The Hon. Mr. Strangways on the Geology of Russia. 5 



distinctly foliated, forms the most common rock of the country. To this, how- 

 ever, the stone of which consists the Rock of Abo, on which the observatory 

 is placed, seems at first sight an exception. If viewed in hand specimens, 

 or even large blocks detached from the rock, it appears to be rather a compact 

 small-grained granite, of great hardness, abounding in garnets. But when 

 viewed on the large scale, we see that the entire rock, as well as all the hills 

 in the neighbourhood, is divided into layers, of great thickness indeed, but 

 with a mutual parallelism and uniform dip. In this circumstance it agrees, 

 not only with the nearest islands on the one hand, but on the other with the 

 dip of some considerable hills up the valley on the road to Tavastchus. 



To those who believe in the stratification of granite, few spots can offer so 

 much satisfaction as the Rock of Abo *. Besides the regular lines which divide 

 the beds, the beds themselves are readily distinguishable by their different co- 

 lour, some being whiter, others of a redder or of a browner hue, but all equally 

 studded with small garnets. The magnificent columns which adorn the inte- 

 rior of the public hall of the University of Abo, are single shafts cut from this 

 rock ; they bear a most briUiant polish. 



The hills in this part of Finland are higher and more abrupt, and the valleys 

 more fertile and infinitely better cultivated than those of the eastern districts. 

 The hills are usually perpendicular where sections of the beds of rock are ex- 

 posed to view, while on the opposite side, the back of the upper bed forms the 

 gradual slope which conducts you to the bottom. Many are the secondary 

 rocks whose inclination and escarpment are much less regular. 



Near Tavastchus the granitic slates abound, frequently waved in the most 

 singular and irregular manner. This is every where evident, owing to the 

 absence of soil, which leaves patches of many square yards perfectly bare, on 

 the top and sides of every hill. This circumstance is connected with another, 

 namely, the peculiar roundness of all the hills and rocks, of which I shall say 

 more hereafter. At Tamala, between this town and Abo, are glass-works sup- 

 plied with flint from the rose quartz rocks of the neighbourhood ; there is 

 also found there a tabular variety of felspar. 



At Orijerwy, near Helsingfors, is a copper mine, in which is found the blue 

 quartz called steinhilite, also garnets, and primitive limestone. The latter is 

 too valuable a material to be neglected in such a country as this. 



* Near the summit of this rock I found a block of rose quartz and yellowish felspar; also a 

 block of a blacker rock of the same composition as the rock of the hill, but which occurs in situ 

 in a hill on the right bank of the river. This black variety was traversed by very thin white 

 veins ; the substance of the rock being turned red to a small distance on each side the vein 

 throughout its entire length. 



