THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. =8$ 



Notwithstanding the Abyflinians were fo anciently 

 and nearly connected with Egypt, they never feem to have 

 made ule of paper, or papyrus, but imitated the practice of 

 the Perfians, who wrote upon fkins, and they do fo this day. 

 This arifes from their having early been Jews. In Parthia, 

 likewife, Pliny * informs us, the ule of papyrus was ab- 

 folutely unknown ; and though it was difcovered that papy- 

 rus grew in the Euphrates, near Babylon, of which they 

 could mate paper, they obftinately rather chofe to adhere 

 to their ancient cuftom of weaving their letters on cloth of 

 which they made their garments. The Perfians, moreover, 

 made ufe of parchment for their records f, to which all their 

 remarkable tranfaclions were truiled ; and to this it is pro- 

 bably owing we have fo many of their cuftoms preferved 

 to this day. Diodorus Siculus $,fpeaking of Ctefias^ay?, he 

 verified every thing from the royal parchments themfelves, 

 which, in obedience to a certain law, are all placed in or- 

 der, and afterwards were communicated to the Greeks. 



From this great refemblance in cuftoms between the Per- 

 fians and Abyflinians following the fafhionable way of 

 judging about the origin of nations, I fhould boldly con- 

 clude that the Abyflinians were a colony of Periians, but 

 this is very well known to be without foundation. The 

 cuftoms, mentioned as only peculiar to Perfia, were common 

 to all the eaft : and thev were loft when thole countries were 

 over-run and conquered by thofe who introduced barbarous 

 cuftoms of their own. The reafon why we have fo much 



Vol. III. O o left 



* Plin. Hift. Nat. lib. xiii. cap. n. f Plith lib. x'ii. cap. u. t Dlod. Sic. lib* ii 



