98 Transition Rocks of the Cataraqui. 



coursing down the dell, over limestone, suddenly meets a low ram- 

 part of the sienite, which forms the shore of the lake. It then winds, 

 nearly at right angles to its original course, and fairly cuts its way 

 through the sienite, the severe frosts of winter and its own action 

 having evidently worn it out a passage by the large fissures, most of 

 which, in this rock, trend from north east to south west. 



On the Kingston side of the valley, the limestone crops out, every 

 where, through the soil, to an elevation of above one hundred feet, 

 whilst, on the opposite bank, the sienite, at a short distance, throws 

 up its wave-like rounded masses to an equal elevation, but is cut off 

 in a precipitous wall and bank, by another sharp ancl deeper valley, 

 forming the upper end of the cove. 



Just before we arrive at the valley of the spring, and just before 

 the banks begin to descend, another alternation of the hard and soft 

 stone occurs; a small quarry, or perhaps only a slide, showing, about 

 fifteen feet above the lake, a very thick bed of the hard stone, cov- 

 ering a moderate layer of the softer kind. 



At the termination of the gently shelving bank of limestone, a 

 new beach suddenly succeeds to the boulder-slrewn shore ; this 

 beach is composed principally of flat limestone shingles, mixed with 

 a few -that are siliceous. We now come to the tongue of land, forming 

 one side of the banks of the stream ; here, on the point, we first see the 

 sienite assuming its usual form and standing out in barren majesty, 

 covered only by the lichens of ages, and shelving gently down into 

 the lake, under whose waters it is lost. It is worthy of note, that 

 here the beach is composed of calcareous shingle, and the rock itself, 

 under water, is almost hidden by a great deposit of the same materials, 

 which become finer and finer, and are mixed with siliceous gravel. 



Adjoining the lakes, the sienite is broken by the frost, into cuboidal 

 masses or boulders, and here we see very plainly, the usual fissured 

 surface, having its lines of opening, from north east to south west, 

 crossed irregularly by vast rents. Wherever the boulders or fissured 

 fragments have been recently made, the bright deep vivid flesh color 

 of the sienite is beautifully displayed. 



The top of this tongue is fissured also, and heaved up into a man- 

 tle-shaped mass, on which the north east and south west grooves so 

 common to this rock are very apparent, and very deep and smooth. 

 Ascending farther up the hill, the limestone is evidently superimposed 

 upon the sienite ; but this is not very visible, as the rocks are cover- 

 ed with soil and turf. 



