96 THE TRIAS OR NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



daloid, and it is probably owing to this circumstance that the valley 

 has been scooped out, while the edges of the beds of more compact 

 trap remain as ridges. This at least is the explanation which appears 

 most probable from the structure of all parts of the ridge that I have 

 visited, except the very singular and romantic spot named Sandy 

 Cove. At this place a deep cove penetrates about one-fourth across 

 the ridge from the south, between precipitous cliffs of trap resting on 

 amygdaloid, and apparently with a southerly dip ; or, at all events, 

 without that decided dip to the north which prevails over the greater 

 part of this trappean ridge. Opposite the southern cove, there is on 

 the north side of the ridge a shallower cove, and between is a little 

 lake, on either side of which rise lofty beetling cliffs of basaltic trap, 

 which appear to be parts of a thick bed dipping to the northward. 

 I have marked in my notes the query — Can tliis be a volcanic crater ? 

 and I find that the same thought has occurred to other geologists 

 who have visited the spot. It may have been so ; but it is perhaps 

 more probable that the ridge has here been cracked across by a 

 fissure caused by earthquake disturbances ; and that the currents 

 of the Boulder formation period have passed through and widened the 

 chasm. AVhatever the causes of its present appearance, Sandy Cove 

 is more like something a poet or painter might dream of, than like 

 an actual reality in our usually tame province of Nova Scotia. 



Though the trap ridge is very narrow at Digby Neck, it appears 

 that this rock occupies a considerable breadth beneath the waters of 

 the Bay of Fundy. I have already mentioned that the " Neck " 

 consists of two ridges, with a valley between. Now under water 

 there are three similar ridges, the outer being nine miles distant from 

 the shore. They are thus described by Mr Perley, in his Report on 

 the Fisheries of New Brunswick ; and his statements were corrobo- 

 rated by information which I obtained from gentlemen resident on 

 this coast : — 



" From Black Rock down to Briar Island, along the whole south 

 shore, there are three fishing banks or ledges, lying parallel to the 

 shore, outside each other 5 their respective distances from the coast 

 have acquired for them the designations of the three-mile ledge — the 

 five-mile ledge — and the nine-mile ledge. Between these ledges there 

 are sixty fathoms of water, but on the crown of each ledge, thirty 

 fathoms only. The three-mile ledge, and the five-mile ledge, extend 

 quite down to Briar Island ; but the nine-mile ledge can only be 

 traced down the bay about fourteen miles below Digby Gut, abreast 

 of Trout Cove, where it ends in deep water. Below Digby Gut, the 

 three-mile ledge and five-mile ledge are composed of hard gravel and 



