98 HAMILTON — on SUBMERGED EORESf. 



tainly could net be much less where the enclosing banks coiisi'sg 

 of a loose upland soil resting upon beds of gravel. If a proof of 

 this*were required, it might be found at Savage's Island, iu 

 Truro. This is one of those many isolated patches of upland 

 already referred to, which lies upon the immediate sontherit 

 margin of Cobequid Bay. In the old times of the French domin- 

 ion in Acadia, the norl;h-eastern and most elevated part of this 

 island was consecrated amd used as a burial-ground ; and it is 

 still so used by the Micnaac Indians in that part of the Province. 

 We may reasonably suppose that the old Acadian French would 

 not bury their dead very near the brow of what must have been, 

 even then, a steep, but no doubt wooded bank, exposed to the 

 destructive action of the tides. At all events, that destructive 

 action has been so great that so long ago as five-and-twenty 

 years since, or more, many of the graves on Savage's Island had' 

 been opened at the bottom, and human bones were occasionally 

 to be seen strewn down the steep bank where the undermining 

 tide had produced land-slides. 



Now, let us suppose that, some centuries since, there existed 

 one of these gravelly and then wooded mounds, similar to others 

 now to be seen in that vicinity, on the margin of the Cumberland 

 Bason, at the most western extremity of the marsh which ex- 

 tends from the mouth of the Missiquash to the mouth of the La 

 Planche. A glance at the map will show that on no other part 

 of ihe shores of Chiegnecto Bay is the tidal current likely to 

 strike with greater force than on this very spot. What would 

 take place? The tide would gradually madermine the upland 

 bank opposed to it. All the finer particles of earth would be 

 carried away by the water. The coarser and more ponderous 

 pebbles and boulders, if any, would sink to a lower level. Mean- 

 while the surface soil, being above the immediate action of the 

 wa,ter, would still remain like a closely woven mat, held together 

 by the intertwined roots of growing trees and the rootlets of 

 grasses and other vegetable productions. Eventually this un- 

 dermined and mat-like surface would slide, or drop, into the 

 water in large flakes. The submerged turf would almost imme- 

 diately collect a coating of mud from the overflowing tide ; whilst 

 the trunks of the still standing trees would be broken or grounti 



