Natural History.-— Mineralogy. 405 
tent-pitchers ; but when large, of a line uniform colour, and free 
from blemish, their price is considerable, and I found at Cazvin 
that it was no longer possible to purchase for half a crown, like 
Olearius when there in 1637, turquoises equal in bigness to 
pease or beans. 
This ingenious traveller, and after him Chardin, Tavernier 
and others, mention Nishapur and Firuzkuh , as yielding tur- 
quoises most abundantly ; but I could not learn whilst at 
Firuzkuh in 1812, that it was then remarkable for such a pro- 
duction. The Firuzehs of Nishapur were more excellent than 
any others, as all accounts agree in stating. A manuscript trea- 
tire on precious stones, entitled the Juaher Namah , enumerates 
three places besides, which furnish mines of turquoises. Ham- 
dallah Cazoini says, that the Firuzeh, when he lived, (between 
four and five hundred years ago), was chiefly worn by wo- 
men, and considered (as it is now) inferior in value to the 
zumrad or emerald. Sehem ad’ dui, an author of the eleventh 
century, tells us that, 66 Piruzeh,” (for so he writes it according 
to the original Persian Orthography), “ being a stone without 
brilliancy, was not reckoned fit for the decoration of kings ; 
but, on account of the name, (which signifies Victories or Fortu- 
nate), it was regarded as auspicious and lucky.” Eastern mi- 
neralogists always rank the turquoise among stones ; late experi- 
ments have cast some doubt on the propriety of such a classifi- 
cation. — Sir William Gore Ouseley’s Travels , vol. i. p. 210 
BOTANY. 
36. Dr Hooker's Flora Exotica . — Part 2d of Dr Hooker’s 
Flora Exotica made its appearance on the 1st of December last, 
and we shall lay before our readers a brief account of its con- 
tents. 
The first plate (t. 18 ) represents the truly beautiful and sin- 
gular Begonia argyrostigma , a plant of very recent introduc- 
tion to our gardens, and which, we believe, for the first time, 
in any collection, flowered in the stove of the new Edinburgh 
Botanical Garden. Its leaves are large, oblong, oblique, and in 
* The turquoise of Persia is a true stone, not a fossil organic remain— Ed. 
