OF SEVERAL PARTS OF WESTERN ASIA. ' 413 



that on a hunting excursion in the mountains west of Oroomiah, 

 he discovered a magnificent cataract, about twenty miles from 

 the lake, where the water tumbles wildly from cliff to cliff i'roni 

 the height of nearly four hundred feet, shov»dng the rainbow fre- 

 quently upon its spray. This Prince shows a strong disposition 

 to introduce European improverfients, and lately set men digging 

 for coal in the mountains, on no other ground, than that coal fre- 

 quently occurs in the vicinity of iron ; and he knows that the 

 latter is found in those mountains. 



I have alluded to the great quantities of fossil rock salt lb and 

 in the region to the east and north of Oroomiah lake. The 

 plain between the lake and Tabreez is called a salt plain, iVom 

 the presence of this substance. Near Tabreez there rises a naked 

 mountain, which, from its color, is called R,ed Mountain. Nos. 

 203 to 208, are specimens of the rocks found there ; and one can- 

 not look at them without perceiving that they bear a strong resem- 

 blance to varieties of the new red sandstone of Europe and 

 America. Nos. 203, 204, and 207, however, appear as if they had 

 been exposed to a strong heat, which has nearly expelled the red 

 color. No. 206 is a conglomerate. In this rock occurs an exten- 

 sive deposit of rock salt, the purest that I have ever met. No. 

 209 is an example, as limpid as rock crystal. And on examining 

 it chemically, I cannot detect a trace of a sulphate, or of lime, or 

 of magnesia, or of iodine, or bromine ; most of which are usually 

 present in fossil salt. It is the first specimen of fossil salt which 

 I have ever found perfectly free from foreign ingredients. In one 

 of the crystals there was a fluid, as shown by a moving bubble. 



So fai- as lithological characters can go, the probability is strong, 

 that this formation is the new red sandstone. I have another fact 

 in favor of the same view. On the plain of Khoy, eight or ten 

 miles northwest of the lake, is another extensive deposit of salt, 

 connected with a similar red rock, with limestone, (No. 453,) and 

 with gypsum, (No. 455.) The bed of salt is ten feet thick, and 

 is quarried, although not as pure as that at Tabreez. Is not tlie 

 probability very strong, that the deposit containing these minerals 

 is the new red sandstone ? Examining the salt from Khoy chem- 



