THE DAWN OF LIFE 99 



tains, invests them with the dignity which their mere elevation 

 would fail to give. (Fig. i.) In the isolated mass of the 

 Adirondacks, south of the Canadian frontier, they rise to a 

 still greater elevation, and form an imposing mountain group, 

 almost equal in height to their somewhat more modern rivals, 

 the White Mountains, which face them on the opposite side of 

 Lake Champlain. 



The grandeur of the old Laurentian ranges is, however, best 

 displayed where they have been cut across by the great trans- 

 verse gorge of the Saguenay, and where the magnificent preci- 

 pices, known as Capes Trinity and Eternity, look down from 

 their elevation of 1,500 feet on the fiord, which at their feet is 

 more than 100 fathoms deep. The name Eternity applied to 

 such a mass is geologically scarcely a misnomer, for it dates 

 back to the very dawn of geological time, and is of hoar 

 antiquity in comparison with such upstart ranges as the Andes 

 and the Alps. (See Frontispiece.) 



On a nearer acquaintance, the Laurentian country appears 

 as a broken and hilly upland and highland district, clad in its 

 pristine state with magnificent forests, but affording few attrac- 

 tions to the agriculturist, except in the valleys, which follow the 

 lines of its softer beds, while it is a favourite region for the 

 angler, the hunter, and the lumberman. Many of the Lauren- 

 tian townships of Canada are, however, already extensively 

 settled, and the traveller may pass through a succession of 

 more or less cultivated valleys, bounded by rocks or wooded 

 hills and crags, and diversified by running streams and roman- 

 tic lakes and ponds, constituting a country always picturesque 

 and often beautiful, and rearing a strong and hardy population. 

 To the geologist it presents in the main immensely thick beds 

 of gneiss, bedded diorite and quartzite, and similar crystalline 

 rocks, contorted in the most remarkable manner, so that if 

 they could be flattened out they would serve as a skin much 

 too large for mother earth in her present state, so much has 



