86 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXII. 



some striking examples of the rapid changes which 

 a coast line may undergo. Hon. Joseph Howe a 

 number of years ago reported that by actual 

 measurement 1 1 miles of the west end of the island 

 had disappeared in 30 years. The commodious 

 harbour on Sable island which was formerly a 

 favorite haven of safety for fishing vessels was 

 closed by a gale in 1836 shutting in two American 

 vessels whose ribs are now buried in the sand. 



On parts of the south coast of England the work 

 of the sea is largely constructive. Some of the towns 

 on the coast which were located on the sea shore in 

 the days of the early English kings, are now one or 

 more miles inland. During storms from the south- 

 west the waves and currents drive enormous quanti- 

 ties of shingle and gravel onto this coast, often 

 makmg it difficult or impossible to keep the harbours 

 open. At the Port of Dover it was long the custom 

 for the Mayor to summon with a drum, by day or 

 night, all the householders in the city to the harbour 

 to shovel shingle whenever it was endangered by the 

 influx of shingle drift. 



Facts like these had been observed long before 

 the development of modern science. Some of the 

 more reflective minds of the Middle ages were 

 deeply impressed by them. Mohammed Kaswini 

 an Arab writer of the 13th century had at that early 

 period felt the spell of the mighty past of geological 

 time. His impressions were put into allegorical 

 form. They are given in the following narrative of 

 Kidhz, an allegorical personage: "I passed one day 

 by a very ancient and wonderfully populous city 

 and asked one of its inhabitants how long it had 

 been founded. It is indeed a mighty city, replied 

 he, we know not how long it has existed, and our 



ancestors were on this subject as ignorant as our- 

 selves. Five centuries afterwards as I passed by the 

 same place I could not perceive the slightest vestige 

 of the city. I demanded of a peasant who was 

 gathering herbs upon its former site, how long it had 

 been destroyed. In sooth a strange question, replied 

 he, the ground here has never been different from 

 what you now behold it. Was there not of old, 

 said I, a splendid city here? Never, he answered, 

 so far as we have seen and never did our fathers 

 speak to us of any such. On my return there five 

 hundred years afterwards I found the sea in the 

 same place and on its shores were a party of fisher- 

 men of whom I inquired how long the land had been 

 covered by the waters. Is this a question said they 

 for a man like you? This spot has always been 

 what it is now. I again returned five hundred years 

 afterwards and the sea had disappeared. I inquired 

 of a man who stood alone upon the spot how long 

 ago this change had taken place ; and he gave me 

 the same answer as I had received before. Lastly, 

 on coming again, after an equal lapse of time, I 

 found there a flourishing city more populous and 

 more rich in beautiful buildings than the city I had 

 seen the first time; and when I would fain have 

 informed myself concerning its origin, the inhabitants 

 answered me. Its rise is lost in remote antiquity ; we 

 are ignorant how long it has existed, and our fathers 

 were on this subject as ignorant as ourselves." 



This allegory of the old Arab writer was doubt- 

 less inspired by finding somewhere fossil sea shells 

 representing, like those of the Rideau sand pits, a 

 long vanished sea. In this ancient story we can 

 discern a glimmer of the dawn of the science of 

 historical geology. 



.^^:^ 





Fig 2. The Cnamrlain .suDmergence. Tne shaded portion of the map 

 indicates the extent of this invasion of tlie sea. (After F. Taylor). 



