m
39
warm and comfort tliem all, it is then lighted in the centre of the apartment, where a circle
is formed, when each with equal anxiety relates his little tale, till the ilorm is abated, and
the weather allows tliem to refume their journey.
From hence the road, which defcends continually in zig-zag, is moft curioufly executed,
and cannot fail of exciting fiuprife and admiration, being literally a terrace fupportcd by
walls or pillars of incredible thicknefs, which gi-adually follow the turnings and windings of
the mountains, forming redans commanded one by the other. The Drawing, No. 3, is
an cxacft reprefentation.
The fouth fide of the mountain feems to be formed of a compofition fimilar to the
north, cxcept that the lapis ollaris, or a kind of ferpentine called by the Italians gabro, is
moil confpicuous.
At the foot of the Col, near the banks of the Roida, of which I ihall fpeak hereafter,
is a large mountain of fchiftus, or Hate, whicli extends to the fource of this river, and feems
to fuppoit another of talc.
Having croffed the Roida, we continued our route through a narrow valley, which led
to the plain where tlie city of Tendc is fituated, at about four miles diilance from tlie Col.