43 



this current prevailed, so will be the precise extent, or 

 breadth of the alluvial district ; except in some few 

 unimportant cases, where, from local causes, some dif- 

 ference may appear. 



1 will now see how far this opinion is supported by 

 fapts. From the entrance into the straits of Bell-Isle, 

 by the way of the gulf of St. Lawrence, across to 

 Sandwich bay, is but a small distance ; even from the 

 mouth of the river St. Lawrence, or St. John's river, 

 which discharges itself into the St. Lawrence, across 

 the country to Orange bay or harbour, on the coast of 

 Labrador, and over which this current must have pass- 

 ed, is but about two hundred and eighty or three hun- 

 dred miles, and that rocky in the extreme. The result 

 Is what might be expected ; there is but little or no allu- 

 vial soil, except on the margins of some rixers, which I 

 shall have occasion to notice hereafter. 



As we advance further to the southward, we find the 

 country, across which this current is prevailing, gra- 

 dually increasing in breadth ; that is from the coast of 

 Labrador through the New England states ; and we 

 likewise see a corresponding increase of alluvial for- 

 mation ; but which, however, is so small as not to have 

 been noted in Mr. McClure's geological chart, until 

 we come to Long Island, extending from the meridian 

 of New London to the mouth of the Hudson river, in a 

 north east and south west direction. 



It may be said that a great disproportion exists be- 

 tween the distance across the continent, from the coast 

 of Labrador to the mouth of the Connecticut river, and 



