[ELLs] NOTES ON GEULOGY OF TRINIDAD AND BARBADOS 127 
Partly for the sake of comparison, a study of the rock formations 
exposed on the island of Barbados was made, more especially of that por- 
tion known as the “ Scotland district ” where oil-bearing strata, also of 
Tertiary age have been recognized. ‘This island lies about 200 miles 
north-east of Trinidad, and is usually regarded by visitors as occupied 
by the coral formation and to be of no very great elevation above the sea. 
This idea is obtained from the views of the island presented from the 
steamers following the route along the western and southern coasts. The 
surface, however, rises gradually from the shore in a series of terraces 
to the summit ridge, and although from the sea this rise appears to be 
quite gradual the highest point of the island, at Mount Hillaby, reaches 
an elevation of about 1,100 feet. 
The rock formations of Barbados may be grouped under three 
heads without including the surface deposits, and may be arranged 
under the divisions known as the Coral formation, the Oceanic deposits, 
and the Tertiary. Of these the first occupies, according to the report 
of Messrs. Harrison and Jukes-Brown, six-sevenths of the whole area, 
and has a thickness varying from a few feet to nearly 250 feet, in certain 
places. 
This formation extends inland to the summit. Here it breaks off 
abruptly and often forms a bold escarpment of 50 or more feet in height, 
facing the eastern side. Blocks of the coral often of immense size, 
which have been dislodged from the main mass, are scattered over the 
surface extending to the sea-level. Occasionally this formation has been 
denuded sufficiently to expose the underlying Tertiary in small outcrops 
elsewhere, more particularly in the south-eastern and northern portions 
of the island. 
The coral has been pierced at a number of places by wells and bore- 
holes sunk in the search for water; since owing to the porous nature of 
the rock the rain-fall is quickly absorbed and sinks down to the under- 
lying deposits of clay, etc., which are a part of the Oceanic formation. 
contains great masses of fossil coral distributed through the mass of 
the formation, which are well exposed in the numerous deep cuttings 
along the roadways. Other organisms seen are shells of various kinds 
and the remains of sea-weeds. Portions of this rock are hard white lime- 
stone, quite compact, while other portions are so soft as to be readily cut 
with a saw into building blocks, or even so decomposed as to be dug out 
with a spade. It is extensively used as a building stone, and in places 
the formation becomes so thin as to form merely a superficial crust over 
_ the underlying Oceanic or Tertiary formations. 
The formation directly underlying the coral, known as the Oceanic, 
comprises a considerable thickness, from 250 to 500 feet, of chalky and 
