44 CYPRUS/ 
CHAP, plague, then raging over all the western part 
■ . ^ ' of Cyprus, and particularly at Bnffa. The ruins, 
and other antiquities of this place, are nume- 
rous. Sir Sidney Smith removed some inscriptions 
already alluded to ; and the Englisli Consul at 
Larneca presented to us the hand of a colossal 
marble statue, found there, of the most exquisite 
sculpture'. We also hoped to enrich our col- 
lection oi plants, and to make some observations 
concerning the minerals of Baffa, especially a 
beautiful variety of crystallized quartz, called 
Yeny Maden or Madem^ by the Turks, and sold 
by Armenian merchants in the Crimea for 
diamonds. Before we left that peninsula. Pro- 
fessor Pallas had particularly requested infor- 
mation with regard to the locality of this stone. 
Among the substances offered for sale as false 
diamonds, there is nothing more common, all 
over the Mediterranean, than highly-transparent 
quartz; hence the various names of *' GzZ7m//«r 
diamonds," " Fesuvian diamonds," " Baffa dia- 
monds^," and many other. We have also, in 
(1) See " Greek Marbles," No. XXXVIII. p. 55. 
(2) Signifying the " new gem." 
(3) This name was given to the rovh-crystal of Bnffa, so long ago 
as the time in which Egmont and Heyman visited Cyprus. " Near 
Baffa are mines of rock-crj stal ; and a French merchant there 
shewed me a most beautiful stone, which mii^ht pass for a diamoiid; 
and such stones being found in the mines here, are commonly called 
Baff'e diamonds." Trav. of Egm. and Heym. vol. I. p. 289. 
