Page 150 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

READING LESSONS. 149
TRANSVERSE1 LY, ad., athwart, across ; in a cross direction. L. trans­ verse, om trans, and vert , I turn.
SAc'OHAR E, a., sugary; having properties resembling those of sugar. F. saccharin; G. sakcharon; Ar. saccar, om succar, sugar.
! PREG'NATED, pt., saturated with. See p. 55.
1. T papyrusmostnaturallysuggestsitself,when­ ever we turn our attention to the vegetable produc­ tions of Egypt. The stalk is of a vivid green, of a
. triangular rm, and tapering towards the top. Pliny says, that the root is as thick as a man's arm, : and that the plant occasionally exceeds een feet , in height. At present it is rarely und more than . ten feet long, about two et, or little more, of the lower part of the stalk being covered with hollow, sharp-pointed leaves, which ove each o er like scales, and rtify the most exposed part of the stem. These are usually of a yellow or dusky-brown colour. The head is composed of a number of small grassy laments, each about a ot long. Near the middle each of these laments parts into ur, and in the point of partition are ur branches of owers, the termination of which is not unlike an ear of wheat
i in rm, but is in ct a so , silky husk.
2. This singular vegetable was used r a variety of purposes ; the principal of which were, the struc­ , ture of boats and the manu cture of paper. In re­ . gard to the rst, we are told by Pliny, a piece of the acacia-tree was put in the bottom to serve as a keel, to which the plants were joined, being rst sewed • together, then gathered up at the stem and stern, and
made· st by means of a ligature.
3. But it is as a substance r writing upon that the papyrus is best known, and most interesting to the scholar. The process by which the plant was
prepared r this purpose, 1s brie y stated by the
13*