318 Mineralogy and Geology of apart of Nova Scotia, 



This red sandstone consists of minute grains of siliceous 

 and calcareous matter, interspersed with spangles of mica. 

 Attached to it are small beds of reddle, or red chalk, usually 

 occupying the spaces between approximate strata, and pre- 

 venting their actual contact. This variety is comparatively 

 soft and more readily acted upon by external causes than 

 the grey, which has a much coarser, and by no means so uni- 

 form a texture. Both effervesce briskly in nitric acid, but 

 the grey contains the greatest portion of the calcareous in- 

 gredient. This sandstone does not contain veins of gypsum 

 or limestone. In fact, the reddle was the only simple mine- 

 ral which we observed in it. The entire precipice, from the 

 feeble cohesion of its parts, is rapidly acted upon by the or- 

 dinary causes of decay ; large masses are almost continually 

 losing their hold from above, and adding new matter to the 

 slope of debris which inclines from its base into the sea, but 

 before being crumbled into the sand, many of these fallen 

 blocks which assume a cubical or prismatic form, as they 

 usually do, are advantageously employed by the inhabitants, 

 who obtain them during the absence of the tide, which 

 here rises to the height of thirty five feet. Since the erec- 

 tion of the Annapolis Iron Works, the practical worth of 

 this sandstone, as a material for supporting high tempera- 

 tures, has been fully ascertained by the slight alteration it ex- 

 perienced, when exposed to the most intense heat of the smel- 

 ting furnace, of which it formed the boshes and part of the 

 lining. 



About three miles N. E. of the sea-wall at Nichols' Moun- 

 tain, magnetic iron ore occurs in compact masses, imbedded 

 in a deep soil, resulting from the decay of the contiguous 

 trap rock. These masses generally exceeded two feet in 

 diameter, having two of their opposite faces smooth, imply- 

 ing that they once constituted a vein. The whole weighed 

 about fifteen tons. It was conveyed to the furnace, smelted 

 and found to produce with a due proportion of flux and 

 charcoal, cast iron of superior quality. But on subsequent 

 examination of its local situation, nothing promising a fur- 

 ther supply could be discovered. The greenstone near, and 

 immediately beneath it, was the brecciated variety, consisting 

 of round masses formed of concentric layers, which by a 

 moderate blow separate into a multitude of fragments. 

 But it no where exhibited the slightest traces of the exis- 

 tence of veins. It seems probable therefore, that these 



