THE JULY PAGEANT. 81 
from each other by the characters of the fruit rather 
than of the flowers. They form an interesting group 
for study, and more than one monograph has been de- 
voted to them. The most famous member of the group 
taken as a whole is the papyrus plant, which is often a 
conspicuous feature of African vegetation. One species 
was commonly used in Egypt for the purposes of 
writing, and was, in fact, the paper of the period. Its 
use as paper continued until the twelfth century, when 
it was superseded by parchment and by paper made 
from rags. By the discovery of papyrus rolls in Egypt 
in recent years some valuable works of the classical 
Greek authors have been rescued from oblivion. 
Of the genus Cyperus, which is largely represented 
in the tropics, we have four species. Their common 
book-name is galingale, a name borrowed from over the 
sea. In Zhe Lotos-Eaters Tennyson has chosen the 
galingale along with the palm as symbols of that dreamy 
land to which Ulysses came in his wanderings and from 
which he so soon hurried away, lest he and his men 
should lose their love of home and country, of wife and 
child. 
“The charmed sunset linger’d low adown 
In the red West ; thro’ mountain clefts the dale 
Was seen far inland, and the yellow down 
Border’d with palm, and many a winding vale 
II 
