6b Bibliographical Notices. 



rises boldly to a height of from thirty to fifty feet on the northern 

 point and on the south-eastern part of the parish of St. Philip, but 

 otherwise we find long lines of sandy beaches, which are protected 

 against the encroachments of the sea by coral reefs." 



Although possessing no very elevated points, the surface is exceed- 

 ingly irregular; the highest point is Mount Hillaby, 1 147*55 feet. 

 *' If we choose this point as our station, we observe clearly two struc- 

 tures well-defined and geologically different from each other. A 

 narrow strip runs parallel, to the west, with the coast from north to 

 south. We may easily trace it from Bridgetown to almost the ex- 

 treme end of the island, where, in the neighbourhood of Harrison's, a 

 bold bluff point ends it, from whence the coast assumes the rugged 

 outlines which cliffs of soft material generally present where en- 

 croached upon by the battering power of the breakers of a stormy sea. 

 From the west or leeward coast, the ground rises in very distinct 

 successive terraces to the central ridge. These terraces are inter- 

 rupted by ravines (called gullies in the island). If we turn now^ to 

 the east, an aspect of a quite different nature presents itself; we see 

 before us a mountainous country in miniature ; hills of a conical form 

 radiate from the central ridge, and chiefly from Mount Hillaby in a 

 north-eastern direction towards the sea-shore ; their sides are rugged 

 and worn by the heavy rains and mountain torrents, their colour being 

 generally of a dark reddish -brown, here and there tipped with whitish 

 marl. This district has been represented as. similar to the alpine 

 country of Scotland, which name has been adopted for it." Mount 

 Hillaby is not exactly in the centre of the island, but rather in the 

 middle of the northern and larger portion of the island, divided from 

 the southern by adeep valley running from east to west; " the southern 

 division is an imitation of the northern on a smaller scale, only that 

 the line of its greatest length stretches from east to west, while in the 

 northern division it extends north and south." The western aspect of 

 Barbados presents a succession of terraces of table-land rising preci- 

 pitously from one another ; the south aspect is similar, but the total 

 elevation is not so great. The north offers a considerable extent of 

 champaign country with Mount Gilboa and Boscobelle rising suddenly 

 from it : seen from the east the island is wild and picturesque, the 

 cliffs rising almost abruptly from the sea to a height of nearly a 

 thousand feet. 



The Caribbee Islands form tw^o geological groups ; the one, calca- 

 reous, is external and exposed to the direct action of the Atlantic ; 

 while the other, volcanic, includes the inner islands. Barbados is 

 the most eastern of the calcareous chain, and its aspect indicates at 

 once its origin from the coral animals. 



Our author divides the now existing rocks of Barbados into two 

 formations, viz. the Coralline limestone and what, from its locality, 

 he terms the "Scotland" formation. The coralline limestone in- 

 cludes beds of calcareous marl containing recent shells in large 

 numbers and many species ; the " Scotland " consists of strata of 

 sandstone, siliceous and calcareous, siliceous limestone, clays, selenite, 

 earthy marls often containing fragments of pumice, strata of volcanic 



