OF SEVERAL PARTS OF WESTERN ASIA. 415 



mense quantities of this alabaster (for it is the true calcareous 

 alabaster) have been dug and carried away. The common 

 opinion is, that the springs now deposit it; but one or two facts 

 have led me to suspect that this may not be the case. Above the 

 marble there lies a deposit, several feet thick, of common tufa, or 

 travertin. Now my suspicion is, that this tufa is all the deposit 

 which has been formed since the springs assumed their present 

 state ; and that the alabaster was deposited when their tempera- 

 ture was higher, and when perhaps they were beneath deep waters. 

 However, this opinion is little better than conjecture. That this 

 substance often has a concretionary structure, appears from 

 No. 220.* 



From the resemblance of the calcareous alabaster from the 

 Pasha's palace in Cairo (No. 385), as already described, I was 

 led to anticipate a similar composition of that from Maraga. And, 

 indeed, it is perfectly soluble in acid. But I found the ingre- 

 dients in one hundred parts to be, 



Proto-carbonate of iron, . . . 2.93 

 Carbonate of magnesia, . . . 1.33 

 Carbonate of lime, .... 95.74 



100.00 

 A spring similar to that which produces the marble above ana- 

 lyzed, exists on the southeast shore of the lake ; but whether it 

 has deposited much marble I cannot say. Another exists on the 

 promontory near Salmas, as you begin to ascend the northern side 

 of the mountain. No. 470 is an example, and shows the concre- 

 tionary structure exhibited in that from Maraga. By analysis, I 

 find that one hundred parts of this specimen contain, 



Proto-carbonate of iron, . . . 1.95 



Carbonate of magnesia, . . . 1.06 



Carbonate of lime, . . . .96.99 



100.00 



* MoRiER gives a detailed account in his travels, of the manner in which this alabaster 

 is deposited by the water of these springs ; but his description appears to me misty and 

 unsatisfactory. Neither he, nor any other writer whom I have seen, explains how it is, 

 that the marble is covered by several feet of porous or common travertin. 



