Chap. 57 ] THE INYENTOES OP VAEIOTJS THINGS. 
kinsman^'^ of Dsedalus ; according to Theoplirastus, again, it 
was invented by Polygnotus, the Athenian. 
Danaiis was the first who passed over in a ship from Egypt 
to Greece.^^ Before his time, they used to sail on rafts, which 
had been invented by King Erythras,^^ to pass from one island 
to another in the Eed Sea. There are some writers to be 
found, who are of opinion that they were first thought of 
by the Mysians and the Trojans, for the purpose of crossing 
the Hellespont into Thrace. Even at the present day, they 
are made in the British ocean, of wicker-work covered with 
hides on the I^ile they are made of papyrus, rushes, and 
reeds. 
We learn from Philostephanus, that Jason was the first 
person who sailed in a long vessel f" Hegesias says it was 
butes the invention of painting to the Egyptians, and says, that " it was 
practised by them long before it was known in Greece." — W. 
3^ The term Euchir, Eu^ftp, which is literally dextrous or handy," 
would rather seem to be a prefix to a name, than a proper name itself. 
With respect to Polygnotus, and the share which he had in the invention 
of painting, the reader may examine what Pliny says in a subsequent part 
of his work, B. xxxv. c. 35. — B. 
The vessel in which Danaiis came into Greece, may, probably, have 
been of a much superior construction, or much larger than those previously 
seen iii that country ; but it is generally supposed, that Cecrops, Cadmus, 
and the other Egyptian and Phoenician colonists, had come by sea to Greece, 
long before the arrival of Danaiis. In the ancient Egyptian monuments 
there are representations of different kinds of vessels of considerable size, 
which would imply a knowledge of the art of navigation at a very 
remote period. The same is proved by the traditionary annals of the 
Egyptians. — B. 
^9 The word here used, " ratis," would appear to be applied to any 
species of slightly built vessel, of whatever form. Tlie term raft is not 
altogether appropriate, but we have no English word which exactly cor- 
responds to it. — B. 
According to the generally received account, Erythras migrated from 
Persia to Tyrrhina, an island in the Red Sea. See B. vi. c. 28 and 32. — B. 
It has been conjectured, that the ancient Britons borrowed the pe- 
culiar form of their vessels from the Phoenicians, who were known to have 
frequented the south-west coasts of our island. Small vessels, not unlike 
those here described by Pliny, were used very lately, by the fishermen in 
the Bristol channel.— B. They are still used by the Welsh fishermen, and 
are made of oil-cloth or leather stretched on a frame. They are called by 
the Welch cwrwgle^ whence our word " coracle." 
^2 By the term " longa navis," here used, Pliny probably designates a 
vessel which was propelled by a number of rowers, ranged side by side, ia 
