12 Dr. May cock ov the Geology of Barhadoes. 



they approach it. These two ridges of high land include a 

 country, the appearance of which is altogether different front the 

 flat open scenery of that which has just been described. This 

 portion of the island is distinguished by the appellations of 

 Scotland, and below the Cliff. The hills in this district 

 are numerous ; they are lofty, conical, and steep ; and they pro- 

 ject irregularly in chains from the ridges of high land, or rise in 

 small groups from the plain, which is little above the level of 

 the sea. The deep valleys intersecting the hills are covered 

 with the most luxuriant vegetation, the hills themselves appear- 

 ing naked and barren, or richly clothed with timber. The sce- 

 nery is every where wild, irregular, and picturesque ; and dis- 

 plays in miniature all the beauties of a mountainous country. 



Such is the striking dissimilarity in the general appearance of 

 the two districts, the hilly and the flat, into which this little 

 island may very properly be divided. Attentive observation 

 points out an essential difference in the immediate substratum 

 of the soil ; that of the flat country being entirely calcareous, 

 the soil of the hilly country resting almost exclusively on mine- 

 ral substances belonging to the clay genus. I shall, however, 

 enter into a more particular description of each district, begin- 

 ning, with the calcareous or flat country. 



Upon examining the structure of the calcareous formation 

 we find it to consist of the spoils of zoophites, of which several 

 species of madreporse, milleporaj, corallinse, and alcyonise, are 

 strikingly evident. These are cemented together by carbonate 

 of lime, containing an abundance and great variety of the litho- 

 phytae and moUuscae. The cement may be said to vary from 

 marl, more or less indurated, to a hard compact limestone, with 

 conchoidal firacture and translucency on the edges. In some 

 places the organic remains constitute the principal, in all a very 

 considerable, portion of this formation, and although these re- 

 mains are intimately blended in the common structure, they 

 appear to be arranged in some degree in families ; in some 

 situations, the alcyonise, in others the madreporae being most 

 conspicuous. Upon this coralline mass there frequently occur 

 detached beds of white shelly sandstone, the cement and the 



