GASPEREAU VALLEY, NOVA SCOTIA—HAYCOCK. 369 
curves to the southwest and just below the brow of the hill con- 
tinues along in that direction for about half a mile to the 
westernmost outcrop of the sandstone on the north side of the 
valley. The next outcrop of sandstone occurs on the opposite 
side of the Gaspereau Valley, about a mile and a half to the 
southwest, in a brook just west of Gaspereau Village. It is here 
about two hundred feet below its last mentioned occurrence on 
the brow of the ridge, and its contact with the slate lies within 
a few rods of this exposure, as the next watercourse to the 
west lies in compact bluish siates. The line of contact next 
ascends the slope, but curves eastwardly before reaching the edge 
of the southern tableland and extends in that direction for about 
three miles, when it again sweeps around southerly, and then 
southwesterly, up the valley of the Half-way River. 
The slate is tough and resistant, and the country occupied by 
it to the southwest of this bounding line presents smooth level 
outlines gashed by sudden gorges. The sandstones and shales to 
the north and east of it are variable in hardness but relatively 
less resistant than the slates, and the country underlaid by these 
younger rocks lies, as a rule, at a lower level and presents broadly 
undulating outlines. 
The Cornwallis Valley has a geological history which has 
already been traced out as far as the records have been available 
and intelligible to the writer up to the present time.* The 
Gaspereau outlier has been subject to the same general changes, 
but its separation from the main portion calls for additional 
explanation. 
1f we imagine a vertical plane cutting deep into the earth’s 
crust and extending. north and south from the borders of the 
Minas Basin at Wolfville to the edge of the elevated southern 
plain, and if the part on the west side were removed so that we 
could see the underlying structure of the whole district, the 
surface exposures lead us to believe that the rocks in the 
geological section thus laid bare are arranged as in the accom- 
* «Records of Post-triassic Changes in Kings County, N.S.” Transactions of the 
Nova Scotian Institute of Science, Vol. X., Session 1899-1900. Pp. 287-302. 
