ATLANTIC COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA. 019 



more nearly to E. and W. than at the places previously described. 

 At many localities, however, it retains its usual S.W. and N. E. 

 direction. Tlius, at the tower at Point Pleasant, the strike of the 

 bedding is N. 30° E., and that of the slaty structure N. 75" E. On 

 the sliore near the same place, the strike is N. 60° E., and the dip is 

 to the north-west. Nearer the city, the dip of the true bedding is in 

 some places to the south, the strike being nearly E. and W. The 

 cleavage is, however, here much better defined than the bedding, 

 which is indicated principally by lines of different colour, and appeal's 

 to undulate very much. On the road from Halifax to Windsor, at 

 Dartmouth, and at Musquodoboit River and Harbour, the strike both 

 of the bedding and slaty cleavage approach to E. and W. magnetic. 



On the Musquodoboit River, granite reappears, and extends to the 

 eastward as far as the Great Ship Harbour Lake. Beyond this place, 

 as far as the extreme eastern end of the district, quartzite and mica- 

 slate, with masses and bands of granite and gneiss, prevail ; but I 

 have scarcely any knowledge of their distribution, except in the 

 vicinity of the St Mary's River, and in the peninsula of Cape Canseau. 



The valley of the lower St Mary's River is a rugged and rocky 

 gorge, excavated at right angles to the structure of the country, and 

 affording an outlet for the waters of several streams that, seeking a 

 passage across the hilly barrier of the metamorphic district, form a 

 small lake at the entrance of this common channel. At the mouth of 

 the river, a considerable breadth is occupied by micaceous slates, with 

 bands of quartzite. The strike of these rocks is N.E. and S.W., and 

 iu the places where I observed their dip, it is to the S.E. at high 

 angles. Behind the village of Sherbrooke, and two miles eastward 

 of the river, a mass of granite projects through these rocks, but does 

 not occur in the river section. This granite is well seen in the lakes 

 emptying into Indian Harbour. On the river itself, the slates and 

 quartz rock continue with considerable regularity of strike ; the latter 

 becoming quite predominant, and rising into considerable eminences 

 as it approaches the "Forks," where it suddenly descends into the 

 Carboniferous valley of the St Mary's. 



Eastward of the St Mary's River, this district gradually narrows 

 toward its extremity at Cape Canseau, but still presents on its northern 

 margin a range of abrupt eminences, and on the south a low, rugged, 

 and indented coast. Indeed, the steep rounded swell Avith which its 

 nortliern side descends at the head of Chedabucto Bay, and the pre- 

 cipitous headlands beyond Crow Harbour, are the finest appearances 

 in point of scenery which it presents in its whole extent. 



A large part of the peninsula terminating at Cape Canseau, is 



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