THE QRAMlfJE^. 



233 



Papyrus. 



liber or bark is composed of thin laminee or 

 plates, and these unrolled and placed together 

 formed a sheet. The plates obtained near the 

 centre were the best, and each cut diminished in 

 value in proportion as it was distant from that 

 part of the stem. When carefully peeled from 

 the plant, and dressed at the sides, that these 

 might join evenly, these plates were laid close 

 together on a hard flat table, and then other 

 pieces similarly cut were laid across them at right 

 angles. They thus formed a sheet of many 

 pieces, and to promote their adhesion, the whole 

 was moistened with the water of the Nile, and, 

 while wet, pressure was applied. The glutinous 

 matter inherent in the bark promoted adhesion. 

 They were afterwards dried in the sun. Bruce 

 the traveller, who frequentlj' made the paper in 

 the manner thus described, ascertained that the 

 saccharine juice contained in the plant, and dis- 

 solved and diffused in the water, causes the im- 

 mediate adhesion of the parts. In some cases 

 where the plants themselves did not contain suf- 

 ficient juice, or when the water did not dissolve 

 the juice properly, the strips of bark were joined 

 together with paste, made of fine flour, mixed 

 with hot water and a little vinegar. After being 

 dried and again pressed, the paper was smoothed 

 and flattened by beating it with a wooden mal- 

 let. 



A recent traveller thus describes the papyrus 

 as he found it gi-owing near Syracuse in Sicily, 

 the only locality in Europe where this beautiful 

 plant is found indigenous. " The river Anapus, 

 after flowing through an alluvial plain, which 

 requires draiuiug very much, being in many 

 parts swampy, and emitting the most unhealthy 

 miasmata, falls into the soa at the west side of 

 the magnificent harbour of Syracuse. We as- 

 cended the river for some distance in a flat-bot- 

 tomed boat. Near its mouth the water was pretty 

 deep, but muddy, and a little fai'ther on we 



found it contaminated and obstructed by heaps 

 of hemp, which were steeping there. The cur- 

 rent 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. 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 little 

 clusters, and shooting above groups of water- 

 lilies on either side of the river. A quarter of a 

 mUe higher up we turned to the westward, 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 

 Scotland. In proportion as we proceeded up 

 this branch, which is very winding and deep, we 

 saw the papyrus in thick groups ; and as we la- 

 boured to force our way through the rich vege- 

 table 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 man to tow us 

 along fi'om the banks, and, indeed, no assistance 

 but such as a little boy from Syracuse could ren- 

 der us, we were well nigh giving up our farther 

 progress, for the present, in despair. Persevering, 

 however, by cutting, and tearing, and forcing 

 our little punt through or over this matting oi 

 plants and flowers, we at last shot into the clear 

 basin of the Cyanean fountain, well bathed with 

 perspiration and its own waters. This famous 

 fountain, which, coming by the famous course of 

 the stream that flows from it, may be somewhat 

 more than half a mile from the Anapus, is a cir- 

 cular pool, of from sixty to seventy feet in dia- 

 meter. Its waters, though the bottom of the 

 basin seems formed of black mud, are remarka- 

 bly pure, and so transparent that you can see 

 the fish which swarm there, and any other ob- 

 ject far beneath the surface, as clearly as though 

 you looked through the medium of a transparent 

 atmosphere. According to our measurement, 

 the fountain was then thirty -two feet deep ; — it 

 was fringed all round with the graceful cyperns 

 papyrus. Nothing remained of the ancient 

 temple of Cyane except some blocks of marble, 

 that had fallen or been thrown into the foun- 

 tain; even the name of Cyane was no longer 

 known there, the Syracusans calling the foun- 

 tain and the stream La Pisma. Few spots could 

 be more solitary, and still the limpid water 

 flowed without a ripple, nor were any sounds 

 heai'd except the occasional twitter of a sort o( 



