in the Province qf Granada. 375 



Fromi the little seaport of Adra, in the centre of which a 

 group of highly inclined mica^slate may be observed, celebrated 

 in the day for its extensive establishments connected with the 

 lead trade, to the village of Roquetas, twenty-five miles distant, 

 the McditeiTanean is bounded by an open flat tract, between^ 

 three and four miles broad, which terminates, to the north, in 

 the bold escarpments of the Sierra de Gador, formed of transi- 

 tion limestone, containing the richest veins of lead-ore in Spain, 

 It was an incessant rain when this barren tract was crossed, and 

 the atmosphere so thick and foggy that no satisfactory observa- 

 tion could be made. Irregular beds of conglomerate, forming 

 a sort of superficial incrustation, and sandy argillaceous loam, 

 generally constitutes the superstratum ; and on once approach- 

 ing the coast, in consequence of having lost the road, some sand- 

 stones, which appeared modern, but in which I could perceive 

 no shells, were remarked. 



Roquetas is a very wretched little fishing viljage, possessing 

 but one good house, in which I was fortunately lodged, and 

 most hospitably received. My landlord informed me that a 

 month rarely passed without some slight shock of an earthquake 

 being experienced ; tlie sea being often so violently agitated in 

 consequence that boats ready to sail for Almeria were obliged to 

 delay their voyage for several hours. 



The road from Roquetas to Almeria crosses the soutli-east 

 portion of the Sierra de Gador, to which it ascends by a pass or 

 puerto, from the easterly termination of the open tract just no- 

 ticed. In some little escarpments of the dark blue semicrystai- 

 line limestone of this mountain, at the base of the puerto, the 

 strata run nearly from east to west, and dip to the north at 23^. 

 Hence to Almeria is about ten miles, for eight of which the road 

 is continually upon the limestone rock that forms the Sierra de 

 Gador; but about two miles before reaching this pretty little 

 seaport town, at a point where a bridge is crossed and there is 

 a redoubt perched on a rock overhanging the sea, the tertiary 

 formation again appears with the character of a whitish earthy 

 coarse limestone, or fine calcareous conglomerate, containing mi- 

 nute rounded fragments of the subjacent dark-blue transition 

 limestone. The organic remains collected in this tertiary calca- 

 reous deposit, which appears to form an unstratified mass, are 



