BOOK XIII. XXIII. 76-xxiv. 79 



is the Saitic paper named from the town where it is 

 prodiiced in the greatcst abundance, being made from 

 shavings of inferior quality, and the Taeneotic, from a 

 neigh])ouring place, made from material still nearer 

 the outside skin,in the case of which we reach a variety 

 that is sold by mere weight and not for its quahty. 

 As for what is called ' emporitic ' paper, it is no good 

 for writing but serves to provide covers for documents 

 and wrappers for merchandise, and consequently 

 takes its name from the Greek word for a merchant. 

 After this comes the actual papyrus, and its outer- 

 most layer, which resembles a rush and is of no use 

 even for making ropes except those used in water. 



Paper of all kinds is ' woven ' on a board moistened 

 with water from the Nile, muddy Hquid supplying 

 the effect of glue. First an upright layer is smeared 

 on to the table, using the full length of papyrus 

 available after the trimmings have been cut off at 

 both ends, and afterwards cross strips complete the 

 lattice-work. The next step is to press it in presses, 

 and the sheets are dried in the sun and then joined 

 together, the next strip used always diminishing in 

 quahty down to the worst of all. There are never 

 more than twenty sheets to a roll. 



XXIV. There is a great difference in the breadth yarieiieso/ 

 of the various kinds of paper : the best is thirteen 

 inches wide, the hieratic two inches less, the Fannian 

 measures ten inches and the amphitheatre paper one 

 less, while the Saitic is still fewer inches across and 

 is not as wide as the mallet used in making it, as 

 the emporitic kind is so narrow that it does not 

 exceed six inches. Other points looked at in paper 

 are fineness, stoutnoss, whiteness and smoothness. 

 The status of best quaUty was altered by the 



145 



