A Treatife on the Thread of the Zabbara; or Aloe Plant: Written by Com mand of the King of Naples, by the Count de Borch, a Polish Nobleman. 'HE plant which we call aloe, and in Perfia, under the name of zabar, is commonly termed zabbara in Sicily and 8pain, where, as well as in India and the American Islands, it is found in great plenty. The fouthern coafts of Italy alfo furnish a very confiderable number; but it is not equally flourishing every where, neither does the fem always attain the height of which it is fufceptible, and which fome travellers declare to arrive at thirty four feet -pieds de roi)-and indeed I faw fome near Gitgenti, in Sicily, whofe ftems were upward of twenty eight feet high. As the figure of this plant is too well known to need any defcription, I fhall content myself with noting its varieties, and its ufe in medicine; after which I fhall enter into a detail relative as well to the extraction of the thread, as to the articles of commerce, in which it is and might be employed by prudent regulations, and a well unEderftood fpirit of economy and order. Moft of the botanifts, predeceffors of Linnæus, were fo autached to the more ftriking varieties of plants, that they claffed them according to their exerior characteriflic differences, and reckoned five fpecies of the aloe plant; but the celebrated botanift of Sweden, more exact in his obfervations, has numerated eight fpecies, under the tiles of aloes perfoliata, variegata, diftiha, fpiralis, retufa, vifcofa, pumila, nd varia, among which he likewife otices the neceffary fubdivifions. But his analyfis not being the immediate bject of attention, I will proceed to bferve, that none but the aloes perfoiata and vifcofa are ufed in furnishing he thread; the fibres of the others beg too tender for that purpofe; but e agave Americana affords a much etter fort of thread. The juice of the aloe-plant was emloyed in ancient much more than in odern pharmacy, in chronic and ob ftinate diforders, especially thofe of the hypochondriac caft, acidities of the stomach, worms, obftructions of the bowels, and other diforders arifing therefrom; provided the patients were not fubject to fpitting of blood, or to any hemorrhoidal flux, whether internal the inward caroitid, where the ligature being impoffible, the violent motion occafioned in the blood by the juice of the aloe, rendered useless the application of every falutary ftyptic, and defroyed its effect. Pomet, in his hiftory of drugs, men tions three forts of aloe; the focotorine, fo called either from its coming to us in a concrete form, or more probably because the greateft quantity comes from the Ifle of Socrotra, in the Red Sea. According to Chomel, this is the pureft fort, and is of a yellow colour, bordering upon red, fhining, friable in winter, but eafily foftened in fummer, and its fmell refembles that of myrrh. The fecond is the hepatic aloe, which takes its name from its being of a liver colour; and the third is the caballine aloe, and is ufed only in remedies for horfes. It is the mark or rape of the two other forts, is of a black colour, and full of dirt. The aloe forms alfo an ingredient in the hiera-diacolocynthedos, in the Catholic extract of Frankfort, and Sennert, in the cachectic pills of Charas, in thofe of Ambra of the London Pharmacopeia, and in the peftilential, or fetid pills; and according to the fame author, the aloe gives name to the dialoes, or hierapicra of Galen, is an ingredient in the elixir proprietatis of Paracelfus, in the balm of the comman der, and in many other vulnerary and and deterfive compofitions, as extremely well adapted to the refiftance of putrefactions. Sicily furnishes every fpecies of aloe, and efpecially the perfoliata and viscosa, in great abundance. As the fame kinds grow alfo in Spain, the phlegmatic inhabitants of that kingdom firft thought of procuring from them a thread, whofe extraction requires all the patience and fang-froid which feem to be the peculiar characteristics of that nation nation. The Spanish foldiers who were fent to Sicily when that ifland was fubject to the crown of Spain, and who remained there attached to the fervice of the king of the two Sicilies, brought with them the art of making the thread, and are the only perfons in the inland employed in its manufacture. After tripping the plant of all the green leaves that compofe its firft coat, they cut off all thofe which cover the fem, and which are generally white, Imooth, tender, and lets compact than the exterior ones. This operation is performed from May till the end of Auguft, when the leaves become too hard and brittle. After cutting off the leaves, they faften one end of them to a cord, at the diftance of two or three inches from each other, and ftretching the cord upon the brink of a running water, fuffer the leaves to foak during eight or ten days, according to the greater or lefs degree of heat, and the greater or lets hardnefs of the leaves. After they have been fufficiently foaked, they are placed upon a flat ftone, and beaten with another ftone, cut into a half circumference, until