172 'IHH K'K A(iK IX CAXADA. 



of boulders luOoiiyintf to ;i more iveeiil driftage Lliiiii tliiit 

 of the underlying mass in which Imulders are often mucii 

 loss ahundant. 



Jiouldei's or travelled stones are often found in places 

 where thei'e is no other drift. For example, on hare 

 ,Ljranite hills, aliout i'>W) feet in liei^dit, near St. Maiy's 

 river, there are lar^e an.<,nilar blocks (»f (juart/ite, derived 

 from the ridges of that material, which abound in the dis- 

 trict, but which are se})arated from the hills on which the 

 fragments lie by deep valleys. 



In Nova Scotia, beds with marine shells jiave been found 

 l)y Mr. ^latthew at Ib)rton bluff, but not elsewhere, thou<5h 

 the boulder-clay is often covered with beds of stratified 

 sand and ijravel. The onlv evidence of land life, in 

 the boulder period, or immediately befon; it, that I have 

 noticed, is a hardened peaty bed which a})pears under the 

 boulder-clay on the north-west arm of the river of Iiduib- 

 itants in Cape lU'eton. It rests upon gray clay similar to 

 that which underlies peat bogs, and is overlaid by nearly 

 twenty feet of boulder-clay. Pressure has rendered it 

 nearly as hard as coal, though it is somewhat tougher and 

 more earthy in a])pearance. It has a shining streak, 

 burns with considerable flame, and ap])roaches in its 

 characters to the brown coals or more imperfect varieties 

 of bituminous coal. It contains many small roots and 

 branches, apparently of a taxine tree, with iUhrisot swamp 

 plants. The vegetable matter composing this bed must 

 have flourished before the drift was spread over the surface. 



In New Brunswick, stratified clays holding marine 

 shells have been found overlying the boulder-clay, or in 

 connection with it, especially in the southern part of the 



* Geol. Survey of Canada, 1889 and previous years. 



