10l> THE ICK A(iK IX CANADA. 



llie ]'i(l<j;('s, al()n,u' with limilders (li'()])|it'(l from llie ici; 

 \vliic;Ii (liiflc'(l fioiii till' Laurenliau shore to the norlli. 

 The process was slow and (|uiet : so much so, that in its 

 Liter sta<j;es many of the l)oul{lers liecame ciicrnsled with 

 the calcareous cells of marine animals before they l)ecame 

 buried in llie clay. No othei' explanation can, I believe, 

 be g'iven of this de])osii : and it presents a clear and 

 cunvincinji; illustration, ap[)licidile to wide areas in Eastern 

 America, of the mode of deposit of the boulder-tday. 



A similar process, though, probably, on a much smaller 

 scale, is now goinu' on in the CJulf. Adnural liaytield has 

 well illustrated the fact that the ice now raises, and 

 ilrops in new places, multitudes of lioulders, and I have 

 noticed the fre(pient occurrence of this at present on the 

 coast of Xova Scotia. .Vt C'acouna itself, there is, on 

 some i)arts of the shore, a l»and of lai'gt; T^aureutian 

 boulders between half tide luid low-water mark, whicli 

 are moved more or less Ity the ice every winter, so that 

 the tracks cleared l»y the [)eo])le for launching their l)oats 

 and building their lishing-wears, are in a few years filled 

 up. AVherever such boulders are dro[)[)eil on banks of 

 clay in ])rocess of accunndation, a species of boulder-clay, 

 sinular lo thai now seen on tlie land, must result. At 

 present such materials are deposited under tlie inlluence 

 of tidal currents, runiung alternately in opposite 

 directions ; but in the older boulder-elay ])eriod, the 

 current was })robal.)ly a steady one from the north-east, 

 ami comparatively little al'lected by the tides. 



The boulder-clay of Caeouna and liiviere-du-Loup, 

 being at a lower level and nearer the coast than that 

 found higher u}) the St. Lawrence valley, is probably newer, 

 [t may have been deposited after the beds of boulder-clay 

 at Montreal had emerged. That it is thus more recent. 



