l!6 HONEYMAN — ON THE LONDOKDERllT IliOK MINES. 



ill the case of Arisaig pier and the Frenchman's barn. It is pos- 

 sible, however, that an examination of the Arisaig equivalents at 

 Earltown, on the north side of the Cobeqnid range, with their 

 fossils, may enable us to determine the precise age of the strata 

 under examination. Succeeding these, and toward the south, 

 we have a thick series of strata, which in the line of section 

 form a mountain of considerable elevation. These are readily 

 distinguishable from those already described, and are divisible 

 into three members. Members 1 and 2 are separated by the 

 beds of hematite already referred to — ^1 being the underlying 

 and 2 the overlying rocks. It has ever been supposed that 

 these are the first tokens of the different geological periods — 

 1 being supposed to be siluriau, and 2 and 3 devonian — ^1 is 

 found to be much harder than 2 and 3. The miners distinguish 

 1 and 2 by their difference in hardness. The thickness of the 

 series may admit of a separation into periods, which may not be 

 admissible on lithological grounds so slightly distinctive. 3 is 

 more readily distinguished from the two preceding, by its dark- 

 ness of colour and softness. The latter property gives depres- 

 sion to the surface of the ground which these last strata underlie, 

 as the superior hardness of the former gives a corresponding 

 elevation. Succeeding the devonian strata are conglomerates and 

 sandstones of the carboniferous period. Preceding the forma- 

 tion there must have been an elevation of the strata already 

 described, and that, too, at the same period as the corresponding 

 strata elsewhere — -that is, at the close of the devonian period. 

 It is probable that the rocks then formed had not undergone the 

 metamorphosing process by which they assumed their present 

 character. I consider that in the manner of their deposition 

 and in the time of upheaval, the sedimentary rooks resem- 

 ble their Lochaber equivalent. — Vide Geology of Antigonish 

 County. On the shore formed the shallow seas of the carboni- 

 ferous period accumulated the shingles which now constitute the 

 conglomerate, and afterward the series of sand stones, shales 

 and clays, which are found reposing on these. The limestones 

 are not found resting on the conglomerate as in Antigonish 

 county, but limestones are found elsewhere in their usual posi- 

 tion on the side of the Cobequids ; and I have already mentioned 



