14 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
land iu the vicinity of these islands even during the last century. 
Another fact, which came to my knowledge while sojourning in the 
isles, confirms me in this opinion. The masons who had been engaged 
in laying the foundations of a large warehouse, belonging to Mr. Ed- 
wards, a short distance from the strand in the Pool of St. Mary's, 
assured me that when they had dug down several feet below the sur- 
face, they came across the remains of former wooden buildings which, 
at one time, must have been above the level of the sea, although they 
were thus found considerably below it. 
Possibly, at no very remote period, geologically speaking, the whole 
of this group to the north, including Bryer, Tresco, St. Martin's, and 
the adjoining islets, have formed one continuous island, the soundings 
between the contiguous portions being still very shallow, so much so 
that several of them can be reached from the others by walking over 
the bars at low water. The question of their continuity at any former 
time with the mainland is one of greater difficulty ; for although the 
tradition previously referred to speaks of a large tract of country 
covered with parish churches, and called the " Leouais," as formerly 
uniting Scilly with Cornwall — and there are not wanting stories also 
of the remains of windows and doorways having been seen midway 
beneath the ocean in seasons of clear weather — yet no facts of a 
geologic character, in any way bearing out this view, have as yet been 
ascertained. I made the most careful search, during my stay in the 
islands, to discover, if it were possible, any traces of greenstone or 
clayslate in those parts of the islands looking towards the Cornwall 
shores, but I could discover nothing of the kind. On the summit of 
the promontory called the Hugh, forming a part of St. Mary's, I did 
indeed find clayslate ; and on the very highest point of Newford Down, 
in a pit not far from the Telegraph Station, I met with similar traces ; 
but both of these points would be out of the line of communication with 
the nearest points of the Cornish coast, and they are only interesting 
inasmuch as they prove that some land, higher than any now existing 
in St. Mary's, has formerly consisted of metamorphic rocks, the 
broken fragments of which, after having been subjected to the action 
of water, have been deposited in an irregularly stratified manner 
amidst the shattered debris of the surrounding granitic rocks. The 
position in which I found these solitary traces of slate-rock was in a 
