1856.] 



SPRATT BULGARIA. 



387 



Mr. Bishop, who examined the stream near the place it had then 

 reached, thus describes * what he saw : — On ascending a low hillock 

 between two nearly dry cascades he saw before him the blazing 

 woods and jungle and the flowing lava in a narrow dull sluggish 

 stream filling a side channel of the brook. It appeared to be about 

 100 yards in advance of a larger body, about 300 yards wide, which, 

 unobstructed in the smooth channel, rolled on about 100 feet in an 

 hour ; its front a glaring red, cooling as it flowed . A bright tongue 

 of the stream dashed forward, and rolled with dull plash over the 

 precipice. It formed a brilliant cascade of 25 feet, first in a broken 

 and at last in a continuous torrent, striking on a ledge, and sliding 

 off into the deep pool below. It gradually heaped up a mound of 

 half-solidified lava. It is stated that the higher regions of the 

 mountain were flooded with vast tracts of smoking lava, while the 

 streams which flowed down the side spread over a surface of several 

 miles in breadth ; and that the main stream now runs all the way in 

 a covered duct, so that it can be seen only at its vents which let off 

 the gas. A vessel at sea saw the light caused by the eruption at a 

 distance of fifty miles. 



3. On the Geology q/" Varna and its Vicinity, and of other parts 

 0/ Bulgaria. By Capt. Spratt, R.N., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



[Abstract.] 



(The publication of this paper is postponed.) 



Capt. Spratt first noticed a series of whitish calcareous sandstones 

 and marls, seen on the Bulgarian coasts ; these are nearly 1 000 feet 

 thick, and are overlaid by reddish sands and marls. The former are 

 of marine origin and of Eocene tertiary date ; the latter are chiefly 

 of freshwater origin. Near Varna the freshwater beds have been 

 much denuded, and are not anywhere more than 200 feet thick. At 

 Cape Aspro, fifteen miles south of Varna, both of the series — the 

 grey and the red deposits — are seen disturbed and dipping to the 

 south, but unconformably, one series (the lower) having an angle of 

 30°, whilst the upper dips at 20°. At Cape Emineh, south of Cape 

 Aspro, and forming the termination of the Balkan, these beds are 

 still more disturbed and dip to the north. Capt. Spratt then de- 

 scribed the geological appearances along the coast southward. At 

 the Gulf of Bourgas and in the vicinity are igneous rocks, and de- 

 posits formed from their waste. Granite occurs on the southern 

 point of the bay. 



Returning to Varna, Capt. Spratt pointed out the localities of the 

 fossils collected in the neighbourhood. The calcareous sandstones 

 abound in casts of shells and in Oysters and Pectens immediately 

 around Varna ; and contain Nummulites in profusion at the upper 

 part of the Lake near AUahdyn. In this last-named neighbourhood 



* In * The Friend,' Honolulu, March 1, 1856. 



