Chap. 4.] LINEN MADE OF ASBESTOS. 137 



thrown into a blazing fire, in the room where the guests were 

 at table, and after the stains were burnt out, come forth from 

 the flames whiter and cleaner than they could possibly have 

 been rendered by the aid of water. It is from this material 

 that the corpse-cloths of monarchs are made, to ensure the 

 separation of the ashes of the body from those of the pile. 

 This substance grows 45 in the deserts of India, 48 scorched by 

 the burning rays of the sun: here, where no rain is ever 

 known to fall, and amid multitudes of deadly serpents, it be- 

 comes habituated to resist the action of fire. Rarely to be 

 found, it presents considerable difficulties in weaving it into a 

 tissue, in consequence of its shortness ; its colour is naturally 

 red, and it only becomes white through the agency of fire. 

 By those who find it, it is sold at prices equal to those given 

 for the finest pearls ; by the Greeks it is called " asbestinon," 47 

 a name which indicates its peculiar properties. Anaxilaiis 49 

 makes a statement to the effect that if a tree is surrounded 

 with linen made of this substance, the noise of the blows 

 given by the axe will be deadened thereby, and that the tree may 

 be cut down without their being heard. For these qualities it 

 is that this linen occupies the very highest rank among all the 

 kinds that are known. 



The next rank is accorded to the tissue known as " byssus," 49 

 an article which is held in the very highest estimation by 

 females, and is produced in the vicinity of Elis, in Achaia. 50 I 

 find it stated by some writers that a scruple of this sold for- 



45 "Nascitur." In the year 1702 there was found near the Nsevian 

 Gate, at Rome, a funereal urn, in which there was a skull, calcined bones, 

 and other ashes, enclosed in a cloth of asbestus, of a marvellous length. 

 It is still preserved in the Vatican. 



46 On the contrary, it is found in the Higher Alps in the vicinity of 

 the Glaciers, in Scotland, and in Siberia, even. 



47 Signifying " inextinguishable," from d, " not," and (r(3&vvv[u, " to 

 extinguish." See B. xxxvii. c. 54. 



48 See end of this Book. 



49 He evidently alludes to cotton fabrics under this name. See Note 37 

 to c. 2 of this Book. 



50 Pausanias, in his Eliaca, goes so far as to say, that byssus was found 

 only in Elis, and nowhere else. Judging from the variable temperature 

 of the climate, it is very doubtful, Fee says, if cotton wns grown there 

 at all. Arrian, Apollonius, and Philostratus say that the tree which pro- 

 duced the byssm had the leaves of the willow, and the shape of the pop- 

 lar, characteristics which certainly do not apply to the cotton-tree. 



