Page:Smith - Number Stories of Long ago (1919).djvu/37

 The priest replied, “These are figures stating the number of days in the king’s last war.”

Then Ahmes said he wished that he knew how to write numbers, and the priest told him that he would teach him how to do so if he would get some papyrus (på pī’rŭs).

Number Stories, p18-illustration.png ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PAPYRUS From a papyrus roll, showing the ancient manner of writing and illustrating. (From Breasted’s “Ancient Times”)

Ahmes went home and asked his father to tell him what papryus was, and in this way he learned about a kind of paper on which the priests of Egypt used to write. In early times they had written on stone, brick, or pieces of pottery, but as the centuries went on they had invented something better. 18