Volcanic Islands

Chapter IV

ST. HELENA.

Lavas of the feldspathic, basaltic, and submarine series.
Section of Flagstaff Hill and of the Barn.
Dikes.
Turk's Cap and Prosperous Bays.
Basaltic ring.
Central crateriform ridge, with an internal ledge and a parapet.
Cones of phonolite.
Superficial beds of calcareous sandstone.
Extinct land-shells.
Beds of detritus.
Elevation of the land.
Denudation.
Craters of elevation.

The whole island is of volcanic origin; its circumference, according to
Beatson, is about twenty-eight miles. (Governor Beatson "Account of St.
Helena.") The central and largest part consists of rocks of a feldspathic
nature, generally decomposed to an extraordinary degree; and when in this
state, presenting a singular assemblage of alternating, red, purple, brown,
yellow, and white, soft, argillaceous beds. From the shortness of our
visit, I did not examine these beds with care; some of them, especially
those of the white, yellow, and brown shades, originally existed as streams
of lava, but the greater number were probably ejected in the form of
scoriae and ashes: other beds of a purple tint, porphyritic with crystal-
shaped patches of a white, soft substance, which are now unctuous, and
yield, like wax, a polished streak to the nail, seem once to have existed
as solid claystone-porphyries: the red argillaceous beds generally have a
brecciated structure, and no doubt have been formed by the decomposition of
scoriae. Several extensive streams, however, belonging to this series,
retain their stony character; these are either of a blackish-green colour,
with minute acicular crystals of feldspar, or of a very pale tint, and
almost composed of minute, often scaly, crystals of feldspar, abounding
with microscopical black specks; they are generally compact and laminated;
others, however, of similar composition, are cellular and somewhat
decomposed. None of these rocks contain large crystals of feldspar, or have
the harsh fracture peculiar to trachyte. These feldspathic lavas and tuffs
are the uppermost or those last erupted; innumerable dikes, however, and
great masses of molten rock, have subsequently been injected into them.
They converge, as they rise, towards the central curved ridge, of which one
point attains the elevation of 2,700 feet. This ridge is the highest land
in the island; and it once formed the northern rim of a great crater,
whence the lavas of this series flowed: from its ruined condition, from the
southern half having been removed, and from the violent dislocation which
the whole island has undergone, its structure is rendered very obscure.

BASALTIC SERIES.

The margin of the island is formed by a rude circle of great, black,
stratified, ramparts of basalt, dipping seaward, and worn into cliffs,
which are often nearly perpendicular, and vary in height from a few hundred
feet to two thousand. This circle, or rather horse-shoe shaped ring, is
open to the south, and is breached by several other wide spaces. Its rim or
summit generally projects little above the level of the adjoining inland
country; and the more recent feldspathic lavas, sloping down from the
central heights, generally abut against and overlap its inner margin; on
the north-western side of the island, however, they appear (judging from a
distance) to have flowed over and concealed portions of it. In some parts,
where the basaltic ring has been breached, and the black ramparts stand
detached, the feldspathic lavas have passed between them, and now overhang
the sea-coast in lofty cliffs. The basaltic rocks are of a black colour and
thinly stratified; they are generally highly vesicular, but occasionally
compact; some of them contain numerous crystals of glassy feldspar and
octahedrons of titaniferous iron; others abound with crystals of augite and
grains of olivine. The vesicles are frequently lined with minute crystals
(of chabasie?) and even become amygdaloidal with them. The streams are
separated from each other by cindery matter, or by a bright red, friable,
saliferous tuff, which is marked by successive lines like those of aqueous
deposition; and sometimes it has an obscure, concretionary structure. The
rocks of this basaltic series occur nowhere except near the coast. In most
volcanic districts the trachytic lavas are of anterior origin to the
basaltic; but here we see, that a great pile of rock, closely related in
composition to the trachytic family, has been erupted subsequently to the
basaltic strata: the number, however, of dikes, abounding with large
crystals of augite, with which the feldspathic lavas have been injected,
shows perhaps some tendency to a return to the more usual order of
superposition.

BASAL SUBMARINE LAVAS.

The lavas of this basal series lie immediately beneath both the basaltic
and feldspathic rocks. According to Mr. Seale, they may be seen at
intervals on the sea-beach round the entire island. ("Geognosy of the
Island of St. Helena." Mr. Seale has constructed a gigantic model of St.
Helena, well worth visiting, which is now deposited at Addiscombe College,
in Surrey.) In the sections which I examined, their nature varied much;
some of the strata abound with crystals of augite; others are of a brown
colour, either laminated or in a rubbly condition; and many parts are
highly amygdaloidal with calcareous matter. The successive sheets are
either closely united together, or are separated from each other by beds of
scoriaceous rock and of laminated tuff, frequently containing well-rounded
fragments. The interstices of these beds are filled with gypsum and salt;
the gypsum also sometimes occurring in thin layers. From the large quantity
of these two substances, from the presence of rounded pebbles in the tuffs,
and from the abundant amygdaloids, I cannot doubt that these basal volcanic
strata flowed beneath the sea. This remark ought perhaps to be extended to
a part of the superincumbent basaltic rocks; but on this point, I was not
able to obtain clear evidence. The strata of the basal series, whenever I
examined them, were intersected by an extraordinary number of dikes.

FLAGSTAFF HILL AND THE BARN.

