7G THE LABEABOR PENINSULA. ciiAr. xxv. 



in circumference, contains nearly 2,000,000 acres of land ; 

 its nearest point is about 450 miles below Quebec. 



The limestone rocks on tlie coast are covered with a 

 thick and often impenetrable forest of dwarf spruce, with 

 gnarled branches so twisted and matted together, that a 

 man may walk for a considerable distance on their sum- 

 mits.* In the interior some fine timber exists, consisting 

 of birch and spruce and a little pine. On the authority 

 of Pursh the pond pine {Pimis serotina) is found on 

 Anticosti. This botanist visited the island in 1817. As 

 this pine is a southern sjDccies, its establishment on that 

 northern island is a singular circumstance. On the same 

 occasion, Pursh brought back, in the shape of dried 

 specimens, as weU as in the hving state, many plants 

 which seem pecuhar to the island.*!' 



The streams which descend to the coast abound with 

 trout and salmon in the summer season. Seals frequent 

 the flat hmestone rocks in vast numbers ; mackerel in 

 immense shoals congregate round all parts of the island. 

 Bears, foxes, martens, and otters, with a few mice, complete 

 the hst of quadrupeds which have been observed. Neither 

 snakes, toads, nor frogs are known to exist on this desolate 

 shore. Unfortunately there are no good natm^al harbours 

 in Anticosti ; and owing to extensive reefs of flat hmestone 

 rock, extending some distance from the shore, tlie want of 

 anchorage, and frequency of fogs, the island is considered 

 very dangerous by mariners — 'but not in so great a 

 degree as to render reasonable the dread with which it 

 seems to have been occasionally regarded, and which can 



* Baj'field. 



f Hou. W. Sheppard on the Dislribution of tlie Conifera) in Canada. 



