REMARKS EXTRACTED FROM DR. SIBTHORFS JOURNALS. 



285 



household furniture, and the pith is* used instead of tinder, for con- 

 veying fire from one place to another. It is now called mfjQqmj the 

 ancient name somewhat corrupted. 



Kcvqi of Cyprus. — An veterum AspisPf 



April 17. — We left the Salines for Famagousta. The reapers 

 were busy in the harvest, and the tinkling of the bells fixed to their 

 sides expressed their fears of the terrible Kovfii. A monk of Fama- 

 gousta has the reputation of preventing the fatal effects of the 

 venom of this serpent by incantation ; and from the credulity of the 

 people had gained a sort of universal credit through the island. 

 We were frequently shewn as precious stones compositions fabricated 

 by artful Jews ; these were said to be taken out of the head of the 

 Kov£; ; and were worn as amulets to protect the wearers from the 

 bite of venomous animals. ^ 



* " Cet usage est de la premiere antiquite, et peut servir a expliquer un endroit d'Hesi- 

 ode, qui parlant du feu que Promethee vola dans le del, dil, qu'il Pemporla dans une 

 Ferule, kv xoUm vxp^-xi. E. xca H. 52. Suivant les apparences, Promethee se servit de 

 moelle dc Ferule au lieu de meche, et apprit aux horames a conserver le feu dans les tiges 

 de cette plante." Tournefort, Lett. vi. The following remark of Proclus on Hesiod (24 

 Ed. Heins.) may be added, "Ecrrt [xev 7rvpb;ovrcu: q>v\a.x.Tixo; 6 N«p0i)£, ^Vjave^wv fxixKctxoTrjTa, 

 eltra), xtx) TpeQeiV ro 7rvp, xeu p; diroo- Bevvvvui IvvoL^vriv. — Ed. 



f This is the Quasre of Forskal. " The most dangerous of the serpents in Cyprus (says 

 Drummond, who travelled in 1745,) is the asp, the venom of which is said to be very deadly. 

 In order to frighten away these and other kinds of poisonous reptiles, the reapers, who 

 are obliged to wear boots, always fix bells to their sickles." A word, resembling Koupj, 

 and applied to a species of serpent, is found in iElian,; and in Hesychius, xaxplct;. The 

 latter seems to consider it improperly as the same with ru^x/a?. Hasselquist (p. 431.) de- 

 scribes a serpent called by the Greeks of Cyprus, "Ao-irix; this may be the Kou<pj, and the 

 author of the work De Mir. Aus. speaks of a species of serpent in Cyprus, b Trjv d6vafj.iv 

 Ojxola.1/ e%ei tjj Iv A\yunrw u<r7r'3i. — Ed. 



% The superstition of the ancient Greeks attributed a similar efficacy to the Lapis 

 ophites; fyplu liwxu 7teptx7rToiJ,ivoc, says Dioscorides. 'Evmpto-T. Lib. xi. c. 141. 



