668 VOLCANOES OF CATALONIA. [On. XXXI. 



map, the inclination of the beds being sometimes at an angle of be- 

 tween 40 and 50 degrees. 



It is evident that the physical geography of the country has under- 

 gone no material change since the commencement of the era of the 

 volcanic eruptions, except such as has resulted from the introduction 

 of new hills of scoriae, and currents of lava upon the surface. If the 

 lavas could be remelted and poured out again from their respective 

 craters, they would descend the same valleys in which they are now 

 seen, and reoccupy the spaces which they at present fill. The only 

 difference in the external configuration of the fresh lavas would con- 

 sist in this, that they would nowhere be intersected by ravines, or 

 exhibit marks of erosion by running water. 



Volcanic Cones and Lavas. — There are about fourteen distinct 

 cones with craters in this part of Spain, besides several points 

 whence lavas may have issued ; all of them arranged along a narrow 

 line running north and south, as will be seen in the map. The 

 greatest number of perfect cones are in the immediate neighborhood 

 of Olot, some of which (fig. 719, Nos. 2, 3, and 5) are represented in 



ig. 719. 



View of the volcanoes around Olot in Catalonia. 



the annexed woodcut ; and the level plain on which that town stands 

 has clearly been produced by the flowing down" of many lava-streams 

 from those hills into the bottom of a valley, probably once of con- 

 siderable depth, like those of the surrounding country. 



In this drawing an attempt is made to represent, by the shading 

 ?f the landscape, the different geological formations of which the 

 country is composed.* The white line of mountains (No. 1) in the 



* This view is taken from a sketch which I made on the spot in 1830. 



