V MOUNT SEATURA 67 



basalts with scanty olivine, a little interstitial glass, and belonging 

 to the porphyritic and non-porphyritic sub-genera of genus 25 of 

 the olivine-rocks : {b) grey olivine-basalts with porphyritic opaque 

 plagioclase, containing but little residual glass, but varying greatly 

 in the amount of olivine and belonging to the genera 2 and 26 of 

 the olivine-basalts ; they would be classed, as far as appearance 

 goes, as porphyrites ; their specific gravity ranges 2-85 to 2'90. 

 The rock exposures were, however, scanty ; and but little infor- 

 mation could be obtained of the mode of occurrence. No 

 scoriaceous rocks were found except in the instance of a compact 

 dark basalt without plagioclase phenocrysts, apparently a dyke 

 rock, and belonging to genus 40 of the olivine-basalts. 



{e) Ascent to the Summit of Seatura from Ndriti. — The town of 

 Ndriti lies in the great gap in the south-west side of the mountain 

 which has been previously mentioned as probably an old crateral 

 cavity. After traversing a district of highly altered basic rocks 

 or propylites, to be subsequently described, and reaching an 

 elevation of about 400 feet above the sea, I came to the long 

 slope that leads up to the summit. A dense forest hid every- 

 thing from view, so that the compass and aneroid had alone 

 to be relied on. 



At first one traversed a series of step-like alternations of level 

 ground and steep " rises," until the old site of the village of Seatura, 

 about 1,200 feet above the sea, was reached. There are some 

 strange legends connected with this old mountain-village, which is 

 now only indicated by little piles of stones and the debris of a wall, 

 and was evidently abandoned long ago. We finally reached the 

 summit by following up a spur or ridge in a northerly direction 

 from Seatura. There was a precipitous descent on either side of the 

 ridge with evidently a broad, deep valley to the eastward. The 

 summit was rounded ; but on account of the forest no view could 

 be obtained. There was never any extensive exposure of rock 

 noticed during the ascent ; but all the way up occasional small 

 blocks of a blackish olivine-basalt were observed on the surface, of 

 the same general type as that found all around the mountain and 

 referred to genus 37 in the synopsis. 



(/) The Ndriti Basin or Gap. — This great hollow in the side of 

 Seatura, which I have named after the town in its midst, is appar- 

 ently a crateral cavity now drained by the Ndama river, and its 

 tributaries, and covered with dense forest to such a degree that a 

 general view of the whole is impracticable. The glimpses, however, 

 that one obtains of the mountain scenery are very grand, the town 



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