NATURAL HISTORY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 103 
distance which I have not traced; but apparently it nowhere 
crosses the Taxes. There is, however, this difference between 
the directions of the ridges on the two sides of the river, — that 
while on the north they come down to the valley at a sharp 
angle, in parallelism with the large branches, on the south they 
run largely parallel with the river's course, presenting splendid 
great wooded slopes of notable uniformity for long distances. 
And this parallelism with the river is further emphasized by the 
corresponding directions of Trout, McBeans and Hayes Brooks. 
Evidently the intrusive ridges on the two sides of the river 
belong to two different systems or centres. 
Turning now to the origin of this part of the river, it is plain 
that it is pre-glacial in origin, as shown by its flood plains and 
remnants of rock floor, though it is not at all an ancient river, 
but one relatively new. The explanation of its origin is, how- 
ever, fairly clear. It represents a valley lying in between two 
separate and distinct highland masses on the south and north. 
It thus occupies an elongated basin comparable with that in which 
lie the sources of Gulquac and Clearwater. At first, no doubt, 
this basin was occupied not by one stream, but by parts of 
several; but gradually, as the softer slates filling this basin be- 
came eroded out, letting the stream down lower and lower, they 
worked themselves together into the single valley of the present. 
Meantime the great branches on the north were similarly work- 
ing down into the softer rocks between the great ridges, whose 
directions have ultimately determined those of the valleys, despite 
their earlier independence. I predict it will be found by more 
extensive geological study that the slate rocks are confined to 
these valleys, and that all of the highland ridges are granite or 
felsite. 
Below Rocky Brook the river turns southward, its direction 
here being determined, like that of Rocky Brook, by a low 
highland ridge on the east. Downward the country becomes 
lower and opens out, until, near Boiestown, this river falls into 
the great Taxes — Southwest valley, which has a very different 
geography and evolution, as I have already traced in my earlier 
note. 
