of the Coast of Labrador. 75 
_ The course of this formation is east and west, and the co- 
Jumns to the westward are of longer dimensions than those 
to the eastward. 
Mineralogical analysis of basalt from the Coast of Labrador. 
* Colour, binish black ; externally itis yellowish brown. 
Opaque. Structure, compact granular. Fracture, slightly 
uneven, somewhat conchoidal, it scratches glass, but yields 
to the knife, Colour of streak light grey. Magnetic before the 
application of heat—No apparent action in acids. Sp.Gr. 2-9. 
. Before the blowpipe it forms a shining black globule of enamel. 
A yellowish green mineral, supposed to be olivine, is dissemi 
nated in spots through the basalt.t 
Extracts from the Rev, Mr. Steinhauer’s notes on the Geoe 
ology of the Labrador Coast. 
“According to the descriptions of those who have had an ope 
portunity of contemplating this inhospitable region, it cunsistg 
almost entirely of barren rocks ,towering in craggy eminences, 
on which even the lichen in vain endeavours to fix a habitae 
tion ; for moisture enters the rock with its fibres ; the cold 
of winter congeals that moistnre, and the summer’s thaw 
precipitates the loosened fragment and its tenant to the foot. 
These fragments mouldering into sand, afford in some places 
support to a few species of pines, and the annual decomposition 
of their leaves, stains this earth to the depth of a few inches 
with a blackish hue. Io other spots where the thawing snow 
occasions an accumulation of water, sphagma and other mosses 
form a species ofturf, and conceal the barrenness of the land ; 
but every were the plucking upa tuft of vegetation, or ree 
moving the withered leaves, discovers either the bare rock or 
a bright silicious sand. In several parts of the country the 
rocks are intersected by chasms running generally in aright 
line 
* The part within the ferruginous band, represented in the plan is 
modified by the rust of iron. 
tA black purnice full of perfectly round pores, was found floating on 
the sea at Bradore. 
K 2 
