NEWBOLD ON THE GEOLOGY OF EGYPT. 329 
racter, indistinctly stratified, and resemble closely some varieties of 
basalt : they are here associated with syenite and porphyry, and rise in 
naked masses to the height of from 100 to 300 feet above the plain, 
dipping easterly at an angle of 34°. All the hypogene rocks near 
the contact with granite or trap exhibit a tendency to crystalline de- 
velopment ;—the gneiss and hornblende become garnetiferous, and 
abound in crystallized actinolite, compact actinolitic felspar, and 
quartz of a beautiful pistachio green. ‘The talcose schists pass into 
a semi-crystalline potstone and nephrite, as at Mount Baran, and ex- 
hibit cubic iron pyrites ; while the micaceous schist at Gebel Zubdra 
produces emeralds, avanturine, and hzematitic and specular iron ore. 
The clay-slate, which is usually of a chocolate-brown colour, with 
silky green chloritic flakes, passes into basanite or flinty slate. 
Economical purposes.—Cooking-vessels and images are made from 
the potstone of Mount Baran, and scarabzei of the nephrite and green 
actinolitic felspar. 
Breccia di Verde: Extent, Position, and Lithological Character. 
—Between the Red Sea and the Nile, in about lat. 26° 8’ N., the 
celebrated Breccia di verde (fig. 2, 11) rests on the slates in conform- 
able thick-bedded strata, becoming more horizontal on receding from 
the granite. This rock appears to be destitute of fossils as far as 
hitherto known: it is a beautiful conglomerate, composed principaily 
of angular and rounded pebbles of greenstone, gneiss, porphyry, clay 
and flinty slate, serpentine and marble, cemented together by a com- 
pact, slightly calcareous paste, varying from all shades of green to 
a purplish red. Pebbles of light green compact felspar, coloured 
by actinolite, and other pebbles derived from the hypogene rocks, 
sometimes occur. 
Economical purposes of the Breccia.—Between Siddt and Hum- 
mamet this breccia has been quarried by the ancient Egyptians, 
whose chisel-marks and hieroglyphics are as sharp and legible as 
though only cut yesterday, evincing its little lability to weather. 
From the exceeding beauty of this breccia, works of art sculptured 
in it have been extensively removed to foreign lands, and more of 
them may be seen in the churches of Italy and the mosques of Con- 
stantinople, than in the temples and palaces of Egypt. One of the 
most perfect and beautiful sculptured specimens that remains in its 
native land is the celebrated sarcophagus, supposed by Dr. Clarke to 
have contained the body of Alexander the Great. The cliffs of this 
breccia rarely attain a height exceeding 200 feet above the level of 
the desert. 
Lower Sandstone : Extent and Position.—Above the Breccia di 
verde rests a sandstone (4, fig. 2), which, as far as is at present 
known, occupies but a small portion of the superficies of Egypt, and 
that near its southern limits, thence passmg into Nubia. No fossils 
have hitherto been found in it. It is seen on both flanks of the 
anticlmal axis between Kossier and Ghennah, and on the banks of 
the Nile: according to Lefevre it continues from a little south-west 
of Esneh, in about lat. 25° 10’ N., nearly to Syene or Assuan 
a distance of about seventy miles—where both it and the superin- 
cumbent limestone are overthrown by the syenite and diorite. The 
