ESSEX COUNTY. 229 



The mass of limestone at Long pond belongs to one of those kinds which must necessarily 

 be quite limited in extent. It is bounded on two sides by the hypcrsthcnc rocks, and runs 

 south in its ascent up the mountain above the slide, where it is concealed by soil, moss, and 

 the underbrush of the forest. 



Two other beds of limestone remain, which require a mere notice of their existence : one 

 upon Newcorab lake, which is rather impure, from intermixture with quartz, hornblende, and 

 a poor kind of pyroxene ; and the other in Pendleton, which is a better variety, and may be 

 employed for hme. In Chesterfield, one and a half mile southwest from Clintonville, primary 

 limestone, associated with granite, has been discovered, of a quality suitable for lime. 



The primary limestone is of little consequence to the towns and villages upon the lake, as 

 a supply of quickhme for all purposes may be obtained from the blue Umestone, as it is called, 

 and from the birdseye, chazy, or some of the layers of the calciferous sandrock. In the 

 western part of the county, it becomes an important rock. I have therefore been rather 

 minute in describing it ; for where wood is so plenty, even an impure limestone may be burnt 

 at a less expense than to transport the lime for ten or twenty miles in wagons over a bad 

 road. 



Before closing my account of the primitive limestone of Essex county, I would state the 

 fact that it is not connected with beds of the specular oxide of iron, as in St. Lawrence 

 county ; and that where the ore is found in this state of oxidation, it is evident that it is in 

 consequence of a change which the protoxide has undergone. 



Hornblende and Gneiss. 



As rocks, it is unnecessary to consider these masses apart, however much they may differ 

 in mineral characters. Most of the gneiss is of that variety termed hornblendic gneiss, in 

 which not only hornblende replaces the mica, but the whole mass sometimes becomes horn- 

 blende. This compound flanks the hypersthene rock upon the east and southeastern sides. It 

 enters the county from Warren, the north boundaries of which are composed mainly of it. If a 

 line is drawn from the southwest corner of Schroon to Willsborough, the whole county east 

 of that line is gneiss and hornblende, with the exception of the primary limestone and transi- 

 tion rocks. This line marks not only their boundary, but their strike or line of bearing. 

 They are a continuation of the same rocks from Warren county, belonging to the same ranges 

 of hills or mountains, and terminating upon Lake Champlain. All the bluffs or terminating 

 points upon the lake south of Willsborough, upon the New-York side, are granite or gneiss. 



The first range of gneiss which comes up from the south, is that which forms Bulvvagga 

 mountain. This mountain rises twelve hundred and sixty feet above the lake, with a very 

 steep ascent, scarcely admitting the construction of a road upon its eastern side. The gneiss 

 dips steeply to the east, at an angle of not less than fifty degrees. It is the ordinary kind, 

 passing on the north side into hornblende : in addition to which, it forms a variety of com- 

 pounds with other substances, as pyroxene, mica, etc. The mass in the immediate vicinity 

 of the mountain is not worthy of much attention. Upon its northward side, iron pyrites is 



