g 



98 On the Transition Rocks of the Cataraqui. 



called the greater and the lesser Cataraqni^ an area of above four 

 miles in breadth^ by the same depth ; and it may be said to be per- 

 fectly stratified, with a trifling dip, its layers directing themselves 

 enerally, from N. E. to S. W., at a very low angle, perhaps about 

 25^3 and passing directly below the waters of the great Lake, which 

 when it first narrows by the tw^o channels of Long Island, to form 

 the river St. Lawrence, appears as though it had forced its devious 

 course towards tlie ocean by a general dissolution or disruption of 

 this vast calcareous deposit ; the left bank from Kingston, in descend- 

 ing a few miles, being composed chiefly of denuded granitic aggre- 

 gates, to which broken strata of the limestone are here and there at- 

 tached J whilst the right bank is composed of the calcareous vestiges 

 themselves, which, as they are on a higher level than those of the 

 other shore, contain more numerous organic remains, particularly 

 large terebratulae of a more recent family than those we have men- 

 tioned ; also orthoceradtes, favosltes, and the cornua ammonis, some- 

 times very large. In fact, die transition hmestones of the Cataraqui, 

 ill its upper beds, passes, by slow degrees into a more recent rock.* 

 On the left bank, in die situation already named, and in die im- 

 mediate vicinity of the Tow^n, before die granite first rises to view, 

 the set of the lake has form.ed some large openings, or bays, and in two 

 of these, the streams called Cataraqui empty themselves- On the 

 shores of the lesser river, a considerable alluvion and diluvium are 

 seated, whilst the lake, from die prevalence of strong south-western 

 gales, constantly brings in large deposits of sand, in which very litde, 

 or perhaps no mica is present. At certain seasons of the year, when 

 hea\7 storms visit the shore, the sand appears finer than usual, and 

 there is an absence of the small rolled pebbles of felspar and quartz 

 which otherwise generally appear, whilst vast numbers of small spiral 

 and discoidal shells, with those of the large fresh water muscle, are 

 thrown up, togedier with occasional washings, in particular localities 

 only, of magnetic iron sand, of a deep black color.f 



J 



"A Kingston, ou Cataraqui, a Fextrcmito sud-cst du Lac Ontario, on retrouvc 



encore la pierre a chaux de I'e^pcce aigillcuse, a gi'ain Cnj ct d'un gris foace. 

 M, Gtuilltmard, 



t Coal is also said lo have been occa?ionally picked up (o the eastward of the town, 

 and 1 have some specimens of an anthracitoua kind, which were given to me hy a 

 medical gentlennan of the Royal Navy, who found them on the lake shore. I have 

 also seen one from the Thousand Island^=J wliich resembles jet, and probably be- 

 longs to a very pure canncl coal. 



tth 



