240 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE BULRUSH, OR PAPYRUS. 



THE bulrush grows in the marshes of Egypt, or in the stagnant 

 places of the Nile, made by the flowing of the river, where they 

 are not above the depth of two cubits. Its roots are tortuous, and 

 in thickness about four or five inches ; its stem is triangular, rising 

 to the height often cubits, and terminating in a crown of small fil- 

 aments resembling hair, which the ancients used to compare to a 

 thyrsus. 



The papyri were produced in such great quantities on the banks 

 of the Nile, that Cassiodorus compares them to a forest. * There 

 rises to the view this forest without branches, this thicket with- 

 out leaves, this harvest of the waters, this ornament of the marshes.' 

 This reed was of the greatest use to the inhabitants of the coun- 

 try where it grew ; the pith contained in the stalk served them for 

 food, and the woody part for the construction of vessels. For this 

 purpose they made it up, like rushes, into bundles, and by tying 

 these together, they gave to their vessels the necessary shape and 

 solidity. The vessels of bulrushes (Isa. xviii. 2,) or papyri, men- 

 tioned in sacred and profane history, says Dr. Shaw, were no other 

 than large fabrics of the same kind with that of Moses (Exodus ii. 

 3,) which from a late introduction of plank and stronger materials, 

 are now laid aside. Thus, Pliny notices 'ships made of papyrus 

 and the equipments of the Nile ;' and in another place he says, * Of 

 the papyrus itself they construct sailing vessels.' 



The most useful and valuable part of the papyrus, however, was 

 its delicate rind or bark, which was used for the purpose of writ- 

 ing upon. To prepare it for this, the several coatings of which the 

 stem is composed were carefully separated and spread out upon a 

 table, artfully matched and pressed together, and moistened with 

 the water of the Nile, which, dissolving the glutinous juices of the 

 plant, caused them to adhere closely together. They were after- 

 wards pressed, and then dried in the sun ; and thus were rendered 

 fit for writing upon, in characters marked by a colored liquid pass- 

 ing through a hollow reed. 



These vegetables require much water for their growth j when, 

 therefore, the river on whose banks they grow, is reduced, they per- 

 ish sooner than other plants. This explains Job viii. 11, where the 

 circumstance is referred to as an image of transient prosperity : 

 * Can the paper reed grow up without ooze? Can the bulrush grow 

 up without water.' 



The papyrus being an esculent plant, there was nothing extraor- 

 dinary in its being eaten, as intimated in Jeremiah xv. 16 ; Ezekiel 

 iii. 1 ; and Revelation x. 10. 



