CHAPTER V 



PRELIMINARY TRAVERSES OR RECONNAISSANCES 



CIRCUMSCRIBING CONDITIONS 



HAVING now examined the various parts of the equip- 

 ment of a field-geologist, let us proceed to notice what 

 use he must make of them. At the outset I would 

 remark that while the mere possession of good instru- 

 ments cannot make a geologist, the want of them will 

 not prevent a skilled geologist from doing good work. 

 The training of years enables him to judge of rocks and 

 angles, of dip and of trends of boundary so nearly accur- 

 ately as to make him often independent of hammer, 

 compass, and clinometer. In like manner long experi- 

 ence quickens his eye to detect geological evidence 

 where a less practised observer, though searching for 

 information, would fail to find it. This difference of 

 training tells greatly in all preliminary surveys, recon- 

 naissances, or rapid traverses of a country. The geolo- 

 gist who has already had many years of campaigning 

 carries with him a faculty of grasping the salient features 

 of geological structure, and directing his attention, on 

 the march, to every available source of information which 

 will help him to fill in the details of his section. If it 



