272 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



I 



whilst the distance walked was equivalent to three or 

 four times as much. Always inclining in our course to 

 the westward, we traversed in every direction, partly 

 from choice, in order to view and examine the country, 

 and partly from the necessity to get round the extre- 

 mities of lakes and woods, and to look for game for 

 subsistence. 



"It was impossible to ascertain the depths of these 

 savannas, but judging from the great expanse of the 

 undulations, and the total absence of inequalities on the 

 surfaces, it must often be many fathoms. Portions of 

 some of the marshes, from some cause under the surface, 

 are broken up and sunk below the level, forming gullies 

 and pools. The peat is there exposed sometimes to a 

 depth of ten feet and more without any rock or soil 

 underneath ; and the process of its formation is distinctly 

 exhibited from the dying and dead roots of the green 

 surface moss descending linearly into gradual decay, 

 until perfected into a fine black compact peat, in which 

 the original organic structure of the parent is lost. The 

 savanna peat immediately under the roots of the grass 

 on the surface is very similar to the perfected peat of the 

 marshes. The savannas are continually moist or wet on 

 the surface, even in the middle of summer, but hard 

 underneath. Eoots of trees, apparently where they grew, 

 are to be found by digging the surfaces of some of them, 

 and probably of all. From what was seen of their edges 

 at the water-courses, they lie on the solid rock, without 

 the intervention of any soil. The rocks exhibited were 

 transition clay slate, mica slate, and granitic. 



" One of the most striking features of the interior is 

 the innumerable deer paths on the savannas. They are 



