270 RAMBLES OP A GEOLOGIST. 



ed The serpentine was wrought here considerably more than 

 a century and a half ago, and exported to France, for the mag- 

 nificent Palace of Versailles ; which, though regarded by the 

 French nation, says Voltaire, as " a favourite without merit," 

 Louis the Fourteenth persisted at the time in lavishly beau- 

 tifying, and looked as far abroad as Portsoy for materials 

 with which to adorn it. I have, however, seen it stated, 

 that the greater part of a ship's cargo, brought afterwards to 

 Paris on speculation, was suffered to lie unwrought for years 

 in the stone-dealer's yard, and was ultimately disposed of as 

 rubbish, a consequence, probably, of its unfitness, from its 

 shaky texture, for ornamental purposes on a large scale, 

 though for ornaments of the smaller kind, such as boxes, 

 vases, and plates, it has been pronounced unrivalled. " At 

 Zoblitz, in Upper Saxony," says Professor Jamieson, " seve- 

 ral hundred people are employed in quarrying, cutting, turn- 

 ing, and polishing the serpentine which occurs in that neigh- 

 bourhood ; and the various articles into which it is manufac- 

 tured are carried all over Germany. The serpentine of Port- 

 soy," he adds, " is, however, far superior to that of Zoblitz, in 

 colour, hardness, and transparency, and, when cut, is very 

 beautiful." 



It is really a pretty stone ; and, bad as the evening was, 

 it was by no means one of the worst of evenings for seeing it 

 to advantage in situ, or among the rolled pebbles on the 

 shore. The varnish-like gloss of the wet imparted to the un- 

 dressed masses all the effect of polish, and brought out in 

 their proper variegations of colour, every cloud, streak, and 

 vein. Viewed in the mass, the general hue is green; so 

 much so, that an insulated stack, which stands abreast of one 

 of the beds, a stone-cast in the sea, has greatly the appear- 

 ance, at a little distance, of an immense mass of verdigris. 

 But red) gray, and brown are also prevailing colours in the 

 rock ; occasional veins and blotches of white give lightness 



