156 



Some are of opinion that the hard bitumen spoken of by Xeno* 

 crates, and the substance described by Theophrastus as found in 

 the silver mines of Scaptesyla, and which I have already referred 

 to Bovey coal, was jet. Strabo* speaks of jet, found in Mesopo- 

 tamia, as possessing the power of driving away serpents. It is evi- 

 dently the same substance as was described by Nicander, as the 

 Thracian stone ; and which was named by Dioscorides, gagas or 

 gangas, from its being found near the city of Ganges. Pliny, who 

 in speaking of jet, in another place f, confounds it with aetites, 

 owing to both these kinds of stones being found in the nests of 

 eagles, says that it derives its name from the river Gagis in Lycia, 

 and that it is thrown up by the waves in Leucola. It is, he 

 says, smooth, brittle, light, and porous, not differing much in ap- 

 pearance from wood, and yielding a strong odour when rubbed. It 

 also appears to be this substance to which Pliny refers :, when he 

 says, the island of Samothracia yields a black and light gem, resem- 

 bling wood, which, deriving its name from that of the place, was 

 called the Samothracian gem. Agricola informs us of many places 

 in which it is found, and is of opinion that Pliny meant this sub- 

 stance, when speaking of the obsidian stone. But the description of 

 Pliny, which is indeed most applicable to the obsidian of the present 

 day, can never be admitted to apply to jet. The words of Pliny || 

 are, " In genere vitri et obsidiana numerantur, ad similitudinem 

 lapidis, quern in Ethiopia invenit Obsidius, nigerrimi colons, ali- 

 quando et translucidi, crassiore visu, atque in speculis parietum 

 pro imagine umbras redden te. Gemmas multi ex eofaciunt: vidi- 

 musque etsolidas imagines divi Augusti, capti materia hujus crassi- 

 tudinis: dicavitque ipse pro miraculo in templo Concordiae obsi- 

 dianos quatuor elephantos." 



* Strabon. Georg. lib. xvi. f Lib. x. c. 3. $ Lib. xxxvii. c. 10. 



Lib. xxxvi.c. 19. || Lib. xxxvi. c. 26. 



