m 
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SINGAPORE, 
that rock. There are a few scattered patches, it is true, of red or 
reddish soil, but they appear to belong to the clays. 
I find, after a careful examination of seven of these sandstone strata 
and an eqnai number of their respectively superincumbent soils, that 
they all contain very nearly the same relative average proportion of 
silex, or 48 per centum;—thus evincing that nothing else could 
have intervened betwixt the outcropping strata and the soil, now 
overlying them, which could have formed that soil. The maximum 
of silex is 87, and the minimum 5 per cent. The average of three 
of the most crystalline was 78 per cent., and of three of the other 
most distinct strata 19 per cent- There is a great absence of quartz 
veins in ail of these sandstone strata of the Island, but they become 
more common upon the islets lying off the harbour. I have observ¬ 
ed, however, on splitting large blocks, that some of the fragments 
had been cemented, as it were, by a solution of very fine white 
silica, a few lines only in thickness. 
The vertical strata above described seem to have been thrown 
into their present position by a different force from that which 
heaved up the Government Hill,—for these have not been dis¬ 
rupted; and although the force which tilted them over must 
have been great, they have maintained their parallelism, and doubt¬ 
less their original direction, for the dip appears to have been 
about E.'and W., varying to S.E. and N.W. 
The plain upon which the suburbs and part of the tow n of 
Singapore stand is chiefly composed of deep beds of sand,— 
sometimes white, occasionally bluish or reddish; averaging from 
90 to 95 per cent of silica. The rest is aluminous. This sandy 
tract and some others lying along the seashore have doubtless been 
formed by a retreating sea, since its sand is mixed with recent 
shells and sea mud. 
The vallies have a peaty superstratum, which varies in thick¬ 
ness from half a foot to a foot, or a little more. Below this lies 
generally a bed of cold clay, and below this a stratum of arena¬ 
ceous clay. But near to the sea this last is exchanged for mud. 
This peaty earth is generally blacker than the peat of colder la¬ 
titudes, where, as far as seems to have yet been discovered, per¬ 
fect peat can alone be formed. It is also lighter, since its vege¬ 
table matter has not been sufficiently decomposed. It also wants 
