GEOLOGY OF ENGLAND.

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bv faults, and bv occasional hills of transitionand basaltic rocks which rise through them,and bv branches from the mountains of Wales ,particularly in the county of Shropshire , andin a line extending from thence to the hills ofCharnwood forest.

None of the hills in the middle district risehigher than 14j0 feet above the level of ihesea. The general elevation of the level countryin the central parts of England may be de-termined by that of the canals. The Ashby de la Zouch canal, in its course to Oxford,unites with several others, along which a boatmay pass 70 miles equidistant from the easternand western sea (without the interruption ofa single lock) at the level of 278 feet above thehigh-water mark at Gainsborough.

The highest part of the middle district isthe eastern moorlands of Yorkshire , which risemore than 1400 feet very abruptly on the north-eastern side. I am inclined to believe theyowe their elevation to the expansion of basalt,or whin-stone : their sides are covered with abed of aluminous schistus, which is more than

100 yards in thickness above the surface. It%/

was