in Arabia Petrcca 8rV. 581 



fifteen Days before, been acquainted with what was intirely 

 difagreeable. 



If then we may prefume to determine the State of the Earth J-^'^^^j-^^^ 

 below, by the Quality of thefe Waters, Salt and Sulphur muft '"';;''''"f ^" 

 be reckoned among the principal Minerals of Arabia. We 

 might in like Manner conclude from the naufeous fower Smell, 

 and the pretended Corrofivenefs of the Waters of the Ha?nmam 

 Tharaotme, that there was lodged in that confiderable Range 

 of Mountains, fome large Fund of vitriolick Salts, with a fmall 

 Portion of Sulphur and Arfenick. The Number of Vegetables 

 being too inconfiderable to interfere in the Difpute ; the par- 

 ticular Smell of Sulphur and Arfenick which attend the MiitsI 

 have mentioned, may perhaps give us fome further Hints with 

 Regard to the Minerals below, from whence they are detached. 

 The ruddy Appearance alfo of the Sun and Moon through this 

 Medium, as the like Thccnomenon is obferved through the 

 Smoke of Turf and Coal, ihould no lefs inftruft us, that there 

 was fomewhere or other, in this Neighbourhood, a great Quan- 

 tity of bituminous Matter. Yet I do not pretend to lay 

 any Strefs upon thefe Reafonings ; for I never faw either Salt, 

 Sulphur, Vitriol, Arfenick or Bitumen in fubftance, or con- 

 creted, at or near any of thofe Places, which, by other Sym- 

 ptoms, feem to contain them. 



But of the more fixed and permanent Foifils, there are feve- Great 0^/«./^ 

 ral which are not common in other Places. Thus the Seleniies\l'£iel ^^' 

 is obferved to flioot itfelf fometimes for the Space of thirty or 

 forty Yards together, in a great Variety of Shapes and Colours. 

 A beautiful Kind of Cawk, the Tfeudo-Fluor of the Naturalifts, J|^^^°- 

 gives likewife a wonderful Glaring to the Rocks, and frequent- 

 ly diftinguiiheth itfelf in large Expanfions, like the Seleniies. 

 The Marble which is called fometimes Thebaic ', from being 

 dug in the Mountains of that Diftriol, fometimes Granaie, avd Cr^nzt^ 

 from the Number of little Grains whereof it feems to be com- ^^"'^^'' 

 pounded, is much more common, than the TIeudo-Fluor and 

 Selenites. It appears to be nothing elfe than a Congeries of 

 CawkyNudules, of different Shapes and Sizes, beautifully united 



I Several of the Qu^arries are ftill remaining, from whence the £0/>Π4Κί received their 

 Obel'iski and other large Pieces of the fame Kind of Marble. There was a Canal detatch- 

 ed from the Nile to each of thefe Qu^arries, fo that by putting the Obelisk,&cc. upon a Float, 

 they could caiily convey it, efpecially at the Time of the Inundation, to the Place where 

 it was to be eredled. 



Ddddd toge- 



