64'4 Contributions to the 



with all the characters of a sandstone, but of a grey colour. 

 A coarse conglomerate, consisting of round masses of white 

 and red sandstone, appears at the church, and the red rock 

 forms the bed of the river for some hundred yards upwards. 

 When rubbed between the fingers, specimens of this rock 

 often leave a red impression, which is readily communicated 

 to water. The stream of the Dye, as well as that of the 

 Blackadder*, has a dark colour, which is characterised by 

 their names, and produced by their 



tide 



That chafes against the scaur's red side." 



The red sandstone, as it occurs at Longformacus, is com- 

 posed of grains of quartz, felspar, and mica, and perhaps 

 Lydian stone, cemented together by a basis of red clay, and 

 seems to be disposed in vertical strata. After tracing out 

 this rock carefully, we cannot fail to be struck with the aspect 

 of the soil which overlies it. It constitutes valleys and low 

 grounds ; and the country which belongs to this formation is 

 characterised by a very bleak and barren appearance. The 

 whole of the wild moor between the Merse and the Lammer- 

 moors, seven miles in breadth, belongs to this formation. In 

 some spots agriculture has been commenced, and, where it has 

 been begun with vigour, great improvements have been made. 

 The shelter of wood, however, is a great deficiency, which it 

 is to be hoped may be supplied, and be the means of rescuing, 

 from its present waste and desolate situation, a tract of coun- 

 try which possesses many of the natural requisites of a highly 

 improvable district. The Merse, which is now surpassed for 

 richness and beauty by no part of the kingdom, must at no 

 very distant period have been equally in a state of nature. 



Grey*wacke. — The red sandstone passes gradually into this 

 rock, and appears to lie under it; but perhaps this appearance 

 may be occasioned by the vertical position of the strata of the 

 two rocks, where they run into each other. It is certain, 

 however, that the sandstone and the greywacke are similarly 

 constituted ; with this difference, that the basis of the former is 

 red, and that of the latter grey. The greywacke, then, may 

 be considered as a sandstone in this locality. 



The whole of the Lammermoors appear, as far as they have 

 been examined, to consist essentially of this rock, alternating 

 occasionally with greywacke slate. The rocks of which the 

 two Dirringtons consist are so effectually concealed by deep 

 soil, that it is impossible to form any accurate idea of their 

 constitution. At their bases, however, we find the red sand- 



* Blackadder, or Black water. Whiteadder, or White water. 



