139 



several places of the rock all the year long ; but most in summer- 

 time. They gather it up with ladles, and put it into a barrel, set on 

 one end, which hath a spigot just at the bottom: when they have 

 put in a good quantity they open the spigot, to let out the water ; 

 and when the oil begins to come, presently stop it. They pay for 

 the farm of this fountain, about fifty crowns per annum*. 



The lake Palius, or Paliorum Lacus, in the valley of Noto, in 

 Sicily, according to the account of M. Dolomieu, has sometimes 

 petroleum on the surface of the water: and the mud at the bottom, 

 and on the bank, which has a black colour, is tenacious, and smells 

 like pitch. The whole soil of the small plain around it consists of 

 black, tough, resinous, inflammable earth. A few years ago, some 

 straw huts in this neighbourhood having been set on fire, the fire 

 was communicated to the ground, which burnt with a whitish dull 

 flame, like that of the inflammable springs in Dauphiny, during 

 several months, and was extinguished with the greatest difficulty ; 

 as the fire, when extinguished in one place, broke out in another f. 



Olearius mentions its being found in Persia J. It is also found 

 in Norway, in Scotland, in Aquitania, and in Alsace. 



The JMumiahi, or Mumia nativa Persiana, as described by Kemp- 

 fer, in his Amoenitates Persi, proceeds from a rock. The native 

 place of the best mummy is far from the access of men, from ha- 

 bitations, and from springs of water, in the province of Daraab. 

 It is found in a narrow cave, not above two fathoms deep, cut like 

 a well, out of the mass, and at the foot, of the rugged mountain 

 Caucasus. 



On the south side of a mountain, the northern declivity of which 

 terminates in the valley of Travers, between Travers and Couvet, 

 near to Neuenberg, there are two large pits, containingasphaltum; 



* Ray's Travels, p. 256 f Magazin sur das neueste aus der Physik, vol. iii. 



% Olear. Itin. Pers. lib. vi. c. 9. 



