CYPRUS. 45 
our country, the " Bristol diamonds." All natural chap. 
. II. 
resemblances of the diamond have, however, ■ -^- -> 
been lately eclipsed by a very different mineral, 
the White Topaz of Neiu Holland*. This stone, 
when cut and polished, with the exception only 
of the White Corimdum, possesses a degree of 
lustre and limpidness superior to every other 
excepting- the real diamond. The antient Mineraisof 
mines of Cyprus, now entirely neglected, ^^"^^' 
appear to have been situate towards the 
Faphian extremity of the island ; for if the 
natives exhibit any mineral substance remark- 
able for its beauty, utility, or hardness, they 
name it, by way of eminence, *' a Baffa 
STONE." Amiantlius of a very superior quality 
is found near Baffa\ as flexible as silk, and 
(4) Amonj the lapidaries of London, it bears the name of " Mini- 
nova," and is little esteemed by them : it has received this name from 
Minus Novas, a district in Brazil where the same stone is found. See 
Mawe's Trav. in Brazil, p. 238. Loud. 1812. 
(5) See Drummond's Travels, p. 157. MarUi mentions a village 
called Amianthus, as still existing in Cyprus in his time ; and adds, 
that it " was a considerable town in the time of the Romans. The 
neighbouring country," says he, " produced the stone Asbestos, used 
for making a kind of incombustible cloth, in which the bodies of 
Emperors werehurned.'^ {Mariti'sTrav. vol, I. p. 177.) This village 
is mentioned by Dapper, (Isles de I'ArcMpel, p. 5i2.) as marking the 
spot where the stone y/»no?i^7(M* was found in abundance, and manu- 
factured, by being mixed with flax, spun, and then wove, for the 
incombustible cloth of the Antients. The process is given by Dioscorides 
(lib. v. c. 46). Dapper says the village took its name from the 
piueral ; and that it was once a place of great renown, on account of 
the cloth and thread there manufactured of Amianthus. 
It 
