SCENERY, 
35 
View of the Adirondack mountains from Lake Sandford. 
The influence of the geological formations upon the scenery of a country, has been observed 
and remarked by most geologists ; and so constant is this influence, that if the landscape is 
true to nature, it beconles a tolerable guide in the determination of the rock found beneath 
the soil. The character of the scenery, however, depends much upon the condition of the 
rock, without regard to the geological era in which it may have been produced. Thus, the 
soft shales and slates, of whatever age, being deeply weathered and decomposed, are usually 
concealed beneath a deep soil, and the tops of the hills are rounded and susceptible of culti¬ 
vation. Every district, therefore, which is underlaid by such decomposable materials, presents 
a rolling surface. Again, those districts which are level and widely extended plains, with 
hillocks of sand and gravel interspersed here and there, are recognized as alluvial or diluvial. 
On the contrary, those indented ridges and conical peaks, presenting a sharp outline in the 
distance, are at once known as primitive. When we approach them, their primitive features 
become still more distinct, by gorges, narrow and winding defiles and steep declivities. 
Greenstone trap and basalt impart also their peculiar characters to the landscape, by their 
dark colors and their columnar structure ; appearing, when under those forms, like -works of 
art and design. 
