aper from
amianth or asbestos are contained in a report presented to the French
Institute by M. Sage (_Mem. Ac. Sciences_, 2e Sem., 1806, p. 102), of
which large extracts are given in the _Diction. general des Tissus_, par
M. Bezon, 2e ed. vol. ii. Lyon, 1859, p. 5. He mentions that a _Sudarium_
of this material is still shown at the Vatican; we hope it is the cover
which Kublai sent.

[This hope is not to be realized. Mgr. Duchesne, of the Institut de
France, writes to me from Rome, from information derived from the keepers
of the Vatican Museum, that there is no sudarium from the Great Khan, that
indeed part of a sudarium made of asbestos is shown (under glass) in this
Museum, about 20 inches long, but it is ancient, and was found in a Pagan
tomb of the Appian Way.--H. C.]

M. Sage exhibited incombustible paper made from this material, and had
himself seen a small furnace of Chinese origin made from it. Madame
Perpente, an Italian lady, who experimented much with asbestos, found that
from a crude mass of that substance threads could be elicited which were
ten times the length of the mass itself, and were indeed sometimes several
metres in length, the fibres seeming to be involved, like silk in a
cocoon. Her process of preparation was much like that described by Marco.
She succeeded in carding and reeling the material, made gloves and the
like, as well as paper, from it, and sent to the Institute a work printed
on such paper.

The Rev. A. Williamson mentions asbestos as found in Shantung. The natives
use it for making stoves, crucibles, and so forth.

(_Sir T. Browne_, I. 293; _Bongars_, I. 1104; _Cahier et Martin_, III.
271; _Cardan, de Rer. Varietate_, VII. 33; _Alb. Mag. Opera_, 1551, II.
227, 233; _Fr. Michel, Recherches_, etc., II. 91; _Gerv. of Tilbury_, p.
13; _N. et E._ II. 493; _D. des Tissus_, II. 1-12; _J. N. China Branch R.
A. S._, December, 1867, p. 70.) [_Berger de Xivrey, Traditions
teratologiques_, 457-458, 460-463.--H. C.]

[1] The late Mr. Atkinson has been twice alluded to in this note. I take
the opportunity of saying that Mr. Ney Elias, a most competent judge,
who has travelled across the region in question whilst admitting, as
every one must, Atkinson's vagueness and sometimes very careless
statements, is not at all disposed to discredit the truth of his
narrative.

CHAPTER XLIII.

OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR.

On leaving the province of which I spoke before,