Chap. 64.] 
WATER PLA5TTS. 
403 
that the ivy is used as a chaplet by poets, as also by Father 
Liber and Silenus ? Tablets are made of the wood of the 
smilax, and it is a peculiarity of this wood to give out a slight 
sound, if held close to the ear. It is said that ivy is remark- 
ably efficacious for testing wine, and that a vessel made of this 
wood will let the wine pass through it, while the water will 
remain behind, if there has been any mixed with it.^^ 
CHAP. 64. (36.) WATER PLAISTTS I THE RUSH: TWENTY-EIGHT 
VARIETIES OF THE REED. 
Among those plants which thrive best in cold localities, it 
will be only proper to mention the aquatic shrubs. In the 
first rank, we find the reed, equally indispensable for the 
emergencies of war and peace, and used among the appliances^^ 
of luxury even. The northern nations make use of reeds 
for roofing their houses, and the stout thatch thus formed will 
last for centuries even ; in other countries, too, they make 
light vaulted ceilings with them. Eeeds are employed, too, 
for writing upon paper, those of Egypt more particularly, which 
have a close affinity to the papyrus : the most esteemed, how- 
ever, are the reeds of Cnidos, and those which grow in Asia, 
on the margin of the Anaitic Lake there. 
The reed of our country is naturally of a more fungous 
nature, being formed of a spongy cartilage, which is hollow 
within, and covered by a thin, dry, woody coat without ; it 
easily breaks into splinters, which are remarkably sharp at the 
edge. In other respects, it is of a thin, graceful shape, arti- 
culated with joints, and tapering gradually towards the top, 
which ends in a thick, hairy tuft. This tuft is not without 
its uses, as it is employed for filling the beds used in taverns, 
in place of feathers ; or else, when it has assumed a more 
ligneous consistency, it is pounded, as we see done among the 
Belgse, and inserted between the joints of ships, to close the 
Fee is inclined to question this ; but the breadth of the tablets may 
have been very small in this instance. 
20 Of course this is fabulous : though it is not impossible that the 
writing on the tablets may sometimes have caused " a noise in the world, "~ 
and that hence the poets may have given rise to this story. 
21 Pliny borrows this fabulous story from Cato, De Ee Kust. c. 3. 
22 The reeds cannot be appropriately ranked among the shrubs. 
23 For musical purposes, namely. 
: 24 B. V. c. 20. 
D B 2 
