i 



1^17.] GEOLOGY OF THE WEST INDIES, 147 



?i fine specimen of the alternation of the Neptunian and 

 volcanic formation, which, for ought we knoAv, may be 

 repeated twenty or thirty times in the foundation of these 

 islands, as every current of lava that runs into the sea is 

 liable to be covered with corals, madrepores, &c. and af- 

 terwards recovered with lava, until it comes above the 

 surface of the sea. 



On the south end, above Sandy-Point, there i^ more 

 pumice stone, and at a point a little north there appear to 

 be solid masses of compact rock, which look like currents 

 of lava. From Sandy- Point to Deep^Bay , the rocks which 

 occur are those mixed with cinders of a black colour, and 

 full of glassy or transparent crystals. 



St, Eustatia is formed of two hills that appear to have 

 been both craters of volcanoes; the western one is more 

 ancient and is filled up with earth, &:c.; the eastern one is 

 higher and appears to be more recent, the crattr being 

 only partially filled. The space between these two hills is 

 filled with cinders, forming a plain with- a bay on each 

 side, the one to the leeward is the harbour, en the td^t of 

 which stands the tow^n. 



On the south-east side of the large hill, tow^ards St. 

 Christopher, there is a stratification of madrepore limestone, 

 alternatmg with beds of shells, sii^ilar to those found at pre- 

 sent in the sea. The u hole of this marine deposition dips to 

 the soudi-west, at an angle of upwards of 45 degrees from 

 the horizon, resting upon a bed of cinders, full of pumice 

 and other volcanic rocks, and is immediately covered by 

 a bed of madrepore, sand and cinders, mixed together, 

 with blocks of volcanic rocks so disseminated that there 

 can be no doubt of the volcanic origin of the substance 

 above and below the madrepore rock, which may be from 



