98 GEOLOGICAL AREAS OF CANADA. 



fracture — in the Upper St. Lawrence district, described above—- 

 belong essentially to the Hudson River formation. They show 

 (except on the Gaspe coast) no actual signs of disturbance ; but on 

 the east side of the line, an uplift has brought older strata (of the 

 Calciferous or Quebec series) in seemingly conformable stratification 

 against their flanks ; and hence it has been conjectured, in explana- 

 tion, that the Hudson River beds have been broken and partially 

 reversed along the fault by this upward movement, the older strata 

 overlapping them, and so following deceptively without any visible 

 break in the sequence. The district is thus bounded (practically) by 

 the River St. LavTrence on the north, and by the States of New York^ 

 Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and the Province of New 

 Brunswick, on the south. As regards physical features, it is more 

 or less throughout of a mountainous character, but also, as a rule, of 

 good fertility — differing altogether in this respect from the moun- 

 tainous Laurentian region of the north shore. The average elevation. 

 of the Gaspe peninsula is about 1,500 feet, and that of the other 

 portion of the district pi'obably about 1,000 feet above the sea ; but 

 several peaks in the Schichshock ranges of Gaspe appi-oach 4,000 feet 

 in height, and the summits of some of the mountains in the Eastern 

 Townships are apparently over 3,000 feet. Many lakes, but none of 

 large size, occur within the latter portion of the district. Among 

 these. Lake St. Francis lies at an elevation of 890 feet, and Lake 

 Memphramagog at an elevation of 760 feet above the sea. Li Gaspe, 

 Lake Temiscouata and Lake Matapedia lie, respectively, at altitudes 

 of 470 and 480 feet. The district abounds in rivers. Some of the 

 principal comprise the Yamaska and St. Francis (as regards their 

 upper courses), the Ohaudifere, with its tributaries, the Famine, Des 

 Plantes, &c., and the Etchemin, in the more western portion of the 

 district ; and the Kamouraska, Riviesre du Loup, Trois PistoleSy 

 Rimouski, Metis, Matanne, Chatte, Ste. Anne, York, Cascapediac, 

 Matapediac, and other rivers of the Gaspe peninsula, most of which 

 flow in deeply excavated cha,nnels. 



The rock formations of the district belong to three general groups ; 

 a series of Palaeozoic strata, more or less altered in most localities ; a 

 series of eruptive, trachytic, and granitic rocks ; and a series of Post- 

 Cainozoic or superficial deposits. 



The altered condition of many of the Palaeozoic formations, and 

 their disturbed condition generally, renders the determination of 



