Journey from Vienna. 79 



struck with the resemblance of the rocks to some of Mont 

 Dor, in Auvergne. The experiments that I made, after my 

 return to Paris, on some specimens that I brought away, con- 

 firmed the analogy in the materials of the two places. With 

 someprecautions,"alum might be procured at Farad, nearly as 

 pure as that of Munkacs or Musaj, and, of course, like the fine 

 sort known in France by the name of Roman alum. 



After this we renewed our excursion to the mountain. For 

 two hours we passed through very thick woods of oaks and 

 beeches, and at different points 1 observed the rosa spinosissima 

 in prodigious quantities, which, with the crategus aria, pro- 

 duced a very agreeable diversity. In all this tract I saw none 

 of those eternal firs that appear every where, on equal heights, 

 in the mountains of Schemnitz and Krernnitz. 



Arriving at the crater, I found its depth about 180 feet. 

 The whole cavity was filled with very large beech trees, also 

 with crab apple and hazel-nut trees, and brambles, which it 

 was often difficult to get clear of. The sides or walls are per- 

 pendicular in some points, and at others have a pretty rapid 

 descent. I could not trace, either on the sides or in the parts 

 adjacent, any vestiges of scorification, such as one would ex- 

 pect to find, had there been an ancient ignivomous aperture, 

 similar to what exist in the extinguished volcanos of Auvergne. 

 I examined every part, the sides, top, bottom, and am con- 

 vinced that it never was volcanic ; it has not even the ordinary 

 form of a crater, an inverted cone, nor is it in the usual posi- 

 tion, at the summit of a mountain. 



Having acquired a certainty that M. Fichtel and others have 

 been mistaken on this point, we again set out on our return to 

 Parad. In about an hour, descending towards the village, we 

 found the steward and a party of the baron's people, who had 

 prepared a very good dinner, under a tent of branches and 

 foliage. They had brought with them also a relay of horses. 



In another excursion which I made to Erlau, I arrived at 

 the town of Sirok, in a valley, through which runs the river 

 Torna. Its ancient castle was built on the point of a white 

 rock, nearly isolated, the flanks of which are torn by deep 

 ravines, and not a tree to be seen about it; it is now in a 

 ruinous state. The higher parts of the rock are almost every 

 where perpendicular. Several chambers of the castle were 

 dug or hollowed out of it. On these great walls we see frag- 

 ments, and blocks of all sizes and colours, white, yellow, grey, 

 &c., and in one of the caves, others of a black colour. In 

 short, the walls, the courts, and fosses, exhibit, in a numerous 

 collection, all the varieties of massive rock. This castle was 

 taken by assault, in 1596, by the Turks, and the crescent 



