58 ALEXANDER MURRAY ON THE 
less distinct; and it is not improbable that it may have been affected by more than one 
oscillation during that period and since. Be that as it may, the remains of modern sea 
shells, the parallel terraces and old sea beaches, which may be seen at many parts on either 
side of the island, distinctly show that the land was at one time at a lower level. Sea 
shells of the same species as exist at the present day and are strewed abundantly along 
the beaches have been found at various elevations above the sea, on both the east and west 
side of the island, but none to my knowledge at any very remote distance from the coast. 
At Bay Verte, near the Terra Nova mine, a stratum of sea shells was observed, interposed 
between gravelly layers at forty feet above high water-mark. Similar shells, nearly all of 
one species, Mya truncata, with some Saxicava rugosa, were also discovered at Tilt Cove in 
Notre Dame Bay, at an elevation of about sixty feet, where the ground was being excavated 
for the foundation of the English church; and at Rabbits Arm Mine, on the south-west 
coost of the same Bay, while constructing the tram-road about a mile inland, the workmen 
came upon a deposit containing the remains of Mya and other fragments of shells, in a fair 
state of preservation, at about the same altitude over the sea level. Modern sea-shells of 
the same species have, moreover, been found on the west coast, in the drift cliffs of Bonne 
Bay and at Port-a-Port, in each case at an elevation of from fifty to sixty feet above the 
sea. Old sea beaches are at some places well displayed in a succession of terraces, varying 
from ten to sixty feet above the present sea level. At Middle Arm of Green Bay, Notre 
Dame Bay, three terraces, each composed of well-rolled pebbles and boulders, precisely 
resembling the stones of the present beach, rise over each other with flat areas at the foot of 
each, respectively ten, thirty and sixty feet over the sea. The lands on the Twillingate and 
other islands in Notre Dame Bay, up to and considerably above the same level, are strewed over 
with well-worn beach stones. The remains of a whale are represented to have been found on 
an island of Holten Harbor, on the coast of Labrador, at about sixty feet above the sea, while at 
a little lower level there is a raised beach of rolled gravel on the same island. Captain Hagan 
of the of S.S. “ Ariel,” removed some of the bones of this skeleton many years ago. Alterations 
of beds of sea-weed with strata of sand and gravel, and some of indurated peat, were observed 
near “The Gravels ” in St. George’s Bay, in a vertical section, upwards of twelve feet thick 
over high water-mark, and forming an abrupt bank facing the sea, while immediately over 
it at from twenty to twenty-four feet, a slightly basin-shaped area extends over several acres, 
covered by a layer of shell marl, which evidently at one time held a small fresh-water pond. 
A bed of sea-weed and gravel is now in process of formation all along the shore near this 
place, and is spread over an extensive area at Sea- Wolf lagoon between Indian Head and the 
Gut at the head of St. George’s Bay A thick deposit of peat is spread over the low land on 
the south side of the Gut, which extends to the point at the Seal Rocks, south side of St 
George’s Harbour and beyond on the shores of Flat Bay. Inside of Port-a-Port Bay, the 
long low point between the East and West Bays is covered by a thickness of about ten feet 
of peat, which contains the roots and branches of trees apparently on the spot where they 
formerly grew. The peat rests on a stratum of about two feet of sand and gravel, at the 
base of which there were numerous sea-shells, chiefly Mytilus edulis ; the shales of Silurian 
age at the base of all being occasionally exposed at the water’s edge. Well-marked terraces 
are exhibited in the drift-banks of St. George’s Bay, and particularly along the coast south- 
easterly between Bank Head and Fishel’s Brook, and thence towards Middle Barachois and 
