BUILDING AND OJiNAMENTAL STONES. 477 



AH are dull red, ol" lii^lit and dark shades, variously spotted, flecked, 

 and veiued with white and ^ray ; none of tlieni are as brilliant in color 

 as the French griottcs. The variety rouge nnjal is very light, and some- 

 what resembles certain varieties of the Tennessee marbles, but is in- 

 ferior. The well-known " Belgian black" is of a deep black color, hard 

 and ditlicut to work, but takes a high polish, and is considered the best 

 of its kind now in the market. 



(:}) BERMUDA. 



The building stones of Bermuda are altogether calcareous and frag- 

 meutal. Although popularly known as coral limestones, they contain 

 as a rule fully as large a pro portion of shell as of coral fragments. 

 Nearly all the (juarried material belongs, according to Professor Kice,* 

 to the drift sand-rock variety, l. c, rocks made ni) of fragments blow^u 

 inland from the beach and subsequently cemented b.y calcareous matter 

 in a crystalline or subcrystalline state. The rock varies in color and 

 texture from chalky white, tine grained, and i)orous (somewliat like the 

 French Caen stone), to a darker, coarser, but tough and compact form, 

 in which the individual fragments, often of a pink color, are one-fourth 

 of an inch or more in diameter. 



According to the authority above quoted the rock is usnally very soft 

 and is quarried out in large blocks by means of a peculiar long-handled 

 chisel, and afterward sawn up in sizes and shapes to suit individual 

 cases. The harder varieties, as found at Paynter's Vale and elsewhere 

 are, however, worked like "any ancient limestone or marble." 



Most of the houses of Bermuda are stated by Professor Kice to be 

 built of this soft, friable variety, and even the roofs are covered with 

 the same material sawn into thin slabs. When covered with a coating 

 of whitewash the stone is found sniliciently durable for ordinary build- 

 ings in that climate, but if exposed to the rigors of a JN^ew l<]ngland 

 winter it would crumble ra})idly. The hard rock, such as is found at 

 Paynter's Vale and Ireland Island, '" has been nsed in the construction 

 of thefortihcationsand other Government works" on the islands. "Tlie 

 (juarry of the lioyal Engineers, near Elbow Bay, appears to be in 

 beach-rock." 



(4) ENGLAND. 



JkitJt oolite. — The well-known Bath stone or Bath oolite is a light, 

 almost white or cream-colored oolitic limestone I'rom (juarries in the 

 Jurassic formations wliich extend from the coast of IJorset, in the sontli 

 of England, in a northeasterly direction through Somersetshire, CUou- 

 cestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, to Lincolnshire, to York- 

 shire.! 



In texture it is distinctly oolitic, soft, and very easy to work. Its 



* Geol. of Bcnimda, Bull. 2."), U. S. Nut. Mils., 1884. 

 tllull, Building and Ornamental Stones, p. 210. 



