4 THK UK A(iK IN CANADA. 



Geolo^fy" ill isr»4-;"). The following;' cxtnict will show that 

 th(!V were t'onnod vvvv closelv on the rAclliim doetriiio 

 of " nKulern ciiuses " : — 



" If wo ask what lias been the ori^tfiu of this oreat mass 

 of shifted and drifted material which overspreads the 

 surface, not only of tiie province we are now descrihiiiji;, 

 but the greater i)art of the land of the northern heiiii- 

 s])here, we raise one of the most vexed ([uestioiis of modern 

 geology. In reasonin<^', however, on this subject as rcigards 

 Nova Scotia, T have the advantaj^'e of appealin.t,' to causes 

 now in operation within the country. In the first jdace, 

 it may at once be admitted that no such operations as 

 those which formed the drift are now in ]iro,i;ress on the 

 surface of the land, so that the drift is a relic of a past state 

 of thinirs, in so far at least as regards the localities in which 

 it now rests. In the next place, we find, on examining 

 the drift, that it stnjiigly resembles, though on a greater 

 scale, the effects now produced by frost and floating ice. 

 iVost breaks up the surface of the most solid rocks, and 

 throws down elifl's and preci[)ices. Floating ice annually 

 takes up and removes immense (juaiitities of loose stones 

 from the shores, and deposits them in the bottom of the 

 sea or on distant parts of the coasts. Very heavy masses 

 are removed in this way. 1 have seen in the strait of 

 Canseau large stones ten feet in diameter, that had been 

 taken from below low water mark and pushed up upon 

 the beacdi. Stones so large that they hail to ))e removed 

 by blasting, have been taken from the base of the cliff's at 

 the Joggins and de})osited off the coal-loading pier, and I 

 have seen resting on the mud fiats at the mouth of tlie 

 l*etitcodiac river a boulder at least eight feet in length, 

 that had been floated by the ice down the river. Another 

 testimony to the same fact is furnished by the rapidity 



