2 



The following account of the distribution of the Gaspe limestones and 

 shales is taken from the Geology of Canada," p. 393, 394. 



" These strata dip south-west at an angle of twenty-four degrees, and 

 are beautifully seen in the cliffs ; which present a vertical naked face 

 nearly 700 feet in height, on the north-east side of Gasp^ promontory. 

 The lowest limestones, 1, constitute the first step in the mountains 

 encountered in passing from Cape Rosier to Grand Greve. The second 

 hard calcareous band, 4, forms another step in the same ascent ; it makes 

 also Cape Bon Ami, from which the grey calcareous shales, 5, present a 

 steep slope, up to the grey shaly Hmestones, 6. These rise in a vertical 

 and sometimes overhanging escarpment, up to the edge of the precipice ; 

 from which the harder beds that form the summit of the above section, 

 slope down into a valley. This valley divides the hills of the promontory 

 into a double range, and maintains its character with some constancy 

 further into the interior. 



" From this valley, the succeeding members of the series are piled in 

 a second escarpment, and constitute the loftier of the two ranges.'' The 

 rocks of this part consist of divisions, 7 and 8. 



The entire volume of these Hmestones is about 2000 feet. The two 

 lower divisions ( 1 and 2) are most probably Silurian ; about the age of 

 the Helderberg of the New York Geologists. The upper two members 

 (7 and 8) are nearly of the age of the Oriskany sandstone, and are, there- 

 fore, about the base of the Devonian. Divisions 4, 5, 6, may be regarded 

 as constituting passage beds between the Upper Silurian and Devo- 

 nian. 



They occupy the whole of the promontory of Cape Gasp^, which 

 extends from the mainland for a distance of about seven miles, with a 

 breadth of no more than seven-tenths of a mile : except at its junction 

 -with the lower band extending to Cape Rosier, where it gradually assumes 

 a greater breadth. They skirt the north-east bank of the north-west arm 

 of Gasp^ 33ay, and the left bank of Dartmouth River ; constituting a 

 range of mountains, some of whose summits, according to Bayfield, are 

 about 1500 feet high. From Little Gaspe they are flanked by a strip of 

 the succeeding formation, the junction of the two being seen at Little 

 Gaspe Cove. About seventeen miles above Little Gasp^ these limestones 

 cross the north branch of the Dartmouth, upwards of two miles from the 

 mouth of the tributary ; on which a partial section, directly across the 

 measures, presents a thickness of 1800 feet. At the bottom of this, there 

 are interstratified layers of chert, which have not yet been observed at 

 Cape Gasp^." 



V 



