Tr i b e iy, Thu Theater of ‘‘Plants. Cha K14, 1573 
CHAP. XIII. 
Bitumen lndaicum.' Dry Pitch of India. 
HtBitumen or dry Pitch, which the dead Sea in India cafleth up at a certaine time of the yearc is ICC 
downeby Dio/w <VLj to be of a finning purple colour, but that which is blacke, isaduitefate, and 
Alatthiohu faith that the Affhattum ,or "Bitumen of the (hops in dt.il) (and fowith us is a mixture, and 
not the true thingiD iofcoridei faith it is had from FbtnicU (wherof Indi a is but a part)from Bal-yton, 
thelflandghH-ywtaand Sydm: but chat of Babylon Which hath heenefeene by many in thefe dayes, 
is held to be another thingteven the fame that the builders of AVfr/ufed infiead of morter to cement their bricks; 
but that of the dead Sea is only in ufe and the bed,which dead Sea or take is of a great extent,yet diverfiy propor¬ 
tioned by Writers thereof,for Pliny as I find Matthiolm qunreth him.tnaketh it tube an hundred miles long, and 
in the broadeit place five and twenty miles over , but Sir Walter Ralegh in his Chronicle, relateth Pliny to make 
it leffe then our Moderne Travailers doe, who judge it to he eighteene Dutch miles iri iength, that is 7 2. of ours, 
and two'Darcfemilesandahalfe in breadth, that is tenueof ours,accounting one Dutch mtletobcfoure Englifk, 
Ir.fephus faith it is I So. Furlongs in iength, that is two and twenty and a halfc of our miles, and 150. Furfongs 
in breadth, that is eighteene miles and fomewhat more of ours, fuch variety there is in Writers: ThisLakeor 
dead Sea is (cabed by Galen Lacut Aff>bahites)d\e fame place where Sodome and Gomorrha with the other Cities 
flood, mentioned in (jenefn, being then the pleafanteft and moil fruitefull valley of all thofe parts, t seceding 
Hiericbojznd the parts thereabouts, which is about fifteene miles from it, and whof: River runneth intoic, and 
lo drowned therein, yet no fiih entereth into it; but now the traft of ground about it for agreat compafi’ bea¬ 
red! a (ad face,and is either utterly barren and fruiteielfe, or beareth fuch fruite as is oneiy faire without and duff 
within, and the airenoylcme and peililenc, bythethicke infeftious vapours ariiing from it, and is neither mo¬ 
ved by the wind,nor will fufifer any ching to ftnke therein, but will iwimme on the toppe, and is not onelv of a 
faltbut bitter taflc, which will corrupt any thing rather then preferve it, as fait Sea water will. There are o- 
ther forts of Bitumen in the W orid, as Hilforians report,as in CmAj, and fundry Fountaines necrethe fe? fitore 
catling it forth as blackc as Pitch, Another fort is in a Province of Peru, where the place is voyd of tree or 
plant, and giveth a fat liquid Bitumen in this manner: Turfes of the earth, being laid on hurdles, the liqueur 
dropping from them, by being fet in the Sunne, is kept to heate and comfort any place affefted with cold humours 
and tumours,cureth wour.ds, andisufed for thofe griefes whereunto Caranha, and Tacamahaca lave t it is of a 
flrong fmell, and of a blackiih red colour. The Inhabitants about this Lake, gathr r this "Bitumen or Pitch, being 
an oyle or liquid fubftancc on the water, and hardned by the aire,and fpend it chiefly in pitching their Ships, hue 
medicinally it difeuffeth tumours, and fwellings.and mollefyeththehardneffeofthcm, and keepyth them from 
inflammations, and is of Angular good ule for the rifing of the mother, and for the falling ficker.cffe, to be burnt 
and the fumes thereof which are ilrong imelleduntoit bringeth doivne womens courfes taken in Wine, with 
a little Cafloreum, it helpeth the biting of Serpents, the paines of the (ides and the hippos, and diflblveth con¬ 
gealed blood in the ftomacke and body. 
"Petroleum quafi petra oleum or oyle of Peter, is athinne reddiih liquour, thinner than oyle of Ollives, and al- 
moft as thin as water, and is accounted to be a liquid Bitumen, and thought to be the Naphtha of Diofcorides by 
Adatthiolui ,becmCe it is fo apt and eafie to take fire, even by the ayre thereof, and is gotten in fundry places of 
Italy, diltilling ofit felfe out of a Mine in the Earth, and in Hungary jlbo, in a certaine place, where iffuin » 
forth in a well together with the water, the owner of the place thought to have the chinkes (topped up with 
morter, which could not be done witboutlight, the workeman therefore taking a dole lanthorne with alight 
in it,went about it, and being gone downe into the well to (toppe it, very fuddainely, the Petcrayie takin" fire 
flew round about the (ides of the Weil, and with a hideous noyle and (moke, like the cracke of a peece oforeat 
Ordinance (hot of, it not oncly call forth the Workeman dead, but blew up the cover of the Well into the sure 
and let on fire alfo fome bottles of the oyle that (food by the Well, and many perions that flood thereby wc*c 
fcorched with the flame. Thisoyle of Feterisa fpcciall ingredient tomakewilde fire, and is of a very hbtafid 
pieriing font and quality, and therefore is ufed for cold aches crampcs and goutes,and to heale any greenc wound 
or cut,fuddainely, a little thereof being put into the oyle of Saint Iofmt wort and ufed. 
Emr. XIV. 
■BUtta tjzmUfiv*Vnguii odorattu. The fweete Indian fca fi(h fiidsi 
His Indian fheli.of fomefeafifli,hathbccne the fubj’edlof fomecontroverfle among the learned 
for puchlim would make the Onycbe of Diofcorides, and the (Sim* Byzantia or Vngui, odoratm 
to be differing things, and then agame, he would make the BUtta Hyzantia to be a bone in the 
mouth or fore part of the note of the fhell fifli Purpura, or purple Periwinkle, and this he doth 
rwife expreffe in his Annotations on NicholasMyrepfiujtn the compofition of Aurea Alexandria 
tmimDsarnargariton, into both which compofitions the Blatta'Byn.antia aretobeput but Mat 
tkiolue contefleth againfi this his opinion, and faith that thefe fweete (hells called Concbula Indict or VncruU ode- 
rstnr are taken by Strap*, and Avion, and the latter Sreeke writers, to be no other thin" then the BUtta By 
zantia. And agame that never any Writer accounted that bone in the nofe of the fifl, Purpura to be fweete or 
numbered among other fweete things, but that the afi;es of choir (hells being burned was drying and ferved to 
clenfe the teeth, afidto rcflrainc the ettcreffences in the fled,, to clenfe ulcers, and to bring them to skinnin" 
but on the contrary fide, the Arabians have alwaycs ufed the BUtta B]*mtUy becaufe they were of an, aftringent 
Sfffff j r^ualicy 
