220 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. June] 



Sir William Logan would have been present, but he had been 

 unable to come. The duty of speaking about the geological fea- 

 tures of this lemarkable mountain would devolve upon Dr. 

 Sterry Hunt, who knew so much more about it than any other 

 person present. They might consider themselves standing upon 

 the capital of one of the great pillars which support the earth; 

 for the mountain was one of those solid masses of igneous rock 

 which might be traced down into the far depths of the bowels 

 of the earth. They were little mountains, it was true, but 

 they were far older than some more pretentious ones, and 

 deserved to be respected because of their venerable antiquity. 

 These mountains give us a striking illustration of the condition of 

 the country immediately preceding the time when it first became 

 inhabited by man. The plains now spotted with farm-houses 

 were, when visited by Jacques Cartier, one unbroken forest. 

 But ages before that they were merely an extension of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, and the mountain upon which we now stand was a 

 little island, around which great quantities of ice floated, just as 

 they do now in the Strait of Belle Isle. On the companion 

 mountain of Montreal, at a height of over 400 feet above the 

 present sea level, might be found deposits containing sea shells 

 and other marine animals, of the same species, for the most part, 

 as those now living in the Grulf of St. Lawrence. The processes 

 were then explained by which the present contour of the land- 

 scape was effected, and the country made as we now see it, fit for 

 the habitation of mankind. 



Dr. Hunt then gave a short account of the features of geological 

 interest of the mountain, and of the surrounding country, as 

 follows : He stated that he would prefer to give a dozen lectures 

 respecting the mountain rather than condense what he would like 

 to Bay into a speech of a few minutes. A fine view was 

 offered of the geographical divisions of the country. The 

 valley of the St. Lawrence, with the fine champaign country 

 now in view, was bounded on the north by the Laurentide 

 Hills, which stretched from Ottawa and the rear of Kingston 

 to the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. In the south might be 

 seen the Green Mountains, a continuation of which range, 

 called by the early French settlers the Notre Dame Mountains, 

 stretched along the south shore of the St. Lawrence to the 

 sea. These southern mountains were a portion or spur of the 

 great Appalachian chain. The Doctor then called attention 



