268 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



the relations of this mass of gypsum to the neighbouring beds. Its 

 nearest neighbour to the south is a series of dark shales and gray 

 sandstones, Avith a few fossil plants of Coal formation genera. These 

 beds are very much contorted, but have a prevalent dip to the south. 

 I have no doubt that they are equivalents of the Hortou Lower Carbon- 

 iferous shales. A sheet of paper could hardly have been crumpled 

 into more fantastic curves than these beds, no doubt once flat and hori- 

 zontal. This is an effect of lateral pressure acting upon them while 

 in a soft state, and it testifies to the enormous forces of this description 

 which have been applied before these beds attained their present hard 

 and brittle condition. These beds appear on both sides of the Five 

 Mile River, a stream running into the Shubenacadie at right angles, 

 and they extend along the course of this stream and that of the Ken- 

 netcook, which is continuous with it, though flowing in the opposite 

 direction, far into the interior of Hants. On the Kennetcook, they 

 contain a small seam of coal, and have more the aspect of true Coal 

 measures than any other beds I have seen in this county. But from 

 recent observations made by Professor How of Windsor, I am inclined 

 to believe that all these beds are Lower Carboniferous. 



Hitherto we have found few fossils in this section ; but at the next 

 point above the contorted Coal measures of Five Mile River, we have 

 a grand example of a fossiliferous limestone, forming the cliff named 

 Anthony's Nose. This limestone, which is a mass of corals and shells 

 similar to those noticed at Windsor, is about 40 feet thick, and stands 

 quite on edge, projecting like a huge wall into the river. Soft marls 

 rest against each side and include a bed of gypsum, and, at a little 

 distance, a thick bed of this mineral appears with an arched stratifi- 

 cation. On the opposite side of the river there are other limestones 

 and gypsums, also very much disturbed ; and, immediately adjoining 

 them on the south, there is a cliff of reddish sandstone, like that of 

 Eagle's Nest, and nearly in a horizontal position. 



Beyond this place, the river section is not continuous, but gypsum 

 and limestone, full of marine shells, appear in several jilaces, and the 

 marls and red sandstones occasionally peep forth from beneath thick 

 beds of boulder-clay. Finally, at Gray's River, Key's on the Shuben- 

 acadie, the lower end of Grand Lake, and Nine Mile River, the gypsum 

 and limestone are seen almost in contact with the ancient metamorphic 

 slate and quartzite which bound this Carboniferous district on the 

 south. 



At one of these places. Key's, on the old Halifax road, one of the 

 beds of gypsum contains white and bleached-looking quartzose pebbles 

 and sand. In this case, it is probable that the acid which produced 



