Note 2596 — Chapter XIII · EXPORTS FROM AFRICA AND THE EAST.

Strab. Casaub. xvi. t. ii. p. 1078. Sir Thomas Herbert’s account of the Persian naphtha is not exactly consistent with that of Plutarch. “This naphtha,” says he, “is an oily or fat liquid substance, in colour not unlike soft, white clay; of quality hot and dry, so as it is apt to inflame with the sunbeams, or heat that issues from fire, as was mirthfully experimented upon one of Alexander’s pages, who, being anointed, with much ado escaped burning.” Some Years’ Travels, p. 182.