132 Mineralogical Journey. 



derives its chief interest in the eye of the mineralogist. Of all these, the 

 Garnet is tlie most consj^icuous ; vast heaps of which are accumulated 

 about the two most southerly excavations, and which continues daily to 

 be raised in great quantities, especially in the w^orking of the shaft above 

 alluded to* It is of a red color, and for the" greatest part, massive j 

 occasionally, however, becoming granular, and w^here grains of quartz 

 or calcareous spar are intermingled, shewing faces of crystallization. 

 When the quartz is in layers of considerable size, the Garnet some- 

 times crystallizes into it, in the most beautiful manner conceivable ; so 

 tliat on lifting off the layer of quartz from a mass gf tlie garnet, we 

 have a surface invested by crystals, the richest in point of color, lus- 

 tre and finish, in which this species ever occurs. It is very rare, 

 however, to find surfaces of considerable dimensions thus coated : 

 those half an inch, or an hich over are pretty frequent. The indi- 

 vidual crystals rarely exceed one eighth of an inch in diameter. 

 Theh color is that of a very dark and exceedingly rich blood-red, 

 sometimes becoming nearly black. The most perfect of- them 

 have their faces wholly free irom striae. The form of the crystal is, 

 universally, that of tlie triemargine of Haiiy. In consequence, how- 

 ever, of the undue extension of the tangent plane (a), the bevelling 



planes (c) together with tlie primary faces (P), are so reduced as of- 

 ten to be scarcely perceptible ; thus imparting to die crystals the gen- 

 eral figure of the trapezohedron. 



Inclination of 



P on c Reflcc. G. 160^ 54 



P on a . . « " . . 149 50 



a on c . . « « • . 1G9 6 



Where 



iron 



Ep 



green color, are often found ; many of the crystals being regu- 

 larly terminated at both extremities, and extremely complicated and 

 various in tlieir modifications. ' Among them, however, neither of 

 the tw^o preceding varieties of form ever occur. The smallest crys- 

 tals possess a high degree of transparency, and present the curious 



