locks about half a league in circumference, having below
this bed o f lime, a folid mine of, fal gem, equal to
the fuperincumbent ftratum ; its depth is not known, for
when the excavations exceed three hundred feet, it becomes
very expenfive to extra# the ia lt ; the mine frequently
gives way and fills with water, which obliges them
to abandon the fhaft and work another near it, the whole
country being an enormous body o f fait, fometimes mixed
with a limy fubftance, and at others pure or reddifh,
moilly cryilaline. Thofe who have feen no other mine
might be inclined to think that the limeftone forms the
foffil fait o f Spain, but this will not be the cafe, i f it is
found to be free from lime at Cardona, yet cryilaline
enough to be carved into figures, being much harder
than that of Mingranilla, which is brittle like fpar (a).
The ground has been perceptibly carried away by torrents
that have difcovered the mine,; for pebbles and
hyacinths are difperfed in the gullies which are now feen
firmly conglutinated in the lime, forming hard rock, yet
leaving no doubt o f their having fallen, at fome pe-
(a) Mr. Bowles fays, that as the foffil fait o f Mingranilla has lefs watery particles in its cry-
flalization, it therefore attra&s little o f themoifture o f the air, and does'not difloive in a
humid atmpfphere like that p f fpripgs, hut this.cauife is hacdly admjffible: fait that is .cryf-
talized with a boiling heat undergoes » o r e or lefs p f # tkcomppfaipp, js jh f ig fo je lefs per-
fe& and more difpofcd to diliquefce, than that which is formed in circumilances more favourable
to it s cry Halization.
riod,
riod, from the hills, by what may be obferved on their
fummit.
From hence an eafy defcent for about four hours, leads
into the extenfive plains o f La Mancha, thofe regions o f
fancy which Cervantes has rendered immortal. They
have plentiful crops o f faffron at San Clemente, and the
beft' that grows in La Mancha. The onion remains four
or five years in the ground, producing annually flowers;
then the roots are taken up and tranfplanted, and the
foil becomes excellent for corn, but twenty years muft
pafs before any faffron is cultivated again. Caftile alfo
abounds with the deadly carrot, the Thapfia viliofa o f Linnaeus,
which according to Clufius is in great requeft
amongft old women at Salamanca (<z).
La Mancha produces great quantities o f lavender
cotton, faid to be the fame with the famous moxa from
China, imported conftantly by the Engliih and Dutch;
while the Spaniards, if this is the fame plant, have it at
home and know nothing of the matter (¿).
[a) Its ufes may be. feen in Dr. James’ s Engliili difpenfatory.
(¿1 T h e Janlolina ckamacypari/fus o f Linnaeus. Mr. Bawles fays it is an excellent fpecific
for the gout, b y being burned, on the part. It would have been o f fervice i f he had given
us any further proof- o f its efficacy, for whatever they may tell us o f the practice in India»,
and notwj-thftandjng the praifes o f Sir William Temple, it does not fecm to be in ufe in
England.
G g g 2 The