204 
CLAAKte’s TRAVELS. 
and that of Geta on the other. There were also others, with 
the head of the emperor Claudius.* 
Many circumstances concurred to excite our curiosity con¬ 
cerning the interior of the island f although w e despaired of 
being able to penetrate as far as Baffa, the ancient Paphos , on 
account of the plague, then raging over all the western part of 
Cyprus, and particularly at Baffa. The ruins, and other an¬ 
tiquities of this place, are numerous. Sir Sidney Smith remov¬ 
ed some inscriptions already alluded to; and the English con¬ 
sul at Larneca presented me the hand of a colossal marble sta¬ 
tue, found there, of the most exquisite sculpture.-f We also 
hoped to enrich our collection of plants, and make some obser¬ 
vations concerning the minerals of Ba(Fa, especially a beauti¬ 
ful var'eiy of crystallized quartz, as diaphanous as the rock 
crystal of the north of Norway, called^TM/ madefy or madem\ 
by the Turks, and sold by Armenian merchants in the Cri¬ 
mea for diamonds. Before we left that peninsula, professor 
Pallas had particularly requested information with regard to 
the locality of this stone. Among the substances offered for 
sale as fa--.se diamonds, there is nothing more common, all ever 
the Mediterranean,.than highly transparent quartz; lienee the 
various names of “ Gibraltar diamonds,” “ Vesuvian dia¬ 
monds,” ‘' Baffa diamonds,”? and many other. We have also, 
in our own country, the Bristol diamonds.” All natural re¬ 
semblances of the diamond have, however, been lately eclipsed 
by a very different mineral, the white Topaz of New Holland.|j 
This stone, when cut and polished, w ith the exception only of 
the white Corundum, possesses a degree of lustre and limpid- 
alluded to by different authors, and recently by the editor of the Oxford edition of 
Strabo, in bis notes to that work; “ For mam tempi Let ssjimboli Veneris in nummis videre 
tsl.” [ Vid. p, ‘.,73. in not.] The image of the goddess had not the human form. 
“ Simulacrum Dea non effigic Humana .” [Tacitus..] Ua(pfois n fJ.iv 1 A(ppo<5tm ras 
rifle# to ayo-Aua oust av dxao-cus akk w tw V, wpo.fXi5 i A.£uxt>* v Si uXn dyvofTrcu. 
[Max. Tyrius, Diss. 38:] The form of an Indian idol at Juggernaut is said to be a 
cone, answeringto the ancient account of the Paphian goddess, This confirms what 
I before advanced, concerning the nature of the Cyprian Verms. The pateras used 
by priestesses in the rites of Ceres, had this pyramidal no.de, or cone, in the centre. 
A priestess is represented holding one of these, upon a bas-relief in the vestibule of 
Cambridge University Library. See 41 GreekMarbles ,” No. xv. p 37. 
*The bust Mas sent to the British consul, and is therefore, probably, nowin Eng¬ 
land. Mariti says the medals were given to him, vol. i. p. 60. 
i See “ Greek Marbles,” No. xxxviii. p. 55. 
|'Signifying the ’ 4 new gem. ” 
j This name was given to the rock crystal of Bafia, so long ago as the time in which 
Egmont and Heyman visited Cyprus. “ Near Baffe are mines of rock crystal*, and a 
French merchant there showed me a most beautiful stone, which might pass for.adia- 
iirsond; and such stones being found in the mines here, are commonly called Baffe 
diamonds .” Trav. of Egm. and Heym. vol. i. p. 289. 
|| Among the lapidaries of London, it bears the came of “ mminova,” aftd is little! 
. esteemed by them, 
\ 
