HERODOTUS AS A BOTANIST. 97 



hieraiicus of Strabo, and when we read of its being employed 

 for mats, sails, and baskets, we may conclnde that this 

 was an inferior kind mentioned by Strabo, and sometimes 

 a common cyperus which grew wild, as many still do, was 

 thus employed in its stead. 



The, true papyrus a cultivated species. — Pliny says the 

 papyrus was not found about Alexandria, because it was 

 not cultivated there, and the necessity of this is shoAvn by 

 Isaiah's mention of the paper reeds by the brooks and every- 

 thing sown by the brooks. 



Mode of making the paper. — According to Pliny (xiii, 11), by 

 cutting thin slices of the pith, and laying them in rows, and 

 these being crossed with other slices, the whole was made 

 to adhere by great pressure. 



Mention of the papyrus in Scripture. — According to the list 

 of trees, plants, flowers, etc., in the Teacher's Bible, there are 

 six Hebrew words used of the rush gcDus, and variously 

 translated somewhat indiscriminately. 



The first is gome, employed Exodus ii, 3, of the ark of 

 bulrushes, and Job viii, 2, "Can the rush grow up without 

 mire ? " This is dl/Sr] ird'jTVpo'^, Cyperus papyrus. 



According to the same authority the Aroth of Isaiah xix, 7, 

 is wrongly translated paper reeds, as the papyrus has already 

 been mentioned. It is to dxt ro •^^Xoypov, the green herbage, 

 which abounds in marshy places. 



The third kind is achu, or a^i ^ovrofiov. Achu is not a 

 Hebrew word but an Egyptian. The plant is either the 

 Cyperus esculentns, the Kvireipov of Homer, a species of sedge 

 above noticed as not only found at Sparta but common in 

 South Italy, or else the Butomus umbdlatus, the flowering 

 rush, occurring in Egypt as well as in Britain, and on the 

 continent of North Europe. Cf Job viii, 11, •' Can the flag 

 grow without water ? " The same word is translated '* flag " 

 in Job, but "meadow" in Genesis xli, '2, as that on which 

 Pharaoh's fat kine fed. 



The fourth word is to eXo9, which in Exodus ii, 3, 5, 

 is rendered " flags," in which Moses's ark was concealed by 

 the river bank, but more correctly '■' weeds " in Jonah ii, 5, 

 at the bottom of the sea. "EX09 is a general term for water 

 weeds, whether seaweed or the rank marsh vegetation of 

 the river's bank; and with regard to the above-mentioned 

 achu, the rendering of " flag " is clearly the correct one 

 and not that of meadow, as it is plainly a specific plant, and 

 classed with the papyrus. 



