EARLY DEVOXIC HISTORY OF NEW YORK AND EASTERN NORTH AMERICA 47 



GEOLOGY OF PERCE 



.Away from the Forillon where the Hmestones are displayed in typical 

 development, there is a divergence in expression which can be best set 

 forth by a description of the geologic structure of the region about Perce 

 where they and their associated strata are most readily accessible and most 

 forcibly presented. 



Perce lies facing the Gulf of St Lawrence fifteen miles due south of 

 the Cape Gaspe light. It is a spot of extraordinary and dramatic beauty 

 of situation. Exposed to the full potency of the sea few places display 

 with more compelling effect than this broken and deeply gnawed coast, the 

 tremendous destructive power of the ocean. The ribs of the Forillon are 

 mighty but the limestones of Perce and its towering and isolated 

 Pierced rock surpass them in startling picturesqueness. The traveler 

 approaching this spot from the south in a westering sun, guided from afar by 

 the towering red cross-crowned summit of Mt Ste Anne, hugging the shore 

 cliffs of Cape d 'Espoir and Cape Blanc, sees nothing of the spectacle in store 

 for him till as his boat beats round those headlands the stupendous 

 rock bursts on his amazed view, towering in majesty and clothed in a garb 

 of many colors, while the ragged limestones of the Murailles stretching 

 away to the north turn to him their verdure-clad slopes. Let him 

 come upon the Perce harbor from the north and as he rounds St Peter 

 and steams across the Malbay the Perce rock fixes his eye and in ever 

 growing majesty subtends a larger and still larger angle of his sight ; 

 at his right are the higher and brilliant cliffs of the Murailles leading 

 their assault upon the sky in ragged lines. But perhaps none of these 

 approaches by water is excelled for effectiveness by the view which 

 gree^ts the traveler on the way- leading over the high Perce mountain 

 from the Barachois of Malbay. Here, as, through truly Alpine scenery, 

 one reaches the hight of grade, the isolated rock strikes the eye, head 

 on, like a gigantic ocean liner rounding the point of Mt Joli and sailing 

 into the port of the North beach. 



