OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 109 
of the country entirely changed. At the very threshold of the District we find an extensive series 
of trap and porphyritic dykes, with occasionally a patch of hornblende slates which extends to 
Crim’s Creek, at the foot of the hill. The feldspar porphyry can be examined on the road side, 
where its light grey color distinguishes it from the trap, with which it is associated. The deep 
ravines in the hill sides, which were scooped out by the surface-water, and the peculiarly broken 
character of this portion of the District, attest the readiness with which rocks, abounding in horn- 
blende, disintegrate and suffer by denudation, from atmospheric causes. 
These dykes continue beyond Mr. Summer’s to the 30-mile post, where, on ascending a conspicu- 
ous hill, we find a coarse, crystalline, feldspathic gneiss, alternating with hornblende slate, and 
dipping towards the S. E. On the other side of this ridge, about a mile farther north, we find the 
same series of feldspathic and hornblende rocks, dipping in an opposite direction, or towards the 
N. W. The frequent undulations noticed among the rocks of this section, mark the inequalities in 
the granitic floor upon which they rest, and by which they were lifted into their present position. 
One or two trap dykes intersect the granite a few miles beyond this, where the latter rock may be 
examined in the huge hemispheric masses that seem to be protruded above the surface, but which, 
in reality, are portions of the rock more durable than the rest, which resisted the wasting influences 
constantly doing their destructive work. 
This coarse granite occupies the surface for about four miles farther, till it passes into a fine- 
grained and very handsome light-colored rock. ‘The mica is present in small, black scales; the 
feldspar and quartz are a light gray, and very regularly distributed, giving the rock a uniform color; 
so much so as, at a distance, to have the appearance of common marble. There are few rocks in 
the State that present, in an equal degree with this, all the requisites of an excellent building mate- 
rial. It is very durable, splits readily in any required direction, and is worked with great facility. 
Some idea of its adaptation to architectural uses, and the great ease with which it splits, may be 
formed from the fact that on the spot we saw lintels twelve, to fifteen feet in length, and six inches 
thick by one foot wide. Rough posts, for fences, are also split out, five inches square, with sur- 
prising regularity, and requiring no other dressing to fit them for use, than the drilling of the 
holes by means of which the rails are fastened. 
Fine masses of this granite appear above the surface for several miles square, extending towards 
the river. It is strange that such a building material as this, almost on the banks of a navigable 
river, and so near the Capital of the State, should be so little known. 
A great portion of the middle and eastern portion of Newberry is granitic, and nearly the entire 
route between the village and Ashford’s Ferry lies over this rock. ‘ 
On the western side of the District, on the Saluda, gneiss and hornblende are the prevailing rocks ; 
and much of the fertility of the soil, as well as the ease with which the “worn out” lands of that 
part of the District are reclaimed, depends upon the presence of the latter rock. The low, alluvial 
lands on the river, noted for their great fertility, are composed of the ruins of these rocks, brought 
from this and the adjoining Districts by every flood. 
Between the Saluda and the Court House a few trap dykes occur; and I observed a stratum of a 
chloritic rock, containing beds of soapstone. 'Towards the South the clay slate enters from Lexing- 
ton, but does not occupy much space. That portion of the District drained by Indian Creek is 
covered by slaty gneiss and hornblende, intersected by beds of coarse, crystalline granite—the 
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