274 Field and Forest Rambles. 



what they designated specimens of silver or gold, but which 

 turned out to be only some worthless compounds of iron, 

 mica, and such-like. 



The following remarkable appearances in connection with 

 many of the inland lakes of this region are worthy of notice. 

 Mounds of soil, gravel, and stones in the form of high walls — 

 sometimes one mound within another — are seen surrounding 

 portions of lake basins; these, according to Dr. Dawson,* are 

 considered to be of modern origin, and caused by the drifting 

 to and fro of masses of ice in spring; but I am aware of at 

 least one instance of a small lake near Fredericton where 

 these mounds are very clearly defined, and yet, according 

 to the testimony of a person who has lived for thirty years 

 on its banks, I have been informed that no such movements 

 of the ice have taken place during his residence in the vicinity. 

 Their connection with the Glacial epoch is not clear, whilst 

 in many larger lakes, where the ice is annually driven on 

 the shore, no such appearances exist ; at all events these 

 remarkable accumulations are interesting with reference to 

 the elucidation of similar phenomena relating to the Drift 

 and Boulder periods. Turning from the lake margins, I 

 shall now record some notes on the river terraces, more 

 especially of the St. John, excellent examples of which are 

 observable on the right bank of the river at Fredericton, as 

 seen in the diagram on page 275. 



According to some geologists, all such terraces belong to 

 the epoch of the elevation of the rock formations in which 

 they exist, and are therefore pre-Glacial to any extent 

 according to the antiquity of the strata, the drift having 

 been subsequently moulded, as it were, into their hollows 

 by Glacial action. Again, the theory that they were brought 

 about during the so-called post-Glacial submergence, indi- 

 cating spasmodic movements, contrasts with a more gene- 



* "Acadian Geology," 2nd edition, p. 35. 



