176 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



This cavern was also examined by Lieut. Baddeley, in 1828, who 

 describes* the sides and roof as coated in many places with a white 

 incrustation, having none of the crystalline aspect of stalactite, being 

 softer and more resembling analagons appearances on the roofs of old 

 brick or stone arches. It descends very rapidly for a few yards, 

 when it suddenly narrows to a mere crack, admitting the passage of 

 a boy or small person into a more spacious cavern, which had not 

 been explored. 



Bigsby's Cave has been known for somx years, and has been 

 noticed in some of the Canadian newspapers as, I believe, the Grrotto 

 of St. Paul ; this is on the testimony of the Rev. Jos. M. Bellenger. 

 ISTone of these accounts could I lay my hands on ; and as the first 

 notice of the cavern was from the pen of Dr. Bigsby, it seemed to 

 me quite proper that it should be called after him. It is not at aU 

 improbable that it has been further explored, through the able 

 assistance of Dr. Eraser, of Murray Bay, and a more extended 

 account published of its interior; in the present, however, especial pains 

 have been taken to describe the nature of the rocks which exist in its 

 vicinity. In Murray Bay and on the coast below, the Trenton limestone 

 presents upwards of six miles to the St, Lawrence, and runs as many 

 up the Murray Bay Biver, with a general breadth of two miles. 



Dr. Bigsby found a brown or black splintery slate often interposed 

 between the conglomerate and the dark limestone, which was plenti- 

 ful at the cave. The curvature of the strata at the cavern at the 

 west angle of Murray Bay and of the east shore of the Bay are 

 objects of interest, a;nd furnish " an additional evidence showing the 

 temporary flexibility of rocks after consolidation, and their distm^bance 

 while in that condition," At the mouth of the gTand river St. Anne, 

 twenty-four miles below Quebec, Dr. Bigsby noticed three strong 

 seams of grauwacke form as many concentric arches in the face of a 

 naked and perpendicular bank, the outer of which is about eight feet 

 high, and twenty-two feet span, the smTOunding shale obser^dng the 

 same position ; and at the bridge of the river Jaques Cartier, thu^ty 

 miles above Quebec, there is a beautiful natm^al arch of blue lime- 

 stone of similar dimensions. 



There are very few places in Canada to be compared to l^IuiTay 

 Bay for the beauty of its scenery and the surrounding featm^es of 

 geological interest. Here can be seen an instructive assemblage of 

 the most ancient rocks, and an abundance of their characteristic 

 fossils, among which are fine examples of Oiilioceratites, to repay 

 the zealous investigator. Slight shocks of earthquake are not un- 

 frcquent in this neighbourhood, and it is related that they occui- nine 

 or ten times annually. 



19. — Bouchette's Cavern, Kildaee. 

 This cavern was visited and first described by Colonel Bouchette 

 (Surveyor-General of Canada) in the report of his official tour 



* Trnn. Lit. and Itis. Soc. of Quebec, vol. i. 



