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gant stories of Indian and half-breed hunters about Lake St. John, con- 

 vinced them that they had a perfect inland sea, and the Government was 

 petitioned to finish the surveys previously begun. Their request being 

 granted, the party to which I was attached was sent out in 1884, with 

 Mr. John Bignell in charge. 



Mr. Bignell was recalled in the spring of 1885. On his return to 

 Quebec, many startling statements as to the great extent and immense 

 size of the lake appeared in the press of that city and were copied by 

 the newspapers all over the land. On my return, in the fall of 1885, I 

 reported on the measured size of the lake, but, as it fell far short of the 

 previous stories, and as the press of Quebec continued to support Mr. 

 Bignell's statement — based on Indian exaggerations, — the general pub- 

 lic were in a state of uncertainty which to believe. During the past 

 summer, however, Prof. Louden and Mr. MacDonald, of Toronto, 

 resolved to make a trip to the lake to solve the problem. A full account 

 of their trip was published in the newspapers, which, I am happy 

 to say, corroborated my report ; and thus the matter is settled. 



The great area of country stretching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 north-westward to Hudson Bay forms a low-lying plateau of Archean 

 rocks. The height of this plateau averages about 1 ,500 ft. above sea level, 

 rising slowly from about 1,000 ft. near the edge to about 2,000 ft. in the 

 interioi*. The surface of this plateau is by no means flat, being covered 

 with low rounded hills, which are roughly arranged in a series of ridges 

 more or less parallel to themselves and the general strike of the rocks. 

 These hills are the stubs of extensive and elevated mountain chains 

 which, from exposure to subaereal denudation for countless ages, and 

 from having been subjected to the glacial action of later geological times, 

 have been ground down to their present unimposing state. In the 

 interior the difference of level between these ridges and the valleys 

 separating them is small, the hills seldom rising 100 ft. above the 

 general level. As the coast is approached the difference is more marked, 

 the long action of ancient rivers having deeply cut out the principal 

 valleys below the surrounding country, thus causing a more marked 

 contrast in level and at the same time much finer scenery. 



