14 Ancient Drainage of North America j SfC, 



sition, and supposes the ravine between Queenstown and the falls, 

 through which the river Niagara flows, to be a natural gorge. I 

 shall in this paper attempt to settle this question upon strict geo- 

 logical principles, and in a manner consistent with those obvious 

 features which the physical geography of the lake country 

 presents. 



All our fresh waters are first derived from the atmosphere. 

 If the surface of the earth had been smooth, without any ine- 

 qualities, rains and floods would have abraded and torn it up. 

 It would have been irregularly furrowed out in the manner we 

 often see fields with a slight inclination. The w^aters would have 

 been constant to no channel. In the train of consequences in- 

 volved in such a state of things, we perceive the earth would 

 have been uninhabitable. But it was not ordained so : the earth 

 was intended to be the cheerful home of countless myriads of 

 animals, susceptible of benevolent pleasures. The " dry land" 

 was made to appear. Mountains were raised by subterranean 

 power, and valleys were consequently formed. Instead of some 

 parts of the earth being deluged with rains, and others remaining 

 for years without refreshing showers, we find atmospheric action 

 influenced by those mountains, and the rains drawn down upon 

 their summits and flanks, furrowing out channels down their 

 slopes, to unite themselves hereafter at the lowest levels, where 

 the navigable rivers are found, that have contributed so much 

 to the civilization of man. The accumulation of snow too upon 

 these summits, is an immediate means of the continuity of streams. 

 The inequalities of the earth's surface, form one of the most 

 important features of the economy of nature. The face of the 

 earth is constituted by a series of elevations and depressions. 

 Where the chains of mountains are contiguous, the breadth of 

 the valleys is comparatively small. In many instances, such 

 valleys had their present terminations anciently obstructed, and 

 at such time contained bodies of water. It is an interesting 

 study for young Geologists to detect these ancient lakes, and 

 find out the points where the waters have been able to discharge 

 themselves. Where the chains of mountains he at great dis- 

 tances from each other, the intervening country is to be consi- 

 dered as a vast valley or basin, the great rivers flowing through 

 the lowest levels, and their tributaries joining them from the 

 more elevated terraces of the basin. It is by this admirable 



