In the northern districts are found fragments of limestone, containing fossil shells, spars, and crystals of quartz. This chain, running north and south, is supposed to pass under the sea, forming a reef, and reappearing at Monserrat: it is said that the fish found upon this reef are particularly poisonous. “Church Hill,” as it is termed, from the fact of the church being erected upon it, has been found to be composed of schist, enveloped in marl, and is particularly rich in its fossil shells. Thanks to the new flight of steps which have been lately erected, and the modifications made around that sacred building, (which has obliged the workmen to blast the rock,) I have been enabled to collect some fine varieties. Among these are conchs, cockles, &c., in which the striæ are perfect, and some of them are beautifully crystalized. In almost all parts of the island petrifactions are to be met with. Among the most beautiful of those I have seen, may be enumerated red cedar, with agate intermixed; roots and branches of cocoa-nut trees; plantain stalks, with beautiful lines of agate running through them; a species of palm; a root of the dagger, (_aloe vulgaris_;) the black mangrove, a branch of a tree, supposed to be the ceibar, or silk-cotton, with cornelian; besides many other varieties. Ochres of various colours are also to be dug in some districts; and in most parts of the island are quarries of stone; but they are not generally made an article of traffic. In some parts of the island are salt ponds, which might be worked to advantage here as well as at St. Kitts and Turk’s Island; but the Antiguans are not of an enterprising spirit; at least, all their attention is bestowed upon the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and if that succeeds, they are perfectly satisfied. Were it otherwise, there are many productions which might prove important and beneficial articles of commerce. Tobacco grows spontaneously about the country; coffee has become naturalized, and grows wild; it is said to be inferior in quality to that which grows in the other islands; but would not culture do much for it? Cotton, ginger, palma Christi,—all are disregarded; even the pimento is left to decay in its loveliness, and its fragrant fruit serves but to feed the feathered tribe; except when, at Christmas, its odorous boughs are gathered to flavour the plum-puddings of the negroes, or decorate the churches and houses, as the holly does in England.