Mineralogy and Geology of Nova Scotia. 577 



cates that these fragments of stone have been subjected to a 

 violent motion. Thousands of boulders of granite *, lying on 

 hills of naked rock, rest upon rounded pebbles. The valleys 

 between these hills are covered with broken stones. The 

 gravel, where deep, lies near the lower parts of the hills. The 

 whole suggests the idea, that an immense volume of water, roll- 

 ing over these rocky districts, has carried off the soil which 

 once covered them. The charcoal so frequently to be found 

 in the sandstone, proves that it was once on the surface of the 

 earth ; and stems of trees, in a position at right angles with the 

 layers, and sometimes passing through many of them, indicate 

 that the layers were deposited nearly at the same time, and 

 probably prevented from adhering together by slight deposi- 

 tions of vegetable matter not susceptible of petrifaction. 



None of our rocks can be called u primitive," if this term 

 designate such as have lasted from "the beginning," for they 

 all contain rolled and angular fragments of other stones. 

 The township of Halifax rests chiefly upon granite, and is the 

 only place that I have seen, in the province, where a consider- 

 able plain can be found upon this kind of rock. Near Dover 

 and Prospect, the granite contains a very large proportion of 

 rolled stones, of ironstone slate, and whinstone, varying in 

 size from 4 ft. to 2 in. in diameter. The proportion of these 

 embedded fragments increases as we approach the sea shore, 

 where they are so abundant, as to impress the idea that this 

 mass was originally a portion of disintegrated granite mixed 

 with rolled stones, which was deposited in its present situation 



* As the supposition that these blocks of granite have lasted for so long 

 a time in their present position may seem to border too much upon the 

 marvellous, it should be observed, that they cannot have been completely 

 exposed to the open air for any considerable time. Naked rocks are soon 

 covered with the crustaceous lichens. The minute leafy kinds are attached 

 thickly to this crust, and soon followed by the larger kinds, commonly 

 called paper mosses. As they are bad conductors of heat, they preserve 

 them in some degree from the effects of sudden changes of the temperature 

 of the air, as well as from the mechanical action of rain and wind. They 

 answer the same useful purposes upon the stems of trees, most of which 

 are known by the colour of the crustaceous lichens which cover them, and 

 not by that of the bark, which in many trees, of which the beech is one, is 

 entirely covered with them. 



Among the abundance of lichens which are found on our hills of rock, 

 there are some which will be found useful when this becomes a manu- 

 facturing country, and which may now, perhaps, pay for exportation. The 

 licnen with which the piece of flannel attached to this paper is dyed 

 would, it is conceived, if brought into common use, save half the indigo 

 used by our countrywomen in dying blue, as it is not liable to fade 

 like logwood colours, nor does the operation of dying with it injure the 

 cloth. A brighter colour might have been given ; but. the cheapest ma- 

 terials (urine and a little lime) were purposely used to extract the 

 colour. 



Vol. IX. — No. 67. V v 



