SCENERY. 

 TJie Scenery peculiar to the Hypersthene Rock. 



35 



View of the Adirondack mountains Iroin Laitc Sandford. 



The influence of the geological formations upon the scenery of a country, has been observed 

 and remarked by most geologists ; and so constant is this influence, that if the landscape is 

 true to nature, it becomes a tolerable guide in the determination of the rock found beneath 

 the soil. The character of the scenery, however, depends much upon the condition of tlie 

 rock, witliout regard to the geological era in which it may have been produced. Thus, tlie 

 soft shales and slates, of whatever age, being deeply weathered and decotnposed, are usually 

 concealed beneath a deep soil, and the tops of the hills are rounded and susceptible of culti- 

 vation. Every district, therefore, which is underlaid b}- such decomposable materials, presents 

 a rolling surface. Again, those districts which are level and widely extended plains, witli 

 hillocks of sand and gravel interspersed here and there, are recognized as alluvial or diluvial. 

 On the contrary, those indented ridges and conical peaks, presenting a sharp outline in the 

 distance, are at once known as primitive. When .we approach them, their primitive features 

 become still more distinct, by gorges, narrow and winding defiles and steep declivities. 

 Greenstone trap and basalt impart also their peculiar characters to the landscape, by their 

 dark colors and their columnar structure ; appearing, when under those forms, like works of 

 art and design. 



