294 (NTR ATLARTIO. (CHAP. IV. 
matter —it is better, and the best soil of all is probably that 
which consists of red earth, humus, and coral-sand. 
The origin of this red earth is a matter of great interest, as 
it seems to afford a singular illustration and confirmation of 
our view as to the organic origin of the red clay of the Atlan- 
tic sea-bed. There is ample evidence all over the islands that 
there has been an enormous amount of denudation—that while, 
in some places, coral-sand has been encroaching and new rocks 
have been thus formed, in other places masses of rock of great 
thickness have been removed by the disintegrating effect of 
rain-water. 
During the disintegration of the stone, the softer parts are 
first removed, leaving a kind of skeleton, consisting of the hard- 
er parts, and as rough as a mass of scoriz. The ridge between 
Harrington Sound and Castle Harbor, which rises to the height 
of about 150 feet, is, as we have already said, entirely composed 
of limestone in that condition ; passing, where it is not eroded, 
into a very compact hard stone, worked in a large quarry at 
Painter’s Vale for building purposes. The height of these 
ridges and crests, taken in connection with their structure and 
distribution, gives a very good idea of the amount of denuda- 
tion which has taken place—at all events, during this last epi- 
sode in the geological history of the islands. 
I am indebted to his Excellency General Lefroy for the re- 
port on the analyses of soils from Bermudas given in Appen- 
dix A to this chapter, and I believe it holds the clue to the 
mode of formation of the red earth. The coral-sand, like the 
mass of skeletons of surface animals accumultated at the bottom 
of the ocean, does not consist of carbonate of lime alone. It 
contains about one per cent. of other inorganic substances, chief- 
ly peroxide of iron and alumina, silica, and some earthy phos- 
phates. Now, these substances are to a very small degree sol- 
uble in water charged with carbonic acid; consequently, after 
the gradual removal of the lime, a certain sediment, a certain 
