AND THE SALT DEPOSIT ON PETITE ANSE ISLAND. 



n 



detrital bods above the salt, and in the absence of all analogy with the other 

 pebbles, either as to size or mineral composition, I am inclined to consider this stone 

 (a faithful drawing of which, made by lie v. E. Fontaine, is subjoined) rather as an 



Greenstone liouMer fonncl in the salt pits, Petite Anse. Weight 70 pounds. 



implement transported in a canoe, than as an erratic floated down by ice. As an 

 anvil upon which to fashion spear or arrow-heads of either stone or metal, its place 

 could not well be supplied by any rock occurring much nearer at hand ; and the 

 aborighial tribes, that evidently resorted to this place in great numbers, might well 

 deem it worth while to carry with them a good-sized block of the refractory 

 material out of which their axes, found on the same spot, have likewise been 

 fashioned. 



But at Petite Anse, as at Weeks' Island, the "Orange Sand" strata form only a 

 nucleus, upon and around which the materials of the Port Hudson group have been 

 more or less thickly deposited. The latter appear characteristically at numerous 

 points where ravines have cut into the hill-sides, both on the higher elevations in 

 the interior, and on the external slopes. Here, too, as at the other islands, they 

 conform, to a not inconsiderable extent, to the undulations of the surface. This 

 circumstance, probably, induced Thomassy to consider local upheavals as having 

 been instrumental in their conformation. But unless we were to assume a separate 

 effort for each hillock on the island, this hypothesis would nowise exi)lain the facts. 

 Indeed, the extent to which the Port Hudson strata are sometimes tilted rather 

 staggers the observer, who is not prepared to admit the possibility of their deposition, 

 in parallel bands, on such a heavy slope. 



There can be no doubt that local suhsideiice subsequent to deposition has, in most 

 cases, contributed largely towards producing these extravagant dips. Tlius, in the 

 loose gravelly and sandy strata which appear overlying the characteristic blue cal- 

 careous clay, as we ascend Prospect Hill, the dislocation and contortion ot bedding 

 lines show clearly that movements have taken place within the mass, which must 

 have chang(>d the ^\\\^ of superincumbent strata. INIoreover, it is noticeable that 



3 May, 1872. 



