374 Brigadier Silvertop's*9toc/A o/'^^^; Tertiary Formation 



observed. The tract is termed the Vega or Valley of Velez, 

 and it is one of the favoured spots along the southern Mediter- 

 ranean coast of Spain. Protected from the winds by its amphi- 

 theatre of mountains, which gradually rise towards the north to 

 the height of 8000 feet above the level of the sea, and irrigated 

 by the waters of the rivulet above alluded to, vegetation a&sumes 

 all the rapidity and luxuriance of meridional climates; and little 

 woods of olive trees and fields of the finest wheat, alternate over 

 its undulating surface with groves of the orange-tree and plan- 

 tations of the sugar-cane, surrounded by fences of the bamboo, 

 the aloe, and the nopal. The harvest of the sugar-cane was 

 about to commence on my passing through Velez-Malaga in the 

 month of February 1832 — the Sierra de Tejeda, not twenty 

 miles distant towards the north, but the highest mountain in 

 tbi& portion of the Sierra Nevada chain, was clothed in snow, 

 and presented a singular and interesting contrast *. 



In following the Mediterranean coast from Velez-Malaga east- 

 ward, few or no well characterized tertiary beds are observed 

 until we arrive in the neighbourhood of Almeria, primary or 

 transition slates immediately bordering the shore as far as Adra, 

 with the exception of two little alluvial inlets or creeks cultivated 

 with the sugar-cane, in which the seaport villages of Nerja and 

 Almunejar are situated, and a more extensive flat surrounding 

 the town of Motril. The large low horizontal tract or bend 

 near Motril is formed of a sandy loam, cultivated principally 

 with the cotton plant, with a few interspersed sugar-cane planta- 

 tions. This deposit may perhaps be partially of tertiary origin, 

 but no regular beds nor shells were observed. In all these in- 

 stances, the immediate subjacent rock is mica-slate, or some va- 

 riety of transition slate. 



It may be remarked here, that the mica-slate in all the inter- 

 val between Velez-Malaga and Almunejar is characterized by 

 the presence of andalusite, generally imbedded in highly crys- 

 talline glassy quartz. I collected some beautiful crystals of this 

 mineral, as well as a few of kyanite, in the neighbourhood of 

 Almunejar. 



* Mr Deshayes identified Pecten benedictus and a Pecten, nov. spec, 

 which is also found at Perpignan, among the fossils from Velez-Malaga. 



