Mineralogy and Geology of Nova Scotia. 223 
Bay of Fundy, and form a dangerous “race-way,” requiring, as 
we found, a very strong wind to counteract it, the first spot 
deserving of notice on account of remarkable geological features, 
is an indentation on the south side of Digby Neck, known as 
Little River Valley. Here the trap displays, with wonderful 
symmetry, its basaltiform structure, and presents a lofty precipice 
to the sea, where the river empties into St. Mary’s Bay, com- 
posed of prismatic columns of three, five, and nine sides, fre- 
quently broken horizontally, and in some places imperfectly 
articulated, apparently by their motion on each other, occasioned 
by the sea; thus resembling in a striking manner, the basaltic 
rocks of the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Ireland. These 
prismatic blocks are usually two or three feet in diameter, and 
sometimes as many yards in length unbroken. Not unfrequently 
they have been dashed from their pedestals, and tumbled in con- 
fusion against each other, forming irregular Gothic arches, which, 
by their rude forms, give additional wildness to the scene. The 
exposed surfaces of the trap, from the additional oxidizement of 
the iron it contains, exhibit a brownish red color, but on recent 
fracture, its internal structure is fine-grained, and of homogeneous 
aspect, the hornblende being alone visible to the naked eye. It is 
heavy, tenacious, and sometimes sonorous. That it is magnetic, 
like the trap of some other countries, we think is clearly proved 
by the fact, that surveyors find their compasses very sensibly in- 
fluenced in running lines in different parts of Digby Neck. But 
this influence they have hitherto erroneously attributed to large 
deposits of magnetic iron, of the existence of which there is but 
little evidence. 
We have already observed that the local peculiarities and 
external forms of the trap rocks in this region, give it unquestion- 
