Chap. 57.] THE LNVENTOES OF VARIOUS THINGS. 233 



kinsman 37 of Daedalus ; according to Theophrastus, again, it 

 was invented by Polygnotus, the Athenian. 



Danaiis was the first who passed over in a ship from Egypt 

 to Greece. 38 Before his time, they used to sail on rafts, 39 which 

 had been invented by King Erythras, 40 to pass from one island 

 to another in the Bed Sea. There are some writers to be 

 found, who are of opinion that they were first thought of 

 by the Mysians and the Trojans, for the purpose of crossing 

 the Hellespont into Thrace. Even at the present day, they 

 are made in the British ocean, of wicker-work covered with 

 hides ; 41 on the Nile they are made of papyrus, rushes, and 

 reeds. 



We learn from Philostephanus, that Jason was the first 

 person who sailed in a long vessel ; 42 Hegesias says it was 



butes the invention of painting to the Egyptians, and says, that " it was 

 practised by them long before it was known in Greece." B. 



37 The term Euchir, Eu^tip, which is literally 4< dextrous or handy," 

 would rather seem to be a prefix to a name, than a proper name itself. 

 "With respect to Polygnotus, and the share which he had in the invention 

 of painting, the reader may examine what Pliny says in a subsequent part 

 of his work, B. xxxv. c. 35. B. 



3B The vessel in which Danaiis came into Greece, may, probably, have 

 been of a much superior construction, or much larger than those previously 

 seen in that country ; but it is generally supposed, that Cecrops, Cadmus, 

 and the other Egyptian and Phoenician colonists, had come by sea to Greece, 

 long before the arrival of Danaiis. In the ancient Egyptian monuments 

 there are representations of different kinds of vessels of considerable size, 

 which would imply a knowledge of the art of navigation at a very 

 remote period. The same is proved by the traditionary annals of the 

 Egyptians. B. 



39 The word here used, " ratis," would appear to be applied to any 

 species of slightly built vessel, of whatever form. The term raft is not 

 altogether appropriate, but we have no English word which exactly cor- 

 responds to it. B. 



40 According to the generally received account, Erythras migrated from 

 Persia to Tyrrhina, an island in the Red Sea. See B. vi. c. 28 and 32. B. 



41 It has been conjectured, that the ancient Britons borrowed the pe- 

 culiar form of their vessels from the Phoenicians, who were known to have 

 frequented the south-west coasts of our island. Small vessels, not unlike 

 those here described by Pliny, were used very lately, by the fishermen in 

 the Bristol channel. B. They are still used by the Welsh fishermen, and 

 are made of oil-cloth or leather stretched on a frame. They are called by 

 the Welch cwrwgle, whence our word " coracle." 



42 By the term " longa navis," here used, Pliny probably designates a 

 vessel which was propelled by a number of rowers, ranged side by side, in 



