An early paperlike writing material, called papyrus, was invented by the ancient Egyptians, and by 650 B.C had been introduced into Greece. It was made from a water reed called papu. The stems of the reed were cut into long thin strips and laid side by side to from a sheet. Another layer of strips was laid on top and the whole soaked with water, after which the sheet was pressed out and dried in the sun. Probably because of a natural gum in the plant, the layers stuck together. After the sheets were dry they were readied for writing by laboriously smoothing them with a round hard object. Papyrus was too valuable to be used in any quantity as mere scratch paper.