6 



34 feel deep and about 1£ feet broad. One groove I observed ab&ut sii feet deep and two feet 

 broad wilh small neeoridiry or inner groove* fluting ili jiorFacc, While eTaniiuiuu thi* roek 

 m hfctf J ikmr of rain began to fall, and a* my lime, was exhausted I was obliged to Jeav* 

 before 1 could make marc precise observations or any mcafuremenU, and, in Irulh, before I 

 had Tw-i}*PTvA from my ilrst irnsiai iun uf wonder. 1 L appeared to rnc 'bet the rock must have 

 been split on being elevated from a lower level* Oil returning I observed many irnaller rode 

 near the bttach with channeled tides* On the top of one of these there wis □ )cnj ] dcep 

 trough wiih heiliH [jrooves converging into its upper end, like the ribs of a fun, The rest 

 of (he surface was covered with alight depressions. 



1 believe this is Ihe Grst time that grooved rucks have been observed so dose upon the 

 Equator. Their absence has been considered an ergunient in favour of the glacial Cheery of 

 flic bjtitder formaliotiu Jfojic of the channels or groom, however, which I observed resem- 

 ble the parallel inclined or approiirnalely horizontal furrows which are caused by Ihe mo- 

 tion of glacier* in descending the rocky trough of q valley, Uu,t they appear to correspond 

 strikingly, save in being vertical, with the giant cauldrons, potting ioto Lung deep grooves, 

 which are described by Ag.i.vsii as being produced in ihe Alp* and Jura by streams of we Ur 

 frilling mvr the aides of charms in advancing glacier^ and acting m a locomotive erosive 

 force li pun I ho subjacent rocks. My hurried and rat rioted observations hardly [warrant a 

 conjecture as to the probable! origin of tho FuJo Ubm groove*. The idea that occurred to 

 iru. L i hi l I liu *pot was, that the Several nxls . I j-,- Tore they were »h ottered and iepu ruled by the 

 farce which placed them in their present posi Lions, and in some different local distribution 

 of land ami sea from lhat which now prevail* , had formed the *itc of a cascade of norcreat 

 force which had gradually worn the sides of the rocks into channels A succession of fall* 

 would account for the relative po«i i ions of the rocks with respect to each oilier and for the spoon 

 shaped hollows on the surface? of some of them. It appeared to me that ordinary meEcork 

 erosion mid decomposition were to [ally inadequate la explain the shape* and liu of the 

 groove?:- in many places they are overgrown with mosses, and in some, if not in all., they 

 are prolonged beneath the ground, and thus protected by the- soil of the hill, which mu*| 

 tUtfV covered th-ein for a considerable period, pi nee large trees are rooted id if. The aspect 

 df the rneki h not such as rapidly disintegrating granite wears, but, on the contrary, Te ~ 

 $embies thai of an ancient building. L could End ao Craco of any figures coinciding with 

 the direction of the furrows, Yet there can be Ml tic doubt that, to whatever agency they 

 may be referred, tho grottves- Were first upei Le t aliuitf lines where the cohesion of the granite 

 was couipuralively weak* The regularity with which the projecting column.1 of the rock Grit 

 noticed are scooped round at two places eercss the di reel ion of the grooves, ftCcms to prove 

 that Ihe grange has an internal arrangement similar to that to frequently observed in this 

 rock, and which causes it to be shaUcfcd inio block* more or less cubical. In ope of the 

 lower rocks which the Chinese are quarrying wr found Lwd parallel vertical vein& traveling 

 the en (ire rock ™ as to include between them a plate about an inch in thickness. One tide 

 of thU pkle sparkled wilh metallic, grain* of a golden hue (iron pvrilui)* Ihe other was 

 covered wilh a rusty stain resulting probably from the figure en that side having been pcr^ 

 meabli the air and the consequent dccempoiitLeU of the grains- 



