27 
Val-Brillant and Sayabec 
The morainic country continues northwest of Amqui, forming the 
dam at the outlet of lake Matapedia; and the fields on the hills to the 
south are very stony, but most of the boulders are local. 
The north side of the lake is hilly and wooded and not taken up as 
farms. The islands at the east end of the lake, and also the north shore 
at that end, consist of Archaean rocks, as mapped by the Geological Survey, 
and have been referred to earlier. The islands have fine moutonndes sur- 
faces with striae running south 50 degrees or 55 degrees east corresponding 
to the direction of that part of the lake and of the valley in general. 
A fertile plain extends from Val-Brillant to Sayabec, according to 
Fairchild the highest marine level, 581 feet above the sea. The village 
is just beyond the upper end of lake Matapedia. Excavations in the 
streets for water mains showed 6 or 8 feet of blue boulder clay including 
many solid boulders of limestone, often finely striated; and their source 
was evident, since bluish-grey limestone underlies the clay. Some quartz- 
ites occur, also, but no granites or gneisses were seen. 
Hills to the northwest, rising to 770 feet, show a veneer of till, much 
more weathered than that in the village, and charged with more quartzites 
than limestones, as shown in stone fences. The only boulders probably 
brought from the west were limestone conglomerates; but, on the other 
hand, none of the amygdaloids or schists of the Precambrian 8 or 10 miles 
to the east on Matapedia lake were observed. If the ice had come up 
the valley they could hardly have been absent. 
On bare hillsides at intervals for a mile there are strongly marked 
strise on slate, running south 70 degrees or 80 degrees east, i.e., in the 
direction of the valley. 
Strise having about the same direction are found on slate 3 miles 
west of Sayabec along the railway, and blue boulder clay of the usual 
kind is found in all the lower parts. A kame-like gravel hill is touched 
by the railway between St. Moi'se and Padoue stations farther west, carrying 
the evidence for powerful glacial action beyond the watershed, which is 
at 751 feet, 2£ miles east of St. Moise. 
It can hardly be doubted that a lobe of the Labrador ice-sheet crossed 
this pass and continued down the valley, having its surface hundreds of feet 
above the level at which boulder clay and Laurentian stones were found 
near Oausapscal, that is, above 1,223 feet. 
The Shickshooks on Cap-Chat River 
Turning to inland exploration, the first part of the Shickshock moun- 
tains to be described will be that 12 miles southeast of Capucins on the 
north coast. This can be reached most conveniently from Cap-Chat 
village, from which boats are poled up Cap-Chat river for about 33 miles 
to its forks in the mountains. This route was taken in the latter part of 
July, 1918, but owing to bad weather and the lack of knowledge of the 
mountains by the writer's guides, less was accomplished than was hoped for. 
It was intended to climb mount Logan, shown on the geological map 
as having a height of 3,768 feet, and about 17 miles up the river. The 
guides had not heard of the mountain and maintained that mount Nicol- 
abert, farther up the river, was the highest peak, so it was agreed the 
expedition should go to that point. 
