The mountain of Plan is of an extraordinary height,
made up o f five or fix hills, piled one upon another,
whofe divifions. are in proportion to the more or lefs re-
fiitance of the rocks, and the quantities of earth brought
down by the rains, or high winds. In the month of
June I went into France, through the valley of Aure(«J,
exploring my way over thofe craggy hills which had then
above five feet o f fnow. There are a great many bears,
as ..we 11 as roe-bucks, which are hunted by the people- o f
the country, and now and then they meet with the linx.
The mutton is excellent. I bought a fheep for a dollar,
(3s. 6d.) and had it dreifed with chenopodium pirenacum,
“ wild fpinnage” which is found in great plenty on thefe
hills, where I ihivered with cold, in the dog days, and
faw a great many white partridges, but not a fingle fly;.
There are three lead mines and one of copper, in the:
neighbourhood o f Plan, and a good iron mine at Bielfa,
which is worked with much judgment: alfo much lime
rock, and gypfum, as white as fnow, and large lumps of
grey granite, difperfed ifi the bed of the river Cinca,
where there is no fand, but ftones of this kind, from the
largeft to the moil diminutive fize. One likewife finds
grit ftone o f the fame grain and colour, as that on
the mountain o f Elizondo in Navarre, and a great deal
o f millflone ; the belt o f thefe are generally at the top.
(a) This is Mr. Bowles’s itinerary, which is preferved entire in the courie of this letter.
of
o f the mountain,. being the hardeil and moil compail,
better even than thofe in the centre. One ihould always
prefer thofe with vifible, and deep pores, and fmall cavities,
as the heat arifing from the fri<fiionr is by this means
difperfed over the whole mafs.. This is the fort found
atGiilau. Thofe that are fmooth grained;, generate too
much heat, which has an effed on the flour. The foft
ones are the woril of all, requiring conilant repairs,
and foon-wear out,, befides the inconvenience of rendering
the bread gritty.
Having made fome experiments at Plan, on fome lead
ore, I found in a flaty mountain, called Sahun, I difco-
vered.it to be mixed, with white fpar, and fo abundant
and eafy to fufe, that it left fifty pound, of lead per quintal,
notwithilanding that the plane had not a fuificient
declivity, for the metaLto run. off, as it ought to do.
The environs of Plan abound in fir, oak,, and beech,
©f which they make charcoal for the mines ; and here
one finds that extraordinary mine of Cobalt (a), which
(a) Ores o f cobalt referable.thofe o f antimony\ their furface. is.almoft always covered with
an. efflorefcence, o f a dingy fcarlet. Thefe ores contain a good deal o f arfenic, and it is from
them that? arfenie is ufually got ; they alfo frequently contain a portion -of bifmuth. Thofe
which contain cobalt alone, are. very rare : Cobalt, mines bring in a confidejable revenue to
Saxony, where the ores are worked with a good deal o f intelligence.^ Beaume manual
of Chemi'ftry.
In the year 17 5 5 , Mr. Bowles was ordered, b y the court o f'S p a in ,, to attend his Excellency
D o n jo fep h Auguftine de Llano, to the manufa&ure o f Zaffre, a t ’Gingcmback, in the
Black Foreft, in Germany.
has