nually growing wealth of the district is derived; and if we add to these, the cord wood, and lumber, and vessels built upon its southern waters, we shall have enumerated the chief sources of the prosperity of the peninsula. In this part of the state, 14 furnaces, including cupolas, and 14 forges, one extensive rolling and slitting mill and nail factory, and 11 glass manufactories, engaged in the manufacture of window-glass and hollow ware, provide a valuable and steady market for large portions of the agricultural product.

The whole of this district is tolerably well watered; but the streams are neither large nor rapid, and are remarkable for the depth of their beds, which cause, indeed, almost the only inequalities of its surface. Those of the northern part of the peninsula interlock their sources in various ways; some flow N. and N. E. as the Millstone and the South Rivers, with their many tributaries; some E. to the Atlantic, as the Swimming, Shark, Manasquan, Metetecunk and Tom's Rivers; whilst others seek the Delaware, as the Assunpink, the Crosswicks, the Rancocus, Cooper's, Big Timber, Mantua and Oldman's Creeks. Those on the south either flow S. E. to the ocean, as the Mullica, Great Egg Harbour and Tuckahoe rivers, or run S. W. into the bay, as Salem, Stow and Cohansey creeks and Maurice River. Most of the streams have a crooked course, and flowing through a flat country, are commonly navigable some miles from their mouth. Unlike the rivers of hilly countries, they are steady in their volumes, and uniform supplies of water can be more confidently relied upon.

IV. The second of our divisions of the State is included by a line drawn from Hoboken, running S. of New Brunswick to Trenton, and another from the Ramapo Mountains, on the boundary of New York, curving by the Pompton Mountain or Highlands, Morristown, Baskingridge and Flemington, to the Delaware, between Alexandria and Milford. This section, from N. E. to S. W. has about 70 miles in length, and an average breadth of about twenty miles. It possesses considerable variety of surface and soil, but is strikingly distinguished by its geological formation, which is chiefly secondary or old red sandstone, upon which rest hills of greater or less elevation, crowned with trap or greenstone rock. Its area includes four-fifths of Bergen county, the whole of Essex, a small portion of Morris, nearly all of Somerset, one-half of Middlesex, and one-half of Hunterdon counties. The sandstone base is found in various states of induration and aggregation. Generally, on the eastern portion of the section, from the Palisades, on the North River, westerly to Hunterdon county, it is compact, hard, and well adapted for building, frequently assuming the form of puddingstone and wacke, and occasionally affording considerable organic remains. Between the south branch of the Raritan and Delaware, still underlaying mountain and valley, the red rock assumes a slaty, shaly form, has more clay in its composition, and, taken from whatever depth, readily disintegrates into loam more fertile than that formed from the harder stone. But for the trap hills which have been thrown upon it, the whole of this section would be a vast plain, whose only inequalities would be formed by the excavations made by the streams in their tortuous and generally sluggish passage to the Ocean.

From this general formation, however, we must admit the following exceptions. The alluvial borders the first south-eastern trap ridge, known as the first Newark Mountain, from Boundbrook to Springfield, and westward it approaches the Raritan within two miles, forming the bed of that river a little below Brunswick. Wherever excavations have been made in this alluvial tract, strata of sand, gravel, and clay are disclosed, but no rocks in place. Ochres of good quality have been found in many parts of it, and at Uniontown, near Springfield, compact peat of superior quality, resting on marl, supposed to extend through a morass of five hundred Bones of the mastodon were discovered a few years since in this swamp. Extensive beds of white pipe clay, composed principally of alumine, and infusible, have been observed between Woodbridge and Amboy, and marine shells in various parts of the district.

acres.

