Blomidon 
As time passed and the trap above assumed 
its present hard state, the porous belt below 
was permeated by the rain-water that insinuated 
itself into all the crevices, slowly, as the centu- 
ries passed, dissolving the silica and its com- 
pounds from the rock traversed, and depositing 
them in the cavities of the amygdaloid layer. 
Here these materials arranged themselves into 
crystals, those mysterious and lovely blossoms 
in the hearts of rocks, and filled the hollows, 
large and small, with the most delicate and 
exquisitely beautiful forms. 
North Mountain Is an exhaustless treasure- 
house, before whose marvels even Sindbad's 
wondrous cave grows poor. Within it exquis- 
itely beautiful forms lie waiting to flash or glow 
whenever the rays of the sun shall penetrate the 
blackness of their prison cells. Here lie blue 
amethysts, agates of winsome colours, and dark 
red jasper, besides many another gem of lovely 
hue. Nor are these treasures held fast in the 
heart of the mountain inaccessible to man. 
In some places the hard trap has overflowed 
the whole side of the mountain and piled up in 
a solid mass, in others it is less impregnable. 
Often where the cliff rises sheer, as at Blomi- 
7 97 
