72 M. Beudanfs Travels in Hungary. 



there is a striking analogy between the local stratifications of 

 Schernnitz and Kremnilz. 



At the bottom of an immense cavity, formed by a perpen- 

 dicular dislocation of the mountain, 1 observed a pool of fer- 

 rugineous water, with bulru-shes, of the most beautiful green I 

 ever beheld, growing in the middle. Some attribute the colour 

 of the plants to the influence of the waters, and it is a fact, 

 that, wherever I have noticed them, the green colour of th 

 vegetation is much more intense than elsewhere. The cold 

 at the foot of this immense excavation was insupportable, but I 

 was astonished to find the thermometer not lower than 13, that 

 is, only 2 below the temperature at the top of the mountain. 

 In places of this kind there is a humid vapour which penetrates 

 the clothing, but which, from the warmth of the body, soon 

 becomes a dry vapour ; hence, we feel a cold much more 

 piercing than what comports with the temperature of the cir- 

 cumambient air. 



In one of my excursions from Kremnitz, I came to the vil- 

 lage of Perk, where every thing reminded me of journeys that 

 I had made in the south of France. The face of nature was 

 gay, the sun's vital beams and heat were every where felt, bright 

 and shining forests of firs on the left, penetrating, as it were, 

 through the gloom that surrounded them, and perfuming the 

 air with a resinous scent. Hid from the public walks of men, 

 I thought I discerned some of nature's finest touches, though 

 different parts of the soil were sandy and dry. 

 In my road to St. Kerest, I remarked siliceous, fissile sub- 

 stances of a black colour, but which grow white before a fire, 

 and that retain all the appearances of vegetable impressions. 

 De Born, in his description of the same tract, makes mention 

 of petrifications, which he compares to vegetables, or to corals. 

 Ferber has noticed these organic remains, and compares them 

 to the roots of marine plants, and to the stalks of one that 

 grows in marshes, the thypha palustris. M. Esmarck also 

 alludes to them, under the designation of calcedonies and 

 petrified reeds. 



The town of St. Kerest is beautifully situated on hills that 

 border the Gran ; it was the residence of the ancient bishop 

 of Newsohl. There is a very stately chateau, and a number 

 of neat dwelling houses, with an excellent auberge, at the post- 

 house, where even pedestrian travellers are treated with great 

 civility. 



The village of Prochot is inhabited by ancient Germans, 

 whose language my servant, though a German, found it very 

 difficult to understand. A stout young man, about thirty years 

 of age, made a tender of his services, as a guide to a mountain 



