PRIMARY system; 10 



plain division of rocks at their side, and facts probably will there be found which will settle 

 the question of their elevation. The uplifts on the Mohawk conclusively prove, that besides 

 the general uplift of the whole mass of the primary, partial uphfts of the same mass took 

 place ; and there is no reason whatever for restricting that action to that valley exclusively. 

 In the examination of the Primary region, it is a fact of much interest to ascertain whether 

 local uphfts took place ; and if so, to what extent the surface has been changed by them. 



The whole of the Primary region, with the exception of a few parts near its border, with 

 the other class of rocks, is yet almost without an inhabitant. One mass of unbroken forest 

 is stretched over its surface, operating greatly to prevent the action of the sun upon its soil ; 

 thus diminishing sensibly the mean annual temperature of the whole region, and sheltering 

 swarms of insects, a pest to man and beast. Very little inducement has heretofore existed to 

 settle that country ; so much land of the highest grade of natural fertility surrounding it, with 

 good roads, mills, schools, churches and other improvements, essential to civilized man; 

 whereas, within that region, all is yet a wilderness ; not that it ought to be one, but merely 

 from the circumstance that no farmer will settle on primary soil which is not calcareous, if he 

 can get a calcareous one ; and so long as limestone, slate and other superior soils could be had 

 at a reasonable rate, the primary ones of the wilderness could not be settled. With the rapid 

 advance in population around the whole-of the border, settlements wiU be extended within the 

 wilderness, and every advance from the outer part of its circle will, in a high ratio, diminish 

 the space to be settled. At the rate that improvements have gone on in western New- York, 

 a half a century can not pass away without the forests of that region being levelled, and its 

 arable land put in cultivation. Gneiss and granite form the great mass of the primary rock, 

 the former, in general, very different from the gneiss of the second range ; containing less 

 mica, and its other constituents, quartz and feldspar, often showing the same parallelism as in 

 mica, with less.tendency also to alteration and decomposition. The gneiss and granite often 

 alternate with each other, showing a like origin for the two rocks, as might be inferred froin 

 their composition being iite same, the difference being merely this, that in gneiss the smooth 

 surfaces of the mica Eire arranged in parallels, whereas in granite no disposition of the kind 

 exists ; a difference which, probably may be found to be of no greater importance than noticed 

 in other rocks, some of which show, in parts, but few divisions, whilst in others they are more 

 numerous. In the rocks which succeed to the primary ones, the divisions into layers and 

 courses are almost, if not invariably, formed by argillaceous matter, usually fissile ; and the . 

 more homogenous the mass, should it be of carbonate of lime, the fewer are the layers or 

 parallel divisions. In the upper mass of the chalk in the neighbourhood of Paris, there are 

 no divisions excepting those formed by the layers of flint, which are arranged in parallels ; and 

 were it not for the flint, the chalk would, hke the granite, show no lines of division dependent 

 upon composition, and therefore not stratified ; the granite, like the chalk, where not water- 

 worn, also shows a mass whose surfaces are parallel to each other. The predominant colors of 

 the granite and gneiss are red and greenish, owing to the feldspar, which is usually of those 

 colors, and is in excess as regards the two other constituents. The mica is generally black, 

 the quartz white and glassy. At Little-Falls and in other places the feldspar shows a dispo- 



