1821.] the Geology of the Malvern Hills. 21 



was heretofore flanked, and perhaps covered, has been decom- 

 posed and converted into the red earth, every where visibles 

 beneath the verdure, and often to a considerable depth ; and it 

 is to this decomposition that we are to attribute not only the 

 generally smooth surface of these hills, but also the existence of 

 numerous masses of greenstone, sienite, and red felspar, in the 

 valleys, on the sides of the hills, and which still remain in 

 great quantity imbedded in the reddish earth : all these por- 

 tions of rocks are still angular, without exhibiting any appear- 

 ance of having suffered by attrition. 



The alleged origin of this loose reddish earth seemed the more 

 plausible from finding that the hornblende rocks, which were ia 

 a state of decomposition, yielded an earth of the same colour and 

 appearance beneath the hammer. Near the summer house on 

 tlie top of the ridge, west of Little Malvern, it contains portions 

 of a rock which have greatly the appearance of mica slate, and 

 also masses of white quartz ; while on the western side, near the 

 foot, columnar masses of sandstone mostly quandrangular, and 

 sometimes a foot in length, and containing internal ochreoua 

 spots, are found in loose earth beneath the verdure. 



The foregoing facts, together with an examination of the pro-' 

 jecting rocks of the range, of the varieties of which some 

 account is annexed, appear sufficient to induce the conclusion, 

 that all are to be considered as sienitic, or belonging to the trap 

 formation, but of a peculiar character. 



Annexed is a sketch of a mass 

 of highly cryslalline hornblende, 

 about four feet long, and three feet 

 in other directions, which I ob- 

 served lying in the valley between 

 North Hill and End Hill. The 

 'Weins '' were of red felspar, enclos- 

 ing hornblende. This sketch will serve as a fair specimen of 

 the general directions of the " granite veins" of this range. 



In other masses, the veins were of epidote. 



Rocks of the Malvern Hills, and their principal Localities, 



Hornblende is the prevailing substance of the rock at Castle 

 Morton quarry on the eastern side of Swinnit Hill. It is 

 highly crystalline at that quarry, and sometimes contains 

 roundish masses of calcareous spar, in other places specks 

 of red felspar. It is sometimes traversed by red felspar in 

 every possible direction, in veins which cannot be considered 

 other than contemporaneous, from the 16th of an inch to a 

 foot in thickness, and rarely of any considerable length, and 

 often terminating abruptly. Thin veins of calcareous spar 

 traverse the red felspar in various directions, striated con- 

 trary to the run of the vein ; it often contains hornblende ; 

 rarely mica. It is also the prevailing rock of the quarry at 



