“Behold yon huge And unknown sphere of living adamant, Which, poised by magic, rests its central weight On yonder pointed rock; firm as it seems, Such is its strange and virtuous property, It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch Of him whose heart is pure; but to a traitor, Though e’en a giant’s prowess nerved his arm, It stands as fixed as Snowdon.” A little knowledge would have disabused the mind of this delusion. The celebrated Logan or Logging-stone, near the Land’s End in Cornwall, is an immense block, weighing about sixty tons. The surface in contact with the under rock is, however, of very small extent; and the whole mass is so nicely balanced, that, notwithstanding its magnitude, the strength of a single man is sufficient to make it oscillate, when applied to the under edge. It is the nature of granite to disintegrate or decompose by the action of the air and moisture; a huge mass is thus split into several blocks, and at length, by the continued operation of the elements, one is suspended on the rest. [Illustration] Sounds emitted from rocks have often been regarded as portentous. Mr. G. Bennett, when at Macao, had his attention directed to a mass of granite rocks, appearing as if separated by some convulsion of nature, many of which were found, when trodden on, to be movable. The first, and by far the most sonorous, was partially excavated underneath; and, by striking it upon the upper part, a deep sound, “like that of a church bell,” was produced. “The battered appearance of the stone above,” it is said, “bore several proofs of how many visitors had made this lion roar.” Many of the other rocks were also sonorous, but not so loud as the first, and, from their situations, “they were movable when trodden on; but it could not be seen, whether, like the preceding, they were excavated, and, in consequence of being so, sonorous.” In the chain of El-Heman, and not far from the Red Sea, is the Jebal Narkous, or “Mountain of the Bell.” It forms one of a ridge of low calcareous hills, which are connected by a sandy plain, extending, with a gentle rise, to their base. It is composed of a light-coloured friable sandstone, about the same as the rest of the chain; but an inclined plane of almost impalpable sand rises at an angle of about forty degrees with the horizon, and is bounded by a semi-circle of rocks, presenting broken, abrupt, and pinnacled forms, and extending to the base of this remarkable hill. Its height is about four hundred feet.