376 ON THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF 



Gaps. — There are many gaps in the Maine eskers; these 

 are usually less than half a mile in width, but rarely two 

 miles. The Nova Scotian eskers also have gaps, which as 

 a rule are very short. 



The Maine eskers, according to Stone, run south-west 

 to south by east, coinciding in some places with the course 

 of the drainage and ice movement, though not enough to 

 suggest a controlling influence. 



It will be noted that though these eskers do not always 

 coincide with the local elevations and depressions, they 

 agree in course with the central watershed and the general 

 slope of the country toward the sea. 



Tributaries and Deltas. — -Stone also says that one esker 

 has a tributary system at the north end and a delta system 

 at the south end. I do not know how far this is self evident. 

 I have never seen an instance of either in Nova Scotia. The 

 nearest approach to it is on the top of a high open barren 

 south of Wentworth T^ake in southern Digby County, N. S., 

 east of Hectanooga. This is certainly an unusual place for 

 a delta, being nearly 20 miles from the end of the esker. In 

 this province the eskers cross lowlands, swamps and lakes, 

 as ridges, strings of islands, or gravel banks, without much 

 evidence of the spread of their contents. 



Stratification. — Both eskers and kames are stratified in 

 a very complex manner, the eskers often more complex 

 than the kames. Both transverse and longitudinal sections 

 show cross bedding. Sometimes the bedding has been twisted 

 into almost vertical positions, the result of distortion since 

 deposition. Some eskers consist of water worn pebbles 

 and gravel out of which the fine stuff had been washed. 

 In others the lines of stratification are said to have been oblit- 

 erated, though I suspect that stratification has never taken 

 place owing to scarcity of water. However, owing to lack 

 of investigation, no definite opinion can be given on this 

 point. 



