GEOLOGY. 3 



We now quote at length from Colonel Nelson's paper : — 



" geological details of the peincipal islands, in 

 geogkaphical; OEDEE. 



"St. Geoege's Island.— The strata dip southward with 

 considerable uniformity along the southern and eastern 

 shores, which are protected from violent attacks of the sea 

 by St. David's, Smith's, and Long-bird Mauds; and by 

 the reefs which bound the intricate passage into Murray's 

 Anchorage. 



" The north side is exposed throughout its whole length 

 to the fury of a sea which has had, within the area of the 

 north reef (at a distance of seven or eight mileB), sufficient 

 space to re-accumulate its destructive energies ; and exhi- 

 bits in the cliffs a saddle or dome-shaped structure, the 

 liaes of lamination dipping towards every point of the 

 compass. In one or two instances, the summits of what 

 were once internal hills, are bared; and within a few square 

 yards, the coats of this nucleus range round it with perfect 

 regularity. As might be expected, this north side consists, 

 in a great measure, of abrupt cliffs, and landslips brought 

 down by the undermining of the waves. The sandstone on 

 the summit of some of the hUls is scarcely tenacious enough 

 to hold together ; but from Mullet Bay to the Ferry, on a 

 level of not more than twenty feet above the sea, the rock 

 suddenly becomes a very hard, flne-grained, or compact 

 limestone, in which scarcely a vestige of organic structure 

 is visible, uidess the stone be polished. 



" Just above high-water mark, along a considerable por- 

 tion of the south side, is a stratum of calcareous sand, about 

 six feet thick, apparently a distinct deposit from the rock 

 above it. 



