strata--secondary, primary, and metamorphic--and the rocks of which they
are composed are limestone, marble, schist (mica-schist and slate), and
gneiss. On the summits are found conglomerates formed of quartz,
limestone, and sandstone.

To this meagre and superficial outline of the geological formations of
the country we have only to add that the inclination of the strata is
generally downwards in the direction of the Danube, and that they are
often contorted in a very remarkable manner.[17]

We have already spoken of the deposits of salt, petroleum, and lignite,
and in association with the second is found the substance known as
ozokerit or fossil wax. This is a brownish-yellow translucent
crystalline hydrocarbon, which softens with the warmth of the hand, and
burns with a bright light. It has never been industrially applied,
excepting in small quantities by the peasantry, who themselves fabricate
rude candles from it; but this is owing rather to want of enterprise
than to scarcity of the deposit. Anthracite, too, is present in various
places, but it is not worked. Of the existence of iron there is no doubt
whatever. Not only are there indications of it in the ferruginous
brooks and springs, but it has been found in association with coal in
various parts of the country.[18] Specimens of hæmatite have several
times been submitted to analysis, but the results were very
unsatisfactory. One sample tested by M. Hanon gave only 35.5 per cent.,
and another by Dr. Bernath yielded 40 per cent., of metallic iron. That
gold has been found and was worked in the Carpathians as far back as the
Dacian age is well known; and, according to modern writers, cobalt,
sulphur, arsenic, copper,[19] and lead are also present in different
districts, but the workable minerals of Roumania are at present limited
to salt, petroleum, and lignite; and, looking to the importance of the