The alluvial section we have just described, is connected with another five miles in breadth by twenty in length, formed of the deposits of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, between the secondary valley and the Bergen ridge. In this tract, the depth of the deposit is from 12 to 20 feet, its basis sand and shells like the shore of the sea. The whole was formerly covered with wood, of which some groves of cedar still remain, and bodies of trees but little decayed are frequently found at various depths. Indeed, so abundant and sound are the logs on these marshes, that they are used for the foundation of the New Jersey Rail-road, now being constructed

here. In this bog, N. of the turnpike road, between Newark and Jersey City, rises an island (Secaucus) about four miles long by one wide, composed, like the adjacent shores, of red and grey sandstone, and having a promontory at either end. That on the south known as Snake Hill, has a conical form, is of trap rock on sandstone rising into mural precipices, and having cubical masses of the trap piled at its southern base. From its wood clad, rocky and precipitous summit, the spectator may behold the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers almost at his feet, and for several miles dragging their slow length through a sea of verdure; on the west, populous villages and ranges of mountains; on the east the great city of New York, and on the south the wide expanded ocean. Through the grey sandstone of this island, micaceous iron ore is abundantly dispersed; and pectenites and other marine shells are found on its elevated parts.

The trap ridges which traverse this division excite much interest. Trapstone is known in many cases to have an igneous origin. Whether it may be ascribed to the same cause in all, is still a vexed question. That it has been found here subsequently to the sandstone on which it reposes, is most obvious; but when or how it has been poured over its base, throughout such great extent of country, in ConnecWe observe ticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, will probably never be discovered. the first mountainous range of this district, on the eastern border adjacent to the Hudson River. It rises gradually from Bergen Point, bounds the State for about 28 miles, and runs a greater distance into the State of New York. In this State this ridge has an average width of two and a half miles, with a summit of table land. From its western brow there is a gradual descent into the valley of the Hackensack and Passaic. On its eastern side it is uniformly precipitous. At Weehawk, four miles N. of the City of Jersey, the mountain presents a perpendicular wall, elevated 200 feet above the Hudson, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. From Weehawk to Fort Lee, a distance of about 7 miles, there is an alternation of precipitous ledges and steep declivities, mostly clothed with various verdure. The hills, retiring at intervals from the shore, give room for narrow but fertile and well cultivated strips of ground, adorned with neat dwellings, environed by fruit trees and diversified crops. From Fort Lee to the state line, the mountain has a uniform appearance. The eastern front rises perpendicularly from 200 to 550 feet; numerous vertical fissures cross each other at various angles, forming basaltic columns, from which the name of Palisades has been derived. The face of the ledge is bare, but vegetation is occasionally seen in the crevices. From the base of the precipice to the edge of the water, a distance of 3 or 400 feet, there is a steep declivity covered with angular blocks of stone fallen from the heights, and shaded with trees. The summit of the mountain is slightly undulating table land, gradually rising to the north, with an average width of about two miles, generally covered with wood in all the wildness of nature. The western side of the mountain has a very gradual descent, is cleared and well cultivated, and neat farm houses of freestone line its base, like a village street, for near 20 miles. The prospect is one of the most delightful; numerous farms, rich in luxuriant vegetation, and extensive alluvial meadows through which the Hackensack and its tributaries flow, are bounded by the mountain ranges of the west. The greenstone of this mountain, resting on sandstone, is not so dark as that of New Haven, and is an aggregate of hornblende, feldspar, and epidote, with which prehnite compact and radiated is sometimes associated. At the base of the mountain bordering the river, in many places, secondary argillaceous shist, conglomerate, red, white, yellow and purple sandstone, and indurated clay, alternate, exhibiting a stratification nearly horizontal, the underlaying inclination being from 8 to 10 degrees. These layers are sometimes visible on the mountain's side, at considerable elevations above the river. The sandstone is generally a coarse aggregate of quartz and feldspar, often friable, but sometimes very firmly combined; exhibiting winding vertical fissures. In this base may be observed, in some few places, a compact white sandstone, resembling the Portland stone of England.

A metallic vein was worked, at Fort Lee, at the commencement of the revolutionary war, under the impression that it contained gold; but Dr. Torrey has determined, that the ore is pyritous and green carbonate of copper; and the matrix quartz, dipping under the greenstone.

