362 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



thgt precious article were known to him, and to nobody else; 

 an assertion to which they paid not the slightest credit. 



JVo veins of silver are known to exist ; but a small quan- 

 tity of that metal is extracted from the rich lead-mines in 

 Oman. As the lead of that province is extremely fusible, 

 the inhabitants export it in great abundance ; and it forms 

 an article of considerable traffic from the port of Muscat. 

 In "VVady Osh near Sinai the Arabs collect native cinnabar, 

 which is usually found in small pieces about the size of a 

 pigeon's egg. It is very seldom cr}'stallized, though there 

 are sometimes nodules on the surface. The fracture is in 

 perpendicular fibres ; and it stains the fingers of a dark 

 colour. 



Of precious stones, strictly so called, Niebuhr could learn 

 nothing ; and he supposes that in ancient times they must 

 have been all imported from India. Though the onyx is 

 common in Yemen, especially between Taas and Mount Su- 

 marra, he did not think it probable that Ihe emerald was in- 

 digenous. There is a hill ^that bears this name, but it is on 

 the Egyptian side of the Gulf, and forms part of that large 

 chain of granitic mountains that runs parallel with the Red 

 Sea. The agate, called the Mocha slone, comes from Surat, 

 and the finest carnelions are brought from the Gulf of Cam- 

 bay. The smaragdus cholos, or inferior emerald, which ac- 

 cording to Pliny was used in building to ornament the walls 

 of houses, was probably diallage ; and some writers (Malta 

 Brun) have conjectured that the aromalites,ox aromalic stone 

 of the ancients, was amber. In a mountain near Dainar is 

 found a stone which the Arabs call ayek yemani, and which 

 they hold in the highest estimation. It is of a red or rather 

 a light brown colour, and seems to be a carnelion. The 

 natives set it in rings or bracelets, and ascribe to it the talis- 

 manic virtue of healing wounds, and stanching blood when 

 instantly applied. The topaz belongs to Arabia, and derived 

 its name, according to Pliny, from the island Topazos (now 

 called Zemorget) in the Red Sea. He also mentions Cytes, 

 another islet where good specimens were found. 



Stones of less value are by no means rare. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Loheia, the Danish travellers found a bluish 

 gypsum, a gray schistus, and spheroidal marcasites, in beds 

 of grit-stone, which are used in building. Near Kahhme 

 they saw a ferruginous spar, mixed with brown and white 



