500 Hope. — The ‘ Sadd ’ of the Upper Nile. 
1868 in those islands. In February 1868 he visited Syracuse, 
but had not time to visit ‘ the renowned station of Papyrus 
antiquorum ^ the celebrated fountain of Arethusa,’ on an 
island close to the harbour. Dr. C leghorn said : ‘ The Papyrus 
grows luxuriantly on the banks of the Cyane (see illustration 
in “ Le Tour du Monde,” 1866), amongst flags, reeds, and 
water plants. . . . There appears to be no other spot in 
Europe where this interesting plant flourishes in a natural 
state. The clumps are very thick, attaining a height of 
15 to 18 feet. It is supposed to have been sent from Egypt 
by Ptolemy Philadelphus to Hieronymus II, 250 B.C. . . . 
Paper is now prepared as a curiosity by Signor Politi in the 
same way’ (as described by Pliny, Book xxi, Sect. 12). 
Afterwards, Dr. Cleghorn visited Palermo, and saw the 
locality where it is said the Papyrus formerly grew, now 
called the Papireto. ‘ The Papyrus of Sicily,’ he said, ‘ is not 
mentioned by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, nor Ovid, nor 
even by Diodorus Siculus and Theocritus, who were Sicilians. 
The first notice of it is contained in a translation by Professor 
Amari, quoted by Professor Parlatore, from the Arabic of 
Ibn Hankal, a learned Arab, who visited Palermo in the 
tenth century. The following is an extract : “ Among these 
marshes (on the streams about Palermo) there is a bottom 
covered all with Papyrus , from wfiich writing-paper is made. 
I had not believed that it grew anywhere on the earth except 
in Egypt, but here I have found it in Sicily. The greater 
part is twisted into ship cables, and the remainder serves to 
make paper for the Sultan, who, however, hardly gets as much 
as he requires. The place, now dry, and partially filled up, 
retains the name of Papireto .” Till 1591 it was a vast swamp, 
full of Papyrus l 
Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, in the paper quoted above, said that 
Bruce found the Papyrus at Lake Zana (Tsana) in Abyssinia, 
in 12 0 N. Lat. Lake Tsana, as we learn from Sir William 
Garstin’s Report, lies at an altitude of 1,775 metres above sea- 
level, over 5,8co feet. 
