A fine fountain pen. said Kenneth Parker, a pen manufacturer is a controlled leak." Whether you are writing or drawing you must have absolute control over your ink supply; yet only in the past century or so have pens provided this feature. The first known "pens" were fashioned from hollow reeds that grew along the Nile delta. Egyptians used such pens before the year 4000 B.C. One end of the reed was sharpened to a point, and the stalk was filled with a thick mixture of water and coloring matter. The reed was squeezed when the user wanted the "ink" to flow. The ancient Greeks had a simpler pen. They used a stylus, a sort of needle and etched their words on tablets coated with wax.