\(As’toficaA and Descr'wt'me 
     
    
   
   
    
     Geological The rocks of Prince Edward Island consist 
     
     Features mainly of beds of red, brown and grey sandstone 
     
     and red clay shale, with “ layers of coarse concretionary 
     
     limestone and fossil plants." The disintegrated red sand- 
     
     stone forming the upper strata gives that peculiar redness t0 
     
     the soil which always attracts the attention of visitors. 
     
     Historically, the rock structure belongs largely to the Per— 
     
     mian and Triassic formations—the former occupying Prince 
     
     County, the eastern half of Queen’s County and the greater 
     
     part of King’s County; and the latter covering the north— 
     
     western half of Queens, including the range of hills before 
     
     mentioned, and running eastward as far as \Viltshire and 
     
     Rustico, and some areas in King’s County. The chief 
     
     modern deposits are beds of peat, dunes of drifted sands. 
     
     alluvial clays. and “ mussel mud” or beds of oyster and 
     
     mussel shells occuring in the creeks and bays. In several 
     
     parts of the Island—particularly in Prince County—~are 
     
     numerous granite and Laurentian roc's—in some cases 
     
     many miles from the shore. These must have been derived 
     
     from Nova Scotia, and Labrador or Newfoundland, and 
     
     were evidently cast there by the ice in some by-gone age. 
     
     There are practically no minerals—neither gold (with the 
     
     exception of a very minute quantity discovered in 1885 on 
     
     the western shore of the Island, occurring in connection 
     
     with black sand) gypsum nor coal having yet been found. 
     
     If there be coal, it is probably at too great a depth to be 
     
     immediately available. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Peat-bogs occur in many parts of the Island but 
     
     with the exception of three, they are usually of small 
     
     extent, and depth. The three turbaries referred to are: 
     
     Lennox Island, Richmond Bay, where there are 250,000 
     
     square yards, the Squirrel Creek deposit near Richmond 
     
     Bay of 2,420.00) square yards, and the Black Bank Bog, 
     
     Cascumpec, area 2,816,000 square yards. In View of the 
     
     coming importance of peat as fuel, the estimated number of 
     
    
   
   
    
     [2] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Peat