510
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. DEC. 23, 1916.
" Skull " is probably the plaice ; skolla
and sand-slcddda are Swedish names for this
species, and skulder Danish ; but the second
word " slyce " is a complete puzzle, and
assistance in explaining it would be welcome,
as no word in the dictionary seems to
answer to it. J. H. GUBNEY.
Keswick Hall. Norwich.
A SISTER OF THE CONQUEROR : BUDD. Will readers of ' N. & Q.' learned in Norman history reply if anything is known of Jean Budd, a Baron during the time of Charles the Great ?
" As a reward for his military services, Jean Budd was given a domain on the Norman sea coast. His descendant, William Budd, founded the town of Rye, and during the Norman invasion of France he housed the King. His descendant, Richard Budd, had four sous, three of whom became sailors, and subsequently settled in the town of Rye, Sussex. Jean Budd, who succeeded to the barony, came over at the time of William the Conqueror, and landed at Rye, where his relatives were living. He distinguished himself during the Norman inva- sion of 1066, and married a sister of William the Conqueror. He subsequently became Earl of Sussex."
The above is a quotation from a pamphlet, published in America, by W. C. Rucker, entitled ' William Budd, Pioneer Epidemi- ologist.' Any light upon this subject and the family of Budd will be welcome to
A DWELLER IN KENT.
THE DOMINICAN ORDER. What books best throw insight on the history of the Dominican Order, its tradition and training ? Information will oblige.
ANEURIN WILLIAMS.
THE ^PAPYRUS AND ITS PRODUCTS.
(12 S. ii. 348.)
IN Ancient Egypt there was much pairs bestowed upon the cultivation of the papyrus plant. It grew in marshy lands and in shallow brooks. The right of growing it belonged to the Government, and they made a very good thing out of the monopoly. The mode of making papyri was this : the interior of the stalks of the plant, after the rind had been removed, was cut into thin slices in the direction of their length, and these being laid on a flat board, in succession, similar slices were placed over them at right angles; and their surfaces being cemented together by a sort of glue, and subjected to a proper degree of pressure and well dried, the papyrus was completed. The
length of the slices depended, of course, on
the breadth of the intended sheet, as that of
the sheet on the number of slices placed in
succession beside each other ; so that, though
the breadth was limited, the papyrus might
be extended to an indefinite length.
Wilkinson's ' Ancient Egyptians ' (Birch's edition) is the best authority upon papyrus in connexion with the different uses to which it was put. In vol. ii. pp. 180-81 there are given a number of illustrative quotations from Pliny. Pliny says that the roots of the plant were made into firewood, and he says further that the Egyptians constructed small boats out of the plant, and from the rind they made sails, mats, clothes, bedding, and ropes :
"They ate it either crude or cooked, swallowing only the juice ; and when they manufacture paper from it they divide the stem, by means of a kind of needle, into thin plates or laminae, each of which is as large as the plant will admit." There then follows Pliny's account of how the paper was made (Wilkinson, vol. ii.).
The monopoly of the papyrus in Egypt increased the price of it, so that persons in humble life could not afford to use it. Few documents, therefore, are met with written upon papyrus except funeral rituals, the sales of estates, and official papers, which were absolutely required ; and so valuable was it that they frequently obliterated the old writing and inscribed another document upon the same sheet (Wilkinson, vol. ii, p. 183).
Theophrastus says that papyrus was used to make garlands for the shrines of the gods. It was from the stem of the plant that boats were made. Priests' sandals were also made of it, and it was used as tow for caulking the seams of ships. King Antigonus made the rigging of his fleet of the same material. The rush and the bulrush of the Bible were identical with papyrus. See Tristram's ' Natural History of the Bible,' 9th edition, 1898, p. 433.
Since the seventeenth century attempts have been made to revive the use of the papyrus, and although the cultivation of the plant is extinct or almost extinct in Egypt, it exists elsewhere. It flourishes, for in- stance, in Palestine, and grows luxuriantly in a swamp at the north end of the plain of Gennesaret. It is still to be found in Syracuse, but it was doubtless transplanted thither from its original habitat, as there is no reference found to it in Syracuse before 1674. Wilkinson confirms its use and the attempts to revive it. He says :
" Some few individuals, following the example of the Cavaliere Saverio Landolina Nava of
