l6 MANUFACTURES but thei/ say they derived it in ancient times from the Arabs, as well as the art of cutting, polishing, and setting precious stones. They make a composition in imitation ofamber, which cannot, by the keenest eye, be distinguished from the natural amber, the latter, however, by friction attracts cotton, but the manufactured amber does not; this is the only criterion by which they ascertain the true from the false amber. They also compose artificial stones with equal sagacity : tlie topaz, the emerald, and the ruby they imitate to perfection. The wool with which they make shawls almost equal in appearance to those of Kashmere, is procured from the sheep of the province of Tedla, and is finer than the Spanish Merino. They might manufacture shawls of goats' hair, equal to those of Kashmere, from the goats of the eastern declivity of the Atlas, whose hair is like silk : these goats are called (el maize Felelley,') i. e. Tafilelt goats. ' There can be no doubt, if our intercourse with Marocco had not been impeded by a gene-Thales, the chief of the seven wise men of Greece, detected the existence of electricity in amber about 600 years before tlie Christian era. He was the first who ob* seryed attraction to be the distinguishing property of amber; and he was so forcibly struck with this singular discovery, that he was almost led to suppose that it possessed animation. The term electricity is derived from the Greek word TjAe/crpo*/, amber. See Remarks on Electricity and Galvanism, by M. La Beaume, p. 29.

' There was a breed ofthese goats on the island of Mogodor, kept there by the emperor's orders. This island is the stateprison of the empire.