72 On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 
B.C. 588. Lastly, it is to be observed that there was a manufac- 
tory of this article in the city of Beersheba in Palestine. 
The Butz must have been different from common linen, since in 
the same place where it is said David wore a mantle of Byssus, we 
read likewise he wore alinen ephod. Herodotus (B. C. 450) says, 
that the bodies of rich persons in Egypt were wrapped in bandages 
of it, after being embalmed.t In the time of Pliny, the Roman 
ladies were particularly fond of it, and would buy it for its weight 
in gold. t Inthe New Testament the word frequently occurs, where 
it is translated the same as in the Old, but always indicating riches 
and splendor.$ 
In later times, it was chiefly brought from India, Egypt, and Elis 
in Achaia, and some apparently from the coast of Judea. In 126 
it was imported from Asia into England,|| and in 1380 we find five 
bales of it mentioned, in the catalogue of the cargo of a ship bound 
from Genoa to Bruges in Flanders, and which was driven ashore on 
the English coast.4 
It is still manufactured at Palermo into gloves and other small ar- 
ticles.** It is also used at Taranto, (the ancient Tarentum,) where 
it is called lana pesce or lana penna. Having been cleaned, comb- 
ed, carded and spun, it is finally knit into stockings and gloves of a 
soft and extremely warm texture, and a beautifully glossy brown 
color, enriched with a golden hue. They are reckoned excellent 
preservatives against cold and damp, but the price renders the arti- 
cle more an object of luxury and curiosity than of general utility.t+ 
To spin this Byssus they leave it some days in a damp cellar, to 
moisten and grow soft ; after this they comb it to get out its impu- 
rities, and Jastly spin it as they do silk; and though grossly spun, it 
appears much finer and more beautiful than wool, and does not come 
much short of silk itself.t{ A species of Pinna is much fished for 
in the Red Sea, as it contains pearls. The inside is of a beautiful 
red, and the pearls always partake of this color, while they are gen- 
erally the darkest as they approach the large end, which is the most 
brilliant. |||| Bruce supposes, that from this circumstance, the He- 
w word Penin, or, as it is more es. written in the Laas 
* See Calmet’s Dict. Ait. Brvevs. 
+ Zwdivog Puccivys. Herod. lib. 1. cap. 86. Compare also the Greek of 
Luke, xxiii. 
Mieco lib. x1x. cap. 1. § Luke, xvi. 19. = ‘xviii. wi &e. 
Ibid. V. 590. * Dill III. 24. 
Hon. Keppel Craven’s Tour through the southern provinces st t the a 
of Naples, p. 185. # Rees’ Cyclopeedia, Art. Byssvs. lil Bruce, ué supra. 
