sandy and gravelly plain of alluvial origin extending to New Haven and the harbor. It extends eastward to Mill River, and westward nearly to the base of West Rock, around the north slope of Pine Rock. This broad stretch of comparatively level land is generally known as Hamden Plains. It is, however, not level, but has a gentle slope toward tide water.

According to measurements and calculations, made by Prof. J. D. Dana, the slope of the bed of Mill River is about fifteen feet per mile, while the slope of the terrace plain raises from nine to thirteen feet per mile.

At the Mt. Carmel gap the river falls at the rate of twentyfour feet per mile, or twelve feet in half a mile, owing to the hard bottom of the trap rock. He gives the following as approximately the height of the terrace plain along Mill River, from Whitneyville northwards:

From these figures he makes the slope of the terrace plain up to the station, half a mile south of Ives's station, to be 12 feet per mile, or for the whole distance to Mt. Carmel an average of about 11 feet per mile.*

We cannot fail to be impressed by the peculiar duality of the chief topographical features at the south end of the town, originating, no doubt, from the two great trappean intrusions, East Rock on one side and West Rock on the other, of nearly equal altitude, and both presenting bluff faces to the south. Adjoining these bluffs we find suborordinate ones, or spurs. Mill Rock, stretching westward from East Rock into the Hamden Plain, and Pine Rock, stretching eastward into the same plain from West Rock.

*Memoir on Topographical features of the New Haven region; p. 95.

Mill Rock is separated from East Rock by Mill River, and Pine Rock from West Rock by Wilmot Brook.

A broad river formerly flowed around the west end of Mill Rock. The ancient channel may be traced from Mill River through Pine swamp diagonally across to the Beaver pond valley and West River, by a line of depressions and terraced channels. The wearing action of the river drift, entirely different from that produced by a glacier, may be seen on the ledges at the west end of the Rock. The accumulation of gravelly and sandy alluvions along the broad and comparatively open valley no doubt caused the stream to forsake this outlet and confine itself to the narrower and more direct passage in the gap between Mill Rock and East Rock, where the greater velocity and average fall kept a channel clear. We have also to bear in mind in seeking an explanation that the volume of Mill River, as with others, is no longer as great as it formerly was.

PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

For picturesque beauty and variety of scenery the town of Hamden can hardly be surpassed. The abrupt terminations of the trap dikes, the smooth flowing surfaces of sandstone hills, and the level expanse of the alluvial plains blending with the Sound, all combine to give pictures of new beauty from each different point of view. The higher hills still wear their covering of primeval forest, which, though frequently removed by the woodman's axe, springs up again with renewed vigor, and, if preserved from the wanton fires of spring and autumn, will long continue to delight the eye in summer, and brighten the fireside in winter.

The wonderfully fine views of land and water, of the busy city, and of the undulating hills and plains of Hamden which can be had from the slopes and top of East Rock, are now enjoyed daily by the public. The Farnam drive affords views which cannot be surpassed for variety and interest. Other elevations in the town are remarkable also

for their attractiveness at all seasons, and the beauty of the landscape about them. With the inevitable increase of population and wealth in this town the day is not far distant when all these rock ridges will be prized for residences and pleasure resorts. Mt. Carmel and its adjoining ridges, known as the Blue Hills, are extremely inviting and picturesque, and before the end of another century, and perhaps long before, may become another great public park to give pleasure and health to thousands yet unborn.

LEGENDS OF THE BLUE HILLS.

The Blue Hills have their legends, and have stirred the souls of some of Hamden's sons to poetic effort. The rough resemblance of the sky-line of these hills to the profile of a man lying on his back has gained for them the name of "Sleeping Giant."

SELECTIONS FROM TIIE POEM OF THE SLEEPING GIANT,"

By Chas. G. Merriman.

Leagues off, the contour of his massive head
Stands boldly out against the azure sky;

He lies serenely in his rock-bound bed,

While rippling streamlets pass him swiftly by.

And when the atmosphere is calm and still,
His form is covered with a robe of blue;
As if the air-sprites would obey his will;
And bring fair colors out of rain and dew.

And though inanimate and devoid of motion,
A thousand forms of life are busy there,
And like a mother in her true devotion,

He rears them by his tender, brooding care.

And so in his long sleep of countless ages,
Gazing with stony eyes into the sky;
And all devoid of fame on history's pages,
The seasons greet him as they pass him by.

They touch him gently with those magic wands,
The genial sunlight and the summer rain;
And to their touches his huge form responds,
Yielding the rosy fruit and yellow grain.

How many days through all the long, bright summer, I've sought his winding roads where daisies bloom; Haunting his wooded sides a joyous comer,

In all his moods, and through the changing seasons,
In summer's rainfall, and in winter's snow;

I haunt his shades for many untold reasons,
Veiling the secret thoughts which come and go.

SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY.

THE NEW RED SANDSTONE.

HE two principal rock formations of the town are the trap rock and the red sandstone. These rocks may be said to form the hills. The glacial drift is but a comparatively thin covering spread irregularly over these foundation rocks. In the valleys there are more recent and alluvial deposits.

The "red rock" of the Hamden hills, so familiar to most of the residents of the town as the underlying rock of their lands, is a portion of the new red sandstone formation of the Connecticut valley. This formation, known to geologists as the Trias, is later in origin than the coal formation, and older than the Cretaceous rocks. Its red color is due to the presence in its substance of a large amount of oxide of iron. This formation, consisting of stratified sandstones, shales and conglomerates, though originally laid down under water in horizonal layers has since been disturbed, uplifted and broken, while through the rifts and rents igneous, melted, trap rock flowed upwards and outwards. This rock filled the cavities, and formed thick bunches and masses between the layers of the sandstone formation, and comparatively thin and nearly vertical sheets, called dikes, where the rents were transverse to the bedding of the sandstones. These trap intrusions form the well known range of hills on the west side of the town, terminating in West Rock; the comparatively isolated bluffs of East Rock, Mill Rock and Pine Rock at the south end of the town, and the Blue Hills, or Mt. Carmel range, at the north.