132 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the saccharine juice contained in the plant, and dis- 

 solved and diffused by the water, causes the immediate 

 adhesion of the parts. In some cases, when the 

 plants cut did not contain sufficient juice, or when 

 the water did not dissolve the juice sufficiently, the 

 strips of the papyrus were joined together with paste, 

 made of fine wheaten flour mixed with hot water and 

 a little vinegar. After being dried and again pressed, 

 this paper was beaten with a smooth mallet, which 

 rendered it still smoother and flatter. 



The ancient Egyptians made some of these sheets 

 of prodigious length, though, if we are to judge by 

 those which have come down to our time, of no 

 great breadth. The Earl of Belmore purchased one 

 in Egypt and unrolled it himself, which was fourteen 

 feet and a half long, by one foot broad : and that in- 

 defatigable Italian traveller, Belzoni, had a papyrus in 

 his possession which was twenty-three feet long, by one 

 and a half broad. " This last/' says Dr. Richardson, 

 " is the finest and the largest that I ever saw*." 



The quantity of papyri used by the ancient Egyp- 

 tians in their sepulture alone must have been very 

 considerable. Near Thebes, these MSS. are not often 

 found now with the body, because the men t there 

 have been for ages in the habit of purloining them 

 and selling them to strangers, who are not always 

 anxious to encumber themselves with a whole mummy. 

 Still, however, they are occasionally met with there, 

 and in yet greater numbers in less frequented places, 

 which, added to the heaps that have too often been 

 scattered through the world from puerile curiosity 

 and in heedless ignorance, and to those that may lie 



* Travels round the Mediterranean. 



f fi While the men," says Dr. Richardson, " are employed in 

 ransacking the tombs of the ancient Thebans ((heir principal 

 business for some months every year), the females are engaged in. 

 the pristine occupation of tending the flocks/' Travels. 



