220 
LETTERS FROM 
feet in diameter. The inside of the stem of 
the papyrus consists of a white pithy sub¬ 
stance, which may very easily be split into 
thin sheets, and the Egyptians had the ait of 
uniting these tegether, so that the joinings 
were nearly invisible ; in this manner they 
formed sheets of large size. I have pressed 
some of the pith between blotting-paper till 
dry, and I find that without any further 
preparation it resembles paper more than 
any other unmanufactured substance I have 
ever seen. It is flexible, tough, and strong, 
has a tolerably smooth surface, and when 
written upon with a common pen, the ink 
does not run. 
Not far from the banks of the river, bv 
which the papyrus grows, are two fluted 
pillars, about six feet in diameter, and forty 
or fifty yards from each other. They are 
the only remains of a once magnificent tem¬ 
ple of Jupiter. 
