96 
TACONIC SLATE NEAR WATERVILLE. 
intervening country is moderately ridged with low hills, and the rock only appears occ&- 
sionally, but enough of it may be seen to convince the most sceptical that it is but one 
continuous rock. One or two miles west of West-Waterville, the taconic slate is succeeded 
by the primary schists with granitic veins, as in the country between Waterville and Port¬ 
land. In the direction of their strike, they pass onwards to the Piscataqua river, where the 
fine roofing slates abound, which are described by Dr. Jackson in his Report on the Geology 
of Maine. 
In the position of the roofing slate in Maine, we have another fact analogous to what 
actually exists in New-York, namely, the roofing slates are confined to beds subordinate 
to the taconic slate ; and it is to be remembered, too, that as yet no slate fit for roofing has 
been found in the Hudson river rocks. 
Having examined the slate in a westerly direction as far as seemed necessary, in which 
examination I was assisted by Prof. Loomis of Waterville College, I proceeded across the 
strata in an easterly direction towards Belfast. On this route the slate continues about 
seven miles. No variation of character in this rock appears in this distance : it consists, as 
at Waterville, of alternating hard and soft layers or beds, together with the siliceous, cal¬ 
careous and coarse brecciated beds. Towards China, seven miles from Waterville, the rocks 
assume more the character of the primary schists, but the precise point where the change 
occurs was not observed. 
From the exposition of this rock and its beds, it appears to be at least fifteen miles wide, 
leaving out of view the equivocal portion in the vicinity of China. On placing specimens 
of the slate and its beds side by side with those of New-York, it is impossible to discover 
any essential difference between them. It is true, however, that as yet species of the 
same JYereites have not been discovered in New-York. 
It was in the vicinity of Waterville that Prof. Loomis discovered the fossils referred to 
on page 69. 
The character of the country over which the taconic slate prevails, resembles that of 
Rensselaer and Washington counties in New-York; and the valley of the Kennebeck at 
and above Waterville, resembles that, of the Hoosic. Some of the best farming land in 
the State lies in and adjacent to this valley, which is productive in grass, and will probably 
soon supply the southern cities with hay. 
Omitting for the present the farther consideration of the rocks of the Kennebeck, I 
observe, that between China and Montville, mica slate and gneiss, together with granitic 
veins, are the only rocks that make their appearance ; and again ten miles west of Belfast, 
a still coarser mica slate occurs, charged with garnet, schorl, hornblende, and large masses 
of felspar : the rock dips southeast. Five miles west of Belfast, a much finer talcose slate 
is the surface rock, a slate approaching in its characters the magnesian slate of the Taconic 
range in New-York. 