(FIGURE 8. FLAGSTAFF HILL AND THE BARN. (Section West (left) to East
(right)) Flagstaff Hill, 2,272 feet high to The Barn, 2,015 feet high.

The double lines represent the basaltic strata; the single, the basal
submarine strata; the dotted, the upper feldspathic strata; the dikes are
shaded transversely.)

I will now describe some of the more remarkable sections, and will commence
with these two hills, which form the principal external feature on the
north-eastern side of the island. The square, angular outline, and black
colour of the Barn, at once show that it belongs to the basaltic series;
whilst the smooth, conical figure, and the varied bright tints of Flagstaff
Hill, render it equally clear, that it is composed of the softened,
feldspathic rocks. These two lofty hills are connected (as is shown in
Figure 8) by a sharp ridge, which is composed of the rubbly lavas of the
basal series. The strata of this ridge dip westward, the inclination
becoming less and less towards the Flagstaff; and the upper feldspathic
strata of this hill can be seen, though with some difficulty, to dip
conformably to the W.S.W. Close to the Barn, the strata of the ridge are
nearly vertical, but are much obscured by innumerable dikes; under this
hill, they probably change from being vertical into being inclined into an
opposite direction; for the upper or basaltic strata, which are about eight
hundred or one thousand feet in thickness, are inclined north-eastward, at
an angle between thirty and forty degrees.

This ridge, and likewise the Barn and Flagstaff Hills, are interlaced by
dikes, many of which preserve a remarkable parallelism in a N.N.W. and
S.S.E. direction. The dikes chiefly consist of a rock, porphyritic with
large crystals of augite; others are formed of a fine-grained and brown-
coloured trap. Most of these dikes are coated by a glossy layer, from one
to two-tenths of an inch in thickness, which, unlike true pitchstone, fuses
into a black enamel; this layer is evidently analogous to the glossy
superficial coating of many lava streams. (This circumstance has been
observed (Lyell "Principles of Geology" volume 4 chapter 10 page 9) in the
dikes of the Atrio del Cavallo, but apparently it is not of very common
occurrence. Sir G. Mackenzie, however, states (page 372 "Travels in
Iceland") that all the veins in Iceland have a "black vitreous coating on
their sides." Captain Carmichael, speaking of the dikes in Tristan
d'Acunha, a volcanic island in the Southern Atlantic, says ("Linnaean
Transactions" volume 12 page 485) that their sides, "where they come in
contact with the rocks, are invariably in a semi-vitrified state.") The
dikes can often be followed for great lengths both horizontally and
vertically, and they seem to preserve a nearly uniform thickness ("Geognosy
of the Island of St. Helena" plate 5.): Mr. Seale states, that one near the
Barn, in a height of 1,260 feet, decreases in width only four inches,--from
nine feet at the bottom, to eight feet and eight inches at the top. On the
ridge, the dikes appear to have been guided in their course, to a
considerable degree, by the alternating soft and hard strata: they are
often firmly united to the harder strata, and they preserve their
parallelism for such great lengths, that in very many instances it was
impossible to conjecture, which of the beds were dikes, and which streams
of lava. The dikes, though so numerous on this ridge, are even more
numerous in the valleys a little south of it, and to a degree I never saw
equalled anywhere else: in these valleys they extend in less regular lines,
covering the ground with a network, like a spider's web, and with some
parts of the surface even appearing to consist wholly of dikes, interlaced
by other dikes.

From the complexity produced by the dikes, from the high inclination and
anticlinal dip of the strata of the basal series, which are overlaid, at
the opposite ends of the short ridge, by two great masses of different ages
and of different composition, I am not surprised that this singular section
has been misunderstood. It has even been supposed to form part of a crater;
but so far is this from having been the case, that the summit of Flagstaff
Hill once formed the lower extremity of a sheet of lava and ashes, which
were erupted from the central, crateriform ridge. Judging from the slope of
the contemporaneous streams in an adjoining and undisturbed part of the
island, the strata of the Flagstaff Hill must have been upturned at least
twelve hundred feet, and probably much more, for the great truncated dikes
on its summit show that it has been largely denuded. The summit of this
hill now nearly equals in height the crateriform ridge; and before having
been denuded, it was probably higher than this ridge, from which it is
separated by a broad and much lower tract of country; we here, therefore,
see that the lower extremities of a set of lava-streams have been tilted up
to as great a height as, or perhaps greater height than, the crater, down
the flanks of which they originally flowed. I believe that dislocations on
so grand a scale are extremely rare in volcanic districts. (M. Constant
Prevost "Mem. de la Soc. Geolog." tome 2 observes that "les produits
volcaniques n'ont que localement et rarement meme derange le sol, a travers
lequel ils se sont fait jour.") The formation of such numbers of dikes in
this part of the island shows that the surface must here have been
stretched to a quite extraordinary degree: this stretching, on the ridge
between Flagstaff and Barn Hills, probably took place subsequently (though
perhaps immediately so) to the strata being tilted; for had the strata at
that time extended horizontally, they would in all probability have been
fissured and injected transversely, instead of in the planes of their
stratification. Although the space between the Barn and Flagstaff Hill
presents a distinct anticlinal line extending north and south, and though
most of the dikes range with much regularity in the same line,
nevertheless, at only a mile due south of the ridge the strata lie
undisturbed. Hence the disturbing force seems to have acted under a point,
rather than along a line. The manner in which it has acted, is probably
explained by the structure of Little Stony-top, a mountain 2,000 feet high,
situated a few miles southward of the Barn; we there see, even from a
distance, a dark-coloured, sharp, wedge of compact columnar rock, with the
bright-coloured feldspathic strata, sloping away on each side from its
uncovered apex. This wedge, from which it derives its name of Stony-top,
consists of a body of rock, which has been injected whilst liquified into
the overlying strata; and if we may suppose that a similar body of rock
lies injected, beneath the ridge connecting the Barn and Flagstaff, the
structure there exhibited would be explained.

