604 
PETRIFIED POTs'DS IN PERSIA. 
‘‘This isiindowbfedly one of the highest Falls in the world/’ continues 
Dr. Garnell, “and the quantity of water is sufficient to give it conse- 
quence. The scene is awful and grand, and I suppose that any per- 
son who has once beheld it, will readily agree, that it is worth while 
to travel from Fort William to this place to see the Fall. Though an 
immense body of w ater falls down the cascade at Niagara in North 
America, yet its height is not much more than half the height of this, 
being only one hundred ahd forty feet.” 
Petrified Ponds in Persia. 
“This natural curiosity is near the lake Ourmiuj and consists of 
several ponds or marshes, the waters of w hich are in a state of com- 
plete stagnation. By degrees they congeal, and by a slow and regular 
process petrify, and form the beautiful transparent stone, commonlv 
called Tabriz marble, often seen in the Persian burying grounds, and 
which forms one of the principal ornaments of all public edifices in 
that country. These ponds, which are very near each other, occupy 
the space of half a mile. Their situation is know n by a heap of stones, 
that accumulate round these excavations. I saw nothing in Persia 
more worthy of the attention of a naturalist ; and 1 much regretted 
tiot being learned enough to explain this phenomenon, f will, how- 
ever, endeavour to convey an idea of it, as I was, perhaps, the only 
European who had penetrated so far. When near the place where 
these ponds are, the earth gives out a hollow noise under one’s step. 
The soil is barren and calcined, and a strong mineral smell issues 
from the surface of the waters. The progress of the petrifaction may 
be easily followed from its beginning to the end. 
“ In its natural state the water is clear, it afterwards becomes thick 
and stagnant, and then all at once black, and, when arrived at the 
last stage of congelation, it looks like white frost. A petrified pond 
resembles a pond covered with ice ; if a stone is thrown upon it before 
the operation is terminated, it breaks the adhesion, and the black 
water at the bottom appears directly. If the congelation is finished, 
a stone thrown on the surface leaves no mark, and persons may walk 
without wetting their feet. In the places where there are holes, the 
progress of the concretion may be seen ; it appears like leaves of large 
paper placed one over the other. This water has such a decided 
tendency to transform itself into stone, that the drops, which issue 
boiling from the earth, petrify, and retain the same form as if they had 
been converted into marble by a magic wand. 
“This singular substance is brittle, transparent, and sometimes 
richly veined with green, red, and copper colour. It may be carried 
away in blocks, and is very easily polished. The princes of the pre- 
sent reigning family build but few edifices, and have not used much 
of this stone, but there are still round the pond enormous pieces that 
Nadir Shah caused to be cut out, designing them for public embel- 
lishments. 
“The remarkable formation of this marble or stony concretion 
causes it to be looked upon in the East as an object of luxury, exclu- 
sively reserved to the king and his sons. The excavation of it is only 
