348 Description of Minerals from Palestine. 



fruit. In my late journey from Jerusalem to this place, (Bey- 

 root,) I determined to investigate this matter; and, with two 

 Arabs who knew, or at least pretended to know, where the wa- 

 termelons wepe to be found, I ascended the mountain. We 

 found no watermelons, but we found, in the mountain which 

 is formed of calcareous stone, some very curious formations, 

 of which i send you several samples. 1 am not surprised 

 that the ignorant Arabs should have mistaken them for petri- 

 fied fruit." 



They are, indeed, very extraordinary siliceous concretions. 

 A number of fragments of different sizes were forwarded, to- 

 gether with one entire concretion. This [shall describe. li 

 IS about the magnituiie of a twelve pound cannon-ball; not a 

 perfect t^lobe, and yet not deviating widely fn-m that form. 

 Its surface is a light, nsh-tiray, and formed of chalky carbonate 

 of lime, which pffervesces on application of the nitric acid. 

 It bears some resemblance in its aspect, to the nodules of flint 

 taken from chalk quarries, and exposed a considerable time to 

 the action of the elements. 



By a smart blow of a hammer, it was divided in the middle. 

 The interior thus laid open to the light presented several in- 

 terestiiig substances. The outer layer, nearly an inch in 

 thickness, consists of a yellowish gray hornstone, having a 

 smooth fracture, and yielding sparks, easily and abuisdantly, 

 with steel. This surrounds a thin stratum of very beautiful 

 milk-white chalcedony. In the centre of the concretion is 

 an irregular cavity, lined with very perfect crystals of limpid 

 quartz. On one side of the cavity is a mass, an inch in di- 

 ameter, of a light coloured friable limestone. 



All the concretions are hollow ; but the cavities in the dif- 

 ferent specimens are surrounded by different materials. In 

 one, the inner surface is composed of translucent, and almost 

 transparent botryoidal chalcedony. In another, the surface 

 of the botryoidal chalcedony is covered with a white, smooth, 

 unctuous, siliceous matter. In a third, it is surmounted by a 

 coufitless number of elegant, pearly, microscopical crystals of 

 quartz. In a fourth, is a small mass of semi-opal, containing 

 cavities. 



Allusion is unquestionably had to these stones, in a para 

 graph of Dr. Clarke's Travels. " Dj( zzar Pacha, of Acre,' 

 says hi , " informed us that upon Mount Carmel, he had found 

 several thousand large balls, and never could discover a can- 

 non to fit them." In a note it is added, " We supposed that 



