344 Colonel Silvertop on the Lacustrine Basins of 



partitions, The floors of the diiFerent rooms were formed by 

 the natural surface of the strata, and a corresponding plane had 

 been left after the excavation of each apartment, whose interior 

 surface formed the ceiling as its exterior one did the roof of the 

 house. The lower part of the house, on the ground floor, which 

 consisted of more nuraei'ous apartments, was also excavated in 

 the mass of these strata, and divided into compartments by 

 thick walls of the latter left standing for this purpose, without 

 any artificial support. Amongst the most curious pieces in the 

 latter, a circular room, vaulted in the form of a low dome or 

 half-orange, and called the Mazmorra, from its destination of a 

 dungeon in the time of the Moors, is worthy of being noticed, af- " 

 fording, from the perfect state in which it is preserved, an incon- 

 testible proof of the durability of excavations made in these 

 strata. The house occupied the whole of the insulated project- 

 ing mass of these strata, and a broad and high-arched gallery, ex- 

 cavated with nice precision, conducted through its central part, 

 from the front to the rear of this singular edifice. It opened 

 out on the latter side upon a platform along the summit of the 

 high escarpment whose base is washed by the Guardal, and re- 

 presented a delicious view of a little green cultivated valley fer- 

 tilized by its waters, upon which the eye reposed with delight, 

 fatigued by the monotonous, barren-looking prospect of this 

 arid district. 



Sulphur Mines of Benamaurel. — Benamaurel stands upon 

 the left bank of the Guardal, and the sulphur mines known 

 by the name of this village are situated about three miles to- 

 wards the west on the opposite side of the rivulet, the inter- 

 vening distance exhibiting perfect similarity in geological and 

 physical character to the tract lately described. In one of 

 the little hollows which characterize and indent the basin 

 occupied by the gypsiferous marl strata, several perpendicular 

 shafts have been sunk for the purpose of extracting the sul- 

 phur which in some places accompanies them. The principal 

 bed of this substance occurs at about sixty feet below the sur- 

 face ; but before reaching this, two other strata are passed 

 through, in which the mineral makes its appearance, but in 

 small quantities, and so mixed up with marl and gypsum, 

 as not to repay the expenses of extraction. The former, or 

 workable stratum, has little thickness, rarely exceeding that of 



