Mr. Hut ton on the Stratiform Basalt. 201 



At Ratcheugh Crag,* the Basalt forms a bold escarpment facing the 

 west, upon the top of which the Duke of Northumberland has a tower 

 which commands an extensive prospect. Near Ratcheugh House the 

 Whin is overlaid by a thin bed of Limestone, not more than six inches 

 thick, which is rendered perfectly chrystalline and white. From this 

 spot the edge of the Whin forms a ridge indicated by a series of round- 

 topped eminences proceeding towards Long Houghton ; these may be 

 easily traced by the eye running towards the sea-coast. 



At the north end of Long Houghton, the Whin rises above the sur- 

 face by the road side, and to the east of Howick Hall it forms a bold 

 cliff presenting its face to the west, the bed being here seven to eight 

 fathoms thick ; this line of escarpments continues with the usual de- 

 pressions by Craster Sea Houses to Dunstanbrough Castle. At this spot 

 the Whin forms the uppermost bed, which by the natural course of the 

 strata dips into the sea in an unbroken face of rock, which is constantly 

 black by being wet with the spray ; this forms the horrible rocky coast 

 to the east and south of the castle. 



A small stream, called Embleton Mill Burn, cuts through the Whin 

 in its passage to the sea. At the south end of the village of Embleton 

 the Whin is worked for the roads, and is found reposing upon a Shale 

 bed of a light blue colour (here called a pencil bed), the natural and 

 perpendicular partings of which contain thin films of brown Sulphuret 

 of Zinc. From Embleton, the edge of the Whin is indicated by a series 

 of low hillocks gradually approaching the sea until it disappears a little 

 north of Newton. 



By a general depression of the strata the bed under review re-appears 

 about two miles south of Bambrough, and running by Elford, which is 

 upon its edge, it sweeps up to Belford by Spindleston and Easington, 

 its course being marked, as usual, by a series of irregular eminences. 

 From Belford it runs by Raven Crag to Kyloe ; at Raven Crag it rises 

 majestically into a cliff of eighty or ninety feet high. The Whin here 

 is underlaid by a series of thick Sandstone beds which present their 



* See Mr. F. Forster's Observation on the Geology of Ratcheugh Crag, Trans. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc, vol. i., page 75. 



