96 Capt. Bayfield's Notes on 



The following additional remarks will show that resemblance in a stronger light, and have re- 

 ference to the phaenomena which I have described upon the Mingan islands. 



Sand and gravel are the most abundant materials brought down by the rivers, and are arranged 

 around and off their entrance, forming low points and sand bars, which rest upon clay, at, or a few 

 feet beneath the low-water level. Many of the rivers bring down argillaceous matter also, and 

 this lighter material is carried further by the streams, and deposited in the comparatively still 

 water without their entrance. But as these sandy points have extended further into the sea, they 

 have covered the argillaceous matter previously deposited, and hence it is, that we always find 

 clay under the sand in these alluvial formations. The streams, of course, cannot place these ma- 

 terials above their own level or that of the sea at high water. Sand shoals, which are dry every 

 tide, are first formed, and the action of the winds and waves does the rest. The tendency of these 

 sands to arrange themselves in strata, was frequently observed, where small streams had cut 

 sections through the beaches. 



In walking inland from the entrances of these rivers, we pass over low flat ground, composed of 

 sand hills and sand beaches, covered first with grasses and shrubs, and further inland with trees. 

 The immediate banks of the river are low sand cliffs, having their bases washed by the stream. 

 Next succeeds a sandy terrace, rising abruptly twenty or thirty feet. Directly opposite, on the 

 other side of the river, is a similar terrace, the cliffs on each side corresponding in elevation. 

 Another flat succeeds, and frequently a second, and sometimes a third, the last being a hunlred 

 feet or more above the sea. If we attend to the sections cut by the streams through these ter. 

 races, we find the cliffs horizontally stratified or nearly so, the lowest stratum visible at the 

 water's edge or a few feet above it, being clay ; but if we ascend the river sufficiently far, we find 

 that this lowest stratum of clay occupies a level above the present ocean, and in situations where 

 there are no gorges of valleys, which we can imagine so closed up, as to raise the waters within to 

 a higher level. 



If, therefore, tliese ancient terraces and soft strata are alluvial deposits, analogous in their mode 

 of accumulation to those forming at present, then the relative levels of the land and sea have 

 certainly changed, let the cause be what it may. 



Near the Falls of the Bersimis river, Mr. Bowen found the clay, under the sand, in thin strata, 

 semi-indurated, and having a tendency to break into rhomboidal fragments : — a circumstance, 

 which I shall have to mention again in similar formations. 



Among other proofs of a change in the relative levels of the land and sea in the estuary and 

 Gulf of St. Laurence, is the bank of semi-indurated sand and clay at Beauport, near Quebec, 

 full of shells, of species existing in the estuary.* This bank is far above the present level of the 

 river. We also noticed a bank, apparently an ancient beach, containing similar shells, at the en- 

 trance of the Riviere du Loup, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, and about sixty feet above 

 the present high water mark. It rests on the greywacke and slate rocks. 



Several other instances of banks of shells at high levels, on each side of the river and estuary, 

 have been mentioned to me, but as I have not visited the localities, I merely state the circum- 

 stance as of frequent occurrence. I believe there is much in the valley of the St. Lawrence to 

 reward the researches of the geological traveller, who may turn his attention to these comparatively 

 recent deposits; and I am surprised that they have not attracted the attention of those who 

 have visited the St. Lawrence, and written on its geology. 



* The St. Lawrence is perfectly fresh thirty miles below Beauport, yet the species of shells in 

 the bank mentioned, are all, or at least by far the greater number, inhabitants of salt water. They 

 are also frequently perforated by a marine boring worm which also lives in the e&tuary and gulf. 



