268 Field and Forest Rambles. 



that the fish stranded in the lagoon were but a very small 

 portion of the original shoal which entered Anderson's Cove ; 

 and thus, supposing the locality had been many times larger, 

 there would have been no diminution in the relative density of 

 the dead fishes on the area. 



Another example is recorded in the Journal of the Geo- 

 logical Society of London* Thousand of dead fishes, thrown 

 on the coast of Madras, were afterwards enveloped in sand 

 and mud along with other marine animals and plants, so as 

 to form a densely packed stratum of fishes, etc., of unknown 

 breadth, but extending for a vast distance along the coast-line. 

 The fishes were supposed to have been destroyed by the enor- 

 mous fall of rain from the south-west monsoon, rendering the 

 sea water less saline. Be that the cause or not, it is by such facts 

 as these, compared with similar phenomena of bygone epochs, 

 that the geologist is enabled to arrive at just conclusions. 



The Carboniferous Beds form a great basin, occupying 

 the central portion of the region, with a diameter of nearly 

 200 miles. Coal has been found in one or two situations, but 

 the seams are small, none averaging over eighteen inches in 

 thickness. The facies of the country occupied by the above 

 rock formations is very level, depressed even in places, so as 

 to form extensive lake basins, bogs, and barrens. 



The soils, wherever the lower or sub-carboniferous strata 

 exist, are unsurpassed in value and fertility by any others in the 

 entire province ; and wherever they exist, as Professor Bailey 

 justly remarks, "the settler, unconscious of the cause, at once 

 commences the work of reclaiming." 



The Albertite of these beds has gained notoriety; besides 

 this, gypsum, salt, iron, lead, silver, and manganese are met 

 with in rocks of this age, whilst noble forests of pine and 

 hard wood are spread far and wide over their surfaces. The 



* Vol. xviii., p. 453. Moreover, on the authority of Mr. Rowan, an 

 immense number of herring spawn and caplin are cast up on the shores 

 of the island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, during gales. 



