Y2 THE LABEADOE TENIXSULA. chap. xxv. 



and Mr. James Eicliardson, the explorer attached to the 

 Geological Commission of Canada, visited Anticosti in 

 1856, and made a cursory survey of the coast and the 

 interior. According to this gentleman the soil of the 

 island on the plains of the south side is composed of peat, 

 but the general vegetation of the country is supported by 

 a drift, composed for the most part of a calcareous clay 

 and a light grey or brown coloured sand. The elements 

 of the soil would lead to the conclusion of its being a 

 good one, but the opinion of most persons, guided by 

 the rules derived from the description of timber which 

 grows on it, would not be favourable, as there is almost a 

 complete absence, as far as his observation went, of the 

 hard-wood trees, supposed to be the sure indication of a 

 good settling country. The most abundant tree is spruce, 

 in size varying from eight to eighteen inches in diameter, 

 and from forty to eighty feet in length. On the north 

 coast, and in some parts of the south, it is found of good 

 size in the open woods, close by the beach, without any 

 intervening spruce of stunted growth. The stunted growth 

 was occasionally met with on the north side, but it is only 

 on the tops of chffs, and other places exposed to the 

 sweep of the heavy coast winds, where spruce or any 



articles imported. Those masters wlao desire to lose their ships generally 

 select Anticosti for the pm'pose, because they can always manage to run 

 them ashore there without any danger to life, and without much risk of 

 being seen by persons on shore ; and as the provision posts are now well 

 supplied, there is no danger, as formerly, of their suffering from the want of 

 food. On the other hand, masters who know the coasts of the island well, 

 generally make free with their dangers, unless there happen to be a fog, in 

 perfect confidence and safety, and gain headway much faster than by keeping 

 in the centre of the channel, or along the south shore of the mainland. Three 

 lighthouses are now maintained in the west, east, and south-west points. — 

 Mr. Roche, Proc. of the Lit. and Hist, Soc. of Quebec. 



