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THE COUNTRY NORTH OF THE OTTAW.' 

 By RoBT. W. ELLb, LL.D., F.G.S.A. 



Looking across the River Ottawa from the level terrace on which 

 the Parliament Buildings are situated, we see rising to the north the 

 series of hills known as the Chelsea Mountains, of which King's 

 Mountain forms a prominent feature. Many of the readers of the 

 Naturalist are familiar with these hills, since some of the pleasantest 

 excursions of the Club have had them for their objective point. They 

 rise out of the broad clay flat which extends for many miles along the 

 course of the lower Ottawa, and consist, for the most part, of some variety 

 of gneiss, with occasional bands of limestone. They constitute the 

 oldest rock formation on the surface of our globe, and these rocks 

 extend for many miles to the north, as well as to the east and west, pre- 

 senting an exceedingly rugged landscape, densely clothed with 

 forest. Where this has been removed by fires, the surface discloses 

 great masses of rock, almost without a trace of vegetation or soil, on 

 which such might grow. Valleys occur here and there among these 

 hills, in which a certain amount of drift or decomposed rock has lodged, 

 and here, for the space of several acres, conditions of soil and surround- 

 ings suitable for settlement exist. Large rivers traverse the district, and 

 can be traced for hundreds of miles. Along these, and on many of 

 their branches from either side, fertile areas extend, which have already 

 been, to some extent, occupied by the hardy settler ; but the area of 

 these fertile lands, as compared with the great stretch of craggy hill and 

 forest, is small. It was one of these settlers who, when told that his 

 farm was situated upon the very backbone of the continent, replied with 

 an air of disgust, that " it might very well be the backbone, but at any 

 rate they had taken all the meat off it." 



While, however, we have before our eyes daily the beautiful pan- 

 orama of the Laurentian hills of the Ottawa District, it is surprising 

 how very little is really known about the character and resources of the 

 country lying immediately to our north. True it is that for many 

 years the sound of the lumberman's axe, and the crash of the mighty 

 pines have been heard; and the slash of the hunter in his lonely quest 

 for furs, or the trail of the explorer in the search for mineral wealth, can 

 be recognized in the heart of the most desolate wilderness. Yet 

 beyond the narrow fringe of settlement, which skirts the northern bank of 



