1 44 Mineralosy and Geology of a part of Nova Scotia, 



strata, appears to account fur those phenomena in a more 

 satisfactory manner than any other, we shall now pass to 

 the ne!,irhborin,ii strata of sandstone and shale, forming the 

 moderately elevated and rounded hills of the county of 

 Cumberland, and part of the county of Hants, and part of 

 the districts of Colchester and Pictjm. 



It becomes necessary io describe the formation before 

 speaking of the South Mountains on account of its intimate 

 connexions with the trap which we have previously alluded 

 to, in describing the capes which project into the Basin of 

 Mines. 



The sandstone, constituting so large a portion of the prov- 

 ince of Nova Scotia, is of various appearance, differing 

 greatly at different places. In the immediate vicinity of 

 the trap, as at Cape Chignecto, Cape Sharp, and Swan's 

 Creek it is of a dark brick red color, and consists of irregu- 

 larly rounded grains of quartz, usually very small, rarely ex- 

 ceeding the size of a pepper corn, accompained by mi- 

 nute spangles of mica, and united by an argillaceous ce- 

 ment, containing a large proportion of peroxide of iron. 

 Where in connexion with the trap as before observed, the 

 sandstone passes insensibly into the shale, or rather, the twa 

 form a compound in which the eye can distinguish no line 

 of division, so completely are they blended. The shale va- 

 ries greatly in color, and generally, like the sandstone, be- 

 comes red in the presence of the trap rocks, where it as- 

 sumes a bright tile red color, and when exposed to the ac- 

 tion of the waves, it becomes polished on the surface. This 

 rock consists of thin folia of argillaceous slate, sometimes 

 including a little mica, and is generally colored by oxide 

 of iron. Comparatively remote from the trap, the shale as- 

 sumes a grey, brown, or bluish black color : more rarely it 

 is spotted with green. 



Near Diligence River, the shale is almost black, and ap- 

 pears to be colored by carburet of iron. It here includes a 

 large bed of compact limestone, a section of which has 

 been formed by the encroachments of the waters of the Ba- 

 sin of Mines. A little beyond Fox River towards Cape 

 D'Or, the sandstone of a grey color, is seen to alternate 

 with the strata of greyish black shale, both of which are fil- 

 led with relics of the vegetable kingdom of a former world. 

 They are carbonized remains of various culmiferous plants, 

 which are converted into a compact bituminous lignite. 



