272 Field and Forest Rambles. 



were examined, but gave no indications of violence as far as 

 the skeleton was concerned ; there was a displacement of the 

 bones of the knee under which the gun rested, but that might 

 have taken place during the process of decomposition. The 

 chocolate and brandy remained on his person, and his watch 

 in his knapsack. One barrel of the gun was loaded, and there 

 was an ample supply of powder and caps to have fired off 

 had he desired or been capable of attracting the attention of 

 passers-by. The minutest inquiries failed, however, to discover 

 any property missing except his signet ring, and the whole 

 evidence seemed to clear his companion from suspicion of foul 

 play. The surmises were that he might have fallen and dislo- 

 cated his knee, and died subsequently from collapse, or from a 

 sudden lesion of one of the great internal fountain-heads of 

 life. At all events, the cause or causes of his death continue 

 a mystery. 



The next formation in upward succession to the Carboni- 

 ferous series is the Trias, or New Red Sandstone of Prince 

 Edward Island, and a few fragments on the southern coast. 

 Referring to the region just described, wherever the ground 

 admits of examination, and more especially along the sides of 

 valleys, rivers, and streams, the geologist is struck with the 

 evidences of bygone Glacial action, more especially the striae 

 or scorings on the surface of the harder rocks, and wherever 

 the material is durable enough to preserve them. There, as 

 elsewhere, all over the province, the general trend of these 

 glacial sculpturings runs north and south, with some western 

 variations, and often in accordance with the general direction 

 of the St. John River, but not necessarily along river valleys ; 

 indeed they appear to cross them in places.* This brings me 

 to a consideration of the surface deposits, which belong entirely 



* The directions of the striae, as a rule, run south, with slight easterly or 

 westerly deviations. See observations by Hunt, Report, p. 191, and also 

 the table compiled by Mr. Matthew from personal knowledge, and the 

 labours of Professors Robb and Bailey. — Canadian Naturalist, vol. vi., 

 p. 100. 



