Ji68 Mr Jameson on the Natural History and Statistics 



remarked to be ENE., WSW., and the dip NNW. at an angle 

 between 18° and 25°. In some places, the strata were a good 

 deal contorted. 



Transition district, — Only two rocks were met with in this 

 formation, viz. limestone and greywacke, the latter occurring in 

 small quantities, and quite subordinate to the former. Lime^ 

 stone. — This rock may be divided into an upper, middle, and 

 lower portion, from general characters which it possesses : the 

 lower is compact, always stratified, and the predominating co- 

 lour is red ; the middle portion is grey, and presents the slaty 

 structure ; and the upper is seldom stratified, has black as its 

 predominating colour, and is more frequently crystalline ; also 

 the lower parts are more venigenous than the upper. The lime- 

 stone throughout its whole extent has a splintery fracture, and is 

 translucent on the edges. All the parts agree in being traversed 

 by veins of calcareous-spar in every direction, but in some places 

 more than others. Everywhere this rock is traversed by nume- 

 rous fissures and caves, some of which are of considerable ex- 

 tent. The two most remarkable caves are called Santa Sophia, 

 the one situated in the district of Cetta, the other in that of 

 Milopotamo. That in Cetta is superior to the other in dimen- 

 sions : it is situated in a ravine about a quarter of a mile from 

 the sea, and two or three miles to the east of the town of Ce- 

 rigo. Its mouth is nearly an isosceles triangle, of considerable 

 dimensions. On entering, we found the floor and roof covered 

 with stalactitic matter, assuming various grotesque forms, and 

 dividing it into several chambers. The first is about seventy or 

 eighty feet broad by about fifty or sixty long : the second is about 

 forty-six feet long by thirty-five or forty broad, in which the calc- 

 sinter assumes as many shapes as if it had been worked by ar- 

 tists of superior skill. Here you find something like an altar, 

 there a throne, and in other places pedestals and pillars of various 

 descriptions, more or less ornamented by diff^erent kinds of natu- 

 ral architecture. In most of the caves you descend in going 

 into them, but in this you ascend. What arrested our atten- 

 tion most was the insufferable heat felt on entering the second 

 chamber, increasing as we advanced. On suspending a thermo- 

 meter, it stood at 70° Fahr., while the external air shortly after- 



