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CHAP. plague, then raging over all the western part of Cyprus, and particularly at Baffa. The ruins, and other antiquities of this place, are numerous. Sir Sidney Smith removed some inscriptions already alluded to; and the English Consul at Larneca presented to us the hand of a colossal marble statue, found there, of the most exquisite sculpture1. We also hoped to enrich our collection of plants, and to make some observations concerning the minerals of Baffa, especially a beautiful variety of crystallized quartz, called Yeny Maden or Madem by the Turks, and sold by Armenian merchants in the Crimea for diamonds. Before we left that peninsula, Professor Pallas had particularly requested information with regard to the locality of this stone. Among the substances offered for sale as false diamonds, there is nothing more common, all over the Mediterranean, than highly-transparent quartz; hence the various names of " Gibraltar diamonds," "Vesuvian diamonds,"

Baffa diamonds," and many other. We have also, in

"Near

(3) This name was given to the rock-crystal of Baffa, so long ago as the time in which Egmont and Heyman visited Cyprus. Baffa are mines of rock-crystal; and a French merchant there shewed me a most beautiful stone, which might pass for a diamond; and such stones being found in the mines here, are commonly called Baffe diamonds." Trav. of Egm. and Heym. vol. I. p. 289.

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our country, the "Bristol diamonds." All natural СНАР. resemblances of the diamond have, however, been lately eclipsed by a very different mineral, the White Topaz of New Holland1. This stone, when cut and polished, with the exception only of the White Corundum, possesses a degree of lustre and limpidness superior to every other excepting the real the real diamond. The antient Minerals of mines of Cyprus, now entirely neglected, appear to have been situate towards the Paphian extremity of the island; for if the natives exhibit any mineral substance remarkable for its beauty, utility, or hardness, they name it, by way of eminence, "A Baffa STONE." Amianthus of a very superior quality is found near Baffa', as flexible as silk, and

(4) Among the lapidaries of London, it bears the name of "Mininova," and is little esteemed by them: it has received this name from Minas Novas, a district in Brazil where the same stone is found. See Mawe's Trav. in Brazil, p. 238. Lond. 1812. (5) See Drummond's Travels, p. 157.

Mariti mentions a village

The

called Amianthus, as still existing in Cyprus in his time; and adds that it "was a considerable town in the time of the Romans. neighbouring country," says he, "produced the stone Asbestos, used for making a kind of incombustible cloth, in which the bodies of Emperors were burned." (Mariti's Trav. vol. I. p. 177.) This village is mentioned by Dapper, (Isles de l'Archipel. p. 52.) as marking the spot where the stone Amianthus was found in abundance, and manufactured, by being mixed with flax, spun, and then wove, for the incombustible cloth of the Antients. The process is given by DroscoRIDES (lib. v. c. 46). Dapper says the village took its name from the mineral; and that it was once a place of great renown, on account of the cloth and thread there manufactured of Amianthus.

Cyprus.

It

46

CHAP

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Journey to
Nicotia.

CYPRUS.

perfectly white; finer, and more delicately fibrous, than that of Sicily, Corsica, or Norway. The Cypriots call this mineral" The Cotton Stone."

Early on the morning of June the eighth, having procured an order for mules and asses, and a firmân to authorize the expedition, we left the Ceres, and set out for Nicotia, the Leucusia or Leucosia of the Greeks, and present capital of CYPRUS. We were detained at Larneca until

It is often supposed, that the art of manufacturing an incombustible cloth by means of Amianthus is not possessed by the Moderns; but the inhabitants of a certain district in Siberia are in the practice of preparing thread by mixing flax with this substance, and then spinning it. After weaving with this thread, the cloth is exposed to the action of fire, which consumes the flax, and leaves an incombustible web. This, according to Dioscorides (as above cited), was the method used by the Antients. The principal manufacture of Amianthine cloth existed in this island, the mineral being found here in abundance and perfection. The art of making it was also formerly known in India. If we might rely upon the mineralogy of the Antients, real diamonds were once found in Cyprus; but Pliny's observations concerning them (Ilist. Nat. lib. xxxvii. c. 4.) although he describes the Cyprian diamond as efficacissimus in medicinâ," prove they were nothing more than the sort of Quartz before mentioned. The Aetites, or Eagle Stone, which they superstitiously esteemed, owing to the aid it was supposed to render to women in labour, is still valued by the ignorant inhabitants for this, its imaginary, virtue. Pliny considered the Jasper of Cyprus as ranking next in perfection to that of Scythia; and Crystal, he says, was turned up by the plough. The other minerals of the island were: Emerald (a name they gave to any greenish transparent stone), Agate, Opal, Sapphire, Lazulite (which they called Lapis Cyaneus), Mica, or Muscovy Glass, Alum, Nitre, Sulphur, Gypsum, and great abundance of Salt. The latter was chiefly collected from the environs of CITIUM, where the salt marshes now are.

II.

Cyprus.

the evening, by the hospitality of the English CHAP. Consul, Signor Peristiani, who had prepared a large party of ladies and other inhabitants, all eager to represent to us the danger of travelling during the day; and to gratify very reasonable curiosity for a sight of strangers, and for news from Egypt. Among the Among the persons thus assembled was the English Consul of Berytus, from whom we obtained a silver tetradrachm of Tyre, in the highest state of preservation. The interesting costume of the Cyprian ladies ought not to pass Women of without notice. Like all the Greek women, they chew great quantities of mastic, imported from the Island of Scio, and deem it graceful to appear always biting this gum. Their headdress is modelled after the kind of calathus represented upon the Phenician idols of the country, and upon Egyptian statues. This is worn by women of all ranks, from the wives of the Consuls to the meanest slaves. Their hair, dyed of a fine brown colour, by means of a plant called henna, hangs behind, in numerous long straight braids; and in some ringlets disposed near the face they place the flowers of the jasmine, strung together, upon slips from leaves of the palm-tree, in a very curious and pleasing manner. Next to the Calmuck, the Grecian women are, of all other, the best versed in cosmetic arts. They possess the secret of giving

CHAP.

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a brown colour to the whitest locks, and also tinge their eye-brows with the same hue. The most splendid colours are displayed in their habits, which are very becoming to the girls of the island. The upper robe is always of scarlet, of crimson, or of green silk, embroidered with gold. Like other Greek women, they wear long scarlet pantaloons, fastened round the ankle, and yellow boots, with slippers of the same colour. Around the neck, and the head, they wear a profusion of gold coins, chains, and other trinkets. About their waist they have a large belt or zone, hanging very low, and fastened in front by two large and heavy polished brass bucklers, or bosses1; some of which we saw nearly as large as a barber's bason. They endeavour to make the waist appear as long as possible, and the legs, consequently, short. Naturally corpulent, they take no pains to diminish the size of their bodies by lacing, but seem rather vain of their bulk; exposing their breasts, at the same time, in a manner highly unbecoming. Notwithstanding the extraordinary pains they use to disfigure their natural beauty by all

(1) See "Douglas on the Remains of Antient Customs among the Modern Greeks," for a proof of the antiquity of this kind of ornament. The two bosses thus worn by Greek women are shaped like antient shields, and are so placed as to suggest, by their critical situation, a notion of their being worn as bucklers of protection.