1835.] by M. F. Le Play. 21 



will extend over Spain. During the short period described, 

 the product of the mercurial mines of Almeyda increased ; 

 the ancient copper mines of Rio Tinto long neglected, were 

 now worked with energy ; the calamine mines of Alcaraz, 

 in the eastern part of La Mancha, are successfully explored 

 at present, lead is raised in considerable quantities at 

 Linares in Jaen, and at Falsete in Catalonia. In the 

 neighbourhood of Oviedo, rich mines of coal which occur 

 there, supply, although the communication is bad, the 

 establishments of Andalusia. Coal mines have also been 

 opened by a company near the river Aviles ; and in another 

 part of Spain, the small coal bason of Villa Mieva del Rio, 

 situated eight leagues above Seville, is worked with increas- 

 ing activity, and supplies the steam boats, which make the 

 voyage from Seville to Cadiz in twelve hours. 



'M. Le Play travelled by Tolosa, Miranda, through the 

 Sommo Sierra to Madrid, by Cabrera and Alcovendas, and 

 made the subsequent observations. 



At Vittoria the powerful causes which have given to the 

 Pyrenees their form, is strongly observed ; and near this place 

 also occurs the border of the sea, in which are deposited ter- 

 tiary formations. This border, as well as the two stages of 

 the cretaceous formation, is parallel to the direction of the 

 two principal edges of the Pyrenees, running nearly from 

 west 18° N., to E. 18° S. Hence, Biscay, Navarre, and the 

 North of Arragon, present a simple geological structure ; 

 and the road from Bayonne, nearly perpendicular to the 

 direction of the chain, is extremely favourable for studying 

 the two bands of chalk, below which the Jura formation 

 shews itself occasionally. The plains of Old and New 

 Castile appear to have been recently elevated, and sub- 

 sequent to the deposition of the most modern tertiary for- 

 mations, for Le Play has observed that the surface was 

 formed exclusively of tertiary masses of calcareous marls, 

 gypsum and compact limestone ; and below these stratified 

 rocks, thick beds of sand and rounded pebbles occur, which 

 possess a considerable depth in the plains which cross the road 

 from Madrid to Estramadura, between the Tagus and the 

 boundaries of Old and New Castile. Le Play considers this 

 formation as contemporaneous with the formation produced 

 by the disruption of the principal Alpine chain. 