TURK'S CAP AND PROSPEROUS BAYS.

(FIGURE 9. PROSPEROUS HILL AND THE BARN. (Section S.S.E. (left) to N.N.W.
(right) Prosperous Hill through Hold-fast-Tom and Flagstaff Hill to The
Barn.

The double lines represent the basaltic strata; the single, the basal
submarine strata; the dotted, the upper feldspathic strata.)

Prosperous Hill is a great, black, precipitous mountain, situated two miles
and a half south of the Barn, and composed, like it, of basaltic strata.
These rest, in one part, on the brown-coloured, porphyritic beds of the
basal series, and in another part, on a fissured mass of highly scoriaceous
and amygdaloidal rock, which seems to have formed a small point of eruption
beneath the sea, contemporaneously with the basal series. Prosperous Hill,
like the Barn, is traversed by many dikes, of which the greater number
range north and south, and its strata dip, at an angle of about 20 degrees,
rather obliquely from the island towards the sea. The space between
Prosperous Hill and the Barn, as represented in Figure 9, consists of lofty
cliffs, composed of the lavas of the upper or feldspathic series, which
rest, though unconformably, on the basal submarine strata, as we have seen
that they do at Flagstaff Hill. Differently, however, from in that hill,
these upper strata are nearly horizontal, gently rising towards the
interior of the island; and they are composed of greenish-black, or more
commonly, pale brown, compact lavas, instead of softened and highly
coloured matter. These brown-coloured, compact lavas, consist almost
entirely of small glimmering scales, or of minute acicular crystals, of
feldspar, placed close by the side of each other, and abounding with minute
black specks, apparently of hornblende. The basaltic strata of Prosperous
Hill project only a little above the level of the gently-sloping,
feldspathic streams, which wind round and abut against their upturned
edges. The inclination of the basaltic strata seems to be too great to have
been caused by their having flowed down a slope, and they must have been
tilted into their present position before the eruption of the feldspathic
streams.

BASALTIC RING.

Proceeding round the Island, the lavas of the upper series, southward of
Prosperous Hill, overhang the sea in lofty precipices. Further on, the
headland, called Great Stony-top, is composed, as I believe, of basalt; as
is Long Range Point, on the inland side of which the coloured beds abut. On
the southern side of the island, we see the basaltic strata of the South
Barn, dipping obliquely seaward at a considerable angle; this headland,
also, stands a little above the level of the more modern, feldspathic
lavas. Further on, a large space of coast, on each side of Sandy Bay, has
been much denuded, and there seems to be left only the basal wreck of the
great, central crater. The basaltic strata reappear, with their seaward
dip, at the foot of the hill, called Man-and-Horse; and thence they are
continued along the whole north-western coast to Sugar-Loaf Hill, situated
near to the Flagstaff; and they everywhere have the same seaward
inclination, and rest, in some parts at least, on the lavas of the basal
series. We thus see that the circumference of the island is formed by a
much-broken ring, or rather, a horse-shoe, of basalt, open to the south,
and interrupted on the eastern side by many wide breaches. The breadth of
this marginal fringe on the north-western side, where alone it is at all
perfect, appears to vary from a mile to a mile and a half. The basaltic
strata, as well as those of the subjacent basal series, dip, with a
moderate inclination, where they have not been subsequently disturbed,
towards the sea. The more broken state of the basaltic ring round the
eastern half, compared with the western half of the island, is evidently
due to the much greater denuding power of the waves on the eastern or
windward side, as is shown by the greater height of the cliffs on that
side, than to leeward. Whether the margin of basalt was breached, before or
after the eruption of the lavas of the upper series, is doubtful; but as
separate portions of the basaltic ring appear to have been tilted before
that event, and from other reasons, it is more probable, that some at least
of the breaches were first formed. Reconstructing in imagination, as far as
is possible, the ring of basalt, the internal space or hollow, which has
since been filled up with the matter erupted from the great central crater,
appears to have been of an oval figure, eight or nine miles in length by
about four miles in breadth, and with its axis directed in a N.E. and S W.
line, coincident with the present longest axis of the island.

THE CENTRAL CURVED RIDGE.

