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ἀκάνθη: the Mimosa Nilotica (‘acacia’), so called διὰ τὸ ἀκανθῶδες ὅλον τὸ δένδρον εἶναι πλὴν τοῦ στελέχους (i. e. on the main stem) Theoph. H. P. iv. 2; he says δωδεκάπηχυς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐρέψιμος ὕλη τέμνεται (i. e. beams ‘for roofing’). It is of two kinds, μέλαινα ... ἄσηπτος, διὸ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ναυπηγίαις χρῶνται. As a rule, however, the timber from it was much shorter, and hence the ‘baris’ was built in the way described below; Egypt was destitute of proper ship's timber. Nile boats are still built of acacia planks. Uni, fetching alabaster (Breasted, i. 323) from Hatnub, builds a boat of acacia, nearly a hundred feet long and fifty wide. Noah's ark was built of acacia wood (Gen. vi. 14 ‘gopher wood’).

For the ‘Cyrenaean lotus’ cf. iv. 177 n.

πλινθηδόν. The short pieces (ξύλα) were arranged ‘like bricks’, i. e. in alternate layers, so that their joins might not come together.

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