PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



73 



I got a very convincing assurance of this by a visit to the Nanaimo district 

 and the Wellington coal mine, on an excursion participated in on September 7th 

 by all the members of the various parties which had now re-united in Victoria. There 

 at Nanaimo I saw conglomerates, which Avere evidently the product of the rolling 

 action of the stream, old river pebbles, and I collected at the rubbish heaps by the 

 coal-pits impressions of the leaves of trees. Nothing here indicates the nearness 

 of the cretaceous sea, but south of Nanaimo in the same complex formation a rich 

 marine fauna has been found. 



The trip from Victoria to the above-mentioned coal district marks the end of 

 my journey in Canada. Once more it led through a highly interesting landscape. 

 The Island of Vancouver, which foi-ms the fifth zone of the great Canadian 

 Cordilleras, only partially rising above the waves, is covered in its deeper parts 

 with a forest, the equal of which it would be hard to find. The Douglas firs, some- 

 times 100 meters high, form dense groves ; with the prevailing dampness, forest 

 fires, of which the Rocky Mountains afford many sad traces, can hardly arise. 

 The train steams along under giants centuries old ; only in a very few places have 

 clearings been successful. They still rise in close proximity to Victoria, where the 

 friendly and comfortable frame houses of the European settlers have a dwarflike 

 appearance beneath them. 



Here in Victoria where the excursionists enjoyed the friendly guidance of the 

 inhabitants, there are still very striking traces of the glaciation of the ice-age, 

 which, proceeding from the continent, covered the lower parts of Vancouver 

 Island with ice. It crossed the fjord-like bay which forms the geographical reason 

 for Victoria, at a right angle and therefore the bay cannot be considered the work 

 of the ice. It is a submerged valley which shoAvs that a sinking of the land has 

 taken place. This sinking has now changed into a rising. The coast between 

 Victoria and Nanaimo is accompanied by extended terraces. Thus Ave have on 

 the Pacific coast the same phenomena as on the Atlantic shore of the great British 

 Dominion in North America. As far as the traces of the ice-age extend the coasts 

 are embayed, the outlets of the laud Aalleys are under Avater and Ave find at the 

 same time shore lines Avhich betray the fact that a rise has taken place since the 

 ice period. It has not been strong enough to obliterate the effect of the preceding 

 sinking. The land that is in process of rising has the outlines of one that has been 

 submerged. 