This ridge consists, as before remarked, of grey feldspathic lavas, and of
red, brecciated, argillaceous tuffs, like the beds of the upper coloured
series. The grey lavas contain numerous, minute, black, easily fusible
specks; and but very few large crystals of feldspar. They are generally
much softened; with the exception of this character, and of being in many
parts highly cellular, they are quite similar to those great sheets of lava
which overhang the coast at Prosperous Bay. Considerable intervals of time
appear to have elapsed, judging from the marks of denudation, between the
formation of the successive beds, of which this ridge is composed. On the
steep northern slope, I observed in several sections a much worn undulating
surface of red tuff, covered by grey, decomposed, feldspathic lavas, with
only a thin earthy layer interposed between them. In an adjoining part, I
noticed a trap-dike, four feet wide, cut off and covered up by the
feldspathic lava, as is represented in Figure 9. The ridge ends on the
eastern side in a hook, which is not represented clearly enough in any map
which I have seen; towards the western end, it gradually slopes down and
divides into several subordinate ridges. The best defined portion between
Diana's Peak and Nest Lodge, which supports the highest pinnacles in the
island varying from 2,000 to 2,700 feet, is rather less than three miles
long in a straight line. Throughout this space the ridge has a uniform
appearance and structure; its curvature resembles that of the coast-line of
a great bay, being made up of many smaller curves, all open to the south.
The northern and outer side is supported by narrow ridges or buttresses,
which slope down to the adjoining country. The inside is much steeper, and
is almost precipitous; it is formed of the basset edges of the strata,
which gently decline outwards. Along some parts of the inner side, a little
way beneath the summit, a flat ledge extends, which imitates in outline the
smaller curvatures of the crest. Ledges of this kind occur not unfrequently
within volcanic craters, and their formation seems to be due to the sinking
down of a level sheet of hardened lava, the edges of which remain (like the
ice round a pool, from which the water has been drained) adhering to the
sides. (A most remarkable instance of this structure is described in Ellis
"Polynesian Researches" second edition where an admirable drawing is given
of the successive ledges or terraces, on the borders of the immense crater
at Hawaii, in the Sandwich Islands.)

(FIGURE 10. DIKE. (Section showing layers 1, 2 and 3 from top to bottom.)

1. Grey feldspathic lava.

2. A layer, one inch in thickness, of a reddish earthy matter.

3. Brecciated, red, argillaceous tuff.)

In some parts, the ridge is surmounted by a wall or parapet, perpendicular
on both sides. Near Diana's Peak this wall is extremely narrow. At the
Galapagos Archipelago I observed parapets, having a quite similar structure
and appearance, surmounting several of the craters; one, which I more
particularly examined, was composed of glossy, red scoriae firmly cemented
together; being externally perpendicular, and extending round nearly the
whole circumference of the crater, it rendered it almost inaccessible. The
Peak of Teneriffe and Cotopaxi, according to Humboldt, are similarly
constructed; he states that "at their summits a circular wall surrounds the
crater, which wall, at a distance, has the appearance of a small cylinder
placed on a truncated cone. ("Personal Narrative" volume 1 page 171.) On
Cotopaxi this peculiar structure is visible to the naked eye at more than
two thousand toises' distance; and no person has ever reached its crater.
(Humboldt "Picturesque Atlas" folio plate 10.) On the Peak of Teneriffe,
the parapet is so high, that it would be impossible to reach the caldera,
if on the eastern side there did not exist a breach." The origin of these
circular parapets is probably due to the heat or vapours from the crater,
penetrating and hardening the sides to a nearly equal depth, and afterwards
to the mountain being slowly acted on by the weather, which would leave the
hardened part, projecting in the form of a cylinder or circular parapet.

From the points of structure in the central ridge, now enumerated,--namely,
from the convergence towards it of the beds of the upper series,--from the
lavas there becoming highly cellular,--from the flat ledge, extending along
its inner and precipitous side, like that within some still active
craters,--from the parapet-like wall on its summit,--and lastly, from its
peculiar curvature, unlike that of any common line of elevation, I cannot
doubt that this curved ridge forms the last remnant of a great crater. In
endeavouring, however, to trace its former outline, one is soon baffled;
its western extremity gradually slopes down, and, branching into other
ridges, extends to the sea-coast; the eastern end is more curved, but it is
only a little better defined. Some appearances lead me to suppose that the
southern wall of the crater joined the present ridge near Nest Lodge; in
this case the crater must have been nearly three miles long, and about a
mile and a half in breadth. Had the denudation of the ridge and the
decomposition of its constituent rocks proceeded a few steps further, and
had this ridge, like several other parts of the island, been broken up by
great dikes and masses of injected matter, we should in vain have
endeavoured to discover its true nature. Even now we have seen that at
Flagstaff Hill the lower extremity and most distant portion of one sheet of
the erupted matter has been upheaved to as great a height as the crater
down which it flowed, and probably even to a greater height. It is
interesting thus to trace the steps by which the structure of a volcanic
district becomes obscured, and finally obliterated: so near to this last
stage is St. Helena, that I believe no one has hitherto suspected that the
central ridge or axis of the island is the last wreck of the crater, whence
the most modern volcanic streams were poured forth.

