C i*S 1 



IX. On the Jo called Sea Froth and other Sttbftances of which 

 the Bowls of the Turlijh Pipes are made. From a Letter 

 written in Perjia by Dr. Re IN EGG, Correfpondcnt of the 

 Royal Society at Gottingeti, to Baron Von Asch at 

 Peterjlurgh. Communicated to the Society by ProfeJJbr 

 Blumenbach. 



JL HE fo called fea-froth (lithomarga), of which the bowls 

 of the Turkifh pipes are made, is not an artificial compofi- 

 tion, but a natural kind of earth dug up near Konie in 

 Natolia. This place, the ancient Iconium, lies in a moft 

 fruitful diftrift, which may be truly called a terrettrial 

 paradife; and is celebrated on account of a large monaftery 

 of Derviles founded by the Scheik Abid il Daher, but which 

 received particular endowments from Sultan Suleiman, and 

 in which at prefent there are two hundred Dervifes under 

 the direction of a Scheik, by whom they are clothed and 

 maintained. 



The income of this monaftery arifes in part from fome 

 natural productions of that diftric-t, fuch as marble, &c. and 

 in particular from the above-mentioned yellowifh white 

 earth, of which the bowls of the Turkifh pipes are made. 

 It is dug up at Kiltfchik, (that is> the place of clay,) a village 

 five miles diftant from Konie ; and befides this I have heard 

 of no other place, either in Natolia or along the coaft of the 

 Mediterranean fea, where any of the like kind is produced. 

 It is found in a large fiffure fix feet wide, in grey calcareous 

 earth ; and the workmen affert that the earth grows again 

 in the fiflure, and puffs itfclf up like froth. They there- 

 fore call it kill-keffi, or kill-k cfi, a word which, if I read with 

 Tefchdid, kill-LJfi, fignifies clay-froth, or light clay. 



This earth, when it comes from the fiffure, is heavy, foft 



and greafy. It fweats if thrown into the fire ; produces a 



fi.tid vapour; grows hard, and becomes perfectly white. 



ihc irdli earth diffolves in no acid, That which has been 

 M 3 burnt 



