ON THE GEOLOGY OE BAEBADOS. 205 



(d) Description of Beds at certain Localities. — Cod- 

 rington. — One of the most accessible localities from Bridgetown is the 

 neighbourhood of Codrington College and Conset Bay, along the coast 

 of which the railway is carried. In the siding which leads to the 

 sugar-mill on the College estate, the basal beds of the Oceanic Series, 

 heavy greyish-white chalky limestones, are seen resting upon the dark 

 sandy clays of the Scotland Series, and dipping at about 8° W.N.W. 

 The same beds are visible on the slope of the valley below the mill, 

 and can be traced for about a quarter of a mile up the valley 

 towards the College. The slope above consists of calcareous and 

 siliceous earths, the latter pure white and of small specific gravity ; 

 while just below the College garden is an outcrop of a mottled 

 yellowish-white marl, chalky, and containing foraminifera in fair 

 abundance. There are also traces of soft reddish clay just below 

 the coral-rock, by the College itself. The difference of level be- 

 tween the base and the College is probably 150 feet and the distance 

 about 1000 feet, which, with a dip of 6°, will bring in 105 feet, so 

 that the total thickness here may be 250 feet. 



The railway-cutting which extends from the end of the Codrington 

 siding to the northward shows a curious section ; at its southern 

 end there are beds of siliceous earth like those seen in the Cod- 

 rington valley, dipping W.JST.W. at 8°, and these continue for about 

 a quarter of a mile, when at a place known as ' Burnt HiU ' the 

 dip suddenly increases to about 20° and the white earth passes into 

 a broken mass of black rocks saturated with petroleum. These 

 broken beds continue for about 100 yards, when the petroleum dis- 

 appears and the radiolarian beds resume their natural hue, dipping 

 W.N.W. steeply at first, but gradually decreasing to an angle of 10^. 

 Burnt Hill is evidently on a line of fault and fracture, for the 

 Scotland Beds can be seen here and there at the base of the broken 

 mass, and it is doubtless along the fault that the petroleum has 

 risen to the surface. The tradition that this hill was once on fire 

 is confirmed by the red and cindery look of the radiolarian rock at 

 the top of the hill, some portions of it being actually vitrified. 



About 150 yards north of Burnt Hill is a deep gully running in 

 from the shore to the south-west, with very steep sides, which expose 

 an excellent section of the Oceanic Deposits and show a thickness 

 of about 70 feet. The beds are markedly stratified, and in the lower 

 part consist of alternating soft and hard layers, the latter being 4 

 to 6 inches thick and occurring at intervals of 4 or 5 feet. The base 

 is not seen, but the lowest beds are greyish white and calcareous, 

 containing about 46 per cent, of calcium carbonate, and these are 

 succeeded by less calcareous beds for about 20 feet ; lying on these 

 is a layer of hard, dark-brown, gritty marl, consisting largely 

 of angular crystalline grains of felspar ; ^ the next 10 feet consist 

 of white siliceous radiolarian earth; and then comes a thin layer 

 (3 to 4 inches) of grej'-sand, consisting entirely of broken crystals of 

 felspar and powdered fragments of pumice. Many of the same broken 

 crystals are scattered through the beds above and below these two 

 ^ This horizon is probably 70 or 80 feet above the base of the series. 



