MOI>E VIII. ARGILLACEOUS GLUTENITE. 39 



On these sand-stones are other slates ; then thin 

 layers of bluish calcareous rocks, mixed with 

 mica; then the same stone with very little mica; 

 and then again the same in thicker beds without 

 any mixture of mica. 



" Then the same succession recommences : first 

 sand-stone, mixed with mica and quartz ; on these 

 lime-stones, in thin layers, mixed with mica and 

 quartz; then the same, in thin layers, almost 

 without any mica ; and lastly the same, in thicker 

 layers, entirely exempt from mica. 



" Here the vegetable earth almost entirely co- 

 vers the summits of the layers; only here and 

 there, two or three feet above the grass-plats, 

 eminences of calcareous layers, nearly vertical, 

 are perceived. These eminences, arranged in pa- 

 rallel lines, as if they had been so placed by art, 

 afford an appearance altogether singular. 



" From thence to the highest limit of Col de 

 Balme, you walk entirely on summits of slate, 

 nearly vertical, which sometimes degenerate into 

 laminar sand-stone, mixed with mica; and such 

 is the nature of the peak, on which is placed the 

 high stone ; bearing on one side the arms of Sa- 

 voy, and on the other those of Valais, with the 

 date of 1738. These latter layers turn more di- 

 rectly from north to south, and approach nearer 

 to the vertical position, than the slates, which are 



VOL. r. u 



