212 THE WORLD. 



strata composed of loose materials are of very great importance;: 

 for by an infiltration of carbonate of lime, sand is converted into 

 sandstone, and soft cbalk into solid rock, and the loose shells of 

 Florida into compact stone. By this agency, the beds of recent 

 limestone in which human skeletons are sometimes found, have 

 been formed, and are now in progress of formation, along the 

 shores of the whole West Indian Archipelago^ On the north- 



east corner of the main land of Guadalope, is a bed c/f recent 

 limestone, nearly submerged at high tides. In it are found shells, 

 fragments of pottery, sto-ne arrow-heads, wooden and stone or- 

 naments, and human skeletons. It is quite evident that the rock 

 must have been soft and yielding when these remains were first 

 deposited, they are not fossilized, for the bones still retain their 

 gluten and phosphate of Erne. In the wood cut, we give a repre- 

 sentation of one of these human skeletons which is now in the 

 British Museum, it is that of a female ; the head of this skeleton. 

 has been carefully examined by Dr. Moultrie, and is now in the 

 museum of the Medical College at Charleston, South Carolina- 



