1881.1 OLU [Spencer. 



small islands separated by shallow water. Yet in one place there are two 

 deep soundings reaching 51 and 43 fathoms. The bay itself is much deeper 

 than these passages, for there is an escarpment submei-ged to a depth of 

 498 feet immediately off the Indian peninsula, at Cabot's Head, which is 

 itself 334 feet above the bay. This peninsula is deeply indented with bays 

 or fiords. 



There is a depression from the southern end of the bay, through the val- 

 ley occupied by Simcoe, Balsom, Rice and other lakes, to the Trent river, 

 emptying into the Bay of Quinte, an arm of Lake Ontario. This will 

 be alluded to again. 



IV. The Buried Rivek Channel in the Dundas Valley and its Ex- 



TKN SIGNS. 



That the Dundas valley is that of an ancient river valley now buried to 

 a great depth with the debris produced in the Ice Age, becomes apparent 

 on a careful study of the region. However, until a key was discovered the 

 mystery of its origin -was found to be very obscure. My own labors at 

 studying this region may fairly be stated as the first systematic attempts at 

 the solution of the present configuration of the western end of Lake 

 Ontario and the adjacent valley. Assertions have been made that it was 

 scooped out b}"^ a glacier, but this wild hypothesis was only a statement 

 made without any regard to facts. 



From the description of the topography, given in Section II, of this paper, 

 it will be seen that the apparent length of the rock -bound valley is six 

 miles, with a width of over two miles ; then it widens suddenly to four 

 miles (with concave curves on both sides), after which it gradually increases 

 in width as it opens into Lake Ontario. The direction of the axis of the 

 valley is about N. 70° E. The summit edges of the rock-walls on both 

 sides are sharply angular and not rounded or truncated. This angularity 

 is not due to frost action since the Ice Age, to any extent, as is shown by the 

 character of the talus. The rocks of the summit are frequently covered 

 with ice markings, but I am not aware of any locality where they have 

 been observed as being parallel with the true direction of the valley, but on 

 all sides one can observe them (sometimes at only small angles of less than 

 30 degrees) making conspicuous angles with its axis. One exception may 

 be made to this statement. On a projecting ledge of Clinton limestone, at 

 Russel's quarry, near Hamilton, at a height of 354 feet above the lake, and 

 134 feet below the summit of the " mountain," after the removal of some 

 talus, I observed that the surface was polished, but with scratches so faint 

 that they could scarcely be compared with those of fine sandpaper on wood ; 

 and the direction, if determinable, was parallel with the overhanging es- 

 carpment. There are many tributary canons, which are evidently of 

 greater antiquity than the Ice Age, which could not have excavated by 

 the present sti-eams, and are at all sorts of directions compared with the 

 striated surface of the countrj\ 



The topography of the lower lake regions precludes the idea of a glacier 

 flowing down the valley to the north-eastward. Again, as the direc- 



