gentleman having made a walls, and laid ggjj tk y M È cement,:
found riie grafs to grow mod ppöfifidly.: it might prove peihaps,
upon rarther tryal, a öiaïle, Üs- ptoper for com as grafs, hut the
uiefulnefs of marie is little, kndwn in Cornwall-.
• _ There is a white fteatites *, in the parifti of Guenap, of a more
indurated Earth than the former : but the moft curious of all óur
clays in Cornwall, is the fteatites near the Lizherd, generally called
the Soap-röck. As the fituation of this curious foflil, and its pofi-
tiön in the Earth,' has been wholly miftaken I fhall be the more
particular as to thé place and other circumftances. The firft place
where it appears, is at Kynans Core, one mile and half North-
Weft df tfte Lizherd : here is very little of the fteatites, and fo far
are the cliffs from being compofed of it, that it was with' difficulty
we found any; but ’tis rare to find a place where a Naturalift would
MVe been more delighted, if he had found none. The way down
from the hill is extremely rough and narrow, there being but a path
o f few inches tread, made by the horfes which carry fand; from
this path you enter a moft lonely cove, the fand of which is of a
mixed colour, partly light-blue, partly glittering... Thefe fands are
difperfed in many turning and winding paffages among rocks and
vaft maffes of cliff, which the fea has unfooted and feparated from
the high-lands adjoining. The fandy walks lead to many grotts,
which are polifhed too 'often by the tides to afford any cavernous
plants; but at the foot of the rocks, many bafons or baths of cry-
ftal water are formed in the lands by the eddy of the waves; : There
is fprinkled in feme places a ftnoöth imEluous incruftation, much like
bees-wax to the; ëye and touch, of which the crevices in the rocks
(generally no wider than the twentieth of an inch) are full. This
incruftation doés not appear to be any exfudation through the pores
of the roek, but rather waffled out of the'crevices, and returned
t^ierwiaves’ ft ftftfts faft, and forms a Idnd of enamel upon the
fides or the rocks. On the Eaftefn fide óf this cove,'the rocks in general
are more gritty and crumbling, and between them fome few and
final] veins of the white and red marbled clay,’ fine fort of that
which we call Soap-rock. But the pureft and g'reatéft plenty of the
fteatites is about a mile farther to the North, where defcending into
a narrow valley, about 20.0 paces from the top of the hill, we found,
on our left-hand, a ftraw-coloured, foft, greafy clay, mixed with
brown-red, laid bare by the tumbling-down of the green fod which
covered it. This couffé of clay was about a yard thick, eafily cut
blance to tallow; iiTGreek, !C°m ltS . em_ ' ,
1 \ “ „ A pokfeTOnfiftParf °I-the wm w the r f pd the adj acellt little Uizard-pomt, confifts of this earth.” Wood- Hill’s Hift. of Foffils, pagief l2an2d. jabou,n--d- -w--i-th. :
by
, \ | ° F c jC O Rt Ni W A L L . ■ 6*
by a knife, and cpmpreffed by the land; as we walked a few
\ P rds^ r N ft W c l i f f b'S B I a perpendicular foM
Vace of black hard ftone, at the foot of which « a channel“
flPq. coloured, and veined with green, ruddy, and purple
f f i Z ? f ° a nthswide fu b L c e s , of no
fplffgl f e * » S : mcneswide, but of more uniform confidence',
t k folid rock making a finooth wall for it on either fide- there is
a fmall win or two more in the fide of this efiff, and the feveral
PI
' ,!,alfo 8 mtm“ ala a body of colour for painting in water, and
H [ forlk It is very abforbent, and
the fame S * » .without mjunng the colour, and is poftibly
tc J f ) lm \ Fontoppidan calls the “ white Talc-ftone,
l U °f “ " ^ ltene^ that ft ft ufed in Norway for powder, as I
“ 1 1 1 pnlvenzed mtp an impalpable finenefs.” PThis is care-
fnUy feledted from the other forts of clay, barrelled np, andaimoft
wholly engrofled, by people employed under the managers of the
porcelain manufa&ures. j 5
dry,cbikjearth, flicks ftrongly to the tongue,
teftelefi, diffolves eaffly in water into a pulp, with acids makes no
efiervefcence.
N . I ll The fame chalky earth equally mixed with a red earth ; its
•«ater ruddy, like red chalk; its depofrt more gritty than the fore-
Somg : makes no effervefcencC with acids.
.1 N ' J ' Tiie next f ort of this, clay is very white, clouded here and
there, but not veined, with purple. It diffolves in water with more
dnhculiy than N°. I. and tinges , the water with purple; as to the
reit-agreemg in all its properties with N\ I. This is probably the
cuno ia purpurafcem, or ad purpurijjum inclinans of Pliny, lib; xxxv
chap. xvii.
i ^ ‘ Y/ pearl-coloured, hard clay, approaching nearly to
he confiftence of a white opaque fpar; foon cleaves itfelf into ma-
©Uies when immerfed in water, yet diffolves no farther; but with
water grinds foon into a flelh-coloured milky pulp: ’tis much harder
an ioap and wax, faws free and greafy; there is amore ftofiy variety of