BIANC SABLON 



years old, it is very young compared with the 

 crystalline rocks on which it rests. These latter 

 rocks are exposed at the shore at Blanc Sablon, 

 and are the source of the white sand which 

 fornis the beaches and small dunes at this spot. 

 Hence its name, given by Jacques Cartier in 



1534- 



The valley of Blanc Sablon is about a mile 

 wide at the shore. Near the middle, flowing 

 from a lake three or four miles to the north, 

 runs a small river of clear, cold water, while 

 from the cliffs on the east cascade one or two 

 smaller brooks of clearer, colder water. The 

 sandstone cliffs on either side of the valley, ex- 

 tending up to a height of about three hundred 

 and fifty feet, are terraced and precipitous as 

 on the faces farther east which are exposed to 

 the sea. One might suppose that the valley 

 was cut by the stream without any change 

 of level of the land, but the series of raised 

 beaches on the sea-terraces show as plainly as 

 the same formations on the coast we have just 

 traversed that elevation of the land here has 

 also been going on. It is probable that the river 

 has been cutting down and enlarging the valley 

 at the same time that the land has been ele- 



£49 



