Mineralogy and Geology of apart of Nova Scotia. 317 



Neck ; for, although the ore is very rich, yielding as much 

 as sixty per cent of iron, it is so scattered in narrow unprof- 

 itable veins, that it can never do more than supply the min- 

 eralogist, with specimens of the objects of his science. 



Proceeding in our researches eastwardly along the oppo- 

 site shore, nothing of peculiar interest presents itself, until 

 we reach nearly the extremity of St. Mary's Bay. This 

 Bay is separated from Annapolis Basin, by a narrow isthmus 

 on which the town of Digby is situated, and which connects 

 Digby Neck with a moderately elevated range of hills to be 

 mentioned more particularly when we treat of that forma- 

 tion. This isthmus, which no where attains an elevation of 

 more than one hundred feet, is composed almost entirely of 

 sandstone without presenting, so far as our examination has 

 gone, any traces of marine or other organic relics. It is 

 perhaps the old red sandstone ; though we were unable to 

 discover its junctions with the neigboring trap rocks, it be- 

 ing no where disclosed along the shore ; and the surface, be- 

 yond the reach of the tide, consists of a deep soil, which 

 throws a veil over the whole formation. It is probable howev- 

 er, that a junction does exist here, though at present excluded 

 from observation ; but as we shall hereafter mention the se- 

 cond appearance of this sandstone, in a distant section of 

 the North Mountains, under circumstances of much local im- 

 portance, it is perhaps unnecessary to dwell upon it. On the 

 shore of St. Mary's Bay, a vertical section of this sandstone is 

 presented, of about one hundred and fifty feet in height ; 

 spreading its broad face to the sea, and being the natural 

 barrier to buffet its violence, it has received the appropriate 

 appellation of the sea-wall. It consists of the red and grey 

 varieties, alternating with each other in long parallel strata, 

 running nearly north and south, and gradually inclining away 

 at an angle of about ten degrees, till it disappears beneath 

 the surface. The strata vary much in thickness, but from 

 four inches to four feet, will include the limits of their varia- 

 tion. The first ten or twelve feet of the precipice, include 

 uniform alternations of the grey variety alone — above this 

 succeeds a beautifully variegated kind, made up with white, 

 grey, and variously shaded red colored stripes, which, ri- 

 sing in continually widening strata, become gradually of a 

 deeper red, and finally pass, distinctly, into the red sand- 

 stone, retaining this character, through the remaining super- 

 position of the strata, forming the verge of the whole series. 