Two other prominent mountain ranges intersect the country now under view. They rise near the primitive highlands, two miles north of Pompton, and run about sixty miles in an almost semicircular course. The first ridge, at its commencement, is about twenty miles E. from the Palisades; but at, and south of Patterson, it is not

more than twelve, from the North River. The most elevated point of these moun tains is six miles N. W. from Patterson, where a sugar-loaf peak rises near 1000 feet above the level of the ocean. Its trap rock is generally covered with a thin mould and verdant surface; and a walnut grove, without underwood, occupies, exclusively, about forty acres upon the summit, from which there is a very extensive view, towards the E. N. E. and N. over a tolerably level country. On the N. W. the waving tops of the Preakness ridge are observed, extending for several miles, indented by ponds of considerable magnitude and depth. North of this ridge is another high and detached hill, sweeping in a semicircle, rising and terminating near the Highlands. Many of the summits are under cultivation, and afford fine views of the great secondary valley, bounded by the Highlands, the Hudson and the Preakness ridge. On the east of the last chain is another section of the trap ranges, called the Totoway mountain. It rises near the Preakness mountain, six miles from Patterson, and unites with the Newark chain, at the Great Falls. It is in many places free from rocks, but on the east side are precipices of considerable height and extent, with waving or denticulated mural faces, presenting columns of basaltic regularity. An insulated semicircular wall of greenstone, with projecting columns, bearing some resemblance to a castle or fort in ruins, occupies a summit of the Totoway ridge. Sandstone quarries are opened in several places at the base of the greenstone; and one, three miles from Patterson, on the Preakness mountain, affords the best freestone of New Jersey. Fine red and grey sandstone sprinkled with mica, alternates with argillaceous strata, dipping under the greenstone, with a western inclination of about 12°. Bituminous coal, in layers two inches thick, has frequently been found in this and other parts of the Preakness ridge, in connexion with sandstone and shale, and the neighbourhood is supposed to exhibit indications of more valuable beds of this combustible. Gneiss, granite, pudding and sandstone, in rolled masses, abundantly cover the surface, in many parts of this region. The greenstone of the Preakness range rarely offers interesting imbedded minerals; but prehnite, agate, chalcedony, and a mineral resembling cachelong, have been discovered in it.

At the falls of the Passaic, in Patterson, perpendicular mural precipices of greenstone, with wide vertical fissures and amorphous masses at their base, may be observed. The lower strata of this rock contain much argillaceous matter, which partially takes the place of hornblende. The ledges rest on porous rocks, horizontally posited, resembling the toadstone of Derbyshire. Carbonate of lime and other minerals, subject to decay, are imbedded in it; and by their decomposition give a cellular and volcanic appearance. A friable amygdaloid, with an argillaceous base, enclosing nodules of carbonate of lime of a spheroidal oval or almond shape, from the size of a pea to that of a walnut, may also be noticed. The nodules, easily disenThe layers gaged from the base, exhibit a smooth dark green surface of chlorite. beneath the amygdaloid, are red and grey conglomerate, connected with red sandstone, too porous for use, absorbing much moisture and breaking by the expansive power of frost. Good freestone in nearly a horizontal position, is the basis layer, and forms the bed of the Passaic. In many places the greenstone occupying the summit appears but a few feet in thickness; and it is not arranged in columns of basaltiform regularity. Prehnite, calcareous spar and carbonate of copper, zeolite, stilbite, analcime and datholite, have been found here.

Mural precipices of dark fine grained fissile greenstone, are observed at the Little Falls of the Passaic, five miles above Patterson. Vertical seams cross each other here, at various angles, in the ledges, giving to detached pieces a regular prismatic form, with three or four sides, often truncated on one or more of the lateral Rock of similar character is observable in edges the tabular form is common. other parts of the Preakness ridge. Marine organic remains, such as orthocerites, madrepores, tubipores, pectenites, terebratulas, encrinites, bilabites, serpulites, and other species, generally in an argillaceous base, in mountain and valley, have been observed here, as in other parts of this region.

