358 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Oct 



described as passing southward into Vermont, and in its north- 

 eastern extension as hounding the lower St. Lawrence valley to the 

 south. This valley may be regarded geographically as an extension 

 of the great plains of western Canada and central New York, with 

 which it is connected through the valley of Lake Champlain. This 

 level country to the south of the Laurentides in the two parts of 

 the province is occupied by similar rock formations, and consti- 

 tutes the Champaign region of Canada, the surface of which is 

 scarcely broken, except by a few isolated hills in the vicinity of 

 Montreal, and by occasional escarpments, ravines, and gravel 

 ridges farther westward. 



The next area to be distinguished consists of the Notre-Dame 

 range on the south side of the St. Lawrence which forms the belt 

 whose course has just been described, with an average breadth of 

 from thirty to forty miles. To the south and east of this, is a 

 district of undulating land, which extends to the boundaries of the 

 province in that direction. These two districts may for convenience 

 in farther description be classed together, and they embrace the 

 region which is generally known as the Eastern Townships. By 

 this term they are distinguished from the Seigniories, which 

 bound them to the north and west. To the north-east, however, 

 along the Chaudiere River, some few seigniories are found within 

 the geographical limits of this third region . 



The whole of the province is well watered with numerous large 

 and small rivers, and in the mountainous districts there are great 

 numbers of small lakes, more than 1,000 of which are represented 

 on the maps. 



"We have in the preceding description divided the country into 

 three distinct regions, and have next to consider the geological 

 structure of these as related to the soil and to its agricultural capa- 

 bilities. 



The Laurentian Region. — The great tract of country occu- 

 pied by the Laurentian rocks has for its southern boundary the 

 limits already assigned, and stretches northward to the boundary of 

 the province, which is the height of land dividing the waters of the 

 St. Lawrence basin from those of Hudson's Bay. Its area is about 

 200,000 square miles, or six-tenths of the whole land of the province. 

 This region is composed exclusively of crystalline rocks, for the 

 most part silicious, or granite-like in character, consisting of 

 quartzite, syenite, gneiss, and other related rocks. These are bro- 

 ken up into ridges and mountain peaks, generally rounded in out- 



