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ILL';,!
II ' I "
T R A V E L S T H R O U G H
MOST of the h o u f a are built of a c o r f e reddilh marble, called by Walleri,,.
ruhrun,, a „ d cut out of a quarry „ear the city. T h e bauks of
„ a r b l e are particularly thick, and appear to extend below the foil, forming an angle of
nearly twenty-two degrees and a half.
I u « . made a general obfervation, that, in the quarries from Chiuf a to Tr ent , as
alfo wherever the bafc of the mountains is fuffieiently bare, one may depend on
finding banks of marble which vary in colour, but very little a . to their rnclmatron,
fcldom exceeding five degrees. T h e grain is partly ever , where the fame, without the
leaft appcarancc of marine fubf tanees ; and thofe marbles fcarcely efFervefce w.th a c d s .
IT is widely different with the calcareous beds of ftone, and fchrfti, whteh. Ire
above thofc of ma r bl e ; for the calcareous ftone frequently, after having been for fome
time parallel with i t , bafe, will at once form an angle of thixty-f.x degrees, as rf the
mountain had fuddenly given way, and funk in that part, owing to fome fubterraneous
commotion. As for the ftrata of fchifti, they are, in fome places, nearly perpend,cnlar;
and they both, in general, contain a quantity of marine bodies, wi th impreffions and
fragments of ihclls and plants.
A „ „ o „ o „ I was determined, at the beginning of my work, merely to ftate occurrences
as they happened, wi thout giving a decided cpmion upon any particular o b j e d ; yet I
cannot help, in this inftance, deviating from my original p l a n ; a . every thrng f .ems to
prove that the greateft part of our continents and fecondary mountains have been u „ -
quellionably formed at different times from the fediment of the wa ter , of the fea, whrch
liave more than once covered them.
• T n . fituation of Tr ent is extremely rural, being built on a peninfula, formed by the
A d iwa n d the river Ferzina, as I mentioned i n the preceding fedion.
a we f e r n di reSion from that city is fee» the lofty fummi t of mount Vafon, whofe
bafe is entirely concealed b , the fertile hill of Doftrent, or Do r fum Tr identum, where
it is fuppofed a temple, dedicated to Ne p tune , formerly ftood. The r e are alfo the
remains of a- caftle, which was built by the Lomba rds . Towa r d , the caf t are the
mount s Celva and Te r r a R o f f a ; the latter t ake. it. name from the colour of the » 1
which i , a mixture of red potter', earth, or ochre, containing a quantity of rron called
by Monficur de Bomare
T „ « e x t euCo . of mount Pine i . vif.ble towards the north, where there are confiderable
beds of fchifti, of different fpecies, containing either iron or lead. The y have even
begun to work one of the mines, and found it anfwer their cxpea a t ions . I procured, at
the inn where I lodged, two beautiful chryftali.ations of fele»it>e, or moon ftone, wh. ch
had been taken out of that mountain, from among the ftrata of fchifti.
ON
T H E R H ^ T I A N A L P S . 37
ON qui t t ing Trent we leave the road to Venice, through the province of Ttevigiano,
to the right, which is much flrorter than the one we have been defcribing, as they only
reckon feventy-fcven miles f rom thence to that capital, and one hundred and twentyfour
by the way of Verona j but the road i . neither fo good nor fo pleafant. T h e fmall
plain, at the entrance of which is fituated the city of Tr ent , is ornamented by a
number of hamlet , and beautiful villa,. T h e foil i , well cultivated, and produces a
variety of excellent fruit trees, to. It is alfo furrounded by a range of hill, covered
with vines, which appear as the firft regular gradation towards that high and tremendous
chahi of the Al p , , that rife from the ba ck ground, and enrich confiderably the fcene,
by encreafmg the pleafurc which fo beautiful and pi Sur e fque a fpot naturally infpires.
From thence we proceeded to the town of Lavi s , fcated at the northern extremity of the
plain, one mile from die Adi g e , and on the banks of the torrent Avifio, which rufties
with great rapidity from a Glacier fituated between two remarkably fteep mountain, ,
called V.drat, Ji Marmolam S f C a ^ f ^alva, in the Bellunefe province.
IT i , proper to ohferve, that the higheft mountains foutb of the Great Brenner are
diftinguiflied by the name o fVedr e t t a . and thofe on the north by that of Spi tz.
TUB torrent Avi f io croffes the extenfive vallies of FaOi and Fieme, or Va lh, FlemarUm.
which are more than twenty mi le, in extent, fertile, and well inhabited. T h e people
carry on an extenfive trade in cattle and wood with the Italian., which account , for the prcfiirence
they give to their language, a, they fpeak it more fluently than the German.
CAVAUZE is the principal town of thofe vallies, extenfive, and well fituated. T h e
torrent, which tufties impetuouf ly, carries with it vaft quantities of ftone, gravel, 8ee.
(if various fizes; and was formerly the canfe of devaftation, in the vicinity of L a v i , ;
but the inhabitant, of that town, jointly wi th thofe of Tr ent , caufed a dike to be
made in that part where the torrent appeared moft formidable and dang e rou, ; and it
• had the defired effeft. T h e work i , executed in ftone. and doe, great credit to thofe
conccrned in it.
OH qui t t ing the town of Lavi , the mountain Corona cont raf l , the valley; but it foon
after widen, and form, a plain, by no mean, inferior to that of Tr ent , either in fertility
or population.
THE people of that country give up their time entirely to agriculture, and are. of
courfe, very induftrious.
T n . v experience, during the fummer , fueh a focceffion of dry weather, that the
produce of their land would be entirely deft toyed. had not fever.l of the moft opulent
inhabitant,, prompted by a dcfire of promot ing public good, e r e a ed, at their own
expenee, a number of machines on the bank, of the Adige, in order to raife the water
from the river, and c ondu d it over the land in the foUowing manne r : —
^ THOSE