No. 8.] MATTHEW — GEOLOGY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 439 



sits on the coast of Maine * from which — as for instance that of 

 Gardiner (pa^je 244) — it appears that jiTavel beds like those of 

 the surface deposits in New Brunswick lie at the base of the 

 ModijSed Drift in that state. In his description of the Eastern 

 Coast of Labrador there are passages which forcibly call to mind 

 the probable condition of our own province when these Syrten- 

 sian beds were forming. Speaking of the present condition of 

 this desolate shore he says : — " 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 50 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 Again, dredging was carried on off 



'' Henley Harbour (Northern entrance to the Strait of Bellisle) 

 " 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 At the settlement 



•' in Chateau Bay is a remarkably steep beach which ascends 

 ■' halfway up the side of the hill which is about 500 feet high. 

 "It is composed of very large boulders 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 steep- 



" est beach I saw on the coast 



" This beach, when below the level of the sea, was evidently ex- 

 " posed to the action of the powerful Labrador current which 

 '' piled these huge water- worn rocks in a compact mass which 

 " served to resist the waves, while the coarse gravel and sand 

 •^ were borne rapidly away further out to sea on to lower levels." 

 This thorough sorting out of all the mud and fine sediment 

 by the action of the Arctic current on the coast of Labrador, is 

 but a continuance further north of the powerful agencies once at 

 work in our own province. I have said that over much of the open 

 plain in the interior of New Brunswick the beds which rest im- 

 mediately upon the Boulder clay are sandy, and they are there for 

 the most part concealed by beds of Leda-clay : but on proceeding 

 southward and entering the Southern hills, where the valleys are 

 deep and narrow, the cutting power of the current was brought 

 into active play, and gravel ridges and slopes became quite com- 

 mon, and are often a marked feature in the landscape. 



* On the Glacial Phenomena of Labrador and Maine, Memoirs of 

 Boston bociety of Natural Historjj VoL 1, Part 3. 



