284 Mr, Horner on the Mineralogy of the Malvern Hills. 



seventy feet in perpendicular height, this added to the above eleva- 

 tion of the Worcestershire Beacon, very nearly corresponds with 

 the statement in Nash's History of Worcestershire. 



§ 7. The whole range from one end to the other is, as I have 

 already mentioned, almost entirely covered with vegetation. It is 

 only in a few places that the rock projects above the surface ; this 

 is more particularly the case at the northern extremity, and there, 

 principally on the eastern side ; the western slope hardly offers in 

 any part of it any thing more than a very fine close turf: even the 

 rocks that do appear are in general thickly coated wath lichens, and 

 decomposed at the surface ; so that it is difficult without a very close 

 examination, to obtain an accurate knowledge of sthe mineral struc- 

 ture of these hills. There are however several quarries worked in 

 different places and at different heights, and besides the oppor- 

 tunities w^hich these afford to the mineralogist, there are two car- 

 riage roads that cross the hill, in the making of which, the rock has 

 been in many places laid bare. The most northern of these, rises 

 gradually along the side to within thirty or forty feet of the summit, 

 where a cut has been made through the hill from east to west, thus 

 exhibiting a transverse section of the rocks : this chasm is known by 

 the name of the Wych. The other, is the turnpike-road from 

 Worcester to Ledbury ; it crosses the hill immediately above Little 

 Malvern, passing along the side of the Herefordshire Beacon, and in 

 the making of this road the rock has been in different places cut down 

 to the depth of twenty or thirty feet. 



§ 8. Besides the obstacles to accurate observation, that I have al- 

 ready mentioned, there is another difficulty which it requires some 

 patience to overcome. The greatest proportion of the rocks are 

 in that state which the quarriers term rotten ; which means, that 

 when a block of the stone Is struck with the hammer, it breaks into 

 a number of small irregular fragments, frequently not exceeding the 



