viii.] TRAFELS, 1835. 227 



centres of soulevemcnt. The road, although marked as 

 such in Desmarest's admirable maps, does not exist in 

 some places ; but notwithstanding this, when I asked a 

 peasant on entering it whether I could lose my way, I 

 got the usual answer : " Oh, mon Dieu ! non." In a fog 

 it would be impracticable without a guide, but the 

 absolute stupidity of the peasantry in giving local indi- 

 cations is quite characteristic of them. . . . Stopping at 

 JUulvialle, I climbed to the top of La Thuilliere and 

 enjoyed a superb view. La Roche Sanadoire is a noble 

 object, and the hills round this supposed centre of eleva- 

 tion have remarkably the form of an amphitheatre. Every- 

 one calls these rocks phonolite I should rather have 

 named them compact felspar, as I did not observe the 

 sonorous character, nor the vitreous lustre. But it little 

 matters. 



* The Sanadoire is beautifully columnar, and the 

 Thuilliere, although also columnar, splits readily into 

 tabular heaps. A little to the north of these rocks, on the 

 other side of the valley, I found granite not indicated 

 by Beaumont or Desmarest, and the situation of which 

 is remarkable. ... I passed close to the Puy de Dome 

 and descended to Clermont by La Barraque, reaching it 

 about five. 



'September 20. . . . Ascended to La Barraque, and 

 collected the fine basalt with olivine which occasionally 

 occurs in a very singular manner : having all the cha- 

 racters of imbedded masses of granite, when examined 

 it turns out to be only olivine, with some reddish 

 cretaceous and clayey matter. May not olivine be 

 formed from roasted granite ? . . . I continued to 

 ascend to the Fontaine du Berger on the great road to 



ioges, then struck oif to the Puy de Pariou (whose 

 lava current I had for some time been following), and 

 reached its base in two and a half hours* slow walking 

 from Clermont. 



1 I ;IH rii<l, ,1 t., its summit, but was sorry to find its 

 lovely bowl-shaped crater covered with grass and lic.-itli, 



ad of being in its imtivc lenity Thence 1 w-nt 



Q 2 



