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of the distribution of the drift deposits of sand and gravel and the great 

 areas of clay, either of marine or fresh water origin. In the former of 

 these, the earliest traces of man's existence on this continent are sup- 

 posed to be found, and his presence in America at a very remote date, 

 comparatively speaking, is held by many observers to be clearly estab- 

 lished. In many places the submergence of the surface beneath the 

 sea is clearly proved by the presence of marine shells in beds or local 

 deposits, or by the finding of the bones of the seal, of fish, or other 

 ^orms of marine life ; but the fact that very large areas of these clays 

 furnish, at the present day, no trace of these remains, shews clearly that 

 their absence in these deposits must not be taken as conclusive that 

 these were not deposited under marine conditions equally with the beds 

 which carry these organisms. So also the presence of characteristic sea 

 beaches, composed of well rounded water-worn stones, at elevations of 

 hundreds of feet above present sea level and far removed from the 

 present ocean limit, establishes clearly the fact that at one time the salt 

 sea spread over a much more widely extended area than it now occupies. 

 Thus in the rear of the village of Quyon and four miles north of the 

 Ottawa river several of these perfectly defined beaches can be recognized, 

 their pavements of well rounded water-worn stones, curving in exactly the 

 same manner as those now seen along the shores of the many bays of 

 the Atlantic coast. Some of these well defined shore lines have been 

 recognized along mountain slopes at elevations of hundreds of feet above 

 the sea at various places throughout Northern and Eastern America. 

 Near home probably one of the most interesting of these old beaches 

 may be seen on the Rigaud mountain on the south side of the Lake of 

 Two Mountains, which is the expansion of the Ottawa River, a short 

 distance above its junction with the St. Lawrence. The mountain 

 rises from the village of Rigaud, which nestles at its foot, to a height 

 of about 750 feet above the river, the highest point being at its south- 

 west extremity. From this point the mountain extends north-easterly 

 in a long ridge, the elevation in rear of Rigaud village being about 500 

 feet. Along the summit of this, scattered boulders of limestone, gneiss 

 and syenite from the Laurentian range north of the Ottawa are seen, 

 but further down along the north-west slope of the ridge and almost in 

 rear of the cemetery, a curious deposit of well rounded water-worn 



