48 
PAPYRUS. 
The advantages which the Egyptians derived from 
their knowledge of the papyrus rendered it famous in 
their country, and caused it to be celebrated by the 
learned of other nations. Theophrastus, and Pliny 
after him, have both described the plant; but by no 
means in so clear and comprehensive a manner, as 
has been since accomplished by M. de Caylus, and 
by Mr. Bruce. The former of these gentlemen, 
towards the middle of the last century, published a 
learned dissertation Sur le Papier da Nil ; and the 
latter, during his travels in Egypt, made several ob- 
servations relating to the papyrus. Assisted by what 
these naturalists have said upon the subject, we shall 
proceed to lay before the reader the following ac- 
count of this celebrated plant. 
The Egyptians applied the papyrus to several 
purposes independent of the manufactory of paper. 
The roots sometimes served them for fire-wood, and 
w r ere frequently formed into different domestic 
utensils. Of the stems, interlaced together, they 
constructed a kind of boat ; and of the interior 
bark they made their sails, mats, their clothes, their 
cordage, and the coverlits of their beds. The boats 
made of the papyrus, resembled great baskets com- 
pactly woven together, and plastered with a resinous 
substance. It was probably in a vessel of this kind 
that Moses w r as exposed, when he was found by the 
daughter of Pharaoh, on the banks of the Nile. Al- 
though Pliny has expressly called these boats naves 
papyracece , w r e are not to believe that they were 
constructed entirely with the stems of this plant ; 
