem. These are the Sugar Cane 

 (Saccharum), an arborescent grass ; the Rattan Cane, 

 a climbing palm ; and the botanical Cane or Canna, 

 a broad-leaved endogen with handsome flowers. 

 This plant is common enough here ; I have seen it 

 growing half-wild in a ditch. It has but one fertile 

 stamen ; and the smooth round black seeds are about 

 the size of a pea. 



The Great Reed was probably brought from the 

 East through Cyprus, Crete, and Greece, The name, 

 at any rate, is Semitic. From the Hebrew " Kaneh," 

 a Reed, is derived a large family of Latin and more 

 modern words. These will naturally be found to 



