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 Blitz must have been different from common linen, since in 

 the same place where it is said David wore a niantle of Byssus, we 

 read likewise he wore a linen ephod. Herodotus (B. C. 450) says, 

 that the bodies of rich persons in Egypt were wrapped in bandages 

 of it, after being embalmed.f In the time of Pliny, the Roman 

 ladies were particularly^ fond of it, and would buy it for its weight 

 in gold.:): In the New Testament the word fi-equently 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 1265 

 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 Vvas driven ashore on 

 the English coast. H 



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 .ff 

 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 lastly 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.JJ 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.llll Bruce supposes, that from this circumstance, the He- 

 brew word Penin, or, as it is more generally written in the plural, 



* See Calraet's Diet. Art. Byssus. 



+ 2(V(5o'vo? /SutfrfivTiff. Herod, lib. ii. cap. 86. Compare also the Greek of 

 Luke, xxiii. 53. 



tPlin. Hist. Nat. lib. XIX. cap. 1. § Luke, xvi. 19. Rev. xviii. 16, &c. 



II Macpherson, 1. 415. "fT Ibid. V. 590. ** Dillwyn, III. 24. 



tt Hon. Keppel Craven's Tour through the southern provinces of the kingdom 

 of Naples, p. 185. 1$ Rees' Cyclopoedia, Art. Byssus. III! Brace, %tt supra.. 



