iii t
ifeU
to have sunk out of its original position.
The veins, or rather irregular fissures, in
which the gold-coloured rutile is lound,
contain (juartz, calcareous s[)ar, sjiociiliir
iron ore, in large lauiin;e, adhering to the
calcareous spar, brown spar, and brown
oxyd of iron, with the gold-coloured rutile
ill delicate aggregated parallel fibres ; but
specimens, containing much of the rutile,
were scarce. The director of the mines of
Pesey had sent miners the week before, to
collect the best specimens that could be
obtaiiieti The specimen of gold-coloured
rutile in the British Museum, which is
stated to come from Mont Blanc, must have
been obtained here, as there is, I believe,
no other place in the Alps where it has
been found.
When seated at the opening of the mine,
and observing the rocks on the opposite
side of the valley at the bottom of which
the salt springs rise, they appear composed
of vertical strata, and Dr. Hybord informed
me that when Dolomieu visited this place,
he inferred, from the position of the strata,
that this limestone was of a different formation
from that above it, which dips at an
angle of about 45°; but the appearance
t
OF Ri)CKS. 237
ol‘ vertical strata here is, i am persuaded,
decc[)tive: what appears strata, are only
regular larniriie, occasioned by cross seams or
cleavages, the result of crystallization in the
mass. One of these outer laminai, projecting
a little above the face of the rock, had
the well defined rhomboidal edges of a
crystal of calc-spar, as large as the side of
a large house. The geological position of
the warm salt springs will be hereafter considered,
when I shall make some general
observations on the thermal waters of the
Pennine and Grecian Alps.
The valley of the Isere, from Moutiers
to the Bourg St. Maurice, is awfully
wild and gloomy. Vines are cultivated in
sheltered warm situations, as far as Bellen-
tres, a village twelve miles beyond Moutiers
; and rye, maize, and hemp, are grown
on the lower slopes, near the river ; but
the mountain-pastures are the principal resource
of the inhabitants, and large quantities
of cheese, similar to the Gruyere, are
made for exportation. In some parts of this
valley, and in the lateral valleys that open into
it, there are considerable mineral treasures ;
but the unfavourable state of the weather
prevented me from examining them, either
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