HAJVIILTON — ON SUBMEKaT^D FOREST, ^ 



mark, tliere are fouud imbedded in the marine alluviam p-ortione 

 of trunks and also stumps of trees, the latter often remaimiig in 

 their original position and resting upon the remains of uplamd 

 soil, upon which they are supposed to have originally grown. 



Great importance has been attached to these remains as 

 evidences of a subsidence of the land generally in that section of 

 the country where they are found. Dr. Dawson, with appar- 

 ently no hesitation, utters the opinion that there has been a 

 change of sea level here, the cause of vv^hich he says must be 

 assigned to " either the rupture of a barrier previously excludSaag 

 the Sica water, or an actual sinking or subsidence of the wkote 

 western part of the Province." He believes that " a subsidenc© 

 has taken place over a considerable area, and to a depth of about 

 forty feet ;" and tbis subsidence he supposes to have been 

 gradual- Eutertainiug, as I most certainly do, a profouad 

 respect for so eminent an authority, I must nevertheless take 

 the liberty of at least questioning this eoBGlusiou, and of ex- 

 pressing the opiuiori that too much import amee has been attached 

 to. the appearance of these submerged tree stumps. I shall 

 briefly give my reasons for doing so in this paper. 



I am not aware that any evidences of a subsidence of the 

 land in the Western, or Northern, part of Nova, Sftotia, have been 

 discovered, except these appearaiices at Cumberland Basin, and 

 a few other similar localities. If these appearances can be 

 sufficiently accounted for through other causes of a. distinctly 

 local character — causes which we may now see in daily oper- 

 ation, we ma}' reasonably conclude that the subsidence is not 

 proven. The action of the tides about the heads of the Bay of 

 of Fundy may easily be imagined. even by those wbo have never 

 witnessed them, Wherever a vertical surfaccj whether ofiro'cas 

 or earth, is presented to the tidal current, the: bank- so ■ exposed 

 is rapidly worn away by the, great force -of thecuiTenti, The 

 matter thus swallowed up by the water and held, in; suspension 

 by it for a time, is eventually deposited upon the flats, orgentJef 

 slopes, over whifih the tideS:.flow> It sometimes happens thafc 

 th9 alluvial deposits thus made again undergo the samfi pro*!- 

 cess. If we examine any of tho channels interseetiijg^' the- 

 marshes formed by the Bay of Eundy tides j we sJhall find tbat^ 



