Geology^ <^c. of Malbay, L. C. 21 1 



the bay, a vein one yard thick, of brown compact quartz, 

 advances from the cliff at right angles, to the direction of 

 the gneiss, and diminishing to a point at the water's edge, 

 the hne of division being straight, and perfectly well defi- 

 ned. It is remarkable that a few leaves of a crumbling, 

 shaly substance, are interspersed between the vein and its 

 bed, and are parellel to the former. In contact with the 

 west side of this vein, is a deposit of white feldspar in large 

 aggregated rhomboidal crystals. It is of an irregular form, 

 and is about 50 yards long, by 40 yards broad. Fifty 

 yards west of the small cascade, a bed or seam of this 

 kmd of feldspar occurs in laminated gneiss ; but it is nar- 

 row and runs obliquely from the beach into the mountain 



visible as a stripe of white fragments for a considerable 

 distance among the ruins of the slope. 



The mica slate is in large shining plates of a coppery 

 black colour. It is very splintery on the surface; but not 

 so much so in the occasionally broken pavement of this rock 

 in advance of the cliff to Avhich the salt water has daily 

 access. The mica is often in such great excess, as to ex- 

 clude every other ingredient, except what appears to be a 

 mmutely granular quartz, sparingly disseminated. 



The layers are often contorted, and are traversed by 



veins of different materials, and of different sizes as of 



white crystalline quartz; red feldspar; of an aggregate of 

 greenish feldspar, coppery mica and massive garnet : and 

 also of white feldspar similar to that of the beds occur- 

 ring in gneiss, which here contains six sided prisms of 

 schorl, and four sided oblique prisms of hornblende. In 

 the last instance, the veins are parallel to the laminas of 

 the mica slate; but in the others in their direction is in- 

 constant. 



The gray precipice which forms the immediate angle of 

 the Bay, a few yards in advance of the dark lichen cov- 

 ered primary cliff on the west, is of a similar height with 

 it; but is surrounded by a level space, and not by this 

 usual declivity. At the outer or western end, it sinks per- 

 pendicularly down to the beach, unincumbered by debris ; 

 but at every other part of the line it is defended from the 

 waves by a base of smooth and bleached mounds of rock, 

 half concealed by fallen masses, mounting midheight and 

 towards the northeast extremity becoming mingled with al- 

 luvion, which gives nourishment to a luxuriant shrubbery. 



