60 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 2. 
A study of the peat exposed in receding cliffs west of the Point 
Escuminac lighthouse, accompanied by borings to determine 
the depth of the deposit, convinces me that there is little if any 
evidence of coastal subsidence. Behind the soft peat cliff, 
which rises from 5 to 15 feet above the beach, the surface of the 
bog ascends rapidly inland, attaining nearly 30 feet altitude 
in the central part. It is quite apparent that the convexity 
of the barren at its periphery is due mainly to loss of water near 
the cliffs, where the water-table descends to the level of the 
beach. In the first quarter mile west of the lighthouse, the 
freshly cut cliff shows the floor of the bog — a smooth surface 
of decayed sandstone, gradually descending to the high tide 
mark. A series of borings along the foot of the peat cliffs in 
the next quarter mile, taken at intervals of 200 feet, show the 
depth of the floor of the peat bog below high tide mark, as 
follows: zero; zero; 6 inches; 12 inches; zero. Half a mile from 
the lighthouse, where the peat cliff attains its maximum height, 
13 feet, a boring through the beach reached the sandy floor of 
the bog at a depth of less than 24 inches below high tide mark. 
Since the upward slope carries the surface of the bog to an 
altitude of fully 26 feet (as measured by hand-level and rod) 
above high tide mark, it is probable that the peat here is 28 feet 
thick. The sounding instrument used was limited to a depth 
of 21 feet. The 24-foot sounding reported by Chalmers may, 
therefore, have been entirely above high tide mark. In the 
half mile between this point and Herring cove, a few borings, 
at wider intervals, struck sand beneath the peat at depths 
below high tide mark, successively, of 24, 18, and 6 inches. It 
appears, therefore, that the Point Escuminac peat bog occupies 
a rather flat basin, whose floor is close to high tide mark over 
a wide area, yet rarely as much as two feet below that mark. 
In this respect it seems to agree with the peat bogs at Miscou 
island and Shippigan. This I am inclined to regard as signifi- 
cant. If there had been a subsidence of the coast of New 
Brunswick in very recent times, while the bog was under con- 
struction, we should expect to find the fresh-water peat extending 
down to greater depths; for sphagnum would have accumulated 
in basins whose floors, in some places, were barely above mean 
