S7G Intelligence and Miscellanies, 



ing all been given me by others, I do not recollect them well, 

 and cannot be positive respecting them. The Arragonite, 

 No. 42, I have little doubt, was sent me by a friend in Cy- 

 prus. If I am right in this the specimen must be of a loose, 

 friable structure, and in size and shape not very remotely 

 resembling the hand. As to the remaining labels I think I 

 can pronounce them to be correct. 



The red marble of Jerusalem admits of an elegant polish. 

 That of the '''•mouthpiece,'''' I sent you (No. 16) is not by 

 any means a good example of it. When thus pohshed, its 

 variegated structure is brought into view with so much ad- 

 vantage that little slabs of it are set in snuff boxes, &c. in 

 place of the more precious stones. This .species of mar- 

 ble exists in considerable beds at Hebron and in the re- 

 gion of Jerusalem, not to speak of other places, but at present 

 it seems not to be quarried. It is not so valuable for build- 

 ing, being weakened by loose intersecting veins, yet you may 

 find broken columns of it in almost every city. The " Prophet 

 Jonas," (No. 24,) is the mere English of Nabi Jonas ; (see 

 No. 39.) It is the place, you will recollect, where the Mos- 

 lems say that that prophet was thrown upon the shore by the 

 fish. 



No. 27. " Frank" or French " Mountain" is called by the 

 natives Gebel Fransa-wy, and Gebel Ferdees. It is suppos- 

 ed to be the Herodium of Josephus. Whoever surveys the 

 landscape from the Mount of Olives and more especially 

 from " the heights of Bethlehem" cannot avoid marking this 

 hill as one of the most interesting objects before him. Its 

 sides rise with so equal a slope, its top is so unnaturally regu- 

 lar, hollowed in the center and bounded by an even brim like 

 the crater of a volcano that it is a subject of wonder how 

 any traveller, either scientific or curious, should ever visit Je* 

 rusalem without satisfying himself about it. And yet one 

 who possessed these qualities it should seem in no humble 

 degree, has lately ventured to give out the singular conjec- 

 ture that this hill is a volcano. A little inquiry of the natives 

 of Bethlehem would be sufficient to convince any one that it 

 is not so. I visited it in company with Mr. Fisk in 1824 and 

 we discovered not the remotest signs of a volcano. Of its 

 minerals, the hornstone I sent you is as characteristic as any. 

 That this is the same hill which the traveller in question had 

 in view in his remarks, is certain, from the fact that, though 

 it is not near the Dead Sea as he supposes, it is nevertheless 



