and the Plienomena accompanying their Elevation, 3 



or two miles from the shore, the fertile plain which stretches 

 from it to their base. The geologist who had already seen the 

 dolomite mountains of the Tyrol, or of the Tessino, could 

 scarcely fail to recognise at once their characteristic features in 

 some of the mountains of Palermo. In them he would see a 

 bold rugged outline, no traces of stratification, but an appear- 

 ance of highly inclined rents and fissures extending down their 

 naked sides, many of them with pointed or conical summits, and 

 all of them thinly clothed with verdure, or presenting a perfect- 

 ly bare surface, of a white or grey colour. They are finely 

 contrasted with the rich plain stretched out at their feet, which 

 is composed of tertiary rocks and conglomerate. These differ- 

 ent formations, with the bone-caves which are found in the 

 limestone and dolomite hills, I shall now proceed to describe. 



I had no opportunity, when at Palermo, of ascertaining the 

 heights of the neighbouring mountains, but that of some of 

 them must be very considerable, probably from 2000 to 3000 

 feet. The highest is the Monte Cuccio, which, as seen from 

 the east, has a perfectly conical form, but exhibits an even sum- 

 mit when seen from the south. As far as my observations ex- 

 tended, they are composed of a grey limestone, which frequent- 

 ly contains magnesia, and of a white dolomite. The limestone 

 only differs in colour from light to dark grey ; it has a splintery 

 fracture, and generally contains a number of very small fissures^ 

 many of which are lined with microscopic crystals, probably of 

 dolomite. Many of these hills have their escarped sides per- 

 forated by numerous, irregular, somewhat rounded cavities, 

 which have probably arisen from the little fissures already men- 

 tioned having been enlarged by the action of the weather ; and 

 it is not unlikely that the same fissured structure may have gi- 

 ven rise to the formation of the caverns, which are so common 

 in this limestone, by affording a ready passage to running wa- 

 ter. 



The small conical hill of La Giazia, near Parco, which has 

 an elevation of about 1370 feet above the level of the sea, is en- 

 tirely composed of a white dolomite, traversed in all directions 

 by fissures, which cause it to break down easily into small an- 

 gular fragments, many of which are covered with minute crys- 

 tals; and the whole exactly resembles, in its structure, the up- 



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