MATERIALS USED FOR PAPER. 135 



distance in a flat-bottomed boat, near its mouth the 

 water was pretty deep, but muddy, and a little farther 

 on we found it contaminated and obstructed by heaps 

 of hemp which were steeping there. The current was 

 scarcely perceptible, but our progress was impeded 

 by aquatic plants and strong high rushes, which in 

 many places so covered the river from side to side 

 that we could scarcely see the water. In the winter 

 season this is an admirable place for shooting wild 

 ducks and other water-fowl ; but we were there in the 

 summer, when the river offered no sport except eels, 

 which, with water-snakes, abounded prodigiously. 



"At the distance of about an Italian mile from the 

 mouth of the river, we first came in sight of the object 

 of our search, the graceful papyrus plant, which we 

 saw growing in littte clusters and shooting above 

 groups of water-lilies, on either side the river. A 

 quarter of a mile higher up, we turned to the west- 

 ward, and quitting the main stream, entered the 

 Cyanean branch, which here forms its junction. 

 This branch was still more covered with reeds and 

 aquatic plants than any part of that we had come 

 through, but unlike the Anapus, its water, when 

 visible, was as clear as a mountain stream in Scot- 

 land. In proportion as we proceeded up this branch* 

 which is very winding and deep, we saw the papyrus 

 in thick groups, and as we laboured to force our 

 way through the rich vegetable obstruction, which 

 became stronger and stronger, the beautiful feathery 

 tuft of the plant bending with its slim, elastic stem, 

 frequently flapped in our faces. At a short distance 

 from the fountain-head, the serpentine stream was 

 so completely choked up with a vegetation of sur- 

 prising tenacity, that having no men to tow us along 1 

 from tlie banks, and indeed no assistance but such 

 as a little boy from Syracuse could render us, we 

 were wellnigh giving up our farther progress, for the 

 present, in despair. Persevering, however, by cut- 



