BARBADOS-ANTIGUA EXPEDITION 215 
teresting practice of the natives in this part bespeaks the lime- 
less character of the local rock. In order to obtain lime for do- 
mestic purposes massive colonies of Millepora, Meandrina and 
other reef corals are torn loose at low tide and dragged ashore 
where, aiter exposure for a time to the wind and rain in order 
to remove the salt water, they are heaped upon a pile of wood 
and burned into a fair grade of lime. 
The central area extending diagonally across the islands is 
underlain by thin-bedded mudstones, voleanic sandstones, and 
conglomerates. Their lithology from point to point is very 
variable and there is evidence which shows that some of the rock 
is of fresh water and that some is of marine origin. The dip of 
the beds is not quite the same at any two places seen, but the 
general dip is to the northeast. Locally, there is evidence of | 
faulting and, too, of folding, which features point to the com- 
plex crustal disturbances. which have affected the island. In 
places between the mudstones and associated rocks there are 
bands of dark chert and in some localities fragments of petri- 
fied wood are plentiful. In places the chert contains beautiful 
silicified specimens of fossil shells of fresh-water snails belong- 
ing to the genera Hemisinus and Planorbis. <A fine lot of these 
fossils was obtained at Corbizon Point and at Ledwell Point 
along the coast north of St. Johns. From an exposure in the 
street at the Cathedral in St. Johns, a small lot of marine shells 
was collected from a hard tough limestone and some from a 
thin bed of soft shaly marl; they belong chiefly to the genus 
Turritella. 
One drawback of the central area is the difficulty of obtaining 
an ample supply of water for domestic purposes. Wells sunk 
to any considerable depth yield brackish water; or, in case the 
water is fresh, the amount is generally insufficient. For this 
reason, resort must be had to rain-water caught in cisterns and 
reservoirs. For city and village supply water is obtained from 
large catch-basins situated in the hills in the southwestern dis- 
trict from whence it is piped. This low central belt, whose level 
or rolling topography is broken by a few rather prominent 
hills such as Monk Hill, Drew Hill, and Scott Hill, was, geo- 
logically speaking, not long since covered by the sea. Antigua 
at that time was composed of two small islands separated by a 
