The principal use to which meerschaum is applied is in the formation of the bowls or heads of tobacco─pipes used by the Turks, and the quantity consumed for this purpose is very great. It is found in a fissure of grey, calcareous earth, about six feet wide, near Konie, in Natolia, where upwards of six hundred men are employed in the digging and preparation of it; and the sale of it supports a monastery of dervises established at that place. The workmen assert that it grows again in the fissure, and puffs itself up like froth. It is prepared for use by being first agitated with water in great reservoirs, then allowed to remain at rest for some time. The mixture soon passes into a kind of fermentation, and a disagreeable odour, resembling that of rotten eggs, is exhaled. As soon as this smell ceases, the mass is further diluted with water, which, after a while, is poured off. Fresh water is repeatedly added, until the mass is sufficiently washed and purified. The meerschaum, in this state, is dried to a certain degree. It is then pressed into a brass mould, and, some days afterwards, is hollowed out so as to form the head of the pipe. It is subsequently dried in the shade, and lastly is baked. In this state the pipe heads are brought to Constantinople, where they are subjected to further processes. They are first bailed in milk, and next in linseed oil and wax; and, when perfectly cool, are polished with rushes and leather. The boiling in oil and wax renders them capable of receiving a higher polish than could otherwise be given. When thus impregnated, they also acquire, by use, various shades of red and brown, which are thought to add considerably to their beauty. In Turkey, and even in Germany, meerschaum pipes that have been much used are more valued than those newly made, and this solely on account of the colouring they possess. Indeed there are people in those countries whose only employment consists in smoking tobacco pipes, until they acquire the favourite tints of colour. By long use, the heads become black: but if boiled in milk and soap, they are soon rendered white again. It is asserted that the Turks spread meerschaum on bread, and eat it as a medicine; and that they cover with it the heads and eyes of dead bodies, previously to interment. As it lathers with water like soap, it is used by the Turkish women for washing their hair; and, as it absorbs oily matters, it is occasionally used, as fuller’s earth is with us, for the cleansing and scouring of cloth.