322 A Week in Gaspe. 



most ancient known flora. But Gaspe was practically inaccessible 

 to a naturalist, whose intervals of leisure never exceeded a week 

 or two ; and so this long-cherished wish remained ungratified 

 until a month ago, when, armed with hammer and dredge, and 

 other necessary implements for studying the rocks and the sea- 

 bottom, I landed at Gaspe Basin from the steamer Lady Head, on 

 a fine August evening, ready to commence work on the morrow. 

 Only a week could be devoted to the task, but I was fortunate in 

 having the assistance of Mr. Dougall, one of my students in natu- 

 ral history ; and in securing the services of two very obliging and 

 intelligent boatmen. So our work speeded well. We formed a 

 large collection of fossil plants, which when added to those pre- 

 viously collected by the Geological Survey, will I trust serve to 

 illustrate the Devonian flora of Canada, in a manner as yet unsur 

 passed by deposits of that age in any other country. The waters 

 too yielded their treasures of sea-anemones, urchins, star-fishes? 

 shells, and zoophytes, some of them new to me ; and we formed 

 for ourselves a somewhat distinct mental picture of Gaspe and its 

 people. The more special scientific results of the expedition, I 

 shall reserve for future occasions, and in the mean time design to 

 give a slight sketch of the general features of the district, and 

 some desultory observations which cannot well be placed under 

 any distinct head. 



The peninsula of Gaspe, the land's-end of Canada toward the 

 east, presents within itself an epitome of several of the leading 

 geological formations of the Province ; and here as elsewhere, 

 these impress with their own characters the surface and its capa- 

 bilities. On that side which fronts the river St. Lawrence, it con- 

 sists of an enormous thickness of shales and limestones, belonging 

 to the upper part of the Lower Silurian series, and the lower part 

 of the Upper Silurian. These beds, tilted in such a manner that 

 they present their up-turned edges to the sea and dip inland, form 

 long ranges of beetling cliffs running down to a narrow strip of 

 beach,, and affording no resting-place even for the fisherman, ex- 

 cept where they have been cut down by streams, and present 

 little coves and bays opening back into deep glens affording a 

 view of great rolling wooded ridges that stand rank after rank 

 behind the steep sea-cliff, though no doubt with many fine val- 

 leys between. At present this inland country appears little set- 

 tled, but every cove and ravine along the shore is occupied by 

 fishermen, who either permanently reside here or resort to this 