The great hollow space or valley southward of the central curved ridge,
across which the half of the crater must once have extended, is formed of
bare, water-worn hillocks and ridges of red, yellow, and brown rocks,
mingled together in chaos-like confusion, interlaced by dikes, and without
any regular stratification. The chief part consists of red decomposing
scoriae, associated with various kinds of tuff and yellow argillaceous
beds, full of broken crystals, those of augite being particularly large.
Here and there masses of highly cellular and amygdaloidal lavas protrude.
From one of the ridges in the midst of the valley, a conical precipitous
hill, called Lot, boldly stands up, and forms a most singular and
conspicuous object. It is composed of phonolite, divided in one part into
great curved laminae, in another, into angular concretionary balls, and in
a third part into outwardly radiating columns. At its base the strata of
lava, tuff, and scoriae, dip away on all sides (Abich in his "Views of
Vesuvius" plate 6 has shown the manner in which beds, under nearly similar
circumstances, are tilted up. The upper beds are more turned up than the
lower; and he accounts for this, by showing that the lava insinuates itself
horizontally between the lower beds.); the uncovered portion is 197 feet in
height (This height is given by Mr. Seale in his Geognosy of the island.
The height of the summit above the level of the sea is said to be 1,444
feet.), and its horizontal section gives an oval figure. The phonolite is
of a greenish-grey colour, and is full of minute acicular crystals of
feldspar; in most parts it has a conchoidal fracture, and is sonorous, yet
it is crenulated with minute air-cavities. In a S.W. direction from Lot,
there are some other remarkable columnar pinnacles, but of a less regular
shape, namely, Lot's Wife, and the Asses' Ears, composed of allied kinds of
rock. From their flattened shape, and their relative position to each
other, they are evidently connected on the same line of fissure. It is,
moreover, remarkable that this same N.E. and S.W. line, joining Lot and
Lot's Wife, if prolonged would intersect Flagstaff Hill, which, as before
stated, is crossed by numerous dikes running in this direction, and which
has a disturbed structure, rendering it probable that a great body of once
fluid rock lies injected beneath it.

In this same great valley there are several other conical masses of
injected rock (one, I observed, was composed of compact greenstone), some
of which are not connected, as far as is apparent, with any line of dike;
whilst others are obviously thus connected. Of these dikes, three or four
great lines stretch across the valley in a N.E. and S.W. direction,
parallel to that one connecting the Asses' Ears, Lot's Wife, and probably
Lot. The number of these masses of injected rock is a remarkable feature in
the geology of St. Helena. Besides those just mentioned, and the
hypothetical one beneath Flagstaff Hill, there is Little Stony-top and
others, as I have reason to believe, at the Man-and-Horse, and at High
Hill. Most of these masses, if not all of them, have been injected
subsequently to the last volcanic eruptions from the central crater. The
formation of conical bosses of rock on lines of fissure, the walls of which
are in most cases parallel, may probably be attributed to inequalities in
the tension, causing small transverse fissures, and at these points of
intersection the edges of the strata would naturally yield, and be easily
turned upwards. Finally, I may remark, that hills of phonolite everywhere
are apt to assume singular and even grotesque shapes, like that of Lot
(D'Aubuisson in his "Traite de Geognosie" tome 2 page 540 particularly
remarks that this is the case.): the peak at Fernando Noronha offers an
instance; at St. Jago, however, the cones of phonolite, though tapering,
have a regular form. Supposing, as seems probable, that all such hillocks
or obelisks have originally been injected, whilst liquified, into a mould
formed by yielding strata, as certainly has been the case with Lot, how are
we to account for the frequent abruptness and singularity of their
outlines, compared with similarly injected masses of greenstone and basalt?
Can it be due to a less perfect degree of fluidity, which is generally
supposed to be characteristic of the allied trachytic lavas?

SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS.

Soft calcareous sandstone occurs in extensive, though thin, superficial
beds, both on the northern and southern shores of the island. It consists
of very minute, equal-sized, rounded particles of shells, and other organic
bodies, which partially retain their yellow, brown, and pink colours, and
occasionally, though very rarely, present an obscure trace of their
original external forms. I in vain endeavoured to find a single unrolled
fragment of a shell. The colour of the particles is the most obvious
character by which their origin can be recognised, the tints being affected
(and an odour produced) by a moderate heat, in the same manner as in fresh
shells. The particles are cemented together, and are mingled with some
earthy matter: the purest masses, according to Beatson, contain 70 per cent
of carbonate of lime. The beds, varying in thickness from two or three feet
to fifteen feet, coat the surface of the ground; they generally lie on that
side of the valley which is protected from the wind, and they occur at the
height of several hundred feet above the level of the sea. Their position
is the same which sand, if now drifted by the trade-wind, would occupy; and
no doubt they thus originated, which explains the equal size and minuteness
of the particles, and likewise the entire absence of whole shells, or even
of moderately-sized fragments. It is remarkable that at the present day
there are no shelly beaches on any part of the coast, whence calcareous
dust could be drifted and winnowed; we must, therefore, look back to a
former period when before the land was worn into the present great
precipices, a shelving coast, like that of Ascension, was favourable to the
accumulation of shelly detritus. Some of the beds of this limestone are
between six hundred and seven hundred feet above the sea; but part of this
height may possibly be due to an elevation of the land, subsequent to the
accumulation of the calcareous sand.

The percolation of rain-water has consolidated parts of these beds into a
solid rock, and has formed masses of dark brown, stalagmitic limestone. At
the Sugar-Loaf quarry, fragments of rock on the adjoining slopes have been
thickly coated by successive fine layers of calcareous matter. (In the
earthy detritus on several parts of this hill, irregular masses of very
impure, crystallised sulphate of lime occur. As this substance is now being
abundantly deposited by the surf at Ascension, it is possible that these
masses may thus have originated; but if so, it must have been at a period
when the land stood at a much lower level. This earthy selenite is now
found at a height of between six hundred and seven hundred feet.) It is
singular, that many of these pebbles have their entire surfaces coated,
without any point of contact having been left uncovered; hence, these
pebbles must have been lifted up by the slow deposition between them of the
successive films of carbonate of lime. Masses of white, finely oolitic rock
are attached to the outside of some of these coated pebbles. Von Buch has
described a compact limestone at Lanzarote, which seems perfectly to
resemble the stalagmitic deposition just mentioned: it coats pebbles, and
in parts is finely oolitic: it forms a far-extended layer, from one inch to
two or three feet in thickness, and it occurs at the height of 800 feet
above the sea, but only on that side of the island exposed to the violent
north-western winds. Von Buch remarks, that it is not found in hollows, but
only on the unbroken and inclined surfaces of the mountain. ("Description
des Isles Canaries" page 293.) He believes, that it has been deposited by
the spray which is borne over the whole island by these violent winds. It
appears, however, to me much more probable that it has been formed, as at
St. Helena, by the percolation of water through finely comminuted shells:
for when sand is blown on a much-exposed coast, it always tends to
accumulate on broad, even surfaces, which offer a uniform resistance to the
winds. At the neighbouring island, moreover, of Feurteventura, there is an
earthy limestone, which, according to Von Buch, is quite similar to
specimens which he has seen from St. Helena, and which he believes to have
been formed by the drifting of shelly detritus. (Idem pages 314 and 374.)

