Cap. XX. The Garibby-Hlands. i2p 



and 'tis likely for that reafon that it was fo long ere 'twas 

 known and ufed : The Ancients judg'd of its vertue by its ill 

 fcent , fit rather to injure the heart then refrefh it, and fo 

 they rejected it as unprofitable, nay hurtful. Befides it is not fb 

 commonly, not info great quantities found towards the Coafts 

 of Greece, nor yet in Europe 5 and there were but very few Voy- 

 ages heretofore made into the Indies. 



The Foxes do aifo think it a good difb, and eat much of it : 

 In thofe Countries where much of it is gather'd, thefe creatures 

 wait at the Sea-fide, and having difcover'd any, they immedi- 

 ately devour it : But having kept it a while in their bellies, they 

 caft it up again before it be any way digefted $ yet does itlofe 

 fome of its vertue and fweet fcent : Whence it comes, that this 

 kind of Amber-greece is lefs eftcern d then the other, and us'd 

 only in perfumes. 



It will not be amifs here to give the marks whereby the true 

 Amber-greece is to be diftinguifiYd from the adulterate, fince 

 thofe who have written of it , as Garcias, Monard, Scaliger % 

 Ferdinand Lopez,,, Clufius, and others, fpeak very little thereof^ 

 and aflign not the eflential marks of it. 



It is in the firft place to be obferv'd, that Amber-greece is 

 generally diftinguifiYd into that which Comes from the Levant 

 Seas, and that which comes from the Weftern Sea: That 

 whidi is taken up on the Coafts of the Levant, efpeciallyon 

 thofe of Barbary, where there is much, and in great pieces had, 

 if for the mcft part black, and cannot be dried lb well as to be 

 redue'd to powder, as that of the Weft, let what will be ad- 

 ded to promote the pulverization of it : It is alfo more eafily 

 melted by the fire, hath not fo fweet a fcent, and is of a lower 

 value: There is little of the Amber brought into thefe parts, 

 in regard it is. not much efteem 'd, and not very ufeful either as 

 to Phyfick, or Perfumes. 



The Amber-greece of the Weft, whereof the beft is that 

 found on our Coafts, is commonly of an afh-colour'd grey, 

 looking as if allies were mixt with wax, yetfb as that the allies 

 appear diftin&ly, and are not perfectly mixt with the wax : 

 The upper part of it having raked along the (bore, and lain 

 more open to the air, is commonly of a tawny colour, or at 

 leaft not fo white as it is within, hard and folid like a cruft, 

 and fbmetimes full of fand and little (hells : which happens 

 hence, that being foft as Bitumen or Pitch, fuch filth eafily 

 fticks to it j and that abates fomwhat of its price, but not of its 

 goodnefs. 



To know whether this Amber, which is of the beft kind, be 

 good , in the firft place confider the figure of it, which for 

 the moft part Qiould incline to roupdnefs , inafmuch as all 

 things that are any way foft being tofs'd to and fro by the Sea 

 are reduc d to a certain roundnefs : It (hould be alfo fomewhat 



S fmooth, 



