in the Jppenines of Liberia. 297 



. -M. Maximilian Spinola of Genoa, who is skilled in seve- 

 ral branches of natural history, M. Viviani a botanist, and 

 my friend M. Marozari of Vicenza, an excellent minera- 

 logist, were anxious to accompany me. We took our depar- 

 ture at six o'clock in the morning from Genoa : we went 

 in a carriage to Cornigliani, where we visited M. Durazzo's 

 rich collection in natural history : from thence we proceeded 

 to Sestri, where M. Alberto Anseldo conducts a manufac- 

 tory of sulphate of magnesia with great spirit. This gentle- 

 man acted as our guide in the arduous excursion we were 

 about to rnake : our route lay through narrow by-ways, 

 profound ravines, and we were obliged to climb from rock 

 to rock, which were so flinty and slippery, that they re- 

 quired some experience in alpine travelling to surmount 

 them. We left our carriages at Sestri, and immediately en- 

 tered the bed of the river Charavagna on foot. We ascended 

 this torrent for about an hour. Its bed is broad, and wholly 

 covered with blocks of serpentine and other round stones; 

 which shows that it is subject to dreadful torrents ; but 

 there is scarcely any water in it in dry seasons. The follow- 

 ing are the remarks I made on ascending to a lime-kiln, 

 which I shall speak of by and by. 



Notice upon the Stones in the Torrent of Charavagna, 



1. Various pieces, larger or smaller, of a grayish steatitic 

 rock, of a drier grain than that of the other steatites, of 

 which I shall soon take notice. This rock has fissures or 

 cracks filled with greenish crystallized epidole, similar to 

 that of the alps at Oisan in the ci-devant Dauphine. I am 

 surprised how this rock escaped the attentive and vigilant 

 eye of Saussure. It is probable, since he has not mentioned 

 it, that the torrent of Charavagna was not then ])assable, or 

 at least when he visited the mountain della Guardia. 



2. Tender serpentine of a blackish green shaded with 

 light green, and shining as if varnished, soft and even unc- 

 tuous to the touch, radiating into white streaks, wiih a 

 striated and undulous fracture, having a talcky appearance, 

 and strongly obedient to the magnet. 



3. Serpentine, soft, aud analogous to that of No. 2, as to 



the 



