space, not exceeding fifty acres in area, I counted hundreds of them, in
some places lying almost side by side, in others crossing one another,
and varying so much in composition that the difficulty was to find
two alike. Some are almost entirely of augite, and I observed one
much resembling granite in mechanical structure. In this valley I saw
masses of compact calcspar of a pale yellowish colour and translucent
nature, in form, apparently, as though it had bubbled up and over
the lava rocks previous to its hardening. At a depth of about thirty
feet below the surface there occurs a kind of yellow jasper which
turns red in colour when exposed to heat. I t is, however, not obtainable
in any great quantity. Crystals of augite occur in this valley
embedded in the lava, which, from their perfect form, scarcely seem
to have travelled all the way from the Sandy Bay crater. The surface
of the ground in many places is, similarly to Deadwood plain, thinly
covered with small nodules of brown hematite.
The ground lying between Bottleys and Churchyard, extending
down to Manatee Bay, is very similar in formation to that of Turk s
Cap Yalley just described. Streams of lava have flowed from the Great
Sandy Bay crater’s edge, on one side towards Man and Horse, and
on the other towards Speery, inclosing a crateriform space of some
considerable size, the most practicable descent into which, and down
to the sea shore, is along the ridge of an arm or lateral branch caused
by a divergence of the lava streams towards Man and Horse. This
part of the Island is certainly not without great interest. I t is
barren, excepting here and there, where, being inaccessible, the grass
has escaped the reach of cattle, goats, or sheep, and grown luxuriantly.
The marks of fire and fusion are evident on all sides, and the
whole valley strikingly illustrates the appropriateness of its local
name, “ Shaken Bocks.” I t certainly has been shaken and rent
throughout, and is intersected by thousands of dikes crossing one
another in every direction. Scarcely fifty square yards exist in any
part, altogether in extent about forty acres, that are not crossed by a
dike! These dikes vary greatly in composition; some are highly
augitic, others felspathic, and in some instances these different formations
lie side by side with each other. They do not, however, so
distinctly show a vitreous selvage as those on the north-eastern side
of the Island, thus, I think, proving the existence of greater heat of
longer duration in this part. Descending into the bowl, the strata
become more augitic and basaltic in character, and then lower down