348 THE ORE DEPOSIT.S OF 



The plain, whicli embraces tlie island of Cheticamp, covers 

 but one-tenth of the area of the district. It stretches along 

 the shore between Factory and Cheticamp rivers— a dis- 

 tance of nine miles, and rai-ely exceeds two miles in breadth. 

 Its surface is traversed in a Lorth-east and south-west direction 

 by long low undulations, which towards the east and north, 

 along the foot of the grand escarpment of the plateau, break 

 up into hummocks and high ridges. 



The harbor, which was originall}^ a narrow strait running 

 parallel to the undulations and severing the island from the 

 iiainland, but now silted up at the southern end, is about 3-^ 

 miles long and a little over a quarter of a mile wide. It is the 

 only well sheltered harbor on the western coast of Cape Breton 

 and requires but little dredging to keep it open. Ice, however, 

 commences to form during the latter part of December and lasts 

 from then until the latter part of April or early part of May, 

 during which time navigation is entirely suspended. From this 

 cause and the absence of railway communication with other 

 parts of the province, the development of the resources of the 

 district has been much retarded. 



The plateau, with its almost severed stumps, comprises the 

 remaining nine-tenths of the district. It is a portion of that 

 great dismembered branch of the grand Appalachian group 

 which embraces the larger part of northern Cape Breton. The 

 front line of the tableland runs approximately parallel to the 

 coast-line, except at a little south of the middle where it is 

 broken by an embayment into which extends a tongue of the 

 plain traversed by the Cheticamp river. North of Jerome 

 brook, the plateau and its stumps rise precipitously out of the 

 sea or from narrow level tei'races ; south of this brook it rises 

 almost equall}' as abruptl}' from the plain. The average height 

 of the plateau is about 1100 feet. Its surface, especially along 

 the edge, is frequently deeply trenched by huge gorges and 

 ravines cut by innumerable brooks and streams in their descent 

 to the sea. 



