of the Malvern Hills. 95 



Gilphead and Inverary ; but its effects in destroying vegetation „i. lUc sides 

 of the hills are not so remarkable as in the Grampians,— a circumstance most 

 probably owing to the diminished height, less j)erpendicular slope, and more 

 genial clime of the Malveni Hills, than to any material difference in the con- 

 stituents of these two rocks. It is worthy of remark, that the ridges by which 

 the Koman encampments are still so distinctly tracetl, are scooped out of the 

 granitic rock itself, and that the walls are not, as might be supposed, the gra- 

 vel, and other residue of digging the furrow, but always formed of the native 

 rock, which, to the present day, crops out in some situations hard and un- 

 changed by the lapse of years, and must have presented a much more secure 

 barrier than the unconnected residue of their operations, placed without sup- 

 port on an abrupt and oftentimes precipitous acclivity. 



On the hill between the Scdbury and Ui)ton, and the Whyche road, which 

 rises from the two opposite points of the compass to a summit which attains 

 an elevation of more than 1500 feet above the level of the sea, this granite 

 becomes more compact, retaining, however, on the summit, the same charac- 

 ters ; but on the road, where several extensive sections are to be met witli, 

 becoming much changed, and at times its constituents are almost amalga- 

 mated the one into the other, being at some points, more especially at a 

 q\iarry on the Sedbury road, very nearly allied to a chlorite-slate. This quar- 

 ry, towards its upper part, presents very much the appearance of distinct stra- 

 tification. In fact, wherever large sections of this or the former rock occur, 

 they may distinctly be perceived to have a dip towards the south, and invo- 

 luntarily give to the mind of the geologist the idea of a once stratified rock 

 heaved up, deranged in the parallelism of its strata and the uniformity of its 

 direction, yet still preservii-g the same dip and inclination. Not fifty yards 

 from the milestone near the last-mentioned quarry, a vein of the same com- 

 pact feldspathic rock may be seen rising in an almost vertical direction, and 

 traversing the adjacent strata almost at right angles : it is scarcely two feet 

 broad. At the section made through the rock, affording a passage for the 

 Whyche road, the red granite may also be perceived occupying apparent- 

 ly distinct localities, presenting the appearance of beds in the more com- 

 pact and frequently ironshot mountain-rock. The mica at this point becomes 

 more abundant, and soon forms the principal constituent. The red gra- 

 nite is frequently almost entirely feldspathic ; beyond the hill crystals of 

 hornblende first make tlieir appearance, and becoming gradually more abun- 

 dant, have led the English geognosts to consider the whole as a sienitic for- 

 mation. Undoubtedly if in any part of the range such a rock occurs, a few 

 partial beds are to be met with here, but not in sufficiently extensive forma- 

 tions to be considered as the basis of the range ; but to this I shall liave oc- 

 casion to refer afterwards. 



The investigation of the geognostical structure of the two most nortlicriy 

 hills in the Malvern range, though interesting, presents little variety. Known 

 by the names of the Worcestershire Beacon and the North Hill, they lie 

 nearly due north and south of one another, the latter being the more nor- 

 therly, and intersected by a narrow valley, deeper and more abrupt on the 

 eastern side. No stratification is discernible excepting on the western asiH?ct> 

 where a gentle dip to the north may be perceived, and a direction of its strata 



