ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, V. VH. 1-3 



speaking, useful for ship-building ; for triremes and 

 long ships are made of silver-fir, because of its light- 

 ness, and merchant ships of fir, because it does not 

 decay ; while some make triremes of it also because 

 they are ill provided with silver-fir. The people 

 of Syria and Phoenicia use Syrian cedar, since they 

 cannot obtain much fir either ; while the people of 

 Cyprus use Aleppo pine, since their island provides 

 this and it seems to be superior to their fir. Most 

 parts are made of these woods ; but the keel for a 

 trireme l is made of oak, that it may stand the haul- 

 ing ; and for merchantmen it is made of fir. How- 

 ever they put an oaken keel under this when they 

 are hauling, or for smaller vessels a keel of beech ; 2 

 and the sheathing 3 is made entirely of this wood. 



4 (However oak-wood does not join well with glue 

 on to fir or silver-fir ; for the one is of close, the 

 other of open grain, the one is uniform, the other 

 not so ; whereas things which are to be made into 

 one piece should be of similar character, and not of 

 opposite character, like wood and stone.) 



The work of bentwood 5 for vessels is made of 

 mulberry manna-ash elm or plane ; for it must be 

 tough and strong. That made of plane-wood is the 

 worst, since it soon decays. For triremes some make 

 such parts of Aleppo pine because of its lightness. 

 The cutwater, 6 to which the sheathing is attached, 7 

 and the catheads are made of manna-ash mulberry 







4 This sentence is out of place ; its right place is perhaps 

 at the end of 4. 



6 ropveia ; but the word is perhaps corrupt : one would 

 expect the name of some part of the vessel. 



8 o-Tepe'wjua : apparently the fore part of the keel ; =<rTf?pa. 



7 irpbs $ rb ^\u(r/toconj. W. after Seal,; irpdffw rJ> erxfAutr^a 

 Aid. (ffx*^o/j.a M, x*^ vff l j - a U) trpoffw rj> 5e \e\vfffjia mBas. 



457 



