94 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCK LAND. 
[CH. IV. 
the traveller in search of the picturesque. But to me they 
possessed other attractions, for I found several varieties of 
land shells which were new to me, and in the fountain an 
abundance of nerites and patellae. The spring or fountain 
of Vaucluse, from which the Sorques takes its source, is a 
subterranean river (a phenomenon not uncommon in the 
Alps), which issues immediately from the bottom of a cliff 
whose height must be at least eight hundred feet from the 
basin. 
“The quarries near the Pont du Gard and the aqueduct 
itself are a very coarse calcaire grossier , as like as possible 
to our Norfolk crag, but the mountains which support the 
Pont on either side are a compact Jura limestone. The 
great aqueduct, part of which is the Pont du Gard, is still 
traced to Nismcs, and is chiefly underground. It has been 
much destroyed by persons using the materials for building. 
In the part forming the aqueduct over the Gard, a crust 
of stalactite has been formed more than a foot thick. We 
came to Massa, which is the capital of the little duchy of 
Massa, now in the possession of the Archduchess, mother 
to the Duke of Modena, who will inherit it. Buonaparte 
united this with Lucca, and gave it to his sister, Madame 
Eliza, who was a wise and good princess and did much for 
her little kingdom. To her the people owe an excellent 
road to the town of Carrara, which is situated in a fertile 
valley at the foot of the ridge of marble mountains so 
famous in all ages. The marble is associated with 
argillaceous and mica slate, but no granite occurs ; you see 
the schist passing into marble, by degrees, till the whole is 
a mass of limestone, which changes its colour according as 
it possesses iron. Thus fine pure white passes into every 
shade of bluish grey. We walked to the quarry from 
whence the statuary marble is procured, and were surprised 
to find so little of fine quality; indeed it rarely occurs, and 
is, consequently, very expensive, being a louis d’or per 
square foot. A characteristic of the best is that it is highly 
sonorous.” 
An incident, that occurred at Palermo on the wedding 
