PAPYRUS. 
51 
which was dug up at Thebes, the boards are of 
papyrus root, covered first with coarse pieces of 
paper, and then with leather, in the same manner 
as it would be done now. It is a book one would 
call a small folio, rather than by any other name ; 
and I apprehend that the shape of the book, where 
papyrus is employed, was always of the same form 
with those of the moderns. The letters are strong, 
deep, black, and apparently written with a reed, as 
is still practised by the Egyptians and Abyssinians. 
It is written on both sides, so never could be rolled 
up as parchment was ; nor would the brittleness of 
the materials, when dry, support any such frequent 
unrolling.” 
The composition which the Egyptians used for 
ink must have been of a very durable nature, since a 
book which had probably lain for centuries, was still 
as legible as ever. This fact respecting the black- 
ness of the letters, does not rest solely on the autho- 
rity of Mr. Bruce, since others have observed the 
same. Some years ago there was to be seen, in the 
abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, part of the epistles 
of Saint Augustin written on Egyptian paper, occa- 
sionally interleaved with parchment : although the 
manuscript was eleven hundred years old, yet the 
letters had preserved their blackness. 
Mr. Bruce, who appears to have examined the 
papyrus with some attention, has given the follow- 
ing description of its form. The head is com- 
posed of a number of small grassy filaments, each 
about a foot long. About the middle, each of these 
