ABRAHAM GESNER REVIEW OF HIS SCIENTIFIC WORK. 15 



ments that had occurred in the loose surface deposit or " diluvial 

 collections." These he attributes to the eflfects of a " general 

 deluge that swept over the country from north to south," and to 

 this cause also he refers the glacial stii«? ; " these are seen to 

 cross each other at different angles, and this affords evidence 

 that the course of the current was not always uniform." 



In his second year he first made a voyage along the coast 

 ■eastward of St. John to the head of the Bay of Fundy. He 

 then returned to St. John and made a parallel traverse of the 

 country along the valleys of the Kennebecasis and Petitcodiac 

 rivers, and examined the eastern coast of Northumberland. 



In going eastward along the coast Dr. Gesner found a small 

 coal field at Quaco, where excavations had been made upon an 

 impure seam of coal, and at Quaco Head he examined the 

 intrusive trap and deposit of manganese that exists there. 

 Following the coast eastward he found some remarkaljle conical 

 hills of serpentine and trap at Great Salmon river. At Hope- 

 well he again met the coal formation and the valuable freestone 

 and grindstone beds of that parish, and this formation was 

 found to extend across the Petitcodiac river. 



In his traverse of the interior Dr. Gesner found another coal 

 basin, which he called the Westmorland coal field. This was 

 found to extend from Sussex, where he examined a bed of coal, 

 to the eastern shore of the province at Shediac. He found coa^ 

 also on the Pollet Ei^■er and Turtle Creek, and further east. 

 These last were probably cannel coal, or highly bituminous slate. 

 Tlie ash varied from twelve to twenty-five per cent.* 



In his third year he re-examined a part of the coast east of 

 St. John, and then the "new red sandstone" district in Kings 

 county. Afterward he made excursions on various bianches of the 

 St. John river, among the rest Belleisle Bay, and Washademoak 

 and Grand Lakes. 



In the report on this year's exploi-ations Dr. Gesner summed 

 up the result of his three years work in this difficult region, 

 whose complicated geology has exercised the minds of many 



* Second Report, p. 66. 



