OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 101 
country; and thus determine the extent to which it has suffered by denudation. But independent 
of all this, there are certain landmarks remaining in South Carolina that enable us to show, if not 
the whole amount of denudation that the country has suffered, at least that it has been very great. 
All the little knobs, called mountains, that lie scattered over the central portion of the primary 
region of the State, are due to the protecting influence of the indestructible strata of which they 
are, in part, without exception, composed. 
T have, in another place, mentioned the predominance of quartz during the deposition of certain 
rocks of the State. If we examine Ruff’s Mountain, in Newberry District, which is the first, 
towards the South, of those elevations to which I have alluded, we shall find on its crest, through- 
out the entire extent, a thick stratum of quartz rock, protruding, like a huge back-bone, and cover- 
ing with its ruins the talcose and mica slates on its sides, and thus protecting them from further 
degradation. 
There is here no anticlinal axis, nor any marks of disturbance to which the rest of the country 
has not been subjected. It is impossible to bestow ten minutes’ examination on this spot, without 
being convinced that it is a mountain, not by elevation, but by the denudation, and consequent 
depression, of the surrounding country. Parson’s Mountain, in Abbeville, presents a similar phe- 
nomenon. 
The thick quartzose stratum that caps Gelkey’s Mountain is seen at its south-western extremity, 
standing up in enormous tabular masses, where the slates have been washed away. From this 
point it may be traced, at intervals, to King’s Mountain. 
Henry’s Knob, in York District, is another remarkable example of a considerable elevation pro- 
duced by the waste and removal of the surrounding country. Here the quartz rock stands up in 
bold escarpments, while fallen blocks are strewed around in every direction, over the sides of the 
mountain. The following section (Fig. 22) will make this plain. . 
1.—Quartz rock, 2,—Mica slates. 
It is obvious that the slates on the sides of the mountain can only suffer denudation where the 
quartzose stratum is removed, whilst the surrounding slates have no such protection, and are con- 
stantly wasting. 'The course of these little mountains corresponds with the strike of the rocks, 
varying between N. 20° E. and N. E.and 8. W. 
I have pointed to these as remarkable localities, but any one may satisfy himself of the truth of 
these conclusions, by an examination of any of the numerous prominent points that exist in every 
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