132 Silurian and Devonian Rocks 



" their savage countenances, I found, however, to my great delight, 

 " that it was the camp of the brigade from the sea. I cannot des- 

 " cribe the feeling which seizes me, when after travelling some 

 " weeks together with Indians, I meet a person whom I have known 

 '' before, or if even they are strangers, yet the countenance of a 

 " Christian is at such times most delightful. In the present in- 

 " stance I had the additional happiness of finding myself in the 

 •' society of those who had ever treated me with cordiality, and 

 '' who now seemed to vie with one another in acts of kindness to- 

 " wards me. Observing my dejected and travel-worn plight, one 

 " fetched me some water to wash with, another handed me a clean 

 '' shirt, and a third busied himself in making ready something 

 " more palatable than carrion for my supper ; while my old friends, 

 " Messrs. McDonald and Work, handed me those best of cordials, 

 '' my letters from England ! 



(Tb he continued.) 



ARTICLE XI. — On the Silurian and Devonian Eochs of 

 Nova Scotia. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.G.S. 



[Communicated to the Natural History Society of Montreal.] 



In the peninsula of Nova Scotia, the formations older than the 

 carboniferous system, which is there so largely developed, are re- 

 presented by disturbed and partially metamorphosed beds, occupy- 

 ing a broad belt of country on the south-eastern or Atlantic coast, 

 and certain irregular hilly tracts in the interior. These beds 

 were described by me in a paper communicated to the Geo- 

 loo-ical Society of London in 1849, and subsequently in my 

 "Acadian Geology;" in which work will be found references to 

 the labours of previous observers. These notices were confessedly 

 very imperfect, owing to the difficulties of the formations them 

 selves, the deficiency or bad state of preservation of the fossils, 

 and the absence of sufficient suits of these for comparison. With 

 the view of remedying these deficiencies, I have embraced such 

 opportunities as have occurred to me since the publication of 

 " Acadian Geology," to study these rocks in those parts of the 

 country which appeared to promise the most satisfactory results. 

 My collections of fossils have also been increased by contributions 

 received from Dr. Webster of Kentville, who has long directed his 

 attention to the New Canaan and Nictaux districts, which I have 

 had the advantage of exploring under his guidance j from the Rev. 



