142 



PASSx\.GE ACROSS 



The soil consists of the decomposed rock, which 

 remains on the steep surface of the mountain, and 

 rolls from under the foot like the loose cinders of 

 Etna and Vesuvius : there is no herbage of any 

 sort or kind upon it. A few low, resinous shrubs 

 are scattered about ; but, from the severity of the 

 climate, in most places they grow along the ground. 

 The dead animals which are lying about are all 

 dried up in their skins, and have a most singular 

 appearance : indeed the whole scene is a very strik- 

 ing example of what a desert the earth would be 

 without water. One of the Cornish miners, after 

 gazing about him with astonishment, took up a 

 handful of the green barren soil, and looking into 

 it with great attention, he said, " Why, surely 

 there must be poison in this ground 



down the ravine, it must necessarily pass through the huts^ or 

 over Ihem. 



2. One of the lodes runs up the bottom of a ravine^ and the 

 old shafts v/hich are formed in it are in the natural drain of the 

 ravine. These shafts at bottom are dry, and have no appear- 

 ance of having contained water. 



3. The miner, who, to keep possession of the mines, had 

 lived there alone for two years^ told us_, that during that time it 

 had not rained once. 



