ELOMIDON TO BRIAR ISLAND. 95 



line from the summit of Blomidon to Cape Split marks the direction 

 of one of the greatest lava streams of the region. 



At the extremity of the long continuous range extending westward 

 from Blomidon, in the cliff forming the east side of Annapolis Gut, 

 we find the trap, as at the former place, forming a thick bed resting 

 on the red sandstone, and dipping to the noiihward ; and there can 

 be no doubt, from the appearances observed at several places along 

 the coast, that the same aiTangement prevails throughout the entire 

 ridge. 



Annapolis Gut is a deep channel separating the trap of the ])ro- 

 montory of Granville from the western prolongation of the formation. 

 This channel forms the only outlet of Annapolis Basin and the rivers 

 emptying into it. It is of great depth, and the tides rush thi-ough it 

 with terrible rapidity. The trap on its west side is more largely 

 developed than on the Granville side. It attains a greater width and 

 height, and contains a larger mass of compact and basaltic trap. 

 This circumstance, in connexion with the narrowing of the valley by 

 a spur of metamorphic rocks on the south, has probably caused the 

 currents of the Drift period to excavate the present outlet. Had it 

 not been for these circumstances, the waters of the Annapolis River 

 would probably have flowed into St Mary's Bay ; and the Annapolis 

 Basin, probably the finest sheet of salt water in the province, and its 

 remarkable and picturesque outlet, would not have existed. The 

 sandstone near the town of Digby is somewhat hard, and contains 

 concretions of transparent calc spar. It passes under the southern 

 edge of the trap, but cannot be seen toward the centre of the ridge, 

 where the precipitous side of the "Gut" consists of compact and 

 basaltic trap extending downward to the water-level. In one place, 

 I observed basalt with its pillars nearly horizontal, — an evidence that 

 here a dike of molten rock had been ejected from beneath. Toward 

 the entrance of the gut on the Digby side, the coast becomes low, 

 and amygdaloid is seen in low cliffs and on the slopes of the hills, 

 while sheets of compact trap run downward into the sea with scarcely 

 any abrupt cliff or bank. 



In Digby Neck, the sandstone is well exposed on the side fronting 

 St Mary's Bay, and compact and amygdaloidal trap rest upon it, and 

 dip northward toward the Bay of Fundy. This long promontory, 

 though only from two to three miles in width, consists of two ridges, 

 one forming the cliffs that front St Mary's Bay, the other sloping 

 toward the Bay of Fundy ; while between them is a narrow and 

 almost level valley, with several little lakes and ponds arranged in a 

 line along its bottom. The rock in this valley appears to be amyg- 



