Chap. 71.] 
THE ELDEB. 
411 
as the viminal or purple willow/^ another as tlie nitelina/^ 
from its resemblance to the colour of the nitela, thinner in 
the trunk than the preceding one, and the third as the 
Gallic kind, being the thinnest of them all. 
CHAP, 70. EFSHES : CAKDLE-EUSHES : ETJSHES FOR THATCHIls^G. 
The rush,^^ so frail in form, and growing in marshy spots, 
cannot be reckoned as belonging to the shrubs, nor yet to the 
brambles or the stalk plants ; nor, indeed, in strict justice, to 
any of the classes of plants except one that is peculiarly its 
own. It is extensively used for making thatch and matting, 
and, with the outer coat taken off, for making candles and 
funeral torches. In some places, however, the rush is more 
hard and firm : thus, for instance, it is employed not only by 
the sailors on the Padus for making the sails of boats, but for 
the purposes of sea-fishing as well, by the fishermen of Africa, 
who, in a most preposterous manner, hang the sails made of it 
behind the masts. The people, too, of Mauritania thatch 
their cottages^^ with rushes ; indeed, if we look somewhat 
closely into the matter, it will appear that the rush is held in 
pretty nearlj^ the same degree of estimation there as the pa- 
pyrus is in the inner regions of the world. 
CHAP. 71. THE ELDEE : THE BEAMB1.E. 
Of a peculiar nature, too, though to be reckoned among the 
water^^-plants, is the bramble, a shrub -like plant, and the 
elder, which is of a spongy nature, though not resembling giant 
fennel, from having upon it a greater quantity of wood. It is 
a belief among the shepherds that if they cut a horn or trumpet 
from the wood of this tree, it will give all the louder sound 
if cut in a spot where the shrub has been out of hearing of the 
crowing of the cock. The bramble bears mulberries, and 
61 Belonging to the Salix purpurea of Linnaeus. 
62 Field-mouse or squirrel colour. See B, viii. c. 82. The same, pro- 
bably, as the Salix vitellina of Linnaeus. 
63 A variety, Fee thinks, of the Salix rubens. 
6* The Scirpus lacustris of Linnseus. 
65 And not in front of them. 66 Mapalia. 
6' Egypt, namely. 
68 The bramble is sometimes found on the banks of watery spots and in 
marshy localities, but more frequently in mountainous and arid spots. 
29 Known to us as blackberries. This tree is the Bubus fruticosus of 
