Plinics Natural! Hirtorie. 



A growcth plcntifullj' about Thebes in ^gyptjamong OkeSjOIiveSjand Peach- trees/or the fpacfe 

 of three hundred ftadia from Nilus : where the whole trai^ is all woods and forrefts^ and . nathe- 

 leffc well watered with fountaines and fprings among. 



Chap. x. 



^ of the Mgyptiatt Plum-tree^ and other trees about Memphis^ 



IN thofe quarters groweth likewife the iEgyptianPlum-treejnot unlike to the thorn c of Aca° 

 cia next before . defer ibed: and this bringeth forth a fruit as bigas a Medler, which never is ripe 

 before mid-winter_,when the daies be at fhortell.The tree is alwaies greenejand fheddeth not 

 ^ the leaves all the yeare long . Within the fruit aforcfaidj there is a big ftone : but the fubftance 

 otherwife and bodie thereof is naturally fo good^and lb plenteous withall^ that the inhabitants 

 make their harveft of it. When they have gathered it, they clcanfe itjftampe it, make it up into 

 balsandlumpes, which they preferve and keepe. The countrey about Memphis in times pa% 

 was all woodie and full of forrefts, wherein grew fo mightie big trees, that three men were not 

 able to fatham them about.But among the reft there was one by it felfe moft wonderfully not for 

 any ftraunge fruit thatitbare^ nor yet for any Angular ufe or emploiment : but in regard of an 

 accident obferved in it, and a Ipeciall qualitie that it had .. For the tree (forfboih) outwardly re- 

 fembleth a thorne, but the leaves are made like feathers for all the world. Let a man fliakethe 

 boughes never fo little, (head they will and fall incontinentlyj hut foone after there fpring up 

 ^ new in their ilead. 



Chap, x i* 



Sundrte forts of gum, Alfo of the cane Papyrus o 



THe beft gum in all mens judgement, is that which' cbm'meth of the ^Egyptian thorne A- 

 cacia, having vcines within of checkerworkCjOr trailed like wormcs, of colour greeniilij 

 and cleare withall .- without any peeces of barke intermingled among, and flicking to 

 theteethasamanchewethit. A pound thereof is commonly fold at Rome for three demers. 

 The gum that iffueth from thebitter Almond trees and the Cherie-trees is not fb good:but the 

 p wortt of all is that which the Plum tree yeeldctb. There runneth likewife out of vines a certainc 

 gum,which is paffing good for the bleach,fcabs and fcalsin little children. And otherwhiles yee 

 fhallfind fomc in Olive trees : and thatcureth the tooth ach.Moreover,theElme growing upon 

 Corycus,amountaineinCilicia, andtheluniperthere,have agumjbutgoodfor nothing. As 

 forthatof theElmejitbrcedeth gnats there. Moreovcfjof SarcocolIa,[a tree this is, fo called] 

 there deftilleth a gum of that name,wbich painters and Phyficians both,have great ufe of. Like 

 it is to Manna Thuris, which is the powder of Incenfe : and therefore the white is better than the 

 red.Sold it is at the fame price that the other abovenamed. And thus much concerning the trees 

 growing upon mountaines and plavnes . 



Now albeit we are not entred yet into the treatile of thofe plants and fhrubs which grow either 

 ^ in marifh groundspr by river fides : yet before we depart out of iEgypt, wee muft not forget the 

 plant Papyrus, but defcribe the nature thereof, confidering, that all civilitie of this our life, thc^ 

 memoriall and immortalitie alfo of men after death,confifteth elpecially in paper which is made 

 thereof! Af.Frfrri? writeth^that thefirft invention of making paper was d^vikd upon the conqueft 

 of i£gypt,atchicvedby «^/fX;7ff^/?/'thegreat,atwhattimeashe founded the citie Alexandria in 

 ^gyptjwhere fuch paper was firft made.For before that time there was no ufe at all (faith he) of 

 paper: but men ufed to write in Date tree leaves firft, and afterwards in the rin^s and barkes of 

 certaine trees. Then in procefTe of timethcy began to regifterpublickerecords in rols &fheets 

 of lead : and foone after private perlbns fet downe their owne affaires in liUnen bookes, or els in 

 tables covered with waxe. For wee read in ^^tf/^f^'^thatbefore the war of Troy there was ufe of 

 P . writing tables. And at the very time when he wratej^gypt was not all continent and firme land, 

 as now it is.Forjas he faith,all the Papyrus wheiof the paper is madejgrew in thatarm or branch 

 ol the river Nilus which anfwereth onely te the tra<St or territorie within the jurisdiction Scben- 

 nitis:but afterwards that part alfo was laid to:/Egypiibythefbelvesand bankes made with thcii> 

 nundation of the faid river. For, from the Ifland Pharos^which now joineth clofc unto Alexan- 

 dria, 



