Description of Minerals from Palestine. 347 



istiy, or rather cursed^ for its inhabitants disregarded his cc' 

 lestial instructions, and have, therefore, as he predicted, been 

 brought ''down to h^ U,"™ stood "upon the sea coast (St, 

 Matthew) ; that is, the sea of Tibenas, or of Chinnereth, and 

 according to Carey's map, on the north shore, near where the 

 Jordan eaters it. The [jiace is now said to be without in- 

 habitants. 



30. " From \he prison of Jeremiah" Partially decom- 

 posed carbonate of lime. ''Then took they Jeremiah, and 

 cast him into the dungeon of iVlalcliiah, that was in the court 

 of the prison : and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And 

 in the dungeon there was no water, but mire : so Jeremiah 

 sunk in the mire '' The prison in which the prophet was 

 confined, it is likely, is near where the temple was situate. 

 "^ 31. "From Mount Carmel." Several obiong, irregular no- 

 dules of dark brown flint, enveloped, in some instances, by a 

 coveriiig, probably siliceous, on which the nitric and sulphu- 

 ric acids produce no effect; and in others by a coating of 

 chalk, which these acids dissolve with copious effervescence. 

 The fracture of the flint is smooth and conchoidal. The 

 characters of this mineral are precisely the same as those of 

 the flint 1 have taken from a chalk bed in Oxfordshire, Eng- 

 land. These specimens, if I may judge from their appear- 

 ance, came from a similar locality on Mount Carmel. 



But "chalk.'' says Mr. Woodbridge in his generally ac- 

 curate and excellent system of Universal Geography, "has 

 never been observed in America, Asia, Africa, or the south 

 of Europe." The assertion is too strong. After examining 

 these specimens of flint, surrounded by chalk, Mr Woodbridge 

 could not, 1 am persuaded, feel inclined to maintain that there 

 was no locality of chalk in Asia. This substance has been 

 found in America. '• About 35 miles above the mouth of the 

 Ohio river, on the west side of the Mississippi, is an exten- 

 sive chalk-bed, where vast quantities of this mineral are pro- 

 cured. Pervading it are found strata of flint in nodules, 

 from two to four inches thick.'' (Schoolcraft's View of the 

 Lead Mines.) 



32. " A number of other specimens, from Mount Carmel." 

 In a letter to the writer, Mr. Fisk remarks, "I had heard 

 very often, that on one of the summits of Mount Carmel 

 there were very curious petrifactions of fruit. The Arabs 

 said, there were watermelons, and many sorts of smaller fruit, 

 so perfect that, at first sight, you would fake them for actual 



