HERODOTLIS AS A BOTANJST. 95 



meut of such a reaping hook, may be due to the presence of 

 silex whicli the stalk has incorporated with itself out of the 

 surrounding soil. To resume, my own observation respect- 

 ing the various cattle greedily devouring the stems of the 

 durra in season of harvest is corroborated by Wilkinson in 

 vol. iv of his Ancient Egypt, when he states that the wheat 

 straw whicli was cleared from the fields after the reaping of 

 the ears was used as well as clover, lupins, and vetches to 

 furnish provender for the cattle during the time of tlie 

 inundation. 



The seeds of the Indian corn furnish a large portion of the 

 food of the Nubian population at the present day. Cii'cular 

 woven disks, which form the sole furniture of several of the 

 Nubian dwellings, and are often stained in patterns, are sus- 

 pended like shields against the wall, and not unfrequently 

 hung ho]-izontally from the ceiling, and then employed for 

 the purpose of holding dates or Indian corn, which is for the 

 most part consumed just as taken from the husk, without 

 even being ground into iiour. These circular disks are called 

 moholads, and I have one or two of them hanging up against 

 the wall of my hall at the present moment. 



Herodotus on the Papyrus. 



The byblus (papyrus), which grows year after year in the 

 marshes, they pull up, and cutting the plant in two, reserve 

 the upper portion for other purposes, but take the lower, 

 which is about a cubit long, and either eat it, or else sell it. 

 Such as Avish to enjoy the byblus in full perfection, bake it 

 first in a closed vessel heated to a glow. — Herodotus, Lib. II, 

 c. 92. 



The Cyperas pxipyrus now only grows in the Anapos, 

 near Syracuse, being no longer a native of Egypt. It is said 

 to have been found in a stream on the coast of Syria as in 

 Pliny's time (xiii, 11). The use of the pith of its triangular 

 stalk for paper, made it a very valuable plant, and the right 

 of groANang the best quality and of selhng the papyrus made 

 from it, belonged to the government It was particularly 

 cultivated in the Sebennytic nome, and various qualities of 

 the paper were made. Herodotus is wrong in calling it an 

 annual plant. 



In addition to the above note is RawUnson's Herodotus, 

 vol. ii, the author again refers to the plant in his Ancient 

 Egypt, vol. i, p. 55 : " The byblus or papyrus {Cyperiis papy- 



