DISINTEGRATION OF THE STUATA. 41 
land, of comparatively small dimensions. Their original 
height, in that case, may have been from SO to 50 feet 
greater than their present, that being the average depth of 
the sandstone strata in the hills in the distance. Indeed both 
these ranges have been produced by the same causes, and 
have at the time been composed of similar materials; the 
sole difference arising from the size of the primitive or gra- 
nitic base. The process of reduction or diminution of their 
bulk may be conceived to have taken place in the following 
manner. The sloping sandstone on the sides of the hill, 
being acted on by the elements of air and water, joined to 
the heat of the sun, had first suffered disintegration. The 
sand thus produced would be w^ashed down by the torrents 
in the rainy season to the bottom of the hill, where it would 
spread out, and form soil. This operation continuing, the 
whole of the inclined sandstone would, in course of time, be 
removed, and the trap, or other rock, immediately beneath 
it, would thus be exposed in its turn. From the same 
causes which acted on the sandstone, this would also under- 
go a change, and ultimately be reduced to soil, which would 
spread over the detritus of the former. The small table on 
the summit, in the course of these operations, falling into 
fragments, and rolling down the hill, would also be exposed' 
to the same successive changes ; and thus, after the lapse of 
ages, nothing would remain but the central primitive grani- 
tic mass, as it is now displayed. 
This view of the original structure of these eminences, 
and the changes which they have undergone, is supported 
by the present state of the larger hills in the distance. We 
see them covered by a table of sandstone still entire, resting 
on an extensive pyramid of granite, on the sides of which are 
found trap and pieces of sandstone, and, at the bottom, a 
soil composed of their detritus, being either a pure sand, 
