N i\ T U R A L HISTORY. 



589 



■withstanding- this, neither tlie 

 solvent, nor mechanical effects of 

 the spring seem to have much 

 effect on the fossil salt of Cardona. 

 The waters of this spring flow 

 into the Cardonero, leaving in 

 the valley a thick scaly crust of 

 salt, resembling- the ice formed 

 around ovu- brooks in similar si- 

 tuations. During the rainy sea- 

 son, it is asserted, that the stream 

 carries down such {juantities of 

 salt into the Cai'donero, as to kill 

 the fish in that liver.* 'I'his as- 

 sertion rests upon the authority 

 of Bowles, an able naturalist ; 

 but lie undoubtedly was led into 

 error when he asserted, th;it tiie 

 waters of the Cardonero at some 

 leagues below the mines yield no 

 trace of salt : from whicli lie in- 

 ferred, that salt may, Ijy motion, 

 be converted into earthy matter. 

 AtManresa, which isabout twenty 

 miles below Cardona, 1 tested the 

 water of tlie Cardonero by nitrate 

 of silver, which indicated the 

 presence of an unusually large 

 portion of muriate of soda. The 

 taste of the brine spring at Car- 

 dona is intensely saline ; and the 

 hand immersed in it, on being 

 exposed to the air is instantly 

 covered with a film of salt. Tiie 

 salt rock near its source is most 

 elegantly veined with delicate 

 waved delineations of an ochre 

 yellow coloiu". 



The clay which covers the bed 

 of salt at Cardona, and forms the 

 sides of the valley, exactly resem- 

 bles the clay found in the salt 

 district of Cheshire, having when 

 dry some resemblance to shale^ 



• Iiitroduccion ^ la Historia Natural y 

 h la Geogralia Fisica de Espana, por Don 

 Guilleinio Howies. Madrid, 177;'). 



but becoming plastic when moist- 

 ened. It is remarkably pure, and 

 free from intermixture, excejit of 

 salt ; large masses of which are 

 occasionally imbedded in it. 



No fibrous salt was to be ob- 

 served at Cardona ; nor did 1 dis- 

 cover the slightest trace of gyp- 

 sum in that neighbourhood; a 

 remark which was also made by 

 Bowles. On the soil near the 

 town, a small cpiuntity of a saline 

 elhorescence was ho>vever ob- 

 served, which liad the taste of 

 sulphate of soda ; but the loss of 

 tlie specimen I collected, has pre- 

 vented a more accurate investiga- 

 tion of its properties. 



Tire salt mine of Cardona is 

 wioiiglit like an open tpiarry with 

 pickaxes and wedges, by which 

 tlie mineral is raised in consi- 

 derable tabular masses. The part 

 at present wrought presents an 

 extensive liorizontal floor of piu-e 

 rock salt ; the level of vvhich is a 

 little lower than the foot of the 

 great salt jirecipice. An enor- 

 mous mass of the same mineral 

 lic3 between this precipice and 

 tlie present mine, the lemoval of 

 which will, in time, render the 

 aj)pearance of this interesting- 

 spot still more magnificent ; for 

 then the vast front of the rock 

 salt Ijed will at once strike the 

 eye from the lowest part of the 

 mine. 



Like every other public works 

 in Spain, the mines of Cardona 

 are in a languid state from the 

 efi'ects of the late war, which has 

 desolated the peninsula. Only 

 JOO labourcis are at present em- 

 ployed in quarrying the salt, and 

 in wheeling it to the receiving- 

 house. Over these, eight over- 

 seers are appointed, who do duty 



in 



