| 574 3 The fix and chirtieth Booke | 
Crap. vitte. 
2% Of the ftone called Alabaprites : likewife, of ZL 
adinus and 
*\Alabandicus Aik3 190 10 s 
M30 
His Onyx ftone, or Onychitis aforefaid, fome name Alabaftrites; whereof they.ufeforto 
§ = make hollow. boxes and pots to receive {weet perfumes and ointments , becauife itis — 
thought that they will keepeand preferve them excellently well without corruption. The 
fame being burntand calcined, is very good for diverfe plaftres. This Gaffidoni¢ or Alabafter 
is found about Thebes in Egypt, and Damafcus in Syria : and this Alabafteris whiter than the 
reft. Howbeit, the beft and principall {imply is that which commeth outof Gatmania:nextto 
it in goodnefle is that of India : andthenthe Alabafter of Sytiaand Afia, The leaft;efteemed 
of all other, is brought out of Cappadocia,and no beautie or luftreie hath atall.. Infum,come 
itfrom what countrey itwill, thofe peeceswhich ftand moft of a yellowith colour; like honey, 
{potted alfo inthe head and nothing ttanfparent, goefor the beft. And generally throughout, 
looke where you meet with any in colour white, or refembling horne, is rejected for naught, 
like as whatfoever of itis like glaffe. : pr rabies 
* As touching the ftones Lygdinus, found in the mountaine Taurus, many are of opinion, 
That they be well neare as good as the former, forte keepe odoriferous ointments: and thofe 
for bignefle and capacitie, exceed not boulesand good broad platters: paffing faire and white 
they be: and in times paft were wont to be brought onely out of Arabia. Moreover, there bee 
two kinds befides of marble, well efteemed both, and in great price, notwithftanding in nature 
they bee verie contrarie : the one is called Coraliticus, foundin Afia; you fhall not light upon 
any above two cubits long : in whitenefle they come paffing neare unto yvorie, and otherwife al. 
fo they have acertaine refemblance unto it. The othercalled Alabandicus,after the name of 
the countrey that yeeldeth it, is contrariwife blacke: Howbeit, there is of ittobee found grow- 
ing in Miletus, but notaltogether fo blacke, for itenclineth or declineth rather toa putpleco- 
lour. This (tone of Miletus will refolve in the fire, and commonly they ufe to mele itfor drins 
king cups,in manner of glafles. Tocome nowto the Thebaicke marble, marked itis withcer- 
taine drops here and there of a golden colour: and naturally it isfound growing in that part of 
Affricke, which confineth upon the £gyptians, and lieth under their jurifdi€tion. A peculiar 
"propertie it hath bya fecret in Nature, refpective unto the eyes, to ferve for to grind collyries 
with, thatis to fay, thofe pouders which are approptiat to the difeafes of that part. Butabout 
Sygene, in the province of Thebais, there isamarble (thereupon called Syrenites) whichfome- 
 tinse they named Pyrrhopeecilos : The kings of Egyptin times paft(asit were upon a ftrifeand 
contention, one to exceed another) made of this {tone certainlong beames, whichthey called 
Obeliskes, and confecrated them untothe Sun, whome they honoured asa god : And indeed, 
fome refemblance they carrie of Sunne beames,when they are made to the forme of Obeliskes, 
and the verie Agyptian name implicth fo much. The firft that ever began to erect thefe Obe- 
liskes, was Métres king of Egypt, who held his royall feat and courtin Heliopolis, the citie of 
the Sunne;where hee was admonifhed in a dreame by a vifion, foto doe : And thus much may 
appeare by the inicription of certaine letters engraven upon the faid Obeliske: for thofe cha- 
“Hieroghphices racters, figures, and formes that we doe fee enchafed in them, be the verie * letters that the - 
gyptians ule themfelves, After him, other princes alfo fet up more of thefe Obeliskes in the a- 
bovenained cittie:and namely king Sochis for his patt,foure in nuinber, thofe carying in length 
eight and fortie cubits apeece. And Ramifes (in whofereigne Troy waswoon by the Greekes) _ 
erected an Obeliske fortie cubits long, in the faidcittie: but beeing departed from thence (for 
thathe tooke pleafure in another cittie, where fometimes ftood the royall pallace of king Aéne- 
| ¥Vndecenis, by Vis) he pitched on end another Obeliske, which caried in length * a hundred foot wanting one, 
the Gramma and on every fide foure cubits {quare. salen) 4) 
| ticall Analo- 
- gie.fhould fig- 7 K ‘ 
_mifie nine or eleven s but] take it, thathere itis put for undecentenis : otherwife there was no propottion bétweene the height & the bredth, 
_ Neitherisithke,that this prowd prince,beitg removed from his former feat (where he had erected Obeliskes threcfcore and twelve foot 
_high)unco another citie which he loved better; would fer up amenument of nine oreleven foot, for his memorial], as may appeare more 
inthe next chapters < 
‘ 
Cuar, 
K 
H 
