56 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Waterville, and proceeds south-westerly to Mt. Prospect, in Holderness. 

 Thence it courses more southerly, proceeding to New Hampton centre 

 village. In this vicinity it is developed more perfectly than in any other 

 part of the state. At the village it makes a sharp turn eastward to Mer- 

 edith Village ; thence north-easterly nearly to Squam lake, in the extreme 

 north-east part of Center Harbor. It then makes another sharp turn 

 down both sides of Meredith, or North-west Cove, and appears also on the 

 islands off Wiers and the north part of Gilford. It now rapidly dimin- 

 ishes in width, and finally disappears, coming up again in West Alton, and 

 is last seen in the south part of Alton. 



2. Winnipiseogee Lake Gneiss formation. This is a granitic gneiss 

 filled with segregated veins, and has not yet been observed away from 

 the vicinity of the lake. It does not appear upon any mountains, nor in 

 bluffs, and has everywhere been greatly denuded, so that its ledges are 

 inconspicuous. It joins the first named rock everywhere on the east, 

 and covers it in Alton. The strata are highly inclined, and sometimes 

 inverted. 



3. White Mountain Series. This rock is often characterized by the 

 presence of andalusite. It crops out in Gilford and Alton, and bounds 

 the lake gneiss on the east, where the junction is not obscured by over- 

 lying formations. 



4. The next great period may represent the time of the elevation, and 

 perhaps metamorphosis, of the three groups already enumerated. We 

 possess no decided evidence to show that these three groups are uncon- 

 formable with one another. The presumption is that these groups belong 

 to the Laurentian system ; — they are certainly Eozoic. 



5. Eruption of the Granites of the Ossipee Mountains. In a paper 

 presented last year, a description was given of the rocks among the White 

 Mountains, where it was stated that the upturned edges of the White 

 Mountain series were covered first by a layer of coarse granite, and then 

 by a "trachytic" or spotted granite. Both these varieties are found in 

 the Ossipee mountains, and in a similar stratigraphical position. 



6. Deposition of Felsites or Compact Feldspars. Enormous thicknesses 

 of variously colored felsites cover the spotted granite of Ossipee, and 

 form the summits of the pile of mountains. None of the ossipyte, a 

 compound of labradorite and chrysolite, has yet been seen. These 