the fkin and the parenchyma are bruifed, and the alimentary juice forced out of the the firft fibres, which are always coarfer and larger than the reft. In this itate the leaves are placed fingly upon a table, their larger end remaining loofe, but the other being fastened to the table with a nail; when the leaves are scraped with a blunt and fmooth iron, fhaped like the fides of a bayonet, of which weapon the foldiers generally make ufe, from an unwilling nefs to purchase an iron inftrument for that purpose. After the leaves have been scraped about twenty or thirty times, the traverfe and unequal ibres are broken off, and thrown away, and the table is covered with a greenifh juice, exhaling alkaline particles of fo cauftic a quality, that the hands of the foldiers are ufually renwered quite raw, and their eyes exceedingly inflamed. But as cold water is the only remedy they employ, I am inclined to think that the typtic quaty of this plant is of the fame nature as that of the leaves of the clemmatis, better known by, the name of the beggar's herb, because it is employed by vagabonds and beggars in making fup pofed inflammations and ulcers, in order to excite our commiferation, and of which they can quickly cure themselves by the ufe of cold water. As this first operation of fcraping, only forward the work by the removal of the coarfer fibres, thofe of which the thread is to be made, are as yet fcarcely to be perceived; but after the leaf has been turned, with the point remaining loofe, and the larger end faftened to the table, and after it has again undergone the operation of fcraping, the fibres, freed from every extraneous body, difplay themselves in full force, and form as many filaments, of a yellow colour, like that of raw filk, not of the orange kind, but of that which comes from off the white cocoons. To deprive the thread of that colour, and preferve it from the corruption which might take place if it were left covered with the juice of the plant, it is foaked. during three days in a tub of cold water after which it is washed and beaten in a running ftream, by which means the thread becomes fofter and richer, without lofing any thing of its confiftence. Each leaf affords a complete fkain, more or lefs thick, according to the fise of the leaf. Fifteen or twenty of these fkains are tied to a cord, and hung up in a garret, or other airy place, where there is a conftant fhade; for if the fun were to fhine upon the thread in that ftate, it would immediately turn it yellow, and give it a ftiffnefs which it would be afterward impoffible to remedy. When properly made and dried, this thread is much ufed in Sicily, and ftill more in Spain, where manufactories have been eftablished, particularly in Catalonia, in which this thread is em ployed not only in making harness for hortes in the tournaments, nets of various kinds, women's neck handkerchiefs, night-caps, ruffles de grofbotté, men's ruffles, and cauls of caps, but as the thread will take any colour, they alfo ufe it in making a variety of stuffs, and efpecially handkerchiefs, which they fell us for India handkerchiefs made of the the bark of trees; but as the thread can never be of greater length than the leaf, it is only employed in the web; the reft of the work being done with filk. Thefe ftuffs have however a very evident defect in the vifible difference between the foftnefs and richness of the filk, and the coarfe quality of the thread which renders them by no means lafting; for after a certain time, the filk is worn out by the mere friction of the harder body. The tint of the filk alfo is different, and prefents to the touch a foft and fmooth furface, while the thread takes its colour almoft in the fame manner as the Ruffia leather; that is to fay, that the epidermis of its exterior furface alone imbibes it, while the body of the thread remains unaffected. It is now fome years fince a propofal relative to the thread of the aloeplant was made to the merchants at Palermo by a Frenchman, of the name of Gouion, born at Hanover, and defcended from one of thofe refugee families who, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, enriched other countries with arts before familiar to the French alone. This perfon, uniting a knowledge of the mechanical arts to that of the fabrication of filks, velvets, and taffetas, propofed to make a machine which by the help of water fhould divide each thread into two parts, and thus produce the double advantage of rendering the thread finer and more fupple, and of offering to the manufacturer a Imoother furface, extremely fuitable to feveral articles of a peculiar kind; but as he required a confiderable reward for his ingenuity, his invention was not deemed fulficiently useful to merit fo high a premium, and he was fuffered to leave the country; of which the merchants have fince repented. I think that it would not be difficult to give this thread a more penetrating dye, by following either the method ef M. Hellot, or thofe practifed at Lyons, Florence, Paris, or Genoa. The arts in Sicilly have indeed by no means attained the