The upper beds of the limestone, at the above-mentioned quarry on the
Sugar-Loaf Hill, are softer, finer-grained and less pure, than the lower
beds. They abound with fragments of land-shells, and with some perfect
ones; they contain, also, the bones of birds, and the large eggs,
apparently of water-fowl. (Colonel Wilkes, in a catalogue presented with
some specimens to the Geological Society, states that as many as ten eggs
were found by one person. Dr. Buckland has remarked ("Geolog. Trans."
volume 5 page 474) on these eggs.) It is probable that these upper beds
remained long in an unconsolidated form, during which time, these
terrestrial productions were embedded. Mr. G.R. Sowerby has kindly examined
three species of land-shells, which I procured from this bed, and has
described them in detail. One of them is a Succinea, identical with a
species now living abundantly on the island; the two others, namely,
Cochlogena fossilis and Helix biplicata, are not known in a recent state:
the latter species was also found in another and different locality,
associated with a species of Cochlogena which is undoubtedly extinct.

BEDS OF EXTINCT LAND-SHELLS.

Land-shells, all of which appear to be species now extinct, occur embedded
in earth, in several parts of the island. The greater number have been
found at a considerable height on Flagstaff Hill. On the N.W. side of this
hill, a rain-channel exposes a section of about twenty feet in thickness,
of which the upper part consists of black vegetable mould, evidently washed
down from the heights above, and the lower part of less black earth,
abounding with young and old shells, and with their fragments: part of this
earth is slightly consolidated by calcareous matter, apparently due to the
partial decomposition of some of the shells. Mr. Seale, an intelligent
resident, who first called attention to these shells, gave me a large
collection from another locality, where the shells appear to have been
embedded in very black earth. Mr. G.R. Sowerby has examined these shells,
and has described them. There are seven species, namely, one Cochlogena,
two species of the genus Cochlicopa, and four of Helix; none of these are
known in a recent state, or have been found in any other country. The
smaller species were picked out of the inside of the large shells of the
Cochlogena aurisvulpina. This last-mentioned species is in many respects a
very singular one; it was classed, even by Lamarck, in a marine genus, and
having thus been mistaken for a sea-shell, and the smaller accompanying
species having been overlooked, the exact localities where it was found
have been measured, and the elevation of this island thus deduced! It is
very remarkable that all the shells of this species found by me in one
spot, form a distinct variety, as described by Mr. Sowerby, from those
procured from another locality by Mr. Seale. As this Cochlogena is a large
and conspicuous shell, I particularly inquired from several intelligent
countrymen whether they had ever seen it alive; they all assured me that
they had not, and they would not even believe that it was a land animal:
Mr. Seale, moreover, who was a collector of shells all his life at St.
Helena, never met with it alive. Possibly some of the smaller species may
turn out to be yet living kinds; but, on the other hand, the two land-
shells which are now living on the island in great numbers, do not occur
embedded, as far as is yet known, with the extinct species. I have shown in
my "Journal" ("Journal of Researches" page 582.), that the extinction of
these land-shells possibly may not be an ancient event; as a great change
took place in the state of the island about one hundred and twenty years
ago, when the old trees died, and were not replaced by young ones, these
being destroyed by the goats and hogs, which had run wild in numbers, from
the year 1502. Mr. Seale states, that on Flagstaff Hill, where we have seen
that the embedded land-shells are especially numerous, traces are
everywhere discoverable, which plainly indicate that it was once thickly
clothed with trees; at present not even a bush grows there. The thick bed
of black vegetable mould which covers the shell-bed, on the flanks of this
hill, was probably washed down from the upper part, as soon as the trees
perished, and the shelter afforded by them was lost.

ELEVATION OF THE LAND.

