9 6 



facing the Perce Rock; Bonaventure island 2 miles 

 (3-6 km.) long, 3 miles (5-4 km.) out to sea; at the left 

 Mount Ste. Anne 1,200 feet (370 m.) A. T. ; on the 

 further side of the triangle the ragged sea cliffs (Les 

 Murailles), which front on Mai bay; the north side of 

 Mai bay is formed by Point St. Peter with Plateau island 

 and on the distant horizon at the right is Cape Gaspe 

 (Shiphead). Beyond is the St. Lawrence river. 



Perce Rock. — This noteworthy insulated cliff, anciently 

 the Isle percee, early in the history of the settlement gave 

 its name to the mainland. L'Isle percee, le rocher perce, 

 Pierced rock, Split rock or Perce rock, as it is variously 

 termed, is 2,100 feet (646 m.) long from prow to the outer 

 end of the rear obelisk, 300 feet (91. m.) wide in its greatest 

 breadth and 288 feet (87 m.) high at its prow. The 

 arch through it is 60 feet (20 m.) high. In plan' its form 

 is somewhat angular or zigzag and viewed fromin front 

 resembles a giant steamer coming into port. 



The rear obelisk is the outer flank'bf a second arch which 

 fell in 1845. Back in the early 1600's there seem to have 

 been two other arches toward the seaward and thinner 

 end, and the wastage of the rock has been effected within 

 recorded time largely by the downbreaking of these arches. 

 There is still another arch in the rock, transecting the 

 obelisk parallel to the major axis of the mass. The wastage 

 of Perce Rock under the impact of the waves is very slight. 

 Freezing and thawing are more efficient agents but during 

 the past ten years not enough has fallen from all these 

 causes combined to alter the outline of the cliff in any 

 perceptible degree and the line of the prow has not mater- 

 ially changed in 150 years. At high tide the Rock is 

 isolated, but at low tide a batture or sandbar extends to it 

 from the foot of Mount Joli affording ready access to the 

 point and south side of the cliff. The north side is access- 

 ible only by boat. The sheer sides of the Rock make 

 attempts to scale it exceedingly perilous and such attempts 

 are now forbidden by municipal ordinance. 



Fossils abound in these strata, distributed in thin layers 

 with barren interspaces. They correspond in characters 

 and association with the richer fauna of the Grande Greve 

 limestones, and the Perce Rock massive is correlated with 

 that formation (see p. 90). Forty-four species have 

 been described, of which 31 occur in the Grande Greve 



