LOWER LIMESTONE SHALE— PASSAGE INTO OLD RED. 



383 



Besides these fissures, which are generally transverse to the main direction of the 

 strata, there are many arches and caverns, some of which can he well examined in 

 Bullslaughter Bay, also circular and elliptical funnels or swallow holes of considerable 

 depth, similar to those described in the carboniferous limestone of Caermarthenshire. 

 One of these, a short distance from the coast, not exceeding one hundred paces in 

 diameter, contains within it a grove of luxuriant bushes and even lofty trees, the tops 

 of which just reach the level of the bare calcareous platform on which no shrub can 

 lift its head in defiance of the south-western gales 1 . There are also several cauldron- 

 shaped cavities, to which the sea has access, one of the most curious, called Bosheston 

 Mere, being situated about one hundred paces from the sea cliff. This narrow funnel 

 communicates with the sea by one of the above-mentioned transverse fissures 2 . 



Having previously alluded to the lower member of the carboniferous limestone under the name of 

 lower limestone shale, as brought out by undulations in East and West Angle bays, I may further 

 state that other natural sections expose those strata and conduct us regularly downwards to the Old 

 Red Sandstone. Thus in the coast cliffs, immediately to the east of Stackpole quay, such strata are 

 interposed, though in almost vertical positions, between the limestone and the Old Red Sandstone, 

 where in descending order they consist of 



1. Thinly laminated black shale. 5. Shale repeated with calcareous concretions. 



2. Ditto, with flattened nodules of calc spar and layers 6. Yellowish sandstone, with casts of shells and crinoidea. 

 of calcareous grit, &c. 7. Black shale and sandstone of greyish colour. 



3. Thin bedded grey sandstone. 8. Red rab and sandstone (top of Old Red Sandstone). 



4. Thick bedded, hard, purple, compact sandstone. 



In this deep creek the strata are partially reversed, a phenomenon for which the observer may be 

 well prepared who has witnessed the contortions of the Stackpole promontory, but on following the 



in a retiring angle of the cliff. The lame and blind pilgrims are still conveyed by their friends down the rude 

 steps chiselled by the holy man, and after being anointed with a poultice, formed of the moist clay, are left 

 there for several hours to bask under the summer's sun. The method of cure is similar to that effected by the 

 mud baths of Acqui and Abano in the north of Italy. 



The sanctum of St. Goven, a cleft in the rock just large enough to contain one person, is also much fre- 

 quented as a "wishing place." The wisher is certain, before the end of a year, of obtaining his request, if he 

 repeats it thrice, each time turning himself round in the narrow nook ; but these and other miraculous stories, 

 connected with this wild spot, do not come within my province. 



1 All the fine timber which ornaments the grounds of Stackpole Court, grows in combs or depressions, which 

 thus present most striking contrasts to the bluff and bare headlands of the coast. 



2 In certain seasons, when a heavy surge sets in upon the shore, reports as loud as those of cannon issue 

 from it, accompanied by discharges of spouts of water, which rise to a height of 40 or 50 feet above the surface 

 of the ground. We may account for these phenomena by supposing, that when waves fill the innermost cavities, 

 the water cannot entirely escape from these deeply seated tanks before they are again inundated, and being 

 filled successively, they at length become surcharged, so that the water within being driven onwards by the 

 impulse of fresh waves, issues at the point of least resistance and is ejected from the small funnel with the im- 

 petus of a forcing pump. Some of the larger and more open fissures, communicating with embayed creeks, 

 resemble the Bullers (Boilers) of Buchan, Banffshire. 



3 b 2 



