Richmond and Jerusalem. 71 



rather than wind and weather, had effected their excava- 

 tion. But the most curious and interesting phenomenon 

 connected with these hills and caverns is, that the sand- 

 stone is saliferous ; and that common salt oozes and 

 effloresces from roof, sides, and floor of many of the 

 excavations. On the floor there is often a thick layer 

 of sand, with an encrustation of salt between it and the 

 solid rock. 



The beds of this sandstone vary from massive to 

 flaggy ; and in the upper part of the series it is generally 

 rather hard. It contains thin beds of conglomerate and 

 clay-schist, with layers of clayey amygdoli, and some 

 singular impressions and forms. The most common 

 looks like the impress of a straight and broad-toed 

 diminutive shoe with its heel detached, or the tip of a 

 broad spatula narrowed toward the end which is cut 

 across. This form occurs from half an inch to three 

 inches in length, with a proportionate width. 



The newer red sandstone which prevails so extensively 

 over the coal measures in England, and for which this 

 appears to be the equivalent here, is highly saliferous. In 

 Worcester and Cheshire it yields, as is well known, salt 

 springs and many thick beds of rock salt. The beds 

 known in England as the " Red Marl Group" attain a 

 thickness of more than 2000 feet. 



The saliferous yellow sandstone, which near Richmond 

 reaches an elevation not exceeding 500 feet, may be 

 seen on the banks of the Coal River, two or three miles east 

 from Jerusalem, forming a magnificent fagade of 800 to 

 1000 feet, exhibiting its characteristic caverns with their 

 encrustations of salt and its thin layers of clayey breccia 

 and schist, with the same curious spatula-looking forms 

 and impressions which abound in the Richmond hills. 



The same sandstone presents itself again with all its 

 characteristic features about 4 or 5 miles south from 



