Recent Changes in the Coast Line in the County of 

 Kings, Nova Scotia. — By Frederick J. Churchill, 

 Los Angeles, Calif., U. S. A. 



Few places are more fascinating than the sea shore for those 

 who are interested in observing the forces of nature at work. 



Having spent the greater part of my life near the shore, 

 the writer has frequently watched the meeting-place between 

 land and sea, a location continually changing and with greater 

 rapidity than most of us are aware. There is no place upon 

 the surface of the earth where changes take place more rapidly; 

 and during the span of one brief human existence, the careful 

 observer notices many changes that escape the inexperienced 

 eye. 



These forces being destructive and constructive are very 

 interesting. They alter the landscape that delights the eye and 

 inspires the imagination. The north-western portion of Kings 

 County is bounded on the north by the Bay of Fundy. There 

 the great tides, forcing their way up a narrow bay, carry their 

 waters far inland up the still narrower estuaries where they carry 

 on their work. On the bay shore, destruction seems to be the 

 rule, and the sea is surely working its way inland. 



Here the hard trap sheet overlying the soft sandstone, at 

 first appears to be an impenetrable barrier; but it is slowly 

 yielding to the attack of the waves and chemical changes. 

 The jointing in the trap is a good lodging-place for water, and 

 as it freezes the rock fragments soon roll down the cliff, and 

 the soft underlying sandstone, being exposed, soon yields itself 

 to the elements. In the spring of the year one may see several 

 tons of rock debris fall at one time to the beach below the over 

 hanging cliflF. The probable rate of erosion along this coast 

 is from six inches to a foot each year. After this rock mass is 

 broken up, it is distributed by the tides in various parts of the 

 bay. As we move easterly along the coast and pass Blomidon, 

 we leave the trap rock on its south side, and find the friable 

 sandstone as the bed-rock of the country. It is here that the 

 greatest changes are taking place. Destruction goes on every- 

 where and at a rapid pace. 



