NATURAL HISTORY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 221 
the Scrub (or Gray or Banksian) pine (Pinus Banksiana), 
which is now the most characteristic tree of this open country. 
Their openness makes these hills very easy to climb and travel, 
over, while they afford suberb views, most charming in themselves 
and illuminating as to the topography of the region. For the most 
part, the hills are not isolated, but form summits, more or less 
distinct, of great plateaus, separated from one another by deep 
valleys. Of these plateaus, four are distinctly recognizable north 
of the Notch. First, there is a great wooded plateau (the Des- 
Barres Plateau) west of the Forks, the culminating points of 
which are the conical Mount DesBarres (named by me in 1898, 
Note 30), and a gently rising somewhat higher dome south of it. 
But this group I have not studied, and hence I have not brought 
it within the limits of the accompanying map. The somewhat 
isolated Pierce Mountain, west of the First Forks, is an outlying 
part of it. North of this, however, comes a fine great plateau, 
Marie Plateau, partially wooded, bounded by the South Branch, 
by the Main Nepisiguit, and by the fine Nictorian valley, to be 
described below (see the map). The culminating point of this 
plateau is the great ridge, the northern end of which I have 
earlier named Mount Marie (Note 30). East of Mount Marie 
this plateau exhibits some seven distinct peaks, of which one, 
Mount Elizabeth, (2,152 feet) immediately north of the First 
Forks, is by far the most important, for it is so elevated and so 
fortunate in situation that it commands one of the best views in 
all New Brunswick. From its summit all the important moun- 
tains of North Central New Brunswick (as the view-circle on 
the map but imperfectly indicates), can be seen, and it gives also 
an admirable view of the topography of this part of the country. 
The third great plateau is that named on the map the His- 
torians Plateau. It is perfectly continuous with Bald Mountain, 
and is bounded by the South Branch on the south, west and north, 
and on the east by the Upsalquitchian valley and the head of the 
Northwest Miramichi, and by what appears to be a very anc'ent 
but shallow valley extending thence southward, and including 
Spruce Lake.* At its northern end rises the extremely rugged 
rocky bare summit, Hannay Mountain (2,139 feet) ; south of it 
* Kewadu appears to lie in another shallow parallel valley more to the eastward. 
