W BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



Kiley Brook, a few miles below the Forks, is the last Post- 

 office ascending the river, and a short distance above this, 

 settlements cease. Extensive lumbering operations are carried 

 on on the branches of the Tobique, which are ascended by 

 canoes, and during freshets by flat boats, towed by horses. 

 On this upper part of the river are some of the finest salmon 

 and trout fishing-grounds of the province. 



Plaster Rock, twenty-six miles from the mouth, is the 

 present terminus of the Tobique Valley Eailway, and from 

 here down I can bear testimony to the great beauty of the 

 river scenery. 



The main Plaster Rock is a cliff about 130 feet high, stand- 

 ing on the left hand or eastern side of the river. It is chiefly 

 of a reddish color, the gypsum not being quite pure, alter- 

 nating with thin layers of white fibrous gypsum. On the 

 opposite side of the river the plaster is not so distinct, the 

 layer is thinner, limestone forming most of the bank. The 

 bank is more sloping and bushy on this side, but the set of 

 the stream on to the eastern shore keeps a fresh surface 

 exposed there. Every spring large masses fall, loosened by 

 the action of the frost, and being friable in time disappear. 



About two miles further down on the same side is another 

 exposure of gypsum separated from the river by a small inter- 

 val. The chief supplies have been drawn from this lower 

 rock, and many thousands of tons removed, but it has made 

 scarcely any perceptible impression on the mass. 



Just below this lower rock, the Wapskehegan, the most 

 important tributary of the Tobique, enters. At the mouth of 

 this branch, the Tobique takes a great bend, enclosing in the 

 semicircle a beautiful flat, well cleared, back of which the 

 land rises hilly and wooded. 



The river next passes steep banks and bluffs, many of 

 them quite changed now by the railway embankment passing 

 along the face. Then flats — lands which make good farming 

 tracts. Then there are bluffs and hills again, covered with 

 second growth of poplar and white birch. 



