18 On the Physical Geology of the United States, &§c. 
Heriot in his travels through the Canadas says of the vicinity 
of the river Moisa, north of the St. Lawrence—‘ No country can 
exhibit a more wild aspect than that which here extends on either 
side of the river. Stunted trees, rocks and sand, compose these 
inhospitable and desolate territories, which cannot boast of an 
acre capable of yielding any useful production.”* The same 
traveller, speaking of the vicinity of Camarousca, says—‘‘ The 
sulphureous springs found here, and the immense masses of bro- 
ken rocks, which appear to have been thrown together by some 
violent and uncommon effort of nature, afford grounds for sup- 
posing that this part of the country has undergone material 
changes.’”’* Speaking of Newfoundland, near the harbor of St. 
Johns, he says—‘‘It is bordered by dark and gloomy rocks, 
which exhibit a barren, inhospitable appearance ; the country on 
a nearer view of its soil belies not the character of its rude unin- 
teresting features, which amid their nakedness, display neither 
grandeur nor sublimity.”’} 
Hearne, describing his journey to the Arctic sea, speaks of 
Marble Island, on which Messrs. Knight and Barlow were wreck- 
ed, and they and all their ship’s crew perished, says—‘‘ Neither 
stick nor stump was to be seen’’—“ the main land is little better, 
being a jumble of barren hills and rocks, destitute of every kind 
of herbage except moss’’—‘“‘ and the woods are several hundred 
miles from the sea-side.’”’¢ 
Again he says—‘ With regard to that part of my instructions 
which directs me to observe the nature of the soil, it may be ob- 
served that during the whole time of my absence from the fort, 
IT was invariably confined to stony hills and barren plains all the 
summer.” 
In latitude 68° N. and longitude 119° W. of Greenwich, Hearne 
came to the Stony mountains, and he says—‘‘No part of the 
world better deserves the name. On our first approaching these 
mountains, they appeared to be a confused heap of stones, utterly 
inaccessible to the foot of man.” Again—“ The face of the whole 
country from the 59th to the 68th deg. of north latitude—be- 
tween Hudson’s Bay on the east, and the Athapusean Indian 
* Heriot’s Travels, p. 70; also Hayden’s Geological Essays, pp, 70-71. 
t 6c “6 p- 38 ; (73 (79 66 ce 66 (74 
t Hearne’s Introduction, p. 29. 
§ 6c 6c p: 18. 
