On the Transition Rochs of the Cataraqiii. 29 



The shore of Lake Ontario, near Kingston, on which we have re- 

 marked that the more ancient rocks have hitherto been supposed 

 to exist, is covered with boulders of different sizes and shapes, some 

 being large masses of tolerably pure quartz, of various shades : others 

 of different granitic aggregates ; others of hard silicious schists, and 

 others jasper, of a coarse quality, with black, basaltic looking masses, 

 and many sandstones. Mica is comparatively rare in all those 

 along the borders of the lake, but as we ascend the plateaux of lime- 

 stone above, we find that common mineral in all its various associa- 

 tions with quartz and felspar ; on the whole, however, felspatbic and 

 hornblendic boulders predominate, and there are but few amygda- 

 loids, porphyries, or conglomerates. We have not observed the or- 

 ganic remains mentioned in the subjoined note, although frequently 

 sought for.* 



These boulders generally appear on the surfaces of the calcareous 

 strata, or on the incumbent soil, but wherever the marly deposit has 

 occurred to any extent, they are disposed in it, at various depths. 



We have imagined that these transported masses have some gen- 

 eral tendency to particular lines of direction, and that they form wavy 

 lines spreading towards the same points, commonly, as the directive 

 ones of the calcareous strata, but the country is yet so much covered 

 with wood that this cannot be posidvely stated. With respect to that 

 extremely far fetched and somewhat affected notion that they exhibit 

 what is termed " diluvian dressings," we have only to remark, that 

 no evidence is afforded by the vast multitude of boulders near King- 

 ston, to show eitlier that they have been rolled to the sites they now 

 occupy, or, that having been once stadoned, they have had to undergo 

 the action of water, for long periods, on any one of their sides. 



It will be remembered, that we have spoken of Humboldt's divis- 

 ion of transition rocks, and we shall now proceed to exemplify such 

 parts of it as meet our views in endeavoring to trace the Cataraqui 

 formations, stating whatever occurs, to point out most clearly their rela- 

 tions to the country under examination. 



* " A Kingston, ainsi que sur la plupart des cotes du Lac Ontario, les cailloux, 

 sont des differentes especes des schistes dui's, des chouches de quartz, et granite. On 

 voit pres du rivage des grosses pierres noires roulees, ressemblant a des basaltes, et 

 beaucoup des pierres sablonneuses, contenant des impressions d'animaux de mer : en 

 descendant le fleuve St. Laurent, le pays est schigteux." — Guillemard, 



