44 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vi. 



except near the surfaces of exposed cliffs or upon rocky ledges 

 which are often densely covered with a low growth of Juniper 

 (Juniperus.) 



The descent from this plateau to the lower lands which form 

 the eastern side of the island, though less abrupt than that just 

 alluded to, is nevertheless everywhere well defined, much of the 

 last named region, including nearly all the settled portions of the 

 island, being commonly not above a height of twenty or thirty 

 feet above tide-level, and often much less.* This side of the 

 island is further contrasted with that which forms its western 

 half in its great irregularity of outline and in the numerous 

 islands, of greater or less size, by which it is bordered. The 

 many harbours which indent this shore afford a safe refuge to 

 those engaged in the pursuit of fishing, an occupation to which 

 the inhabitants of the island are almost solely devoted. 



The first published observations on the geology of Grand 

 Manan are those of Dr. Gesner, who in his first report to the 

 legislature of New Brunswick (1838) describes at some length 

 its general topographical and mineralogical features. The two 

 reo'ions above contrasted were recosrnized, and described as con- 

 sisting, the one of trap and the other of slates (talcose, hornblen- 

 dic and chloritic) and quartz rock, intersected by trappean dykes ; 

 but beyond an allusion to the resemblance of the first named 

 rocks in general aspect and in the contained minerals to those of 

 Blomidon in Nova Scotia, no attempt at determining the age of 

 either of these formations was made. In the geological map of 

 Dr. Eobb, which was for the most part based upon the observa- 

 tions of Dr. Gesner, the belt of rocks last mentioned is simply 

 indicated as trappean, while those of the eastern coast are colored 

 as of Cambrian age. From this time until the appearance of the 

 second edition of the Acadian Geology of Dr. Dawson, no pub- 

 lished references to the geology of Grand Manan appear to have 

 been made. In an Appendix, however, to the last named work 

 a summary of some observations bearing upon this subject is 

 given by Prof. A. E. Verrill, who, though visiting the island 

 chiefly for zoological purposes, had at the same time been able to 

 devote some attention to its o-eolosrical structure. The formations 



* An exceiDtion to this low and level character occurs at the north- 

 eastern end of the island, where the large peninsula separating Whale 

 Cove and Flag's Cove is somewhat high and broken. 



