98 On the Transition Rochs of the Cataraqui. 



called the greater and the lesser Cataraqui, an area of above foar 

 miles in breadth, by the same depth ; and it may be said to be per- 

 fectly stratified, with a trifling dip, its layers directing themselves 

 generally, from N. E. to S. W., at a very low angle, perhaps about 

 25°, and passing directly below the waters of the great Lake, which 

 when it first narrows by the two channels of Long Island, to form 

 the river St. Lawrence, appears as though it had forced its devious 

 course towards -the ocean by a general dissolution or disruption of 

 this vast calcareous deposit ; the left bank from Kingston, in descend- 

 ing a few miles, being composed chiefly of denuded granitic aggre- 

 gates, to which broken strata of the limestone are here and there at- 

 tached ; whilst the right bank is composed of the calcareous vestiges 

 themselves, which, as they are on a higher level than those of the 

 other shore, contain more numerous organic remains, particularly 

 large iterebratulae of a more recent family than those we have men- 

 tioned ; also orthoceratites, favosites, and the cornua ammonis, some- 

 times very large. In fact, the transition limestones of the Cataraqui, 

 in its upper beds, passes, by slow degrees into a more recent rock.* 

 'On the left bank, in the situation already named, and in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the Town, before the granite first rises to view, 

 the set of the lake has formed some large openings, or baj^s, and in two 

 of these, the streams called Cataraqui empty themselves. On the 

 shores of the lesser river, a considerable alluvion and diluvium are 

 seated, whilst the lake, from the prevalence of strong south-western 

 gales, constantly brings in large deposits of sand, in which very little, 

 or perhaps no mica is present. At certain seasons of the year, when 

 heavy storms visit the shore, the sand appears finer than usual, and 

 there is an absence of the small rolled pebbles of felspar and quartz, 

 which otherwise generally appear, whilst vast numbers of small spiral 

 and discoidal shells, with those of the large fresh water muscle, are 

 thrown up, together with occasional washings, in particular localities 

 -only, of magnetic iron sand, of a deep black color. f 



* "A Kingston, ou Cataraqui, a I'extremite sud-est du Lac Ontario, on retrouve 

 encore la pierre a ohaux de I'espece argilleuse, a grain fin, et d'un gris fonce." — 

 .M. G^iillemard. 



t Coal is also said to have been occasionally picked up to the eastward of the town, 

 and I have some specimens of an anthracitous kind, which were given to me by a 

 medical gentleman of the Royal Navy, who found them on the lake shore. I have 

 also seen one from the Thousand Islands, which resembles jet, and piobably be- 

 longs to a very pure cannel coal. 



