Re 
Seta ce gan 
Mineralogy and Geology. 279 
to the ocean. These highlands constitute a table land 15 to 20 miles 
broad, and 600 to 1000 feet high, in most places incapable of cultiva- 
tion. Through the rest of the circuit the shore is mostly loose and un- 
dulating, or bordered by a bluff of 20 to 100 feet. In the very heart of 
the island there ate two large salt-water lakes, each communicating 
with the sea, and one by a channel navigable for ships of the largest 
class. The Grand Cam is 40 miles in length and 20 in width.. The 
scenery of the lakes is exceedingly striking, the conglomerates consti- 
tuting long ranges of undulating blue hills, rising behind one another 
in the distance ; whilst the white cliffs of gypsum stand out in bold re- 
lief on the margin of the water. Some idea of the extent of these 
lakes may be formed from the fact that there is no point in the island 
more than 12 miles distant from salt water. The shores of the lakes 
are thickly studded with the cottages of thriving settlers, and a narrow 
belt of cultivated land stretches along the water’s edge. 
The coal formation furnishes Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and 
Prince Edward’s Island with an abundant supply of coal, equal in qual- 
ity to the best Newcastle. The coal field of Sydney on the north- 
east coast of the island, averages about 7 miles in width, and covers 
an area of 250 square miles; and this area is probably only the seg- 
ment of an immense basin extending towards the coast of Newfound- 
land. The larger beds range from 4 to 7 feet in thickness, and besides, 
there are others of 2 feet. They rest on clay floors containing re- 
mains of Stigmaria. Trunks of trees, both vertical and inclined, are 
occasionally found; and also fishes’ scales, teeth, fins and bones and 
coprolites. Along with the carboniferous limestone are extensive beds 
of gypsum and marls, and in the gypsum districts salt springs are not 
uncommon. 
- Granites, syenite and porphyries occupy a ite part of Cape a 
and the high table land is supposed to consist wholly of primary roc 
| 24. On the Paleontology of South America.—M. Alcide D°Orbigny, 
the distinguished South American traveller, arrives at the following 
general conclusions in his work on South America,—chap. xii. 
There is a general correspondence in the fauna of the successive 
formations of Europe and South America; and the earlier were in 
general the more simple forms of life. 
No transitions between specific forms can be detected in rocks ; liv- 
ing beings succeeded one another not by gradual eens but by the 
extinction of races and their replacement. 
There are some identical species of fossils bation the distin con- 
tinents, proving the cotemporaneity of the rocks. 
The uniformity of the fauna of the earlier periods, must be attributed 
in part to a uniform temperature, arising from central heat. This uni- 
