By this word we generally understand that fine Egyptian linen of which the priests’ tunics were made. But we must distinguish three kinds of commodities, which are generally comprehended under the name of _linen_: 1. The Hebrew בד, which signifies _linen_: 2. שש, which signifies _cotton_: 3. בוץ, which is commonly called _bussus_, and is the silk growing from a certain shell fish, called _pinna_. We do not find the name _butz_ in the text of Moses, though the Greek and Latin use the word _byssus_, to signify the fine linen of certain habits belonging to the priests. The word _butz_ occurs only in 1 Chron. xv, 27; Ezek. xxvii, 16; Esther i, 6. In the Chronicles we see David dressed in a mantle of _butz_, with the singers and Levites. Solomon used _butz_ in the veils of the temple and sanctuary. Ahasuerus’s tents were upheld by cords of _butz_; and Mordecai was clothed with a mantle of purple and _butz_, when king Ahasuerus honoured him with the first employment in his kingdom. Lastly, it is observed that there was a manufacture of _butz_ in the city of Beersheba, in Palestine. This _butz_ must have been different from common linen, since in the same place where it is said, David wore a mantle of byssus, we read likewise that he had on a linen ephod.