A LABRADOR SPRING 
sea since the departure of the ice-sheet from 
the country. Elsewhere in the lowlands between 
this rocky barrier and the sea, there was every- 
where evidence of previous submersion, and 
poised glacial erratics were absent. The rocks 
on which these boulders lay were in some places 
as smooth and polished as if the glaciers had 
but just receded, and grooves and scratches 
could easily be made out. 
As in the plains the hollows are being gradu- 
ally filled with vegetation, and the water ousted 
or rather absorbed into the meshes. At a point 
in these mountains where I sat a narrow tarn 
of dark blue water lay at my feet, encroached 
upon from the north by the sphagnum bog. 
Beyond lay a bog in a broader, larger depres- 
sion between the rocks, a bog still incomplete, 
for here and there were small circular ponds. 
On the other side a still larger bog was to be 
seen covering entirely what was originally a 
lake, and no spot of water remained. One must 
not suppose that these regions were altogether 
desolate. Far from it. Great patches of bril- 
liant rhodora, varying in shade from light pink 
to dark crimson or purple, illuminated the hill- 
sides. Laurels and other members of the 
48 
