268 



Geori^c E. Nichols, 



It has been inferred by some geologists that Cape Breton 

 Island escaped glaciation, and this has been assumed as a 

 hypothesis by certain botanists (Robinson '06, p. 258; Taylor 

 '12, p. 24), in an attempt to explain certain peculiarities of plant 

 distribution. Such, however, is hardly the case. On the plateau, 

 to be sure, superficial deposits of any depth are scarce, the rock 

 surface often being bare or covered with granite boulders of 

 apparently local origin. Soil, when present, is usually thin : 



Figure 8. — Mountains and granitic, drift-covered lowland north of 

 Cheticamp. 



commonly it consists of a coarse quartz sand or gravel derived 

 through the decomposition of the underlying rock. But even on 

 the plateau, as, for example, along the trail between Pleasant Bay 

 and the Big Intervale at Aspy Bay, there may be found con- 

 siderable deposits of drift. Further, the seemingly complete 

 absence of a truly alpine flora, even on the higher summits, 

 would point strongly toward glaciation. In the lowland, the Car- 

 boniferous formations everywhere are hidden by a mantle of 

 glacial debris : in places along the coast, as at French River and 



