110 REPORT—1858, 
inent headlands in these directions; and he gave a singular exemplification of the 
power of water so agitated to alter the face of things by adverting to the fact, that in 
the Greater Crebawethan large boulders of granite, from half a ton to two tons in 
weight, have been lifted bodily out of the sea, and have been lodged in large heaps, as 
though the ballast of a dozen vessels had been piled upon the top of the island, pro- 
bably 18 or more feet above the surface of the ocean at the highest spring tides, As 
the geologic features of St. Mary’s seemed to be reproduced on a smaller scale in the 
other islands, the author next proceeded to give a detailed account of its most im- 
portant characteristics. The various soils superimposed upon the granite in this 
island he described as the following :—1. A black surface soil composed of decayed 
vegetable matter, and in many places largely intermixed with sand, either blown up 
from the adjoining beach, or derived from intermixture with the underlying stratum. 
2. A fine white ash-coloured sand, in some places (as in the pit just below the Na- 
tional Schools) containing fragments of shells imbedded in it. 38. A dark reddish 
or chocolate-brown clay, in many parts of considerable thickness, and having angular 
blocks of half-decomposed granite disseminated through it. 4, A stratum of loose 
grit or rubbly granite locally called “ yam,” sometimes so comminuted as to look at 
a short distance off like-a bed of cream-coloured lime or sandstone, but more fre- 
quently coarse, and in the portions resting upon the granite mingled with large frag- 
mentary masses of that rock; and finally, in the low and marshy ground, as at Holy 
Vale, and in the neighbourhood of Carnfriars, traces of a band of whitish pipeclay, 
the position of which ought most probably to be placed above the last-named deposit, 
The best locality for seeing at one view these various beds is a pit immediately below 
Mount Flagon, on the bridle-path leading towards Porthloo Bay. The beds here 
seen are numbered 1 to 5, downward. Between Nos. 3 and 4 the road-path inter- 
venes, and No. 5 constitutes the low cliffs at this part of Permellin Bay, The 
stratum No. 2 seems to take its rise a little beyond Carn Morval Point, where it can 
be seen capping the cliff, which is here much higher, and running along the line of 
coast. It gradually thickens as it approaches St. Mary’s Bay, where it assumes the 
greatest depth, forming in the neighbourhood of the National School, and in a section 
nearly opposite the Church, sand-pits of considerable depth, from which large quantities 
of sand are being continually carted for the purposes of ballast or manure. Other sec- 
tions, precisely similar to the above, are to be found more inland, the mast interesting 
of which is perhaps that in a pit by the side of the road at the Green leading towards 
New Quay. The stratum of sand here is not, it is true, more than 6 inches thick ; 
but lying as it does under about 8 inches of soil, upon one of the highest points in the 
island, the section is valuable, as showing that in all probability, at one time the whole 
of the surface of the island has been capped with sand which has been washed away 
from those portions where it is now deficient, leaving the underlying stratum of brown 
clay visible. But there is another very curious geologic feature which will tell the 
same tale of the former submergence of the land, to allow of these arenaceous accu- 
mulations upon its highest points. Immediately behind the Guard House, inside the 
gateway of the garrison on the Hugh, is a kind of shallow cavern, which is now used 
as a place for storing lumber. ‘The rough blocks of granite have fallen from the top 
of the entrance, so as to form arude arch; and imbedded in the rock forming the 
sides of the entrance, are to be seen several large round boulders of granite, almost as 
regular as if they had been turned in a lathe, and compactly fixed in the matrix of 
the rock. Now this spot is considerably above the present level of the sea (probably 
from 150 to 180 feet), and the boulders of granite have all the marks of having been 
long rolled on a rough sea-beach. Moreover, the author was assured by the same 
masons as those referred to above (two brothers of the name of Williams), that they 
had been engaged in repairing the Guard House floor, and in digging beneath it they 
found other boulders of precisely the same character as those at the sides of the cave 
firmly imbedded in the soil, It is manifest then that the spot now adjoining the 
Guard House must once have been on a level with the surrounding sea, or at any rate 
at no great elevation above it, in order to account for the presence of these rounded 
boulders so deeply impacted in the solid rock. It becomes interesting therefore to 
inquire whether there are any traces of volcanic or subterranean action still visible in 
the islands, to which this upheaving of the land, after one, or it may have been fre- 
quent submersions, may be attributed, Mr, Statham entered largely into this part of 
