288 Messrs. Jackson and Alger on the 
for salt on an extensive scale for several years, but is now aban- 
doned, from what cause we are not informed; another is said to 
have been found on the River Souiac. No rock-salt has ever 
been found in the vicinity of these springs, where, if in any place, 
some more palpable traces of it might be expected ; nor has the 
rock any perceptible salt taste. We must therefore refer the origin 
and the occurrence of these salt springs to such unexplained phe- 
nomena as are assigned to those in the western part of the state of 
New York, so ably discussed by Professor Eaton in his “ Geo- 
logical and Agricultural Survey of the District adjoining the Erie 
Canal.” * The existence of salt springs in this formation indi- 
cates it to be identical with the Red Marle, or new red sand- 
stone of Phillips and Conybeare, which includes the vast rock- 
salt mines of England and Poland; and also allies it to the sa- 
liferous rock of New York, described by Professor Eaton in the 
abovementioned ‘“ Geological Survey,” and in the “ American 
Journal of Science,” t+ as existing on the banks of the Connec- 
ticut, and as supporting the Palisadoes on the Hudson river. 
Pursuing this formation eastwardly in the direction of its 
strata, we meet with occasional beds of coal, not of any practical 
value, and offering no remarkable geological peculiarities. On 
the north bank of the West river, where the Kempt bridge cross- 
es this stream, a bed of bituminous coal with lignites, about four 
or five inches wide, occurs in the cliff of sandstone, a section of 
which is formed by the bed of the river. At this place, which 
we mention on account of its vicinity to the road from Truro to 
Pictou, rendering it accessible to travellers, occur many of the 
relics of culmiferous plants before noticed at Cumberland mine. 
* Part I. p. 109 et seq. { Vol. XIV. p. 148. 
