IX. On the so called Sea Froth and other Substances of which
the Bowls of the Turkish Pipes are made. From a Letter
written in Persia by Dr. Reinegg, Correspondent of the
Royal Society at Gottingen, to Baron Von Asch at
Petersburgh. Communicated to the Society by Professor
Blumenbach.

The so called sea-froth (lithomarga), of which the bowls
of the Turkish pipes are made, is not an artificial composi-
tion, but a natural kind of earth dug up near Konie in
Natolia. This place, the ancient Iconium, lies in a most
fruitful district, which may be truly called a terrestrial
paradise; and is celebrated on account of a large monastery
of Dervises founded by the Scheik Abid il Daher, but which
received particular endowments from Sultan Suleiman, and
in which at present there are two hundred Dervises under
the direction of a Scheik, by whom they are clothed and
maintained.

The income of this monastery arises in part from some
natural productions of that district, such as marble, etc. and
in particular from the above-mentioned yellowish white
earth, of which the bowls of the Turkish pipes are made.
It is dug up at Kiltschik, (that is, the place of clay,) a village
sive miles distant from Konie; and besides this I have heard
of no other place, either in Natolia or along the coast of the
Mediterranean sea, where any of the like kind is produced.
It is found in a large fissure six feet wide, in grey calcareous
earth; and the workmen assert that the earth grows again
in the fissure, and puffs itself up like froth. They there-
fore call it kill-keffi, or kill-kefi, a word which, if I read with
Teschdid, kill-keffi, signifies clay-froth, or light clay.

This earth, when it comes from the fissure, is heavy, soft
and greasy. It sweats if thrown into the fire; produces a
fetid vapour; grows hard, and becomes perfectly white.
The fresh earth dissolves in no acid. That which has been
[Seite 166] burnt can be acted upon only by the nitrous acid; but not
until the solution has been continued a considerable time in
heat, and then it loses nearly a third of its weight. When
water is poured on the pure solution, it becomes a little
muddy; and when it is suffered to evaporate entirely, a
bitter salt exceedingly easy to be dissolved is obtained. The
undissolved earth, fused in a strong fire, is converted into a
brown slag. The fresh earth remains in water unchanged;
and when it has been mixed with it by shaking and stirring,
it falls again to the bottom, loses its cohesion, and cannot
be again used. The earth, after being burnt, imbibes a large
quantity of water, throws out abundance of air bubbles,
and becomes soft.

The peasants of the village of Kiltschik dig up a sufficient
quantity of this earth, for which they pay a certain sum to
the monastery, and then cut it into bowls for tobacco pipes.
For the most part, however, they press the earth, while yet
soft, into proper moulds in which the figures of various
flowers have been cut; and while the bowls are in these
moulds they bore the holes in them, and then lay the bowls
in the sun to dry. Some days after, when the surface of
them is covered with a hard yellowish crust, they place the
whole quantity of bowls in a heated baker’s oven, and let
them remain there till it is entirely cooled. They then boil
them for an hour in milk; and when they are taken from it,
they rub them with Bischik Kuirughi (equisetum) common
horse tail, in order to make them smooth and shining, which
is at length completely effected by means of a piece of soft
leather.

When the bowls have been prepared in this manner, and
sent to Constantinople for sale, they are dyed there of dif-
ferent colours, partly by being boiled in wax or oil. The
best mixture, however, is dragon’s blood and nut-oil; for
when the bowls have been well soaked in this mixture and
penetrated by it, they acquire, in a short time, a most
beautiful dark-red dye. The Turks, however, in general are
[Seite 167] not very fond of tobacco pipes made of sea-froth: and they
are seldom used by the Asiatics; for they are too heavy, hold
too much tobacco, and in some measure lessen the agree-
ableness of its taste. The Turks, therefore, prefer pipe-
bowls made of red clay, and sell the former chiefly to the
Greeks, who transport them to Transilvania and Hungary.

These small red pipe bowls are, on the other hand, in
common use throughout all Lesser Asia, Arabia, Egypt, etc.
and are formed of a real kind of clay-earth; but in places
where that clay-earth is not to be found, they are imitated
by some artificial composition, which is indeed preferable;
for those burnt of clay have in general a pale red colour,
whereas those made artificially have a beautiful high colour.
The earth of which these bowls are made is not a red bolus,
but a blueish argillaceous species of potter’s earth. Such,
at least, were those which I saw at Trebisond, Poli, and
Caesarea, where an immense number of these pipe-bowls
are made.

In those places, on the other hand, where this species of
potter’s earth cannot easily be procured, or is not valued, as
at Constantinople and Tocat, the pipe-bowls are prepared
in the following manner: – Small fragments of thoroughly
burnt tiles, particularly old ones, are pounded and then re-
duced to fine powder in a mill. Three parts of this tile-dust
are then mixed with one part of any well washed argillaceous
earth in pits made for the purpose, or in wooden boxes, and wa-
ter to the height of a few inches is poured over it. This mass
is daily stirred during a week; the water is poured off and
fresh water poured on every evening; at the end of the week
the whole paste is well stirred round with sticks, and when
the useless coarse sandy parts begin to sink to the bottom,
the remaining muddy water is drained off into other vessels,
where it is suffered to remain till the argillaceous paste falls
to the bottom and the water has again become clear. The
remaining water is then carefully drained off, and the clayey
cake, as it dries, is well kneaded. As soon as it is so dry as
[Seite 168] to be fit for being worked, it is mixed with a somewhat less
quantity of umber, and formed into pipe-bowls, either in a
mould, or by being applied to the lath.

When these bowls have been sufficiently burnt, they ac-
quire a dark brown colour, which, however, changes into a
beautiful red as soon as they have been well rubbed with a
piece of leather sprinkled over with fine pulverised blood-
stone (hematites). Owing to this simple process we obtain
from the East those red pipe-bowls, so much and so generally
esteemed, at a very low price, as five of them are generally
sold for a para^*. When they are ornamented, however,
with a gilt border, painted with golden flowers, enamelled
or set with precious stones, one of them will cost sometimes
two, three, and even four piastres^†.