84 CHANGES OF LEVEL 



other traces of the aborigines have been dug up at depths of 5 and 10 feet be- 

 neath the surface, on the opening of canals and ditches remote from the riTer. 



The same depressing influence has been at work at Shediac and Bay Verte. — 

 At the latter place the gravestones of persons killed by the Indians in ITSS are 

 now reached by the tide at high water, which washes the base of old Fort Monc- 

 ton, and rises above its causeway. 



In the County of Northumberland, where it borders upon the Bay de Chaleurs 

 there has been a depression, evidently slow in its progress and continued. In the 

 vicinity of Bay des Vents and LowerBay des Vents, extensive peat-bogs are seen 

 at low water reaching outwards beneath the sea : the peat is of super-marine 

 growth, and its highest parts are scarcely above the tide-level. The shores are 

 low and level ; and evidences of land-slides are absent. At Bathurst, on the con- 

 trary, and on the opposite shore of Lower Canada, there has been an elevation 

 of several feet, and which apparently is still progressing. A number of minor 

 elevations and depressions were observed during the writer's geological survey 

 of the Province, before leaving which the terraces along the Upper St. John 

 River may be adverted to, as being connected with this subject. 



On the banks of this river we frequently observe, in ascending from its borders, 

 several paralled steps which rise abruptly from one level to another in succes- 

 sion. These steps are composed of diluvial matter, in which there are oc- 

 casionally contained decayed timber and fragments of freshwater shells. These 

 are well displayed near the ferry four miles below "Woodstock. 



These several terraces mark distinctly the former banks of the river, which 

 has been withdrawn from its ancient limits to a narrow channel with an in- 

 cfeased velocity of current. Near the mouth of Maduxnakeag, a tributary of the 

 St. John, the ancient bed of the stream is now dry and under cultivation. — 

 Whether these terraces have been produced by an uplifting or depressing force, 

 it is difficult to ascertain. It is probable, however, that the site of the river was 

 once a lake, which has been drained by the yielding of the earth further down 

 the stream, where there vre now violent rapids and marks of recent terrestrial 

 disturbance. Terraced valleys are common on many of the rivers" of North 

 America. 



Nova Scotia. — At many places in Nova Scotia, changes of level on the surface 

 of the earth appear very distinct, although they are less manifest than they are 

 in the sister Province. It is generally maintained by aged persons, that the 

 tides flowing into the Bay of Fundy and Minas Basin and its numerous rivers 

 and creeks, are rising. The records of ancient landmarks, the encroachment o^ 

 the water upon the dry earth, the discovery of ancient bridges and relcs of the 

 native Indians beneath the present tide-level, corroborate that opiniion. At 

 numerous places in the marshes of the Shubenacadia, Avon, and King's County 

 Rivers, the alluvia of the sea are perfectly stratified. Some of these strata and 

 those called "blue marsh" are composed in part of plants still undergoing de- 

 composition and expelling carburetted hydrogen. These strata are sometimes 

 12 feet beneath the surface, and interlaid with beds of alluvium, which, when 

 their layers are exposed, display with beautiful distinctness the tracks of the 

 numerous wading birds that frequent the shores. It is almost unnecessary to add 

 that sea-alluvia never accumulate above the highest tide mark. 