defirable degree of maturity; and it is with the art of dying as with the reft; there being fome theoretical knowledge, but no practife, for want of eftablifhed principles, good Hib. Mag. May, 1796. The will, and due encouragement. Notwithstanding all these defects, I confider the aloe thread as a useful article, which, in procefs of time, might form a lucrative and neceffary branch of commerce, and in years when the filk-worms fhould happen to fail, might furnish employment to many manufacturers, and produce a quantity of neutral ftuffs (if I may fo call them) whick being neither filk, thread, nor wool, might afford habiliments, either from choice or fashion, to the great and opulent, and might be very useful to thofe of inferior fortune, on account of the low price which might be put upon them. This object has not efcaped the patriotic views of the new minifter, the marquis della Sambuca, whose zeal for the glory of his mafter and his country leads him to analyfe every thing that presents a profpect of real advantage and utility. Some neceffary perquifitions have been made by his order, and as the aloe grows abundantly in Sicily, and is extremely prolific, and confequently very eafily multiplied, that plant may be confidered as an inexhauftible fund, and of a product doubly beneficial, inafmuch as it would usefully employ a number of idle wretches, who either infect the island, or ufelesfly people the prifons, and would confiderably augment the royal revenue, by caufing a circulation of cash in the interior of the country. There being nothing at prefent fixed relative to the aloe-thread, the rotolo (equal to a pound and three-quarters, French meafure) is fold for eight carlini-(three fhillings.) But if the minifter fhould form a permanent eftablifhment, I am perfuaded that it would not coft the king more than half that price, and that the manufacturers would ftill be gainers, fince the idleft workmen might eafily make two rotoli a day, while the more induftrious would make three, and eyen three and a half in the Iii longeft longeft days. But I think it would be neceffary to forbid the ufe of the bayonet in the operation of fcraping; for the ftyptic quality of the juice not only eats into that weapon in the course of time, but the ferruginous particles of it blacken the thread, or at leaft form blueish fpots, extremely difficult to eradicate. It would be more advifeable to employ fcrapers of wood, ftone, or any hard body, fuch as glafs, or any other vitrified fubftance, except metal, and especially iron and teel. Life of Admiral Lord Graves. THIS HIS Officer was the fecond Son of Admiral Thomas Graves, of Thanckes in Cornwall, who was himfelf of York(hire extraction, by his fecond wife Elizabeth, daughter of Gilbert Budgell, D. D. of St. Thomas's, near Exeter, and was born at Thanckes. He went very young to fea with Commodore Medley, then governor of Newfoundland, and afterwards with his own father in the Norfolk of 80 guns to the fiege of Carthagena, under Admiral Vernon, where this hip led the attack on the forts. The Norfolk returned to England in 1741, and was ordered to the Mediterranean to join Admiral Matthews, where in 1743 Mr. Graves was -made Lieutenant of the Romney, and was in that capacity when the fight off Hieres took place in the beginning of the following year. He went afterwards -as Second Lieutenant to Admiral Leftock upon the expedition againft Port L'Orient; and on his death being removed into the Monmouth, Captain Harrifon, was with him in the May and October fights under Admiral Anfon and Sir Edward Hawke, in the latter of which actions the Monmouth fuffered the moft, and was the most engaged of any fhip in the fleet. kle and Stepney; and upon his return the fecond time in 1754 was commimoned by Lord Anfon for the command of the Hazard floop. At the breaking, out of the war in the next year, he with others was ordered off Breft to look for the French grand fleet, under Mr. Macnamara, rumoured to be defined for North America; and he having the good luck to fall in with them returning into the port of Breft, he flood twice across their line, and afcertained fo exactly the force of every fhip, that he was able to trafmit a circumftantial and pofitive account to Lord Anfen at a critical moment. His Lordship immediately gave him Poft as a mark of his fatisfaction, and promifed him his future friendthip. Mr. Graves was very active and took feveral privateers whilft in frigates, and in 1761 he was by Lord Anfon appointed Governor and Commodore at Newfoundland. At his arrival on the Ame rican coaft in the following year, he learned that a French fquadron under M. De Tiernay, with a body of land forces, had taken St. John's and meditated the conqueft of the whole Ifland. Upon this intelligence he pushed through a frozen fea filled with monftrous ficating iflands of ice, and at great rifque, for Placentia, where he directly failed into the harbour, and, contrary to the advice of the Captain of the man of war there, as well as of the LieutenantGovernor and all the officers, landed, and affumed the fupreme