A LABRADOR SPRING 



sea since the departure of the ice-sheet from 

 the country. Elsewhere in the lowlands between 

 this rocky barrier and the sea, there was every- 

 where evidence of previous submersion, and 

 poised glacial erratics were absent. The rocks 

 on which these boulders lay were in some places 

 as smooth and polished as if the glaciers had 

 but just receded, and grooves and scratches 

 could easily be made out. 



As in the plains the hollows are being gradu- 

 ally filled with vegetation, and the water ousted 

 or rather absorbed into the meshes. At a point 

 in these mountains where I sat a narrow tarn 

 of dark blue water lay at my feet, encroached 

 upon from the north by the sphagnum bog. 

 Beyond lay a bog in a broader, larger depres- 

 sion between the rocks, a bog still incomplete, 

 for here and there were small circular ponds. 

 On the other side a still larger bog was to be 

 seen covering entirely what was originally a 

 lake, and no spot of water remained. One must 

 not suppose that these regions were altogether 

 desolate. Far from it. Great patches of bril- 

 liant rhodora, varying in shade from light pink 

 to dark crimson or purple, illuminated the hill- 

 sides. Laurels and other members of the 



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