lO LOWER PENINSULA. 



the midst or on top of wcll-stratificd drift layers ; this could not 

 be if the strata were formed by rearrangement of the moraines; 

 but, by the suggestion that a transportation of the material has 

 occurred through floods with swimming icebergs, no difificulty 

 exists in explaining the position of the hugest blocks within or 

 on top of well-stratified layers ; while the mud or sand carried 

 along by the currents settled down into layers, the large blocks 

 carried by the ice over these forming deposits were occasionally 

 dropped and became buried or remained lying on the surface. The 

 glacier period was only the commencement of the drift transporta- 

 tion. A long time of submergence of. the land by inundation must 

 have followed the glaciers. The surface of the highest points of 

 the peninsula, i lOO feet above the level of the lakes, is formed 

 of stratified drift sand mixed with pebbles, from which fact 

 we must draw the inference that at one time the water had 

 reached to this height. By looking at the topographical features of 

 the country at present, it is hard to conceive how this could 

 happen, and I make no attempt to suggest the mechanical condi- 

 tions by which the water level of the lakes could rise so high ; but 

 the fact of this occurrence is indisputably proved by the sediments 

 left behind by the water ; also the terraces found in the circumfer- 

 ence of the peninsula at different heights testify the high elevation 

 of the lake levels in former times. The waters must have receded 

 at different periods for a certain distance, and then kept stationary 

 for a while before a further lowering of their level occurred ; and 

 each of these temporary shore lines is marked by a distinct terrace. 

 In many places, such terraces are quite conspicuous, especially so 

 those in proximity to the present shore ; the higher terraces, more 

 remote, are sometimes obscured by dense forests covering their 

 slopes, and by the action of atmospheric influences through scores of 

 centuries which has rounded and levelled off their former marked 

 contours ; yet any traveller ascending to the central high plateau 

 can not avoid observing that he makes his ascent from terrace to 

 terrace. 



The older glacier drift and the later deposits of floods and ice- 

 bergs are materially of the same composition ; both are made up 

 of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders, of the detritus from crystalline 

 and metamorphic rocks, mixed with debris of younger sedimen- 

 tary strata. The orderless, rubbishy condition of the glacier drift 