From Patterson to Springfield, the trap ridges are called first and second Newark mountains, and Caldwell mountain. Their direction is nearly south, with great uniformity of altitude; their eastern declivity steep, their western descent gradual, as is common with mountains of North America. Mural precipices are the rarely seen, except at Patterson and Springfield. Wherever ledges appear, mountain side is covered with small amorphous stones. The red sandstone appears in place, both upon the sides and base. Much of the eastern side is under cultiva

tion; the summit and western declivity are generally covered by coppice of small oak, chesnut, walnut, butternut and cedar. The second Newark mountain runs a parallel course with, and is distant from, the first, about a mile. It is less elevated and rocky, and has a more gradual ascent than the other. The view from the first embraces the thickly settled and highly cultivated valley, whose surface appears like a plain, painted with meadows, grain fields and orchards, and studded with the villages of Bloomfield, North and South Orange, and the large towns of Newark and Elizabeth;-beyond which we have in sight the salt meadows, the city and harbour of New York, parts of Long and Staten Islands and the distant ocean. In this valley, fine red and grey freestone alternates with shale. Bituminous coal, in thin layers, is associated with argillaceous shale, in freestone quarries, adjacent to the Passaic. At the termination of the Newark Mountain, at Springfield, and in many parts of the trap ranges, smoke, and in some instances, flame issuing from the crevices of the rock, have been observed by the inhabitants; proceeding probably from carbonated hydrogen gas indicating coal below. Animal and vegetable organic remains have been observed in this freestone. Near Belleville a tooth, almost two inches in length, was discovered, some years since, fifteen feet below the surface.

The Newark Mountains terminate at Springfield, where the continuity of the trap range is broken. From this place the greenstone ridges take a S. W. direction of seventeen miles to the vicinity of Boundbrook, and thence, N. W. about ten more to Pluckemin: the second mountain following the curvature of the first. Secondary greenstone is, exclusively, the rock, in place, of the summits and sides of both ridges, but it seldom appears in ledges of magnitude. Sandstone is as usual the base, and has been observed under the greenstone, in nearly a horizontal posi tion, with a small dip, sometimes alternating with secondary compact limestone, in layers, from two inches to two feet in thickness. Prehnite is found in considerable quantities, near the foot of the mountain, in amygdaloid with a greenstone base, much of it partly decomposed. It is sometimes imbedded in the rock, in long parallel columns in various directions, its fibres radiating from the centre. Zeolite, stilbite, crystals of quartz, and carbonate of lime, are frequently seen in the valley between the mountains. North of Scotch Plains, sulphat of barytes appears associated with carbonate of lime. A small portion only of these ranges is cleared and cultivated.

The mountain, running a S. W. course from Springfield, has been termed, by some geologists, the Granite Ridge. It is described as passing through the State, bordering the oceanic alluvial, and having its highest point near Hoboken-alluding, doubtless, to the height near Weehawk. The Greenstone Ridge would be the more appropriate name. For excepting the serpentine, at Hoboken, there are no primitive rocks in place, between the Hudson and Highland chains; the summit rock of all the ranges being, uniformly, secondary greenstone. The Highland chain runs from $. E. to N. W., the general direction of the primitive strata; but none of the secondary ranges of New Jersey pursues a course parallel with the primitive. The latter, in many places, preserve for miles an even summit of table-land, whilst the Highland ridges display sugar loaf eminences, and a waving profile, characteristic of the primitive. The extensive secondary range commencing near Pompton, within half a mile of the Highlands, and extending in a semi-circular course until it again approaches them, corroborates, by its direction and the character of its summit, the correctness of these positions. The broad valley, encircled by the Greenstone ridge and the Highlands, contains much fresh water alluvial. Many of its small hills have no rock in place. The plain bordering the Passaic is generally extensive-in some places four miles wide. Peat is observed in several places between the source of the river and Little Falls; and a considerable quantity has been cut, adjacent to the Newark and Morristown turnpike, and the bed discovered to be more than six feet deep.

Pompton Plain, near twenty miles in circumference, and environéd by mountains, presents a decided fresh water alluvion-strata of gravel, sand, and clay, without rocks in place, have uniformly been found wherever wells have been dug; and it was, probably, at a remote period, the bed of a lake. The waters of the Pequannock Long Pond and Ramapo Rivers pass through it. The southern and much of the western part of the plain is marshy, and embraces about 1500 acres of peat ground, apparently of good quality, judging by a ditch of four miles in length which has been dug through it. In the southern part of the plain, good granular argillaceous oxide

