In transcribing the following passage from Smith’s text, I have begun with the rough OCR material provided by the Internet Archive and then collated it with the Internet Archive’s page images. If you spot any errors, please notify the webmaster. — George P. Landow
The surface of a granite country, and its great irregularly rounded outlines, bespeak the massive nature of its substrata. Nothing can be more gloomy than the frowning brow of Dartmoor, which overhangs Oakhampton; or more dreary than the rusty-looking surface of the higher parts of the moor, interspersed with deep boggy valleys, and ton. or huge masses of rock, against the horizon, instead of trees. Lower situations are drier and better; but large lumps of the sterile rock will peep through the barren soil, which seems to be composed of little else than the pulverized fragments of the rock itself. The most remarkable surfaces on these strata, at Malvern, Mountsorrel, and in Anglesea, Cumberland, and the south of Scotland, are small compared to those in Devon and Cornwall; and, but for the singular nature of the rocks, make but little figure in the general features of the country. [51]
Related material
- A County-by-County Geological Description of England’s Counties
- Smith’s Explanation of His Map of Geological Strata in England and Wales
- The History of the Idea of Geological Strata before William Smith’s Formulation and Map
Bibliography
Smith, William. A Memoir to the Map and Delineation of Strata of England and Wales. London: John Cary, 1815.
Created 11 September 2018