402 Canadian Record of Science. 
and the Madawaska, are now largely filled with drift, and 
there can be but little doubt that all of them mark old 
channels of sub-aerial erosion, the partial damming of 
which has originated the lake-basins which now characterize 
them. 
The climatic features of the region under review may be 
readily inferred from its position and physical aspects. 
While its comparatively high latitude determines great 
inequality in the length of the seasons, a long winter and a 
very short summer, its altitude further tends to reduce the 
mean temperature of the latter. The temperature of the 
coastal waters, these being a part of the great southward 
flow from the Arectics, being also very low, leads to a further 
chilling in the air above them, and the effects of this are 
readily recognizable in the prevailing winds. Fogs are not 
uncommon, even over the higher portions of the district, 
and the rain and snow fall both excessive, Ice sometimes 
remains in wake Metapedia as late as the 24th of May, and 
upon the adjacent hill tops, as well as in ravines and gullies, 
great banks of snow often linger far into June.  Frosts 
come early in autumn, and may come, even with severity, 
at any time of the year. Long continued and excessive 
heats are of rare occurrence. 
The climatic features of the region are reflected in its 
vegetation and animal life, although the former is also 
largely influenced by the character of the soils and drain- 
age, as these in turn are by the nature and structure of the 
rocks beneath. The larger portion of the district is forest- 
clad, the clearings being for the most part confined to a 
narrow belt, five to fifteen miles wide, skirting the St. 
Lawrence, to isolated settlements around the shores of the 
Gaspé peninsula, to the immediate neighbourhood of the 
Temiscouata Portage Road, and to the more recently opened 
line of the Intercolonial Railway. The trees most commonly 
met with are spruce, fir, hackmatac and white birch, but in 
favorable situations and on lands of moderate elevation 
yellow birch and sugar-maple are also not uncommon, and 
along the river valleys, groves of black ash and poplar. 
