2 Messrs. W. Phillips and Kent on [Jan. 



may not be amiss to give a general outline of the principal fea- 

 ture of the district in question. 



From the height which has already been mentioned, it will at 

 once be decided that it cannot be considered as mountainous, 

 but only hilly. The whole tract, however, may be divided into 

 three parts, when viewed in relation to its surface, and its geolo- 

 gical features. As regards the latter, it is divided only into two 

 parts in Mr. Greenough's map ; the green colour correctly 

 denoting the existence of trap rocks on the south-eastern parts 

 of the district, being incorrectly carried up to the north-eastern, 

 where an essentially different rock prevails, to the exclusion of 

 all others, and which is coloured red in the annexed map. 

 These two extremes are less elevated than the central and 

 western parts, which consist of another rock perfectly dissimilar 

 to either of the former. 



The extreme extent of this tract on the east, is formed by the 

 cliffs above the town of Mount Sorrel : from near the summit of 

 these cliffs, which may be assumed scarcely to exceed at their 

 highest part the height of 150 feet above the river Soar, the 

 country descends gently on the west and south-west for about 

 two miles, if we except two or three well wooded hills, termed 

 Buddon's Wood, and attains its greatest depression along a line 

 extending by Swithland, Ttushfield, and Woodhouse, to Lough- 

 borough Park; and here the country is at least as low as the 

 general level of the red sandstone surrounding the tract of which 

 we are treating. The small patch forming the south-east angle 

 of our tract, which is coloured green in the annexed map, on the 

 north and north-west of Grooby, is generally of inconsiderable 

 height, the highest point being the knowl on which the windmill 

 stands close to Markfield. The remainder of our district 

 (coloured yellow in the map) may be considered as one large 

 hill, rising into frequent eminences, of which one of the most 

 lofty near the centre, Beacon Hill, is but little lower than Bar- 

 don Hill, the highest point of the whole. The short and nume- 

 rous valleys dividing these eminences, though much above the 

 general level of the new red sandstone, are nevertheless covered 

 by it in several instances ; and it is manifest that its beds repose 

 on the western side of Beacon Hill. 



The numerous eminences already adverted to have received 

 each its own designation as a separate hill, and it is chiefly on 

 the summits of these that the nature of the rocks constituting 

 them is to be perceived, being frequently crowned by rugged and 

 bare masses, which, particularly as viewed from near Grace 

 Dieu, have a serrated outline. This district for some miles east 

 of Thrinkston, where the hills are numerous and very rugged, is 

 little or not at all cultivated, the depressions between and 

 among them being covered by a long and very coarse grass, 

 beneath which, in some instances, as near Pedler Hill, the 

 ground is extremely soft, and even swampy. The other parts 

 of the district, however, differ greatly from this in their general 



