NATURAL HISTORY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
323 
and Wagansis portages (see Geological map) makes it seem to me 
perfectly clear that the upper part of the river to beyond the Gouna- 
mitz formerly emptied into the St. John through the Wagan and 
Grand River, and it has been robbed from St. John waters by the 
backward extension of the Restigouche.* The great branches, 
Kedgewick and Gounamitz, must be subsequent rivers, and the 
Kedgewick, the largest of them, seems to have tapped the Rimouski 
system and appropriated its headwaters, as an inspection of the 
geological map shows to be probable, f The absence of falls and bad 
rapids is obviously due to the fact that the river has nowhere been 
turned out of its course by Glacial drift, and this in turn, for the lower 
part of the river at least, must be due to the depth of its valley ; the 
drift could not fill it, and hence was easily washed out. The softness 
of the Silurian rocks and the ease of their erosion also probably have 
something to do with the freedom from rapids. 
The Restigouche is probably therefore a composite river of three 
parts. By far the larger part is a comparatively new post-Silurian 
river, the main Restigouche ; while the part above the Kedgewick has 
been robbed from the St. John, and a small portion of the Rimouski 
has been captured by the Kedgewick. 
38. — On the Use of Mineral or Divining Rods in New 
Brunswick. 
The use of divining rods in the search for hidden water, concealed 
mineral beds or buried treasures, is extremely ancient and widespread. 
The belief in their efficiency is very prevalent in New Brunswick, 
where they are generally known as “ mineral-rods,” and used not so 
much in seeking water (which is usually abundant enough in this 
favored province) as for locating suspected ore-beds or the treasure 
supposed to have been buried by Captain Kidd, the Acadian French 
or others. Odd or conspicuous places everywhere around the coast 
and on the lower courses of the rivers almost invariably show holes 
dug by credulous treasure-seekers, most of whom are known to have 
used the mineral-rod in their preliminary explorations. The subject 
* Ells (Report, 1881, D. 18,) states that the river above the Patapeclia occupies the crest 
•of an anticline. 
t This explains why the Kedgewick is so much larger than the main river. 
