Jdcscripiion of Minerals from Palestine. S37 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Art. XX. — Description of Minerals from Palestine. Bj Pko- 

 FESSOR Hall. 



A FEW months since, I had the pleasure to receive a box 

 of min;Mals, and with them, a number of other objects of 

 curiosity from the Rev. Phny Fisk, American missiosiary to 

 Jerusalem They were collected by this gentleman him- 

 self, in Egypl, Greece, and Palestine. The following is a 

 catalogue of some of the most important of those from the 

 Holy Land. The laoel accompanying each mineral, in Mr. 

 Fisk's handwriting, is accurately copied, and placed imme- 

 diately after each number. The namc" of the article is then 

 given, and such remarks and quotations are subjoined, as 

 are thought to be illustrative of the mineralogy and geology 

 of that most interesting of all countries. 



1 . " Taken out of the river Jordan ' right against Jericho,' 

 June 4, 1823.'* This is a rolled pebble of white carbonate 

 of lime, containing thin veins of quartz. 



2. "From the walls of a ruined convent on the plain9'!of 

 Jericho." It is an artificial composition of siliceous and cal- 

 careous pebbles, varying in magnitude from a pin's head to 

 a small bean, and cemented together by lime Among the 

 pebbles I noticed one of chalcedony, which was white and 

 semi transparent. 



3. " From the banks of the Jordan, where it issues from 

 the lake of Tiberias." This is a dark green hornblende, 

 partially crystalliz* d, through which are sparingly scattered 

 small particles of decomposiiig limestone. " On the shores 

 of the lake of Tiberias, we fouiid pieces of a porous rock 

 resemblini^ the toadstone of England : its cavities were filled 

 with zeolite " Clarke's Travels. Vol. II. p. 258. 



The soil, as you descend towards Tiberias, a village situ- 

 ate on the south-western shore of the lake of the same name, 

 is black, and seems to have resulted from the decomposition 

 of rocks, which have a volcanic appearance. The stonj- 

 fragments, scattered over the surface, were amygdaloidal and 



Vol. IX.— No. '2. 43 



