368 



stratum affords very curious and beautifully varied petrifactions ; 

 the moss, in particular, exhibits great varieties ; for it is evident, 

 that the moss has continued to vegetate, after the roots and lower 

 parts have been enveloped by the stony particles; and thus having 

 stretched itself to a considerable extent, it has, in some places, been 

 mixed and interwoven with other substances. In some parts, snails 

 have been arrested, in their sluggish walk, and locked Up in the 

 stony concrete. In others, the petrifying matter has shot in dif- 

 ferent directions, and formed an intricate kind of. net-work. In 

 others, again, there are large masses, which on being broken asun- 

 der, are found hollow, and their cavities ornamented with branches 

 of petrifactions, somewhat resembling coral, but of a light grey 

 colour, and generally of a rough and granulated surface. 



About four or five leagues from Tauris, in a plain called Roomy, 

 there are several springs of water that petrify wood, and I have been 

 informed, Mr. Bell says, even reptiles, such as lizards. One thing 

 is certain, that, after a stagnation of this water, for a certain time, 

 there is a substance like marble found at the bottom, which the 

 Persians cut into any breadth, or length, at pleasure. I have seen 

 them, he says, of two or three inches thick. It is easily polished, 

 and is diaphanous, but not transparent. After sawing it into slabs, 

 they fix them for windows in their bagnios and private apart- 

 ments*. 



Mons. de la Hire states -f , that a river which passes by the city of 

 Bakan, in the kingdom of Ava, has, for the space of ten leagues, 

 the property of petrifying wood ; and that large trees have been 

 seen, petrified to the top of the water, whilst the rest has remained 

 in the state of dried wood. 



* A Journey to Ispahan, with an embassy from his Imperial Majesty, Peter the First, 

 to Kamhi, Emperor of China, in the year 1719, p. 82. 

 t Mem. de 1' Academic des Sciences, torn, x. p. 140 



