DOMAIN XI. DECOMPOSED. 



wlin it is observed, that the basis of the 

 whole tract just described is a red sand- 

 stone, often containing in it a hard quartzy 

 gravel, perfectly similar to that which has 

 just been mentioned. From the dissolu- 

 tion of beds of this sandstone, which for- 

 merly covered the present, there can be no 

 doubt that this gravel is derived. But as 

 the gravel is in general thinly dispersed 

 through the sandstone, and abounds only 

 in some of its layers, it should therefore 

 seem that a vast body of strata must have 

 been worn away and decomposed, before 

 such quantities of gravel as now exist in the 

 soil could have been let loose. 



" I have said that a rock, capable of af- 

 fording such gravel as this, is not to be 

 found in the tract of country just mention- 

 ed. This, however, is not strictly true ; 

 for in Worcestershire, between Bromes- 

 grove and Birmingham, about seven miles 

 from the latter, a rock is found consisting 

 of indurated strata, greatly elevated, and 

 without doubt primitive, from the detritus 



