Dr. Maycock on tlie Geology of Barbadoes. 15 



comes consolidated into one mass, and furnaces of this descrip- 

 tion will last many years, altliougli subjected to very strong 

 fires, such as are employed in the manufacture of sugar, 



Masses of. the calcareous formation, some of considerable 

 magnitude, are to be seen in Scotland ; they are either projec- 

 tions from the high ridges which have never been covered by 

 the clay formation, which every where appears superimposed on 

 the calcareous, or they are rolled fragments, of which there is an 

 endless number, and many at a great distance from their ori- 

 ginal situation, to which, however, they can often be traced. 



I cannot omit taking notice in this place of an extinguished 

 ■pseudo-volcanic hill, situate on the windward coast, in one of 

 the estates belonging to the Society for the Propagation of 

 Christian Knowledge. It is to this day very properly denomi- 

 nated the Burnt Hill, and is mentioned by Hughes as having 

 been accidentally set on fire by a slave, and as having conti- 

 nued to burn for the space of five years. It consists entirely of 

 highly-burnt clay and earth slag, and the neighbourhood 

 abounds in bituminous shale and mineral oil. 



The natural springs of Barbadoes are not very numerous. 

 The inhabitants of the flat country are supplied with water princi- 

 pally from wells, which are frequently of considerable depth; but 

 running streams are abundant in the hilly district, in which occur 

 several saline and one chalybeate spring. There is also a spring 

 in Scotland, called the Burning Spring, which generally attracts 

 the notice of the traveller. This little streamlet rises in a deep 

 sequestered ravine at the foot of a hill, richly clothed with 

 timber ; and on its first appearance forms for itself a little basin, 

 in which the water is in a continued state of ebullition, from the 

 passage of inflammable gas through it, which, readily inflaming 

 on the application of a lighted taper, gives to the spring its cha- 

 racteristic appellation. The gas does not indeed rise in great 

 quantity, but the scenery in the approach to the spot is beauti- 

 ful and imposing ; and one can hardly view it without fancying 

 what might have been its celebrity and importance had it been 

 known to. a people, prone to attach superstitious veneration to 



