52 NOTES AND 



at Lewistoa was broken down. Between Vendeventer's and ibis precipice 

 are to be found a great variety of fossil shells and petrifactions, embedded ia 

 limestone. 



On another occasion I made the following statement in relation to Lake On- 

 tario : " From near the Genesee river toLewiston, on the Niagara river, there 

 is a remarkable ridge, or elevation ofland, running almost the whole distance 

 which is seventy-eight miles, and in a direction from east to west. Its general 

 altitude above the neighbouring land is thirty feet, and its width varies con- 

 siderably ; in some places it is not more than forty yards. Its elevation above 

 the level of Lake Ontario is, perhaps, one hundred and sixty -feet, to which it 

 descends oy a gradual slope, and its distance from that water is between six and 

 ten miles. There is every reason to believe that this remarkable ridge was 

 the ancient boundary of this great lake. The gravel with which it is covered 

 was deposited there by the waters, and the stones every where indicate by their 

 shape the abrasion and agitation produced by that element. All along the 



borders of the western rivers and lakes there are small mounds, or heaps of 







gravel, of a conical form, erected by the fish for the protection of their spawn : 

 these fish banks are found at the foot of the ridge, on the side towards the lake ; 

 on the opposite side none have been discovered. All rivers and streams which 

 enter the lake from the south have their mouths affected with sand in a pecu- 

 liar way, from the prevalence and power of the northwesterly winds. The 

 points of the creeks which pass through the ridge correspond exactly in appear- 

 ance with the entrance of the streams into the lake. These facts evince, beyond 

 doubt, that Lake Ontario has receded from this elevated ground : and the 

 cause of this retreat must be ascribed to its having enlarged its former outlet ; or 

 to its imprisoned waters (aided, probably, by an earthquake) forcing a passage 

 down the present bed of the St. Lawrence." Collections of the New-York His- 

 torical Society, wl. 2. 



The little falls on the Mohawk river, in connexion with the surrounding 

 country, exhibit a very interesting aspect. As you approach the falls the river 

 becomes narrow and deep ; and you pass through immense rocks principally of 

 granite interspersed with limestone. In various places you observe profound 

 excavations in the rocks made by the 'agitation of pebbles in the fissures, and in 

 some places the river is not more than twenty yards wide. As you approach 

 the western extremity of the hills you find them about half a mile distant from 

 summit to summit ; and at least three hundred feet high. The rocks are com- 

 posed of granite, and many of them are thirty or forty feet thick, and the whole 

 mountain extends, at least, half a mile from east to west. You see them piled 

 on each other like Ossaon Pelion ; and in other places huge fragments scattered 

 -about indicating evidently a violent rupture of the waters through this place, as 



