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mouldering materials from above; white the more dim 

 tive facades, formed by the abruptions of single btrata scat- 

 tered over the face of our are;), and funning its most char;c .■- 

 teristie feature, would in time (as many are aln'ady) be 

 converted into steep accliviti'.- cqvered with verdure. 

 The effects Such are the principal causes, to which the inequalities of 



first to be exa- our surface have been generally ascribed. Previous to our 

 sum ., deciding finally 'upon their insufficiency, it may be proper 



to enumerate a few of those inequalities, where the devia- 

 tion of our present surface, from the form it probably had 

 originally, is not only striking, but where also the concomi- 

 tant circumstances afford demonstration, that some great 

 operation has once taken place there. 



Thus, by marking ourselves acquainted with effects, we 

 shall be better qualified to investigate causes; and if these 

 effects shall appear to be beyond the powers of such natu- 

 ral agendas we are already acquainted with, we shall be justi- 

 fied in admitting the performance of operations, to which 

 we have seen nothing similar; and also in admitting the for- 

 mer existence of powers of far superior energy to any we 

 have ever known in action. 



Enumeration of some remarkable Inequalities in the Surface 

 of our basaltic Area, produced since the Consokdation of 

 its Strata. 



Remarkable That we may better understand the facts I am proceedr 



inequalities ing to state, I shall assume (in the style of the mathemati? 

 Se^ewi^Hd"^ c ' ,ans P uta f actum ) Previous to demonstration, that the 

 tionoi the planes of our uniform, rectilineal strata, however interrupt- 

 stiata « ed we may now find them, were once continuous. 



Upon this supposition, the valley of the Mayola, between 

 the stratified summits of Scafin and Slievegal/on, is an ex- 

 cavation 1700 feet deep, and three miles wide, of which the 

 whole materials have been completely carried off. 



To the northward of this excavation, between Seafn and 

 Carntoglter, the continuous accumulated strata of basalt 

 are interrupted, ami taken away quite down to the schistose 

 substratum; while the untouched summits of the conti- 

 guous mountains, Carntogher, Scaiin, and Momjneeny, are 

 stratified basalt. 



On 



