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an axe. At the depth of a foot it was found a little softer, with 
an oily appearance, in small cells. A little of it held to a burn- 
ing candle made a hissing or crackling noise like nitre, emitting 
small sparks, with a vivid flame, which extinguished the moment 
the candle was removed. A piece, put into the fire, boiled up a 
long time, without suffering much diminution. After a considerable 
exposure to severe heat, the surface burned, and formed a thin 
scoria, under which the rest remained liquid. A gentle heat renders 
it ductile ; hence, when mixed with a little grease, or common pitch, 
it is much used for the bottom of ships ; for which use it is collected 
by many. 
It is also found liquid, in many parts of the woods ; and at the 
distance of about twenty miles from this, it is found about two 
inches thick, in round holes of three or four inches diameter, and 
often at cracks or rents. This is constantly liquid, and smells 
stronger than when indurated; and adheres strongly to any thing 
it touches : grease being the only thing that will divest the hands 
of it. The soil, in general, for some distance round La Bray, is 
cinders and burnt earth, and where not so, is a strong argillaceous 
soil ; the whole being exceedingly fertile. For thirty miles round, 
there is the appearance of the convulsions of nature from subter- 
raneous fires; and, in several parts of the woods, hot springs are 
discovered. 
The Abbe Fortis, in his travels in Dalmatia, describes what he 
terms a mine of pissasphaltum, which he saw in the Isle of Bua. 
By this mine he means marble strata, more than twenty-five feet 
perpendicular, which sustain the irregiflar masses that surround the 
top of the mountain. From some of these strata tears of pissas- 
phaltum ooze out most abundantly, when the sun falls on the marble 
rock in the heat of the day. This pissasphaltum he describes as 
of the most perfect quality; black and shining, like the hitumen 
judaicum ; very pure, odorous, and cohesive. It comes out almost 
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