124 Dr, Berger on the physical Structure 



miles of Bodmin, the soil Is composed of peat and produces abso- 

 lutely nothing. It is almost entirely a country of mines, especially 

 in the neighbourhood of St. Austle, The inn called the Indian 

 Queen is four hundred and ninety-one feet above the level of the 

 sea : the most considerable branch of the river Fal rises in this 

 neighbourhood. From the Indian Queen to Grampound, we con- 

 tinue for nine miles in grauwacke-slate, without its offering any 

 thing remarkable. It is however very far otherwise, if from Gram- 

 pound we direct our course N. N.E. towards the parish of St, 

 Stephens.* 



On quitting Grampound, the road leads for a short way towards 

 the north, until we reach a small valley, which at its opening runs 

 nearly east and west ; it afterwards turns towards the north, and 

 very soon takes a direction due north and south. A branch of the 

 Fal flows through it, and the water, which on the heights near its 

 source has been employed in washing porcelain earth, retaining the 

 white colour of the earth, has at a distance the appearance of milk, 

 which produces a very singular effect. 



In proportion as we ascend, the grauwacke slate disappears, and in 

 the neighbourhood of St. Stephen's church, it passes into the state of 

 corn'eenne^ or of common grauwacke. It is stained with oxide of 

 iron, and accompanied by numerous veins and pebbles of quartz. 

 All these appearances indicate that we are approaching towards its 

 limit. And although we cannot exactly point out the very spot of 

 the transition itself, we may, without any material error, fix that 

 point at Step-aside, a hamlet situated two or three furlongs from St, 



* The pleasure and instruction I derived from this excursioa, v ere particularly aug- 

 mented by my having the advantage of the company of (he Rev. Wm. Grogor, a gentle- 

 man equally modest as well informed, and whose name I have already had frequent 

 occasion to mention. 