Seeing that the lavas of the basal series, which are of submarine origin,
are raised above the level of the sea, and at some places to the height of
many hundred feet, I looked out for superficial signs of the elevation of
the land. The bottoms of some of the gorges, which descend to the coast,
are filled up to the depth of about a hundred feet, by rudely divided
layers of sand, muddy clay, and fragmentary masses; in these beds, Mr.
Seale has found the bones of the tropic-bird and of the albatross; the
former now rarely, and the latter never visiting the island. From the
difference between these layers, and the sloping piles of detritus which
rest on them, I suspect that they were deposited, when the gorges stood
beneath the sea. Mr. Seale, moreover, has shown that some of the fissure-
like gorges become, with a concave outline, gradually rather wider at the
bottom than at the top; and this peculiar structure was probably caused by
the wearing action of the sea, when it entered the lower part of these
gorges. (A fissure-like gorge, near Stony-top, is said by Mr. Seale to be
840 feet deep, and only 115 feet in width.) At greater heights, the
evidence of the rise of the land is even less clear: nevertheless, in a
bay-like depression on the table-land behind Prosperous Bay, at the height
of about a thousand feet, there are flat-topped masses of rock, which it is
scarcely conceivable, could have been insulated from the surrounding and
similar strata, by any other agency than the denuding action of a sea-
beach. Much denudation, indeed, has been effected at great elevations,
which it would not be easy to explain by any other means: thus, the flat
summit of the Barn, which is 2,000 feet high, presents, according to Mr.
Seale, a perfect network of truncated dikes; on hills like the Flagstaff,
formed of soft rock, we might suppose that the dikes had been worn down and
cut off by meteoric agency, but we can hardly suppose this possible with
the hard, basaltic strata of the Barn.

COAST DENUDATION.

The enormous cliffs, in many parts between one and two thousand feet in
height, with which this prison-like island is surrounded, with the
exception of only a few places, where narrow valleys descend to the coast,
is the most striking feature in its scenery. We have seen that portions of
the basaltic ring, two or three miles in length by one or two miles in
breadth, and from one to two thousand feet in height, have been wholly
removed. There are, also, ledges and banks of rock, rising out of
profoundly deep water, and distant from the present coast between three and
four miles, which, according to Mr. Seale, can be traced to the shore, and
are found to be the continuations of certain well-known great dikes. The
swell of the Atlantic Ocean has obviously been the active power in forming
these cliffs; and it is interesting to observe that the lesser, though
still great, height of the cliffs on the leeward and partially protected
side of the island (extending from the Sugar-Loaf Hill to South West
Point), corresponds with the lesser degree of exposure. When reflecting on
the comparatively low coasts of many volcanic islands, which also stand
exposed in the open ocean, and are apparently of considerable antiquity,
the mind recoils from an attempt to grasp the number of centuries of
exposure, necessary to have ground into mud and to have dispersed the
enormous cubic mass of hard rock which has been pared off the circumference
of this island. The contrast in the superficial state of St. Helena,
compared with the nearest island, namely, Ascension, is very striking. At
Ascension, the surfaces of the lava-streams are glossy, as if just poured
forth, their boundaries are well defined, and they can often be traced to
perfect craters, whence they were erupted; in the course of many long
walks, I did not observe a single dike; and the coast round nearly the
entire circumference is low, and has been eaten back (though too much
stress must not be placed on this fact, as the island may have been
subsiding) into a little wall only from ten to thirty feet high. Yet during
the 340 years, since Ascension has been known, not even the feeblest signs
of volcanic action have been recorded. (In the "Nautical Magazine" for 1835
page 642, and for 1838 page 361, and in the "Comptes Rendus" April 1838,
accounts are given of a series of volcanic phenomena--earthquakes--troubled
water--floating scoriae and columns of smoke--which have been observed at
intervals since the middle of the last century, in a space of open sea
between longitudes 20 degrees and 22 degrees west, about half a degree
south of the equator. These facts seem to show, that an island or an
archipelago is in process of formation in the middle of the Atlantic: a
line joining St. Helena and Ascension, prolonged, intersects this slowly
nascent focus of volcanic action.) On the other hand, at St. Helena, the
course of no one stream of lava can be traced, either by the state of its
boundaries or of its superficies; the mere wreck of one great crater is
left; not the valleys only, but the surfaces of some of the highest hills,
are interlaced by worn-down dikes, and, in many places, the denuded summits
of great cones of injected rock stand exposed and naked; lastly, as we have
seen, the entire circuit of the island has been deeply worn back into the
grandest precipices.

CRATERS OF ELEVATION.

There is much resemblance in structure and in geological history between
St. Helena, St. Jago, and Mauritius. All three islands are bounded (at
least in the parts which I was able to examine) by a ring of basaltic
mountains, now much broken, but evidently once continuous. These mountains
have, or apparently once had, their escarpments steep towards the interior
of the island, and their strata dip outwards. I was able to ascertain, only
in a few cases, the inclination of the beds; nor was this easy, for the
stratification was generally obscure, except when viewed from a distance. I
feel, however, little doubt that, according to the researches of M. Elie de
Beaumont, their average inclination is greater than that which they could
have acquired, considering their thickness and compactness, by flowing down
a sloping surface. At St. Helena, and at St. Jago, the basaltic strata rest
on older and probably submarine beds of different composition. At all three
islands, deluges of more recent lavas have flowed from the centre of the
island, towards and between the basaltic mountains; and at St. Helena the
central platform has been filled up by them. All three islands have been
raised in mass. At Mauritius the sea, within a late geological period, must
have reached to the foot of the basaltic mountains, as it now does at St.
Helena; and at St. Jago it is cutting back the intermediate plain towards
them. In these three islands, but especially at St. Jago and at Mauritius,
when, standing on the summit of one of the old basaltic mountains, one
looks in vain towards the centre of the island,--the point towards which
the strata beneath one's feet, and of the mountains on each side, rudely
converge,--for a source whence these strata could have been erupted; but
one sees only a vast hollow platform stretched beneath, or piles of matter
of more recent origin.

