NATURAL HISTORY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NEW BRUNSWICK 
455 
Point, (though it is actually now being washed away at some 
points south of Eel Brook), with ithe upland just north of Eel 
Brook, while the next oldest is that which skirts the edge of the 
upland, here forming a remarkably regular sea-cut, steep escarp- 
ment from one or two up to fifteen feet in height. North of the 
widest part of the plain, the beaches, hitherto following the curve 
of the present shore line, swing to the northeast, form the western 
margin of Lac Frye, and continue straight into the sea, which is 
cutting directly across their ends. Here the evidence of the sink- 
ing of the island is very plain, for not only are the ends of the 
beaches being cut into those abrupt cliffs characteristic of a sink- 
ing shore, but driftwood is actually driven into the hollows be- 
tween them. Better still is the testimony of the woods, which 
here continue directly to the margin of the sea which is washing 
them steadily away, while the peaty woods-carpet is exposed on 
the beach below high-tide mark. 
Such is the general appearance of Grande Plaine. Examining 
it more narrowly, we find that it is by no means homogeneous 
throughout its extent. Thus, the dune beaches are by no means 
of equal breadth, height or distance apart. Because of various 
irregularities they show, it is by no means easy to measure 
exactly either their distances apart or their heights. The follow- 
ing figures express approximately the distance in paces from 
crest to crest of the beaches in a section from the sea to the upland 
at the widest part of the plain; — 24, 17, 18, 17, 44, 26, 25, 12, 25, 
32, 42, 96, 45, 20, 47, 68, (edge of woods), 15, 23, 18, 17, 15, 14. 
11, 15, 14, 35, 31, and a few others not measured. In general the 
older inner beaches are both nearer together and more regular in 
size and height than those farther out. The irregularities in 
height are marked, some of the crests rising five, or perhaps, six 
feet above the intervening hollows, others only a foot or two. 
Furthermore the height-fluctuations are by no means uniformly 
distributed. Thus two of the beaches, which are also the widest, 
those marked 44 and 96 above, are markedly higher than others, 
and these higher ones can be traced for a long distance along the 
plain. Variations of another kind are shown in the remarkable 
swales, characterized by peculiarities of vegetation which I shall 
