466 MIDDLE BANGE. 



Fayetteville there is a vein of concretionary granite in this belt of gneiss. In Townshcml, 

 Athens and Grafton, the amount of gneiss covers a wider area, and is still more character- 

 istically developed. There are two axes here, and several beds of dolomite and steatite. 

 Frequently the gneiss is granitic, or nearly destitute of stratification. It has more of 

 the character of mica schist in the northwest part of Grafton. In the west part of Towns- 

 hend there are numerous small beds of limestone, occuring much like the beds of silicious 

 limestone in the calciferous mica schist. At Houghtonville there is a bed of hornblende 

 schist ; also a wide bed of white quartz. Below Eagle Mills in Grafton, there are large 

 veins of granite in the gneiss. In the vicinity the gneiss contains large crystals of flesh- 

 colored feldspar in great abundance. At Bartonsville in Rockingham, there is hornblende 

 schist associated with the gneiss, both rocks being distorted from pressure. In Chester 

 and Springfield the gneiss is wider than at any other part of this belt. In Chester, north 

 of the village there are small beds of limestone associated with the gneiss. A large mass 

 of black syenitic or hornblendic rock, about a mile in diameter, is also found in the vicin- 

 ity near Whitmore's Mills. As the gneiss is well characterized in Chester, so minerals are 

 unusually abundant in it, as the list of localities in another part of the Report will show. In 

 many parts of Chester the gneiss is quarried, and makes a valuable stone for building. 

 The stratigraphical structure is that of a synclinal and an anticlinal axis, both in Chester 

 and in Cavendish along the route of Section V. But the axes are the more complicated 

 with minor undulations in Cavendish. 



A band of very beautiful mica schist extends from Chester to the north part of Caven- 

 dish, from Gassett's station in Chester, to the most northern bend in Black River. Much 

 dolomite, also, is associated with the gneiss in Weathersfielcl and Cavendish, not in small 

 beds alone, but in several large beds. The gneiss at the " gulf" in Weathersficld is some- 

 what porphyritic in its appearance; west of the gulf the gneiss is granitic. But in all this 

 region the dip of the gneiss is unusually small and full of small undulations. Yet occa- 

 sionally the position varies very much suddenly. For instance, at the gulf the strike is 

 N. 10 W., which continues nearly to Amsden's Mill ; but at the mill itself the strike is 

 N.E. and S.W., and the dip is in the opposite direction. One cannot but feel that there 

 has been a twist in the strata here. The force may have relieved itself by elevating 

 segments of the strata, rather than plicating them as a whole. 



The granite of the two Ascutneys seems to have cut across the strata of the calciferous 

 mica schist, quite a distance into the gneiss. We formerly supposed that the gneiss 

 extended further to the east or the south of this protrusion, than on the north. But a 

 subsequent partial examination has satisfied us that the boundaries of the gneiss and 

 mica schist, are in the same line upon both sides of the syenite. Yet there may be a 

 dislocation of very small extent, unobserved by us. We would not venture to affirm or 

 deny it, without a very careful examination. The presumption is now against it. The 

 gneiss is well characterized in Weathersficld and Cavendish. On the westside of Little 

 Ascutncy the dip is apparently beneath the mountain, and north of Felchville the dip 

 is only 10 E. South of Felchville it dips 60 E. Much of the gneiss in Cavendish, 

 particularly between the village of Cavendish and the cast line, is deficient in feldspar : so 

 much so that Prof. Adams did not distinguish it from the calciferous mica schist. No 

 one would ever mistake the rock between Cavendish and Froctorsville for any thing but 



