[195] The chief production cf Lemnos was a red earth called Terra Lemnia, or sigillata, which was employed by the ancient physicians as a remedy for wounds and the bites of serpents, and which is still much valued by the Turks and Greeks for its supposed medicinal virtues. It is dug out of a hill, made into small balls, and stamped with a seal which contains Arabic characters. Mattioli, in his letter to Quacquelben (see note 1, page 415), asks him for information about this earth, and requests him to procure some for him. See also page 416. [196] The reference is to Terence, _Heauton timorumenos_, 3. 1. 48. [197] This was before March 13, 1559, as Verantius, in a letter of that date, mentions that Hooz, Busbecq’s secretary, had been taken prisoner with his Turkish escort by some Hungarians and brought to Kaschau, and that he had said that Baldi was then on his way back.—Katona, _Historia Regum Hungariæ_, xxiii. 227. [198] In 1540, Luigi Badoer was sent as ambassador to treat for peace on the basis of the _status quo ante bellum_, and the payment of 30,000 ducats, but was forbidden in any case to cede Malvasia and Napoli di Romania. Such were the instructions of the Senate, but the Council of Ten gave him in addition secret instructions, empowering him to surrender these places, if he found it impossible to obtain a peace on easier terms. The brothers Cavezza, of whom one was secretary to the Senate, and the other to the Council of Ten, betrayed the secret, probably through a French diplomatist, to the Porte. The consequences are described in the text. See Daru, _Histoire de Venise_, book xxvi. p. 82, Von Hammer, book xxix., and Charrière, _Négociations de la France dans le Levant_, i. 548. [199] See page 79. [200] Some further details as to the intrigues which caused Bajazet’s ruin may be gathered from the history of Ottoman Ali, who had been secretary to Lala Mustapha. The latter was a _protégé_ of Achmet, the Grand Vizier, and was on that account hated by Roostem, who, knowing he was a friend of Bajazet’s, hoped to ensure his ruin by getting him appointed Governor of Selim’s household. Lala saved himself by betraying his former master. With Selim’s approval he encouraged the unfortunate Prince to attack his brother, and caused some of the Sultan’s messengers to be murdered in such a manner as to make it appear that Bajazet was responsible for the crime, and thus widen the breach between him and his father. It is the evidence of the secretary of this double-dyed traitor that Von Hammer prefers to Busbecq’s. He may have had more information than our writer; the question is, was he as likely to speak the truth? See Von Hammer, book xxxii. [201] See page 189. [202] This was a very serious step. See page 187. [203] See page 188. [204] See page 116.