NOTES AND QUERIES. 
349 
1 biouglit down some largo blocks of liai'd " anthracite" and "culm," of wliicli 
there is a bed about two feci wide, nearly vertical, in fine limestonc-shalc. 1 
also got iron of a good quality, but Professor Medlieot lias eoudemncd both. 
1 can't help it : J did not put them there. Coal and iron arc also on the Hyma- 
layas ; but Mr. Kenwood, F.G.S., comlemiml them both. Doctors differ, but, in 
spite of all, the bad coal and bad ore make good iron, and Mr. Sowerby is 
superintending the erection of extensive iron works on the spot. I know for 
a fact, which he has mentioned, that in other countries the appearances are not 
the same as in England, and he who depends only on what he has seen there, 
is foolish to conacnni dissimilar appearances in other countries. In South 
Africa I have seen iron-beds in gneiss rock, the ore as bright as new-wrought 
steel ; a few niUcs olf the ore quite black and highly polarized ; in another, 
huge blocks of brown oxide, quite hollow, when broken perfectly black and 
shiny inside, a line black hajmatite. At the Spring Fontcm mines the copper 
is entirely red like oxide of iron. With such experience, I think it foolisli to 
condemn what docs not exactly coincide with our past experience. 
When I have time you shall look over the diary of my sojourn in Cashmere. 
Though it may not be sufficiently scientific to interest you deeply, there may 
be a few amusing facts to pass half an hour over. I hope to repeat my visit, 
as I saw some fine fossils in the limestone rocks ; but they are so precipitous, 
even so old and experienced a traveller as I had mucii trouble to get over 
them. — Most sincerely youi-s, John Calvert, F.G.S. 
Pleistocene Deposits hear Liverpool. — Dear Sir, — I take this early 
opportunity of confirming the observations of your correspondent with regard 
to the above interesting deposits. In the neighbourhood of Liverpool Pleisto- 
cene sands underlie the bouldcr-clay throughout the district, being seen to 
advantage on the opposite shore of the Mersey, between Seacomb and Egre- 
mout, and are frequently observed in artiticial excavations. They contain 
recent shcUs, but I am not able yet to preimre a list of them. " False bedding" 
widely prcT ails, and in the locality Mr. Darling mentions, a most interesting 
ripple-marked surface exists just where the sands end, the hollows of the 
ripples being filled by the superincumbent boiJder-clay. At the last meeting 
of the Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club, I pointed out similar beds of sand 
beneath the boulder-clay at Hall, ten miles from Liverpool. — Youi-s truly, Geo. 
H. Morton, F.G.S., Liverpool. 
Manufacture of Stone Axes. — Sir,— A market gardener at Redworth, a 
small village about seven miles north-west of Darlington, dug up a short time 
ago in his garden a stone hammer. The portion of the garden where it was 
found has, until very lately, been pasture, and may not have been disturbed for 
centuries. The axe was found at a depth of three feet from the surface. It 
is about eleven inches long and four and a-half broad. One end of it is flat or 
hammer-shaped, and the other is edged ; there is also a hole for a handle. 
I do not write to you about the mere fact of its being found, but to inquire 
whether you can give me any information as to the probable method of its 
manufacture. 
The hammer, or axe, is made of basalt, locally called " blue stone," of which 
there is now a quarry at Bolam, distant about four miles from Redworth. 
How could so hard a substance as the material of which the great whin-dyke 
is composed be wrought and bored as this axe has been ? Could it be done 
without using some metal ? Though, if metals were known, why manufacture 
stone implements ? 
To fashion it by friction would be a work of gigantic labour ; and how 
could the hole for the handle be made ? 
I must confess myself completely puzzled, and hoping you can enlighten me, 
I am. Sir, yours most obediently, Inquirer. 
