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BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
drift-bottomed, but the fall steadily increases, though the stream 
is without obstructions, so that with its swift clear current, gravel 
bottom, winding course and superb hill views, this part of the 
Northwest is one of the most charming pieces of canoe water that 
I have seen anywhere in New Brunsivick. 
W'e consider now the probable physiographic origin of this 
interesting part of the river. I have already pointed out (Notes 
70, 77) that the source and upper four miles of the river lie in a 
valley which is a continuation of, and morphologically the head of, 
the valley of the South Branch Nepisiguit, which in turn formerly 
emptied by Portage Brook through the Upsalquitch, the entire 
valley being properly called the Upsalquitchian valley. IMore- 
over, the presence of the very obvious glacial dam between the 
source of the river and the South Branch Nepisiguit shows that 
this valley doubtless emptied into the South Branch in immediately 
pre-glacial times. The remainder of the river down to Cartier is 
very much of a puzzle, and its history is intimately associated with 
the causes which have formed the remarkable, nearly isolated, 
conical hills here prevailing. That these have been carved by 
numerous streams (perhaps anciently flowing southeast) from the 
great central peneplain seems most probable, but the particular 
method awaits more detailed study than I could give the problem. 
It is very probable that Beaver Brook, the stream flowing from 
the Chiefs Plateau east of the Chiefs Ridge, is the true morpholo- 
gical head of the Northwest, and that the part thence to the 
Upsalquitchian valley is an old branch of it. All this part of the 
valley throughout is typically pre-glacial, the river flowing 
entirely over drift in a valley which, while deep and narrow, is 
obviously by no means new, and may be very ancient. An import- 
ant question now arises as to the place and nature of the pre- 
glacial connection between this and the Upsalquitchian valley. We 
would expect that a post-glacial gorge or valley would be found 
just where the southward flowing upper course turns to the east- 
ward, but in fact no such post-glacial portion appears, and I can 
only surmise that the quantity of drift thrown down in both these 
valleys was sufficient to completely bury the pre-glacial rock- 
boundary between them. 
A notable feature of this part of the river consists in the 
