68 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



with water, new ones are continually opened up, al- 

 though this labor might be avoided. The coals, how- 

 ever, are not the best ; all Richmond smells from them. 

 They are sold at the river for i shill. Virgin. Current 

 the bushel. 



In the Virginia mountains are sundry warm and 

 cold mineral springs, which from their taste are made 

 up chiefly of sulphurous and vitriolate constituents. 

 They appear to contain little of other salts and little 

 fixed air, for no casting of bubbles or beads is to be 

 observed. The best known are the Augusta hot 

 Springs, in the county of that name. There are sev- 

 eral springs there, called the sweet, the acid, the warm, 

 and the hot springs. The sweet and hot springs are 

 said to show a warmth, the one of 80 and the other of 

 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. At first the water is un- 

 pleasant to drink, but soon becomes tolerable. Sul- 

 phur-pyrites or marcasite being found everywhere in 

 the neighborhood, it is supposed the warmth of the 

 springs is so occasioned. In that region also beautiful 

 rock-crystals are found and amethysts. The Sulphur- 

 Springs on the Greenbriar are celebrated for curing 

 the itch and other skin-eruptions. Still another water 

 of the mountains is spoken of, which it is said takes 

 fire from a flame and is almost wholly consumed.* 

 The county of Augusta generally, which comprises a 

 part of the North-Mountain or Alleghany-Range, 

 seems to promise many natural curiosities ; in the 



* Probably the same of which there ran a story in certain 

 recent English papers, that a pistol shot sets it a-fire, and 

 being quite consumed it leaves behind a salty ash ; the Vir- 

 ginia county of Fincastle is mentioned, but no precise observer 

 is given. + 



