1 5S Mineralogy and Geology of a part of Nova Scotia. 



did not perforate. We saw masses of this rock lying in the 

 vicinity of the shaft, which we were told were obtained in 

 his last diggings. If another stratum of coal lies beneath 

 this layer of shale, it is doubtless more compact, from the 

 pressure of the overlying rocks during its formation. We 

 must remain undecided as to the fact until the mighty strokes 

 of the steam engine break away the obstacles to its exami- 

 nation, when treasures may be brought to light rewarding 

 the labors of the miner, and contributing new facts to the 

 imperfect science of geology. 



We observed several fine specimens of remarkably perfect 

 stony casts of culmiferous plants, in possession of Mr. Blan- 

 chard of Truro, which he informed us were obtained at the 

 New Glasgow Mines in raising the coal. They resemble 

 those found at Cumberland, and mark this deposit as coeval 

 with that formation. 



About twelve miles northeast from the coal mines of New 

 Glasgow, and eighteen miles from the town of Pictou, the 

 sandstone, with its accompanying shale, approximates to the 

 transition clay slate of the South Mountain range. The im- 

 mediate junction of these rocks was not discovered on ac- 

 count of the deep, unbroken soil which overlaid and conceal- 

 ed from view their respective strata. It appears evident that 

 the strata unite near this place, from the fact that their lines 

 of bearing here intersect each other at an acute angle; the 

 bearing of the clay slate being north sixty degrees east, while 

 that of the sandstone is directly east. The clay slate dipping 

 at an angle of fifty or sixty degrees to the northwest, while 

 the sandstone dips at angles of only ten or fifteen degrees to 

 the north, clearly indicates the former rock to be of greater 

 antiquity than the latter, and seems a well founded charac- 

 ter for considering the clay slate of the South Mountains as 

 belonging to the transition class of rocks, which we shall 

 confirm when treating of that formation. The sandstone 

 was before proved to be secondary from the fossils it con- 

 tained. It evidently lies over the clay slate, and we regret 

 exceedingly that we were unable to discover a single spot 

 from which the soil and gravel had been removed, so as to 

 exhibit the connexion of the two rocks. Future explorers 

 by traversing the forests, may perhaps find an outcropping 

 somewhere along the line of their union, which will repay 

 the labor of research, by illustrating their relations and com- 

 parative age. 



