GEOLOGICAL CURIOSITIES.
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as high as any in the English markets, and her rum has long been known for its pre-eminent qualities. The mountains contain beautiful varieties of fossils, and other geological curiosities. Among these may be found in the south-west chain, masses of trap, breccia, wacke, porphyry, &c. ; and in the inland parallel chain, splendid specimens of coralline schist, agate, jasper, chalcedony, amydoloid, cornelian, and silicified wood are to be met with, of which I need only raise my eyes to those collected before me to say how beautiful they are. These are generally found embedded in a matrix of a deep green colour, which of itself is very pretty, and when well arranged in buildings with the native free-stone, have a very good effect. In the northern districts are found fragments of limestone, containing fossil shells, spars, and crystals of quartz. This chain, running north and south, is supposed to pass under the sea, forming a reef, and reappearing at Monserrat : it is said that the fish found upon this reef are particularly poisonous. Church Hill," as it is termed, from the fact of the church being erected upon it, has been found to be composed of schist, enveloped in marl, and is particularly rich in its fossil shells. Thanks to the new flight of steps which have been lately erected, and the modifications made around that sacred building, (which has obliged the workmen to blast the rock,) I have been enabled to collect some fine varieties. Among these are conchs, cockles, &c, in which the striae are perfect, and some of them are beautifully crystalized. In almost all parts of the island petrifactions are met with. Among the most beautiful of those I have may be enumerated red cedar, with agate intermixed ; and branches of cocoa-nut trees ; plantain stalks,
to be seen, roots with
beautiful lines of agate running through them ; a species of palm ; a root of the dagger, {aloe vulgaris ;) the black mangrove, a branch of a tree, supposed to be the ceibar, or silk-