232 bOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The general character of these older schistose rocks may be 

 briefly summed up by describing the three most common varie- 

 ties. These are, first, an obscure gneiss, generally of an extremely 

 uncouth and ugly appearance, rarely appearing in beautiful ledges, 

 but more commonly protruding a short distance above the surface 

 with a weather worn and dilapidated aspect ; second, mica schist, 

 generally showing scattered crystals of feldspar upon its edges, 

 though not readily seen when the specimens are viewed with the 

 flat surface up : this rock is often beautifully foliated and hand- 

 some in appearance ; third, beds of granite, sometimes tabular, 

 sometimes finely grained, rarely porphyritic, but commonly an 

 easily decomposing, very plain, rusty looking variety, fit only to 

 disintegrate and form new soil for vegetation. 



Four deposits of mica schist and gneiss in this region deserve 

 our notice. The first is gneiss, in the south part of St. George. The 

 second is mica schist, in the south part of Gushing. The third is 

 the greatest of all, extending from Gushing to the corner of Belfast, 

 occupying the principal parts of Gushing, Warren, Union, Hope, 

 Camden, Lincolnville and Northport. The fourth is sparingly rep- 

 resented upon the map in Waldo and Morrill, but belongs to a 

 gneissic area much larger than the one just described. If we should 

 speak of the geology of the whole country between Kennebec and 

 Penobscot rivers, we should call the last the great deposit, of which 

 the third was only a spur. The third and fourth deposits are 

 probably connected together by a synclinal axis, upon which the 

 Taconic schists running south-west from Belfast are superimposed. 



Having seen it stated that the whole of St, George was com- 

 posed of granite, we were quite surprised last July to find the 

 whole of the south part of the town composed of gneiss, although 

 the strata were often very much contorted and the rock uninter- 

 esting. In leaving the granite of St. George, one first sees the 

 feldspathic mica schist near Tennant's Harbor, where it dips 85° 

 N. 80° W., or nearly perpendicular. At Mosquito Harbor the 

 gneissic type is predominant, and of an unusually clean appear- 

 ance. It is full of what we regard as pebbles altered and distorted 

 by metamorphic action and pressure, as discussed in our Prelim- 

 inary Report, page 1Y8. The work, however, is carried to an ex- 

 treme here. The strata dip 50° N, *(0° W. 



Outcrops of gneiss are common all the way to the Light House 

 at Herring Gut. Here are several trap dikes, running N. Y0° E., 



