MUD OF THE BAY OF FUNDY. 79 



hay, but awaiting a more thorough drainage to be con 

 verted hereafter into lands as fruitful in corn as the rich 

 carse-lands of the rivers Forth and Tay in Scotland. 



On arriving at the ferry, we found the tide very low, 

 and impassable mud occupying the greater part of the 

 wide channel. After waiting for an hour in the hope of 

 a rapid rise of the tide, which rushes up the Bay of 

 Fundy with great velocity, we found that it would be 

 impossible to cross in sufficient time to allow us to visit 

 and inspect the Joggins without the sacrifice of another 

 day, which our time did not admit of; we therefore 

 retraced our steps to Amherst. 



The fine, almost impalpable mud, which has formed 

 these extensive alluvial plains, and which, when the 

 tide is out, stretches from the cultivated banks in the 

 form of soft impassable flats, as far as the eye can 

 reach, is on the surface, and for some inches in depth, 

 of a reddish tinge. Below this, however, the colour 

 changes ; and where it is completely excluded from the 

 air, it is blue. This tinge becomes brighter and clearer 

 as we descend ; and in the absence of the tide it is seen, 

 in the lower part of the muddy cliffs, of a beautiful 

 bright blue tint. This change of colour arises from the 

 de-oxidation of the iron which it contains, through the 

 action of the organic matter, animal and vegetable, in 

 which the clay abounds, and to which it in a great 

 degree owes its fertility as a soil, and its fertilising 

 qualities when laid upon other land. It is deposited by 

 the tidal waters at the heads of creeks, in the beds ot 

 streams, and wherever these waters are permitted to 

 reach. It is carted off by the farmers to considerable 

 distances for application as an enriching substance, and 

 is considered equal to one-half or two-thirds of its weight 

 of farmyard manure. 



On our way back to Amherst, we passed along the 

 gypsum-bearing red-sandstone rocks, and visited one or 



