AND LOWER EGYPT. 71 



course fell to the ground, and that assuming gen- 

 tleman never forgave me the offence. 



It was not difficult, moreover, to fix the place 

 which the pretended marble of Malta ought to oc- 

 cupy among stony substances. For on examining 

 the figure and the disposition of the fasciculi of 

 needles of which it is formed ; on observing the 

 concentric circles discovered on sawing it trans- 

 versely ; on paying attention to its want of con- 

 sistence, which prevents the possibility of manu- 

 facturing it into tables of any considerable size, 

 without their cleaving asunder; above all, on 

 studying its position in the rocks, you will pre- 

 sently discover those calcareous stalactites, those 

 concrete masses, produced by the infiltration of 

 water through calcareous substances ; in a word, 

 the alabaster of naturalists, which must not be 

 confounded with that much harder alabaster that 

 takes a polish so beautiful, and whose dazzling 

 whiteness is so much cried up. 



It is found generally in irregular blocks, and 

 whose surface is crusted over with little buttons of 

 the same nature. That of Gozzi is the only one 

 which is sometimes found in strata, but these are 

 irregular, and of no great extent. The calcareous 

 rock which covers these blocks and these strata, is, 

 for the most part, winter and of a closer grain than 



f 4 that 



