THE TRAP MINERALS OF NOVA SCOTIA—GILPIN. 285 
basalt, has been worn by the fierce tides into every curve and 
bold outline which can charm the artist’s eye. 
Those who have wandered under the beetling, forest-crowned 
cliffs of Bloinidon, and watched the tides foaming in the ledges 
of Cape Split, and bearing in endless circles the luckless coaster 
who attempts the passage without favoring winds, have enjoyed 
one of the boldest and most picturesque views on the Atlantic 
coast, from Florida to the Labradors. 
The narrow entrance to Annapolis Basin, the passage of the 
Islands, and the beautiful little cove that should have been 
named by a fairy, the site of an ancient crater, adorned by a lake 
and embowered in mingling verdure of field and forest, luxuriat- 
ing in its shelter from every rude blast under the protection of 
encircling hills, all form landscapes which would amply repay 
the painter's art. 
Nowhere on the Atlantic coast do the waves, accumulating 
before the southerly gales on their unimpeded march across the 
ocean, burst with more fury and afford a nobler sight than when 
they encounter the precipitous cliffs of Briar Island. Not un- 
frequently they maintain so steadily their furious attacks that 
for several days the unfortunate traveller can solace the tedium 
of his enforced detention only by watching their masses scatter- 
ing in clouds of driving spray. 
The geology of Nova Scotia presents a great void between the 
triassic and the boulder clays, so that here we look upon the 
former as quite a youthful representative of the long geological 
sequence. We learn that at the time when the deposition of the 
triassic strata commenced the Bay of Fundy presented an outline 
closely resembling that of the historical era. 
The detrition of the carboniferous rocks surrounding it was 
effected by tides of great force, not, however, so powerful as those 
that now excite our curiosity. The fine sand and wud worn 
away by these tides was deposited in beds which we now see in 
the valleys of the Annapolis, Cornwallis, Avon and Salmon rivers, 
and at numerous other points along both sides of the Bay. The 
manner of their deposition was closely analogous to that now 
going on outside our dyked lands. These measures, as now 
exposed, are almost entirely composed of reddish sandstones, 
