42 THE TALIPOT-TREE. 



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MRS. F. 



Yes ; and even in the present day, several of the eastern 

 nations employ the leaves of the Talipot-tree.* 



Hence the word folio, from folium a leaf, and the meaning 

 of leaf when applied to books. But this mode of writing 

 seems to have been superseded by the use of the inner bark 

 of trees, of the lime particularly. This bark the Romans 

 calied liber; hence the Latin word for a book, and the English 

 words derived from it, library, &c. Our Saxon ancestors 

 commonly employed the bark of the beech tree, called hoc, 

 in their language, whence our word book owes its origin. A 

 library of bark books has recently been discovered among 

 the Calmucs'; the Birmans still use bark for their writings; 

 and the Indian paper, employed by engravers for their fine 

 engravings, is also made of bark. It is imported from China; 

 its beauty consists in the paleness of its color, and the tex- 

 ture is so delicate that it is never pasted; the mere blow given 

 in stamping the copper-plate upon it being sufficient to attach 

 it to the paper upon which it is laid. 



Linen cloth, upon which the letters were painted, was 

 used by the Egyptians ; and I recollect seeing a large roll of 

 it which had been taken out of a mummy in the Museum you 

 took us to see. 



MRS. F. 



Yes; and the same material was also employed by the 

 Romans: but skins of animals were, according to Herodotus, 

 first adapted to the purposes of writing by the lonians, who 

 could only procure papyrus at a great expense; those of 

 sheep, goats, and asses were preferred; and the Persians also 

 employed the same material. Leather or skins, prepared in 

 the modern manner, were often used by the Jews, on which 

 to write the Scriptures ; and the poems of Homer were once 

 written upon the intestines of a serpent, in letters of gold, 

 and the MS. was 120 feet long. 



* Corypha umbraculifera. 



