CONSTANTINOPLE. I59 
pasteboard cylinders for containing rolled paper, 
are made by them in a style of neatness that 
He began his journey early in 1614, and ended it in 1626. His work 
■was published in the form of Letters, which were written to a Neapolitan 
physician, who was his friend. Being of an antient and noble family, 
and possessing all the advantages of a good education, he received the 
surname of " The illustrious Traveller." In the openinjr of his work 
be says, " A vol, miei Posteri: che, la Dio merce, quunturique restato 
giu solo, in Eema, di questafamiglia ne' tempi addietro distinlu in piu 
rami, et assai piena di gcnle," ^v. A very principal merit of his 
work appears in the readiness with which he traces the relics of antient 
customs in the manners of the inhabitants. To mention many of these 
would extend this criticism beyond the limits of a note. A very curious 
instance occurs at the end of his Letter, dated Baghdad (Jan, 2, 1617); 
where he describes a custom among the women of jjowdering their hair 
with MICA ; which substance, according to the mineralogical nomen- 
clature of the age when he wrote, he callsxALC. " Del quale le Donne 
ne fanno vna poluere da spargersene i capelli et i veli, che sopra'l nero 
fh inolto bene, parendo argento ,- onde anche la chiumuno in Arabico 
Mai-elfodhdha ; cio'i Acqua di argento, con tutto cite vcramente sla 
poluere, e non acqua : sorte di ornamento, che anche h tempi antichi, 
come habbiamo in Trebellio Pollione, fh. vsato da quell' effeminato di 
Gallieno Imperadore, il quale soleua spargersi i capelli, piu riccamente, 
di limatura d'oro." His account of this custom is the more valuable, 
38 Casaubon, Sahnasius, and Gruter, unable to comprehend what the 
historian meant by gold dust of sufficient levity to be used as powder for 
the hair, in their Commentary upon Trebelliiis Pollio, have passed in 
silence the words " Crinibus suis auri scobem aspersit." (Vid. Trebell. 
Poll, in Vit. Gallien- ap. Hist. August. Script, tom. II. p. 232. L. Bat. 
1672.) There are few books of Travels that can be compared with the 
. work of Della Vallb for liveliness and information. The interesting 
account of his marriage with Maani, a Syrian damsel of Baghdad, is 
told in a delightful manner. She accompanied him during his travels 
for five years, and died at Mina upon the Persian Gulph. Della Valle 
caused her body to be embalmed, and carried it about with him, durin" 
four years that he continued to travel after her death. At length he had 
the 
