103 



beautiful manner to illustrate the circumstances under which the 

 strata of this region were deposited. 



The slates, particularly those in the neighbourhood of the coal 

 veins above referred to, present large and perfect impressions of 

 fern leaves and other vegetable remains ; and the limestones are 

 rich in shells and madrepores of various kinds, and often of uncom- 

 mon size. Fine specimens of terebratula and caryophyllea may 

 often be obtained entire. 



A curious and imposing feature in the rocky scenery of many 

 places in this region, is the bent or arched arrangement of the strata. 



In following the windings of the Jackson's river through the wild 

 and picturesque valleys and gorges by which it makes its way into 

 the more open region towards the east, this strange conformation of 

 the rocks is seen in several places, furnishing in the stupendous 

 elevation of the cliffs, and the massive character of the beds of which 

 these arches are composed, the most instructive and magnificent 

 illustrations of some of those agencies to which geologists are accus- 

 tomed to refer. One of these instances of bent strata, particularly 

 worthy of observation, is presented in the deep cleft of the Rich 

 Patch mountain, through which the river makes its final escape from 

 the rugged region in which its progress has been previously so 

 much obstructed. Looking from Kaiser's, or the Forge, the naked 

 side of this huge defile, towering in a nearly vertical wall, washed 

 at its base by the impetuous torrent which flows eastward with a 

 rapid descent, exhibits the grand spectacle of an enormous and 

 almost unbroken arch of sandstone rocks, rising at its extremities 

 in steeply dipping lines curving with more gentle inclination to its 

 summit, and spanning a distance of several hundred yards. Thin 

 ledges of a very hard variety of the same species of rock project at 

 the abutments of the arch, and rise along the side of the cliffs in a 

 nearly perpendicular direction. On the oppositie side the same 

 position of rocks is seen ; but here, in many places, the continuity 

 of the arch is broken. A similar scene, though on a smaller scale, 

 is presented in the gorge by which the Calf Pasture river finds a 

 passage through the North mountain ; and indeed it would appear, 

 that this feature in the position of the strata, is a common occur- 

 rence in all the mountainous ranges of this wild and beautiful re- 

 gion. ^ 



Proceeding westward in the profile, we come upon the heavy beds 



