20 ACCOUNT OF THE LIME ROCKS 



hills it pervades, by the level line of its summit. 

 Any one who will take the trouble to survey it from 

 a commanding position about Lipson, or Town send 

 Hill, may observe the Hoe, Mount Batten, Teat's 

 Hill, Cat Down, the Oreston quarries, and the lime 

 hill Eastward, all rising to the same level ; and over- 

 lopped by the slate hills both north and south of 

 them ; from which they may equally be distinguished 

 by the bright colour of the stone, and thinness of 

 the stratum of soil, with which they are covered. 

 This latter circumstance gives rise to another dis- 

 tinction. In long dry weather the moisture from 

 this thin soil is exhaled ; and the consequence is, a 

 brown, scorched aspect in the herbage. 



Some readers may be curious about the Geolog- 

 ical character of this rock. It lies between Slate, 

 on the north, and on which it reposes, but at a very 

 steep angle: and red Sandstone, south, which it 

 supports. The point of junction with the Slate is 

 well exposed at the new Iron Bridge ; where the 

 alternations between the two rocks may be traced, 

 very easily, along toward Cat Down. The points of 

 junction with the red Sandstone are generally cut by 

 the Sea, to which the Sandstone has probably yield- 

 ed : but a few points may be observed at Devirs 

 Point, and probably still at Mount Edgecumbe. 

 The line is so nicely observed ; that whilst the beau- 

 tiful but fast dissappearing promontory of Mount 

 Batten, Devil's Point, and the Northern angle of 

 Mount Edgecumbe are all limestone ; Drake's Is- 

 land, just to the Southward, does not contain a 

 particle of it. 



It evidently belongs to what was formerly called 

 the Transition series; now the Greywacke group. 

 Its strata are irregular, generally dipping very deep 

 to the Southward ; and intersected by numerous 

 fissures, which in some parts extend into large cavi- 

 ties ; often containing fresh water, and not unfre- 

 quently hung and lined with sparkling stalactitic 

 matter, of undulating and ornamental forms. These 



