Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 2.djvu/503

Rh also the Labrador hornblende, (Hyperstène) and the white stone striped with green, which seems to constitute a rock on an island near Nain, and was first noticed by the Rev. C. J. Latrobe, among other fragments, which induced him to cause large fragments to be broken off and brought over.

One of the mountains in the vicinity of Nain, as well as several others in different parts of the coast, exhibits a species of Mam-tor, continually crumbling away and shivering down into the valley below; a splinter of this rock is sent for the inspection of the Society.

The island of Ukusiksalik or freestone island, has derived its name from the quantities of lapis ollaris found there. It is probably the most southern place on the coast where this mineral occurs, as the missionaries, who first visited the Eskimos in Chateau Bay, in the Straits of Belle Isle, were told by them that they procured the stone of which their lamps, pots, &c. were made from this island.

At Hopedale the secondary limestone seems to come in; at least we have received from this place fragments of reddish carbonate of lime, calcareous spar, and schiefer spar. Mr. Latrobe also possesses a madrepore, said to have been found there. It is remarkable that the river abounds in fragments of stone, worn into the most fantastic shapes, in which the imagination without great exertion may trace the rude resemblance of birds, crocodiles, &c. They sometimes form rings six or eight inches in diameter, and three quarters of an inch thick. Their great abundance precludes the possibility of their being the work of art.

With respect to the land, west of Cape Chudleigh, as it has been but once visited, we cannot expect to learn much about it. The mountains of Torngarsuit, (the evil spirit) in lat. 60°, are