command, and by his fpirit encouraged the mili tary of both fervices into a refolution to defend the plac against the French forces, fhould they march, as was expected, to its attack. He inftantly fet about repairing the old fortifications and erected a new fort, and forwarded a detail of his fituation to General Amherft and Lord Colville in America, and prayed their united aid towards the During the peace of 1748 Mr. Graves, recovery of St. John's and, if poffible, having a natural turn to the mechani- the capture of the enemy's fquadron. cal part of philofophy, applied himself The General and Admiral loft no time to the ftudy of gunnery, engineering, in fupplying a force for this purpose, and fortification, and withal "perfected himself in the French tongue. He went alfo twice to the Coaft of Africa as Firft Lieutenant with the Commodores Buc Lord Colville coming himself with his fquadron and the General fending his brother with a body of troops. So foor as they arrived off St John's, Colonel Amberft Guildford, by which marriage he has had two fons and three daughters; and being chofen into Parliament for Eaft Looe in Cornwall in 1775, he was appointed one of the Colonels of Marines. The French foon taking part with the Americans, who had revolted against this country, and fending a fleet into their feas, Mr. Graves received orders for putting himself under the command of Admiral Byron, who was dispatched with a fquadron in purfuit of them. The voyage proved uncommonly tempeftuous, our fhips were fcattered by it, and they miffed the enemy, although they followed them to the Leeward Iflands. Amherst called a Council to determine the proper place for landing his foldiery, but adopted the advice which the Commodore gave, although different from that of the other officers, and fucceeded in all his operations. The French were defeated, and the town with its whole garrifon taken; and M. De Tiernay, under favour of a dark night and the beginning of a North-west breeze, ftole out of the harbour with all his fhips, and made the beft of his way for France, although they were much fuperior in force to the English. Mr. Graves acquired great credit for judgment and abilities during thefe tranfactions, and had many thanks from Colonel Amherft for put-. Whilft there, Mr. Graves having an ting him in a right way at firft. This appointment to a flag, with directions re-conqueft was accomplished with fo to return to England, he came back much alertnefs, that it preceded the peace with a very large and valuable convoy, then treating between the two Nations. which he had the good fortune to conAnd when Mr. Graves returned to this duct fafely to our ports, although the country, he propofed feveral new re- combined fleets of France and Spain gulations with refpect to the govern- had then made their appearance in the ment and for the fecurity of the island Channel. And in the fpring of 1780 in future, which being approved were he was directed to equip eight ships of adopted by the Miniftry. He had alfo the line for N. America, which were the fatisfaction, upon his voyage back, foon ready, but from various accidents to fave the Captain and crew of the being delayed, and afterwards reduced Marlborough of 74 guns, then return to fix, the Rear-Admiral had final or ing from the fiege of the Havannah, ders on the 13th of May to proceed ju before the fhip herself foundered and join Admiral Arbuthnot at New at fea. York. He put to fea forthwith from Plymouth Sound with an adverfe wind, but beat down the Channel against it, and performed his voyage with more fpeed upon the whole than had ever been done by a squadron before. He had a fhare foon afterwards with Mr. Arbuthnot in an action with a French fleet off the Chefapeak; and upon this officer's return to England the command of our thips in thofe feas devoly ing upon Mr. Graves, he used extraordinary exertions to get them into a proper ftate for fervice, by new regu lating and quickening all the naval departments at New York. By thefe means the men of war on that ftation were fortunately in a good condition by the time that M. De Graffe arrived in America. This French Commander had come to Martinico in the end of April, where Sir Samuel Hood then was, and had been for fix weeks before In the year 1764 the Merchants having made various complaints of the mifconduct of the Governors of Forts on the Coaft of Africa, Lord Egmont, then at the head of the Admiralty, pitched upon Mr. Graves as a proper per fon to go there with a fquadron for the purpofe of infpecting the actual ftate of things; and he performed this fervice with fo much difcernment as to fatisfy the Merchants and the Public, reformed feveral abuses, and occafioned the removal of fome of the Governors. During the reft of this fhort peace he only commanded guardships, and failed from Plymouth to the royal naval review at Spithead. But he took advantage of the leifure it afforded to marry one of the daughters and co-heireffes of William Peere Williams, Efq. of Cad hay in Devonshire, and firft-coufin to the prefent dowager-countefs of blocking |