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CHAP. upon the coast of Attica, from a Phoenician merchant became founder of the Stoics, and had for his illustrious followers, Epictetus and Seneca. According to Plutarch, it was with the sword presented by a king of Citium that Alexander triumphed over Darius'. This weapon was held by him in such estimation, that he always wore it upon his person. The same author also informs us, that at the siege of CITIUM, Cimon, son of Miltiades, received the wound of which he died. It is quite uncertain when this city was destroyed. Mariti believes that event did not take place later than the beginning of the

(1) The late Reverend and learned Dr. Henley, writing to the author upon the circumstance here noticed, makes the following remarks. 66 You mention," says he, "the sword presented to Alexander by the King of Citium. It is to be observed, that the prophecy of Balaam closes with the following prediction :- Ships shall come from the coast of CHITTIM (i. e. Citium), and shall afflict Assur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.' This prediction I propose hereafter more fully to illustrate; but at present shall only observe, that the naval armament, by which Alexander was alone enabled to overcome Tyre and the whole power of the Persian empire by sea, was chiefly furnished to him from Cyprus, or Chittim. (See 1 Maccab. i. 1.) And it happened, after that Alexander, the son of Philip the Macedonian, who CAME OUT of the land of Chetteïm, had smitten Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece. From not adverting to this historical fact, geographers have made a strange mistake, in supposing that Macedonia had been called Chittim; for Arrian, who has given a distinct account of Alexander's maritime equipment, expressly mentions, that the reinforcement from Cyprus consisted of one hundred and twenty ships, whilst from Macedonia he had but a single vessel. See ARRIAN. de Expeditione, Alexandri, lib. ii. c. 20."

Last

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the city.

third century. In 1767, an excavation being CHAP. made to procure from its ruins materials for building, the workmen discovered a marble bust Remains of of Caracalla, some medals of Septimius Severus, Antoninus Caracalla, and Julia Domna, with Greek inscriptions. Upon their obverse sides were exhibited the Temple of Paphos, with the legend ΚΟΙΝΟΝΚΥΠΡΙΩΝ. Some of them had the image of Caracalla on one side, and that of Geta on the other. There were also others, with the head of the Emperor Claudius*.

Many circumstances occurred to excite our curiosity concerning the interior of the island; although we despaired of being able to penetrate as far as Baffa, the antient Paphos, owing to the Baffa.

(2) Mariti's Travels, vol. I. p. 61.

(3) Medals corresponding with this description are alluded to by different authors, and recently by the Editor of the Oxford edition of Strabo, in his Notes to that work: "Formam templi et symboli Veneris in nummis videre est." (Vid. p. 973. in Not.) The image of the Goddess had not the human form. "Simulacrum Deæ non effigie humand.” (Tacitus.) Παφίας ἡ μὲν ̓Αφροδίτη τὰς τιμὰς ἔχει, τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα οὐκ ἂν εἰκάσαις ἄλλῳ τῷ ἢ πυραμίδι λευκῇ· ἡ δὲ ὕλη ἀγνοεῖται. (Mar. Tyrius, Diss. 38.) The form of an Indian idol at Jaggernaut is said to be a cone, answering to the antient account of the Paphian Goddess. This confirms what was before advanced, concerning the nature of the Cyprian Venus. The pateras used by priestesses in the rites of Ceres, had this pyramidal node, or cone, in the centre. A priestess is represented holding one of these upon a bas-relief in the Vestibule of Cambridge University Library. See " Greek Marbles,” No. XV. p. 37.

(4) The bust was sent to the British Consul, and is therefore probably now in England. Mariti says, the medals were given to him, vol. I. p. 60..

II.

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 sculpture. 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

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99

(3) This name was given to the rock-crystal of Baffa, so long ago as the time in which Egmont and Heyman visited Cyprus. 66 Near Buffa 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.

II.

our country, the "Bristol diamonds." All natural CHAP. resemblances of the diamond have, however, been lately eclipsed by a very different mineral, the White Topaz of New Holland*. 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 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.

66

(5) See Drummond's Travels, p. 157. Mariti mentions a village called Amianthus, as still existing in Cyprus in his time; and adds, that it was a considerable town in the time of the Romans. The 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 DioSCORIDES (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

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

Journey to
Nicotia.

Early on the morning of June the eighth, having procured an order for mules and asses, and a firmán 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 (Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii. c. 4.) although he describes the Cyprian diamond as efficacissimus in mediciná," 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.