29Cr Natural History Tour in North America : — 



Highlands, the Americans contrived to throw across its 

 channel a boom and chain. 



The Hudsoriy near Vredideka Hook. 



I, Primitive rock, granite. 2, Secondary rock, compact limestone. 



The Hudson, more especially about the centre of the High 

 lands, presents some of the most interesting and remarkable 

 scenery perhaps in the world. Nature, it would seem, here 

 made the wilderness of romance her chief delight, and studied 

 to excel in the ruggedness of stupendous cliffs and crags. 



The Jersey, or western, shore of the Hudson, as far as the 

 Highlands, is of secondary formation, and consists principally 

 of limestone, which in some places is of a flinty hardness, in 

 others as soft nearly as the soapstone, and occasionally mixed 

 up with organic remains, such as small bivalve shells, &c., in- 

 cluding veins of pyrites and spars of different denominations. 

 The eastern shore of the Hudson, commencing near the city 

 of New York, and taking in the whole range of the High- 

 lands on each side of the river, is of primitive formation, and 

 almost wholly composed of compact granite and gneiss, dip- 

 ping towards the east, and intermixed in places with mica of 

 various shades, quartz, and mica slate. The mountainous 

 ridges contain bears, wolves, foxes, racoons, wild cats, deer, 

 and rabbits. Birds are not numerous in these forests ; the 

 eagle may be frequently seen soaring far above the highest 

 summits. Among serpents, the rattlesnake, the copper-head 

 snake, the hoop snake, and the flat snake infest these " airy 



