404 
PLlIS^i's HISTOHT. 
[Book XYI. 
seams, a thing that it does most effectually, being more tena- 
cious than glue, and adhering more firmly than pitch. 
CHA.P. 65. EEEDS USED FOR AEEOWS, AND FOE THE PTJEPOSE 
OF WEITINa. 
It is by the aid of the reed^^ that the nations of the East 
decide their wars ; fixing in it a barbed point, they inflict a 
wound from which the arrow cannot be withdrawn. By the 
addition of feathers they accelerate the flight of this instru- 
ment of death, and the weapon, if it breaks in the wound, 
furnishes the combatants with a weapon afresh. With these 
missiles the warriors darken the very rays of the sun.~^ It is 
for this reason more particularly that they desire a clear and 
serene sky, and hold in abhorrence all windy and rainy weather, 
which has the eflect of compelling them, in spite of them- 
selves, to be at peace with one another. 
If a person were carefully to enumerate the peoples of 
Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, India, Scythia, Bactria, and Sarmatia, 
together with all the numerous peoples of the East, and the 
vast realms of the Parthians, he would find that fully one-half 
of mankind throughout the whole world live under a dominion 
imposed by the agency of the arrow. It was their surpassing 
excellence in this arm that so ennobled the warriors of Crete, 
though in this respect, as well as in all others, Italy has 
gained the mastery ; there being no reed in existence better 
adapted for making arrows than that found in the Ehenus, a 
river of the territory of Bononia : filled with a greater quan- 
tity of pith than any of the others, it is light, and easily 
cleaves the air, while at the same time it has sufficient weight 
to resist the action of the wind ; an advantage that is not 
possessed in an equal degree by those employed among the 
Belgse. These advantages, however, are possessed by the 
most approved kinds that are found in Crete, although those 
Calamus." The so-called reed of the East, used for making darts and 
arrows, does not belong to the genus Arundo, but to those of the Bambos 
and Nastus. 
26 Few readers of history will fail to recollect the report made to King 
Henry V. by Davy Gam, before the battle of Agincourt : — *' The enemy 
are so numerous," said the messenger, *'that their arrows will darken the 
Bun." "We must e'en be content to fight in the dark then," was: the 
warrior's reply. 
