THE 



JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 



APRIL-MAY, 1Q03 



THE MONTEREGIAN HILLS— A CANADIAN PETRO- 

 GRAPHICAL PROVINCE. 



GENERAL STATEMENT. 



In the province of Quebec between the enormous expanse of 

 the Laurentian highlands to the northwest, constituting the 

 "Canadian Shield," and the disturbed and folded tract of coun- 

 try to the southeast which marks the Appalachian uplift, there is 

 a great plain underlain by nearly horizontal rocks of Lower 

 Paleozoic age. This plain, while really showing slight differen- 

 ces of level from place to place, seems to the casual observer 

 perfectly flat. Its surface is mantled with a fertile soil consist- 

 ing of drift redistributed upon its surface by the sea v/hich at the 

 close of glacial times covered it. The uniform expanse of this 

 plain, however, is broken by several isolated hills composed of 

 igneous rocks, which rise abruptly from it and which constitute 

 very striking features of the landscape. It was at the foot of 

 one of these hills rising by the side of the river St. Lawrence, 

 and which he named Mount Royal, that Jacques Cartier on his 

 first visit found the Indian encampment of Hochelaga, whose 

 site is now overspread by the city of Montreal, which has not 

 only grown around the foot of the hill, but has extended up its 

 sides and has reserved its summit as a park. 



From the top of Mount Royal the other hills referred to can 

 all be seen rising from the plain to the east, while to the north 

 Vol. XI, No. 3. 239 



