13 



vations on the inclination of the needle, and on 

 the intensity of the magnetic forces. The results 

 of these observations have been separately pub- 

 lished, and I shall enter into no detail on the 

 natural history of a country, in which I resided 

 only six months, and which has recently been ex- 

 amined by so many well-informed travellers. 



On my arrival at Madrid I had reason to con- 

 gratulate myself on the resolution I had taken to 

 visit the peninsula. Baron de Forell, minister 

 from the court of Saxony, treated me with a de- 

 gree of kindness, of which I soon felt the value. 

 He was well versed in mineralogy, and had the 

 purest zeal for every undertaking, that promoted 

 the progress of knowledge. He observed to me, 

 that under the administration of an enlightened 

 minister, Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo, I might 

 hope to obtain permission to visit, at my own 

 expense, the interior of Spanish America. After 



(603 metres) above the level of tlie ocean. This result is 

 nearly the same as that found by Don Jorge Juan, and pub- 

 lished by Mr. Lalande, by which the height of Madrid above 

 the level of Paris is 294 toises (Mem. of the Acad. 1776, page 

 148). The highest mountain of the peninsula is not, as has 

 been hitherto thought, Mount Perdu, but the Mulahacen, 

 which forms part of the Sierra Nevada of Grenada. This 

 peak, according to the geodesical levelling of Don Clemente 

 Roxas, is 1824 toises of absolute height, whilst Mount Per- 

 du, in the Pyrenees, is only 1763 toises. Near the Mulaha- 

 cen is situate the Pico de Veleta, which is 1781 toises. 



