Notice of a Scientific Expedition. 333 



well defined as if they had been cut with a sharp instrument. These 

 were often tinged with the brighter hues of the rainbow. The 

 scene, however, was always changing. The stratum of mist which 

 one moment rested on the bosom of the bay soon rose from the sil- 

 very expanse, and as it rose became more and more tinged with the 

 golden beams of the setting sun. Rising still higher it gradually 

 separated into fleecy masses which still rose and finally formed long 

 slender flaxen clouds, which stretched across the firmament in dif- 

 ferent directions. Thus in a very short time an atmosphere loaded 

 with vapor clears up, and the gloom which shrouds one of the most 

 beautiful bays disappears as by the influence of magic. 



We found it to be a common observation here and it was verified 

 by our own experience, that the south and south west winds bring a 

 fog. This is easily accounted for from the known fact that the 

 wind blowing from these directions, arrives here loaded with vapors ; 

 this vapor the atmosphere can no longer sustain ; the temperature 

 of this region being constantly lower than the more southern and 

 western, hence the superabundant moisture is deposited in the form 

 of fog or mist. 



The next day, August the 27th, we left Lubec for St. John, dis- 

 tant about sixty miles. Failing to reach there the first day, we were 

 obliged to lie at anchor in Caliph's Cove. Here on a sandy beach 

 we were rewarded for our delay by finding the Lithospermum mariti- 

 mum, Cakile Americana, Nutt. the Bunias edentula of Bigelow; but 

 what was quite unexpected the Carex Davisii of Dewey, a small plant 

 which we had supposed was confined to a few little patches on Stone 

 Hill, about a mile south of the College at Williamstown, Mass. St. 

 Johns, at which we arrived the next day, is built on graywacke slate, 

 highly inclined. It is a place of considerable trade, especially in 

 lumber. Its immediate vicinity is not particularly interesting. The 

 fall of St. John's river is worth visiting. It is through a deep gorge. 

 The fall is said to be both ways, and may be passed at about midtide. 

 The neighborhood of St. John's is strewed with boulders of different 

 rocks, as granite, gneiss, hornblende, and a conglomerate, made up 

 of primitive masses, consisting of fragments six to twelve inches 

 in diameter. 



After remaining at St. John's one day we departed with a clear- 

 ance for Parsboro, situated in the basin of mines. The only inci- 

 dent on our passage worth recording was a beautiful exhibition of 

 the mirage. Our course was to the east leaving behind us the dis- 



