Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1882 — Curious Ancient Records. [ARTICLE]

Curious Ancient Records.

Many were the expedients resorted to by the early scribes for the supply of writing materials. There were no.scribbling paper whereon to jot down trival memoranda or accounts, but the heaps of broken pots and crockery of all sorts, which are so abundant in eastern towns, prove the first suggestion for such china tablets and slates as we now use, and bits of smooth stone or tiles were constantly used for this purpose, and remain to this day. Fragments of ancient tiles thus scribbled on (such tiles as that whereon Ezekeil was commanded to portray the city of Jerusalem) have been found in many places. The island of Elephantine, on the Nile, is said to have furnished more than a hundred specimens of these memoranda, which are now in various museums. One of these is a soldier’s leave of abscence, scribbled on a fragment of an old vase. How little those scribes and accountants foresaw the interest with which learned descendants of the barbarians of the isles would one day treasure, their rough notes! Still quainter were the writing materials of the ancient Arabs, who, before the time of Mohammed, used to carve their annals on the shoulder-blades of sheep; the “sheep-bones chronicles” where strung together and thus preserved. After a while sheep’s bones were replaced by sheep’s skins, and the manufacture of parchment was brought to such perfection as to place it among the refinements of art. We hear of vellums that were tainted yellow, others white; others were dyed of a rich purple, and the writing thereon was in golden ink, with borders and many colored decorations. These precious manuscripts were anointed with the oil of cedar to preserve them from ’moths. We hear of one such in which the name of Mohammed is adorned with garlands of tulips and carnations painted in vivid colors. Still more precious was the silky paper of the Persians, powdered with gold and diver dust, whereon were painted rare illuminations, wljile the book was perfumed with attar of roses or essence of wood.—Gentleman's Magazine. Thk gold and silver product of Idaho since 1864 is estimated at $90,000,000,