These basaltic mountains come, I presume, into the class of Craters of
elevation: it is immaterial whether the rings were ever completely formed,
for the portions which now exist have so uniform a structure, that, if they
do not form fragments of true craters, they cannot be classed with ordinary
lines of elevation. With respect to their origin, after having read the
works of Mr. Lyell ("Principles of Geology" fifth edition volume 2 page
171.), and of MM. C. Prevost and Virlet, I cannot believe that the great
central hollows have been formed by a simple dome-shaped elevation, and the
consequent arching of the strata. On the other hand, I have very great
difficulty in admitting that these basaltic mountains are merely the basal
fragments of great volcanoes, of which the summits have either been blown
off, or more probably swallowed up by subsidence. These rings are, in some
instances, so immense, as at St. Jago and at Mauritius, and their
occurrence is so frequent, that I can hardly persuade myself to adopt this
explanation. Moreover, I suspect that the following circumstances, from
their frequent concurrence, are someway connected together,--a connection
not implied in either of the above views: namely, first, the broken state
of the ring; showing that the now detached portions have been exposed to
great denudation, and in some cases, perhaps, rendering it probable that
the ring never was entire; secondly, the great amount of matter erupted
from the central area after or during the formation of the ring; and
thirdly, the elevation of the district in mass. As far as relates to the
inclination of the strata being greater than that which the basal fragments
of ordinary volcanoes would naturally possess, I can readily believe that
this inclination might have been slowly acquired by that amount of
elevation, of which, according to M. Elie de Beaumont, the numerous
upfilled fissures or dikes are the evidence and the measure,--a view
equally novel and important, which we owe to the researches of that
geologist on Mount Etna.

A conjecture, including the above circumstances, occurred to me, when,--
with my mind fully convinced, from the phenomena of 1835 in South America,
that the forces which eject matter from volcanic orifices and raise
continents in mass are identical,--I viewed that part of the coast of St.
Jago, where the horizontally upraised, calcareous stratum dips into the
sea, directly beneath a cone of subsequently erupted lava. (I have given a
detailed account of these phenomena, in a paper read before the Geological
Society in March 1838. At the instant of time, when an immense area was
convulsed and a large tract elevated, the districts immediately surrounding
several of the great vents in the Cordillera remained quiescent; the
subterranean forces being apparently relieved by the eruptions, which then
recommenced with great violence. An event of somewhat the same kind, but on
an infinitely smaller scale, appears to have taken place, according to
Abich ("Views of Vesuvius" plates 1 and 9), within the great crater of
Vesuvius, where a platform on one side of a fissure was raised in mass
twenty feet, whilst on the other side, a train of small volcanoes burst
forth in eruption.) The conjecture is that, during the slow elevation of a
volcanic district or island, in the centre of which one or more orifices
continue open, and thus relieve the subterranean forces, the borders are
elevated more than the central area; and that the portions thus upraised do
not slope gently into the central, less elevated area, as does the
calcareous stratum under the cone at St. Jago, and as does a large part of
the circumference of Iceland, but that they are separated from it by curved
faults. (It appears, from information communicated to me in the most
obliging manner by M. E. Robert, that the circumferential parts of Iceland,
which are composed of ancient basaltic strata alternating with tuff, dip
inland, thus forming a gigantic saucer. M. Robert found that this was the
case, with a few and quite local exceptions, for a space of coast several
hundred miles in length. I find this statement corroborated, as far as
regards one place, by Mackenzie in his "Travels" page 377, and in another
place by some MS. notes kindly lent me by Dr. Holland. The coast is deeply
indented by creeks, at the head of which the land is generally low. M.
Robert informs me, that the inwardly dipping strata appear to extend as far
as this line, and that their inclination usually corresponds with the slope
of the surface, from the high coast-mountains to the low land at the head
of these creeks. In the section described by Sir G. Mackenzie, the dip is
120. The interior parts of the island chiefly consist, as far as is known,
of recently erupted matter. The great size, however, of Iceland, equalling
the bulkiest part of England, ought perhaps to exclude it from the class of
islands we have been considering; but I cannot avoid suspecting that if the
coast-mountains, instead of gently sloping into the less elevated central
area, had been separated from it by irregularly curved faults, the strata
would have been tilted seaward, and a "Crater of elevation," like that of
St. Jago or that of Mauritius, but of much vaster dimensions, would have
been formed. I will only further remark, that the frequent occurrence of
extensive lakes at the foot of large volcanoes, and the frequent
association of volcanic and fresh-water strata, seem to indicate that the
areas around volcanoes are apt to be depressed beneath the level of the
adjoining country, either from having been less elevated, or from the
effects of subsidence.) We might expect, from what we see along ordinary
faults, that the strata on the upraised side, already dipping outwards from
their original formation as lava-streams, would be tilted from the line of
fault, and thus have their inclination increased. According to this
hypothesis, which I am tempted to extend only to some few cases, it is not
probable that the ring would ever be formed quite perfect; and from the
elevation being slow, the upraised portions would generally be exposed to
much denudation, and hence the ring become broken; we might also expect to
find occasional inequalities in the dip of the upraised masses, as is the
case at St. Jago. By this hypothesis the elevation of the districts in
mass, and the flowing of deluges of lava from the central platforms, are
likewise connected together. On this view the marginal basaltic mountains
of the three foregoing islands might still be considered as forming
"Craters of elevation;" the kind of elevation implied having been slow, and
the central hollow or platform having been formed, not by the arching of
the surface, but simply by that part having been upraised to a less height.