592 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



masses. IJeyond Manresa the. 

 farcilite occurs till the traveller 

 crosses the ford of the Cardoneio, 

 when it is succeeded by a lime- 

 stone of a dirty iron brown co- 

 lour, and dull, almost earthy, 

 fracture. Beyond the village of 

 Suria, a sandstone, which slightly 

 efFer^■esces with acids, makes its 

 appearance. This rock consti- 

 tutes the sides of the valley which 

 contain the fossil salt. 



The immediate vicinity of the 

 salt mines shews no other rock 

 than a yellowisli grey sandstone 

 much charged with scales of 

 mica. 



We find thus that the salt rock 

 of Caidona is accompanied by 

 clay and sandstone, like our 

 Cheshire salt formation. Lime- 

 stone also is found near it ; but 

 the usual concomitant gypsum 

 appeals to be wanting, as well as 

 foetid limestone. 'I'he great com- 

 pactness and purity of this salt 

 merits examination. 



Though the country aro\md 

 Cardona is movmtainous and 

 rugged, it is inferior in elevation 

 to the districts between it and the 

 Mediterranean ; as well as to 

 those which bound it on the 

 north. Jnunediately behind Car- 

 dona the mountains liegin to as- 

 cend with increasing boldness 

 until they unite with tlie grand 

 chain of the Pyrenees. 



I relinquish to others the difii- 

 cult task of giving a probable 

 explanation of the formation of 

 rock salt; contented if my obser- 

 vations on the mine of Cardona 

 can add any thing to the mass of 

 facts which should guide us in 

 the obscure but captivating spe- 

 culations of geology. 



VISIT TO THE MUMMY PITS. 



(From Legh's Travels J 



The pits we had examined at 

 Thebes were full of human mum- 

 mies, but in no place had we yet 

 seen any marks of those of croco- 

 diles. With this intention we 

 continued our voyage down the 

 Nile and halted at Manfalout 

 situated on the left bank of the 

 river, for the purpose of making 

 preparations for a journey to 

 Amabdi. Our party consisted of 

 my friend j\Ir. Smelt and an Ame- 

 rican of the name of Barthow, 

 who liad traded many years in the 

 Red Sea, spoke Arabic extremely 

 well, and whom we had engaged 

 as a driigoman at Cairo, wlienwe 

 first began our travels in Upper 

 Egypt. We took with us, be- 

 sides, an Abyssinian merchant, 

 of the name of Fadlallah, and 

 three of our boat's crew who 

 were BarabraSj \vhom we had 

 brought with us from the Catar- 

 acts. Having provided ourselves 

 with asses and torches, we crossed 

 the ferry of Manfalout, at five in 

 the morning of tlie 30th March. 

 We wandeied about till nine 

 o'clock in search of the village of 

 Amabdi, near wiiich we at length 

 found four Arabs en)ployed in 

 cutting wood. They appeared at 

 first \inwilling to give us any in- 

 formation about the object of our 

 search, and we observed them con- 

 sulting together, and overheard 

 them muttering something about 

 danger, and thouglit we heard the 

 expression, "If one nmst die, — 

 all must die." This excited our 

 suspicions, but did not deter us 

 from prijceeding, as we relied on 



our 



