Dale.] 184 [January 3 



nated grains of crystalline quartz from ^V'-i" m diameter. 

 Octahedral crystals of magnetite abound in the argillaceous and 

 micaceous cement of the conglomerate. 1 The trenchant maimer 

 in which the fissures and veins cleave alike both small pebbles and 

 large boulders in the conglomerate, 2 as well as the uniform par- 

 allelism of the longer axes of the pebbles with the strike, 3 so often 

 referred to in geological literature in connection with this locality 

 require no further description. From the highest point of the 

 Purgatory cliffs a line of hills may be seen in the line of their 

 strike i. e. N*. 30 E. These data warrant Section A. 



Paradise and the Hanging Rocks. 



The region so named is situated between the Swamp Road, 

 which runs north from the west end of Sachuest Beach, on the 

 west, and the high land which forms the east shore, on the east ; 

 and it extends about a mile back from Sachuest Beach covering 

 altogether about a square mile. It consists of a series of more 

 or less parallel, rocky, precipitous or rolling ridges and hillocks of 

 varying altitude, the highest measuring from 80' to 173' above 

 the sea. The sides of several of these ridges are covered with 

 their debris, the intervening spaces are sprinkled with boulders 

 and the whole tract bears evidence of the destructive element in 

 geological history. The name Hanging Rocks is applied to the 

 easternmost elevated ridge. 4 (See Map II.) 



President Hitchcock examined this locality and observes : 



" About a quarter of a mile from the coast, three precipitous bluffs, a, b, 

 c, several rods wide, separated by salt marshes from 15 to 20 rods wide? 

 rise 100 or 200 feet, trending northerly, and converging; so as apparently 

 to unite at no great distance. The two most easterly ridges are very steep, 

 and exhibit evidence of having been powerfully abraded. The outer ridges, 



1 See Jackson, op cit. p. 93. 



2 See: Jackson, loc. cit. Ed. Hitchcock, Geol. of Mass., p. 296, 536. Am. Journ. 

 Science, 1861. Ch. Hitchcock, Geol. of Aquidneck, p. 114, 115. 



3 See Rogers, op. cit. 1859. Ed. Hitchcock, Am. Journal Science, 1861. Holmes 

 and Hitchcock, op. cit. 



4 The picturesqueness of this spot attracted Dean Berkeley 150 years ago, who 

 introduces one of the dialogues of his Ale iphron with a description of the locality: 

 " We went down to a beach about a mile off, where we walked on the smooth sand, 

 with the ocean on ona hand, and on the other, wild broken rocks, intermixed with 

 shady trees and springs of water, till the sun began to be uneasy. We then withdrew 

 into a hollow glade, between two rocks." George Berkeley. Works edit, by A. C. 

 Fraser. Oxford, 1871, Vol. n, p. 58. 



