OF LABRADOR AND MAINE. 225 



shore, three low beaches, each composed of two terraces, overgrown with vegetation. 

 They are all apparently of the same height, and correspond in height with that of the 

 second beach or terrace on Henley Island. On the east side of Pitts Arm is another similar 

 beach, and still another at the head of the bay on the west side of the stream emptying 

 into this bay. Upon this latter beach are large boulders often two feet in diameter. 

 Across the bay from Henley Island is a lofty steep beach sloping towards the east, and of 

 the same height. 



It is an important fact that the present contour of the coast from the sea level to a 

 height of about 500 feet, also extends to at least fifty fathoms, or 300 feet below the surface 

 of the water. Such we found to be the fact in dredging for a distance of nearly 600 miles 

 along the coast. The jagged nature of the rocky terraces at Strawberry Harbor, so 

 interesting a feature in the coast scenery, extends at least to a depth of 240 feet, a few 

 rods from the shore, as in anchoring with the hedge anchor, it would drop on to a rocky 

 shelf, and then drag and fall twenty fathoms lower on to another syenitic shelf; such a suc- 

 cession of rocky terraces we have no doubt extended much farther below the point sounded 

 by our ship's lead. 



Again, dredging was carried on off Henley Harbor on a pebbly bottom 300 feet below 

 the surface which formed the continuation of the same beaches which rose some 200 feet 

 above the sea-level. It follows from this that as both the jagged rocks and submerged 

 beach must have formerly formed a coast line, the land once stood at least 300 feet higher 

 than at present, and it is more than probable, much higher. Such an elevation would have 

 produced the most important modifications of climate, lowering it greatly, bringing the 

 snow line further down towards the coast, and must have led to a great accumulation of 

 the snow and land ice. 



At the settlement in Chateau Bay is a remarkably steep beach, which ascends half way 

 up the side of the hill, which is about 500 feet high. It is composed of large boulders very 

 closely packed in layers, without any gravel to fill up the interstices, and slopes to the level 

 of the water at an angle of at least 40°, being the steepest beach I saw on the coast. It 

 consisted of two terraces, the lowest almost precipitous in its descent. This beach, when 

 below the level of the sea, was evidently exposed to the action of the powerful Labrador 

 current which piled these huge water-worn rocks into a compact mass which served to 

 resist the waves, while the coarse gravel and sand were borne rapidly away farther out 

 to sea on to lower levels. It is a general rule that all beaches on this coast with a northerly 

 and easterly exposure to the open sea, are much steeper, and composed of much coarser 

 materials than those in more sheltered situations. 



At Domino Harbor are beaches more than 100 feet high, and in sailing up the Sound 

 which lies between the mainland and the numerous islands that line this coast, twelve 

 beaches were seen rising 40 to 150 feet above the level of the sea, and composed of two 

 or three terraces. 



In Sloop Harbor, twenty-five miles south of Cape Harrison, is a noble shingly beach 

 nearly 200 feet high on the south side of the harbor, consequently facing the north. 



Thomas Bay, which lies about thirty miles south of Hopedale, afforded, along both of its 

 shores for thirty miles from the sea, fine examples of raised beaches, composed for the most 

 part of three terraces. High beaches also occurred at Hopedale. The Mission House and 

 buildings belonging to this Moravian settlement, also rest upon raised gravelly beaches, 

 which afford soil deep enough for gardens and cemeteries. 



