4 ly Geolowy, Mineralogy, Scenery, fc. 
It has been already observed that the iron, ore at this 
place i is imbedded in clay, so that it is obtained with com- 
parative ease. 
The clay is often stained by the oxid of iron, so that it ex- 
hibits most of the varieties of colour belonging to the ochres, 
and would, without doubt, in various instances, afford good 
painting colours. It appears in some places saponaceous, 
and in some instances to approximate to the properties of 
fuller’s earth. ‘This clay deserves further attention, and a 
more attentive mineralogical examination than probaly it 
has hitherto received. 
There are other ore beds and establishments in this town 
for manufacturing both cast and bar iron, but my time did 
not admit of my visiting them. 
Ride to Kent. 
Having now reached the proposed extent of my journey 
West, I turned my face South, and crossed the Housatonick 
some miles below the falls. In pursuing this oblique course, I 
necessarily crossed the strata of marble and mica slate al- 
ready described. 
My next object was the bed of iron ore in Kent, and in 
going to it my journey lay immediately down the east- 
ern bank of the Housatonick. In driving about twen- 
ty miles, in the course of an afternoon, there was very 
little to detaim me. My journey was no longer across 
the natural ridges of the country, but parallel with and be- 
tween them, so that many miles presented less variety than 
was often seen in as many furlongs, in travelling at right an- 
gles with this direction. Ina word, my whole ride to Kent 
was through a vast natural defile formed by two parallel 
chains of mountains or high hills, so near each other that 
there was merely room for the Housatonick to flow along, 
which it often did with sullen murmurs, over a very rocky 
and broken bed, and for a narrow road, in most instan- 
ces passing directly along its banks, So abrupt were these 
chains of mountains, that on the western side, the river often 
washed their very feet, and their frowning cliffs, more or less 
veiled by thick forests, hung over the river. ‘Ihe road 
which f travelled, was bounded by hills almost equally ab~- 
rupt, rocky and rude in their aspect, and in most instances 
on either side, there seemed to be no passage through these 
apparently impenetrable barriers. 
