Description of Minerals from Palestine. 343 



ously with steel. It resembles the hornstone of Saratoga, 

 N. Y. but its colour is a shade lighter. 



18 "'From the sepulchres of the kings north of Jerusa- 

 lem." This specimen is compact iimestoiie, approaching 

 granular limestone. The mass is nearly milk white, but the 

 surffice, on one of its sides, is of a blood red aspect, coloured 

 perhaps, with an oxide of iron. It might be manufactured 

 into a very handsome marble. 



19. " l-^rokeri off front one of the doors in the tombs of the 

 kings.'' Nos. lb and iO are very similar minerals, and are 

 both from the same place. 



20. " From the tombs of the Sanhedrim, north of Jerusa-^ 

 lem." The specimen appears to be an artificial production, 

 composed chiefl) of lime, and painted on one side of a grass 

 gree. I colour. IXi^ftid On heated iron it phosphoresces, 

 yielding a greenish whi e light. 



21. " From the tomb of Jesse, near Hebron." This is a 

 reddish gray siliceous limestone. " Hebron was built" says 

 Mo es, " seven years before Zoar in Egypt." " And Joshua 

 blessed Caleb, and gave unto him Hebron for an inheritance.'' 

 This city is situate twenty miles south of Jerusalem. Here 

 David's first coronation took place. " And the men of Judah 

 came, and there they anointed David king over the house 

 of Judah," Here the rebellion of Absalom commenced. 

 This was one of the " cities of refuge." " Hebron is now 

 only a village, standing partly on a plain, and partly on a 

 mountain, from which is a pleasant prospect of the plain of 

 Mamre, planted with vineyards. The peasants of Hebron 

 cultivate cotton, which is spun by their wives, and sold at 

 Jerusalem and Gaza.'' (Volney.) 



22. "From the tomb of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachip 

 on Mount Olivet." Common gray compact limestone. 



23. " From Mount Lebanon." A reddish gray compact 

 limestone. 



24. " From Mount Lebanon," coloured brown on one 

 side. 



25. " From Mount Lebanon, near the convent of Mar 

 Hannah Tonere.'' This specimen is a fine-grained, granu- 

 lar Iime3t0!ie. of a gray aspect. 



26. "From Mount Lebanon, near the cedars." Gray com- 

 pact limestone. 



27. " From Mount Lebanon." Dark brown hornblende- 

 rock. Tt is a fragment of a globular mass-, which may have- 



