Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 3.djvu/247

 south and south-west side of the island, did I ever detect any other rock than limestone, excepting that at very low water a bed of calcareous sandstone is to be seen. This rock is observed to dip to the south-west at an angle of about 25° or 30°. There is no coral rock incumbent upon it, but a small section of the broken strata is here and there observable. Such appearances are to be met with about a mile to the east of St. Ann's, and again to the westward of Bridgtown, near to Black Rock.

Towards the interior of the island this terraced appearance becomes less observable, and here too the limestone rock loses somewhat of its traces of organic structure, and occasionally even passes into a calcareous tufa.

In the windward parish of St. Philip, where also there is less of this terraced appearance, and where, if I mistake not, the hills commence which form the middle or main ridge, the rock assumes the external appearance of hard chalk; it is used for building, but effloresces on exposure to the atmosphere.

The island is almost destitute of running streams, excepting in a district which I shall hereafter notice. Upon the leeward coast I do not know of any constant stream; this no doubt is partly owing to the porous nature of the rocks, and partly to the numerous caves which are every where to be met with. These caves are sometimes of large dimensions, and in the parish of St. Thomas is one (usually shewn to strangers) which forms the bed of a subterranean stream, the source and termination of which are wholly unknown. As in all caves of this description, large stalactitic masses of fantastic forms depend from the roof.

I ought to notice another peculiarity in the features of this island which is particularly observable among the hills which slope from the central parts towards the leeward coast. The country is