126 GOLD THREAD OF FAS, thread, of the manufacture of Fas, and some gold ornaments of filligrane work from Timbuctoo, of the manufacture of Jinnie. It is more than probable that the Fasees learned the art of manufacturing gold thread from the Egyptians : it is much superior to that which is imported into Barbary from Marseilles. The ladies ornament their cambric dresses with it, and the Fas gold-thread never loses its colour by washing, but the French does 5 the Fas gold thread wears also much better, and is more durable ; the change of colour may possibly originate from the great proportion of alloy in the gold of the French manufacture, whereas that of Fas, according to an imperial edict, must be of a certain fineness, approaching to pure gold ; the gold wire of which it is made being first assayed by the {M'tasseh) supervisor of manufactures. Great quantities of gold thread are used in the elegant shawls and sashes of silk and gold made at Fas, the better kind of which are reserved for princes and bashaws, in which they use, as before observed,the Fas thread only. They manufacture also at Fas, a very correct imitation of amber-beads, impossible to be discriminated by the best judges, but by rubbing the artificial amber, and then applying it to a bit of cotton ; the latter does not adhere, but the natural amber attracts the cotton as a magnet does iron ; and this is the discriminating criterion Whereby to distinguish them.

But, to return to our journey, we found the am-