OF SEVERAL PARTS OF WESTERN ASIA, 353 



much coarser than that of the well-known specimens from An- 

 tigua : so coarse, indeed, that Professor Bailey could not detect 

 the minuter vessels of the wood by a microscopical examination. 

 The concentric layers, however, are very distinct to the naked 

 eye, as well as the medullary rays, with no appearance of pa- 

 renchymatous tissue. We may hence safely refer this specimen 

 to an exogenous dicotyledon ; and with nearly equal confidence 

 to the tribe of coniferae ; and very probably it may belong to ter- 

 tiary strata. The fossil crab. No. 386, from near Cairo, and the 

 nummulites. No. 387, from the pyramids of Gizeh, are interest- 

 ing chiefly from their localities. Dr. Robertson refers the former 

 to tertiary limestone ; and I notice that his specimens are usually 

 named with great accuracy. No. 394 is a quartzose conglom- 

 erate from the mountain Djebel Aschar, near Cairo. No. 385 

 is beautiful, calcareous, translucent alabaster, which is employed 

 by the Pasha of Egypt in building a palace at Cairo. This rock 

 has evidently been deposited from springs, like the famous ala- 

 baster near Tabreez in Persia, to be hereafter described ; but I 

 have not been informed of the Egyptian locality. This alabas- 

 ter is entirely soluble in nitric acid, except a mere trace of earthy 

 matter. And I was surprised not to be able to detect in it any 

 iron or magnesia ; substances considerably abundant, as we shall 

 see, in the Persian alabaster. It may, therefore, be considered a 

 pure carbonate of lime ; and I regret not to know its locality. 



Whoever receives specimens of rocks from the countries bor- 

 dering on the Mediterranean, will be struck with the predom- 

 inance of limestone over all others. And he will notice a strik- 

 ing identity of characters in those from different countries. My 

 specimens exhibit three distinct varieties. The first are chalky 

 and pulverulent, of a white or yellowish color, and in fact pass 

 into true chalk ; the second are compact and yellowish ; and the 

 third are highly crystalline. The last class is always associated, 

 as in this country, with gneiss or the older slaty rocks. The first 

 class belongs either to the tertiary or cretaceous groups, — more 

 commonly to the latter ; and the second class, I strongly siispect, 

 will be found to con-espond to the Oolitic group of continental 



