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former city. At Riom we remained a few
days, as it is a convenient station for examining
some of the most northern volcanic
mountains. This town contains thirteen
thousand inhabitants; it is the residence
o f a great number of lawyers: courts of
justice for the department are held here,
and there is a large prison conducted on
Howard’s plan, with separate cells for
solitary imprisonment. An order had
been sent from the government, a few
weeks before we were at Riom, to prohibit
strangers from visiting the prison. I understood
that several persons were confined
here for political offences. On the outside
o f the town there are handsome promenades,
planted with rows of trees, which give
an agreeable appearance to the place when
seen from the rich plain, the Limagne
D ’Auvergne, that extends beneath Riom
on the east, but the interior of the town is
dull and sombre.
The following morning a drive of about
an hour westward, brought us to the feet
of the most northern volcanic mountains
of Auvergne. We passed by the ruins of
the ancient castle of Volvic, situated on a
commanding eminence on the right of the
road, and entered the large village of Volvic,
celebrated for its extensive quarries.
These quarries are excavated in one of the
most remarkable currents of lava in this
country : its course, from the mouth of the
crater of the Puy de Nugerre to its termination
in the valley, may be traced without
interruption for about three miles, as distinctly
as if it had been a torrent of water
suddenly converted into ice. The road
from Volvic to the Puy de Nugerre ascends
along a narrow valley, bounded by low
granitic mountains, that slope down on
each side towards it, forming a deep trough,
the bottom of which is filled to a great
height, with the lava that rolled from the
volcano of Nugerre in one continued stream.
The lava does not lie flat in the valley, but
the middle of the current is considerably
higher than the sides. The surface is rough
and b ro k en ; one mass of stone projecting
over another, as if they had been consolidated
and propelled forward at the same
time. Near the top of the current are several
small caverns, in which flakes of lava
may be seen hanging from the roof, which
had evidently become congealed in descending.
The breadth of the current