348 Descripiion of Minerals from Palestine. 
fruit. In my late journey from Jerusalem to this place, (Bey- 
root,) I determined to investigate this matter; and, with 
Arabs who kuew, orat least pretended to know, where the wa- 
termelons were to be found, | ascended the mountain. e 
found no watermelons, but we found, in the mountain which 
is formed of calcareous stone, some very curious formations, 
of which T send you several samples. | am not surprised 
that the ignorant Arabs should ‘ahs wislelnns ther’ for petri- 
fied fruit.” 
They are, indeed, very extraordinary siliceous concretions. 
A number of fragme: nts of different sizes were forwarded, to- 
gether with one entire concretion. This I shall desdribay mf 
is about the magnitude of atwelve pound cannon-ball; not a 
perfect clobe, and yet not deviating widely from that form. 
Its surface isa light. ash-gray, and formed of chalky carbonate 
of lime, which effervesces on application of the nitric acid. 
It bears some resemblance in its aspect, to the nodules of flint 
taken from chalk quarries, and exposed a considerable time to 
the a tee of the elements. : 
mart blow of a hammer, it was divided in the middle. 
The sg thus laid open to the light presented several in- - 
teresting substances. The outer layer, nearly an inch in 
smooth fracture, and yielding After easily and abundantly, 
with steel. This surrounds a thin stratum of very beautiful 
milk-white chalcedony. In the centre of the concretion is 
an irregular cavity, lined with very perfect crystals of limpid 
quartz. On one side of the cavity is a mass, an inch in di- 
ameter, of a light coloured friable limestone. 
All the conerctions are hollow; but the cavities in the dif- 
ferent specimens are surrounded. by different materials. In 
one, the inner surface is composed of translucent, and almost 
transparent botryoidal chalcedony. tn another, the surface 
of the botryoidal chalcedony is covered ah a white, smooth, 
unctuous, siliceous matter. ‘In a third, it is surmounted by a 
countless number of elegant, pearly, microscopical erystals of 
quartz. In a fourth, is a small mass of semi-opal, containing 
tes, 
Allusion is unquestionably bad to these stones, in a para 
graph. of Dr. Clarke’s Travels. ‘* Djezzar Pacha, of Acre,’ 
says Des “informed us that upon Mount Carmel, he had found 
_ several thousand large balls, and never could, discover a can- 
non to fit them.” In a note it is added, “ We supposed that 
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