1835.] by M. F. Le Play. 25 



Spain, as rich as Fucares. The mineral is contained in cal- 

 careous veins, in small quantity, but not in the sulphate of 

 barytes, which occurs also in the neighbourhood. 



Recently a company have re-opened these mines, but it 

 is feared, will be obliged to relinquish them, after an expen- 

 diture of above 4000Z. At Cazalla, silver mines were for- 

 merly worked, but are now abandoned. African vegetation 

 is here observed in the form of the Agave Americana and 

 Chamoeras humilis. The Sierra Morena, to the north-east 

 of Seville, contain a great variety of stratified rocks belong- 

 ing to the transition formation, but are principally formed 

 of granite and mica slate. At the foot of these mountains 

 is the coal bason of Villa Nueva del Rio, which is bounded 

 on the south by the plain of the Guadalquiver. This coal is 

 worked by a company of Seville, and the peroxide of iron 

 is smelted by another company at Pedroso, the product be- 

 ing exported into France in the form of bars. 



Seville is one of the most prosperous towns in Spain, 

 which it owes to its situation on the fine navigable Guadal- 

 quiver, and to its admirable climate, — for here oranges and 

 dates grow luxuriantly, and plants of the warmest climates 

 are matured in the botanic garden. Seville possesses an 

 excellent cannon foundery, where the best pieces in Europe 

 are cast. 



On the Rio Tinto we meet with copper mines, which 

 were worked by the Romans, Arabians, and Moors, and 

 were re-opened in the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, but it was only in 1787, that the present method of 

 extracting the copper by cementation with iron from the 

 water flowing from the mine was adopted. The iron em- 

 ployed for this purpose is derived from Pedroso, and the 

 quantity of copper raised amounts to 1800 quintals. The 

 country by the mouth of the Guadalquiver to Cadiz and 

 Tarifa, consists of tertiary formations ; and at Conil, clay 

 marl occurs, impregnated with abundance of sulphur 

 crystals. 



The coast, from Tarifa to Almeria, is extremely uniform 

 in its configuration, presenting a ridge of lofty mountains, 

 rising up from the sea, formed of clayslate and limestone, 

 with occasional masses of serpentine, dolomite, calcareous 

 and dolomitic brecchia. 