B

of iron, or pea ore, is found over a space of about 200 acres. The Highlands form the west and north-west boundary of the plain, which in other directions is skirted by the Pacganack Mountain, pursuing a serpentine course from North Pompton, to the vicinity of Morristown, separating the wide alluvial plains watered by the Pompton and Passaic Rivers. Upon this range, the summit rock, in place, is, uniformly, a fine grained dark secondary greenstone, often in a state of partial decomposition, exhibiting mural precipices of considerable height and extent, with sandstone at the sides and base. The first contains prehnite, zeolite, analcime, chalcedony, agate, amethyst, jasper, crystals of quartz, and narrow veins of satin spar, in jasper. The part of this range adjacent to Pompton Plains, may, perhaps, from the abundance of these minerals, be useful to the lapidary, as well as to the mineralogist. The agates are from the size of a pin's head to three pounds weight, mostly chalcedony-The eyed and fortification agate has been observed here in a few instances. A mineral specimen was found in this mountain by Judge Kinsey, of near 16 pounds weight, containing agate, amethyst, and white quartz.

Another greenstone range, of minor extent, called Long Hill, is situate in the great valley, under review, rising near Chatham, and running westerly about ten miles. The trap of this ridge is in such state of decay, that rocks seldom appear in place. The Passaic pursues a winding course along the base of the mountain, sometimes concealed in groves, at others glancing sheen in the verdant meadows. About the centre of Long Hill are mural precipices, composed of what the farmers call shell rock, resembling the stone on the banks of the Raritan.

This secondary formation accompanies the Highlands to the Delaware, and is pierced in several places by broken ridges of the same trap character we have described. Such is the Rocky or Nashanic Mountain, the heights near Rocktown, Lambertville, Belmont, Herberttown, and Woodville, and Rocky Hill, immediately north of Princeton. The sandstone, generally, in this portion of the section, differs materially from that of the Passaic. It extends northerly to the first primitive ridge, north of Flemington, and forms the soil of the broad red shale valley, spreading from that ridge to the Rocky Hills, underlays the last, and extends south of Penington. Its colour is of a darker red than the Newark stone-it appears to be without grain, yields a strong argillaceous odour when breathed upon, and is readily decomposed by exposure to air and moisture. It is, probably, composed of iron, alumine, and silex, with a small portion of sulphur, and may be termed ferruginous shist. The rock is stratified, splitting readily into thin brittle laminæ, and is said to rest in some places on good freestone. But on the S. E. near Princeton, are quarries of excellent red and white freestone, similar to that of the Preakness ridge.

Sandy Hill, an elevation of the secondary region, situate between Kingston and Brunswick, is alluvial, like the Nevisink Hills, composed of sand, white and coloured clay, containing beds of ferruginous sand and puddingstone.

Upon the south-western angle of this district, and particularly at and around Trenton, there is a small portion of primitive, rising through the secondary, into abrupt rocks of granitic character, varying from loose micaceous shale to massive granite, but composed chiefly of hard and compact gneiss. This rock forms the Falls of the Delaware at the head of tide, and stretches away in a S. W. direction through Pennsylvania. From a mass in the bed of the river, large and beautiful specimens of zircon have been taken.

The portion of New Jersey which we have now described, is the most populous, and perhaps the most wealthy of the State. Its soil is not so productive as the limestone of the primitive and transition regions; but there is less of it waste, than in those regions, and it is divided into smaller farms, and more assiduously laboured, under the excitement of proximity to the markets of New York and Philadelphia, and that created in the eastern portion by its own manufacturing towns; as Patterson, Little Falls, Godwinsville, New Prospect, Bloomfield, Belleville, North and South Orange, Springfield, Plainfield, Newark, Elizabethtown, Rahway, Woodbridge, New Brunswick, Princeton, Trenton, &c.

Besides the minerals already mentioned, large deposits of copper ore have been discovered in this section, at Belleville, at Griggstown, near Brunswick, Woodbridge, Greenbrook, Somerville, and Pluckemin; and it would seem probable that a vein of this metal extends S. W. across the secondary region from Fort Lee.

The following account of the mine near New Brunswick is extracted from Morse's Gazetteer:

"About the years 1748, 1749, 1750, several lumps of virgin copper, from 5 to 30