90 THE CANADIAN NATURALIS-T. [Ap^^i^r 



other by narrow straits. A line connecting them all would run 

 nearly east and west. They are not so deep as those of the To- 

 bique; the bottom in the Third Nepisiquit Lake being in many 

 places, even near the centre, not more than two feet below the 

 surface, while from the little island in Nictau Lake we were unable 

 to reach bottom with twenty feet of line. The former are, like 

 the latter, shut in by mountain ranges, but their elevation is not 

 so great as those already described. Along the shores of the Ne- 

 pisiquit Lakes I observed Iris versicolor and Tijpha latifolia 

 growing abundantly, also Nuphar advena, N. Kalmiana, Equise- 

 tum limosum, E. si/lva icuni, and E. uliginosum. 



The Nepisiquit passes out from the lakes much more quietly 

 than the Tobique, and descending by a rapid but unbroken 

 current pisses around the base of handsome hills, clothed with a 

 rich green covering of birch and spruce. The land close to the 

 river is low and covered with alder bushes, but some lofty moun- 

 tains appear to the southward. The stream pursues at first a near- 

 ly uniform course a little west of south, without winding much, 

 like the Tobique. Its bed is strewed with large and travelled 

 granitic boulders, which though not wanting on the Tobique were 

 much less numerous than here. 



The mountains just alluded to, pursue a course, as nearly as I 

 could make out, a little north of east, crossing the river, which 

 works its way around their base. They are undoubtedly granitic, 

 and in many places expose upon their flanks high and rugged 

 cliffs of a brick-red color, giving at first the appearance of a red 

 sandstone district. The boulders, however, which occur in the 

 bed of the stream, distinctly indicate their character, being com- 

 posed of a corse-grained feldspathic granite or granulite. 



Near the base of one of these cliffs we were borne by the cur- 

 rent, and so remarkable were its characters, that I at once deter- 

 mined to give it a more careful examination. Landing for this 

 purpose, and approaching with one companion and an Indian 

 guide, what we supposed to be the natunl slope of the mountain, 

 we were suddenly stopped by a tremendous chasm, which unex- 

 pectedly lay open before our feet. 



The defile is about fifty or seventy feet deep, with almost pre- 

 cipitous sides, and furnishes a picture of singular wildness. The 

 two sides of the chasm were in the most marked contrast. That 

 by which we approached was steep and broken though covered 



