58 



If tho Alleghanics could bt' coinpun-d to llu? Ivocky Mouulsiins this 

 supposition would b(' still iiioro prohiiblc Still, Nature did not oriirinully 

 give our mountains the shape they now havi'. l"]rosion and the work ol' 

 centuries hav(^ considerably modilied them. Af^es ayo there was a time 

 when the AUefrhaiiies had ])eaks attaininir a, height ol' '2,000 leet. il" we may 

 Judge by the immense synelnal strata whii-h now Ibrm seyiM-al summits 

 ol" considerable heif^ht. 



Who knows what giant lal)0ur was accomplihhed in this chain, all ol' 

 whose summits are greatly worn by erosion and perhaps also by a con- 

 tinental glacier ? What were the imm»>use waves of an unknown ocean 

 which xindixlated the hills and left everlasting traces ? No one knows. 



On the eastern shore of Sugar-loaf lake, there is an isolated conica^ 

 rock rising to a heiuht ol' nearly 1,500 feet This is the Squateck o^' 

 Sugar-loaf mountain, the only mass of rock in that region. Nature seems 

 to have placed it there to serve as a point of ob.serval ion. Irom the sum- 

 mit of th(> mountain one sees on all sides an immeiise forest with lakes 

 here and there reliectiiiii- the sky. The view is so liui' that the traveller 

 is always enchanted with it. 



To the west of the mountain we see the calm surl'ace of Sugar-loaf 

 lake, the gently sloping hills of the other shore, and the forest draped 

 with the sombre verdure of resinous trees or with the fresh liiid tender 

 tints of the maple leaf. 



All the meajulerings of tlie river Squateck, all the sinuosities of the 

 lakes are visible to us. l'"uilhi'r on we sec the gaps made by tlie rii'iire 

 (Ifs Kaux Mortes through a forest of elms, the Touladi lakes and the 

 formidable declivity in the midst of hiuh peaks where like Tnniscouata 

 spreads out in all its majestii' urandeur. 



To the south we see the river Squateck. the hills ol Giniul hie 

 Squateck, the immense and unbrnken i'orest and, linally. almost lost in the 

 a:':ure sky, the pale outline otthe hill;-, which form i he soiiihen! boxindary 

 of tin- riovin<'e. 



To the north the eye wanders over a vast plain intersected by rivers 

 and lakes, and r 'sts only on the gai)s in the Alleghanies through which 

 Hows tiie Trois-l'istoles river. 



Here and there we observe si is'lit undulations, whose pile blue colour, 

 itulicating the proximity of sheets of water, contrasts sirongly with the 

 usual tints of the foresi. 



To the north-east lies lac ilea Oiilrra, in the centre of a fine level coun- 

 try. Although l.i miles away, the lake scnis closi- by. so vast and h'vel 

 is the plain over which we look. 



