in the Province of Granada. Ji73 



The under portion of the escarpment consists of an in- 

 ilurated earthy argillaceous conglomerate, made up of fra^i^ 

 ments of mica-slate, talcose and other slates and quartz, in 

 which there is not a single shell ; while the upper part of, the 

 escarpment rests upon the conglomerate of old rocks, com- 

 posed of a loamy mass, with rounded pieces of tertiary sand- 

 stone, pebbles, and numerous tertiary shells, mostly Pectens, 

 Chamae, Balani, and fragments of Ostreae. To the righi, or 

 towards the south, is the last part of the slope of the high ter- 

 tiary hill alluded to. 



This hill, which occupies a considerable area, and stands in- 

 sulated along the coast line, rises to the height of about 250 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and is something less than a mile dis- 

 tant from the shore, to which it presents a high and singularly 

 water-worn escarpment, worked out into recesses, caverns, and 

 overpending rocks, of the most grotesque and capricious forms. 

 It is composed of thick horizontal beds of comminuted shells, 

 mixed with quartz-sand, occasionally passing into conglomerate, 

 and alternating with others of sandstone conglomerate. The 

 quantity of shells that have entered into the composition of this 

 mass is immense, but they have been so triturated that few en- 

 tire ones can be collected. Those I was able to obtain are a 

 large Chama, small Pectens of various sizes, a Cardium edule, 

 Balani, and fragments of Oslrea?. 



The slope of the hill terminates towards the north in a waving 

 and gradually rising district of primary slate, upon which, in- 

 land, no further vestige of these tertiary deposits is observed. — 

 (See Sect. 6. PI. II.) Towards the east, it also presents consi- 

 derable escarpments, from the base of which there is a rapid 

 slope to a cultivated flat along the right bank of the Rio de 

 Velez. On the opposite or left bank of this stream, there is a 

 low open undulating tract, which has the appearance of having 

 been, at some ancient epoch, a semicircular port or bay, surround- 

 ed by an amphitheatre of primary mountains. In this tract is 

 situated the ancient town of Velez-Malaga, about one mile from 

 the Rio de Velez, and three miles from the Mediterranean. 

 The general cover of this open area is composed of allu- 

 vium, but the subjacent mica-slate occasionally projects into 

 little hillocks, and a few small patches of tertiary origin were 



