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Thi poa ofl filn Orij bat tha aiof otti firv aioi or 11 Tha aha TIN diff( enti bag righ raqi mat Thia item la filmed at tha reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document eat film* au taux da riduction indiqu* ci-deaaoua. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X • y 12X 16X aox 24X 28X 32X Th« eopy film«S5***M»ii> TO SIB CHABLES LYELL, F.B.S., F.G.S., &c. Mt dear Sib, To a young naturalist labouring in a comparatively remote and isolated position, no aid can be more valuable than the encouragement and co-opera- tion of those who, from the vantage-ground of a high scientific reputation, and in the great literary centre of the Anglo-Saxon world, are prosecuting similar pursuits. For such benefits, most freely and generously bestowed, I am indebted to you ; and I gladly avail myself of the opportunity afibrded by the publication of this volume, to express, in dedicating it to you, my grateful sense of your kindness in guiding my humble efforts as a geological observer. I am. With sincere gratitude and respect. Yours faithfully, J. W. DAWSON. .-as'i'^naM' PREFACE. This work is intended to place within the reach of the people of the districts to which it relates, a popular account of the more recent discoveries in the geology and mineral resources of their country, and at the same time to give to geologists in Britain and America, a connected view of the structure of a very interesting portion of the American continent. The author has therefore endeavoured to be sufficiently elementary and practical for his readers in the colonies, and at the same time sufficiently accurate and original to do some ser- vice to general geology. In extenuation of his short- comings in the attainment of ckher or both of these ends, he must plead the difficulty of securing this double utility, and the disadvantages incident to the preparation of the work at a distance from large public collections and libraries' of reference. The geological map, though much more perfect than any previously published, must be viewed as merely a . rough approximation to the truth. For aid in com- Ji. VI PBBFACB. pleting the map of Gape Breton, the author is indebted to Bichard Brown, Esq. of Sydney ; and for the bound- aries of formations in New Brunswick, to the map pre- pared by Professor Robb of Fredericton for Johnston's Agricultural Report on that province. For the limits of formations in Nova Scotia Proper, he has trusted entirely to his own notes. Several of the illustrations have been reprinted, by permission of the Council of the Geological Society of London, from the author's papers in their journal, and are credited accordingly in the list of illustrations. PiCTOV, Manh 1855. -J^ ^4S<****«V.W CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Introduction. Geological Bibliography of Nora Scotia . CHAPTER II. General Descbiftion of Nova Scotia. Tabnlar Arrangement of Formations Pagel 12 CHAPTER III. Modern Allctial Deposits. Tidal Accumulations of the Bay of Fundy— Marshes— Footprints, Rain-marks, &c.— Submariue Forests — Intervales — Lake Deposits —Infusorial Earth— Lake Margins— Peat Bogs ... 23 CHAPTER IV. The Drift Diluvium or Boulder-foehation. Unstratified Drift— Travelled Boulders- Striated Bock-surfaces — Peat under Boulder-clay — Origin of Drift — Stratified Gravels — Remains of Mastodon — Condition of Nova Scotia in the Drift- pwiod 43 • •• ▼Ul C0NTENT8. CHAPTER V. * Thi Nbw Red BAMMTOirt. (Central Distribation— Varieties of Sandstone— Of Trap- New Red Sandstone from Tmro to the Estuary of the Avon— Trap and New Red from Blomidon to Briar Island .... Page 60 CHAPTER VI. The New Bed (Continued). Red Sandstone and Trap from Truro to Cape d'Or— Scenery of the Coast— Minerals at Five Islands— At Partridge Island — Native Copper— Condition of Nova Scotia in New Bed Period— Minerals of the Trap 80 CHAPTER VII. The New Bed {Continued). Prince Edward Island— Age of its Sandstones— Fossil Plants — Bep- tilian Bemaius — Useful Minerals and Soil ... 104 CHAPTER Vm. The Carbonifebous Ststeh. General Bemarks — Synoptical Table — Geographical Distribution — District of Cumberland — Section at the South Joggins . 116 CHAPTER IX. The Cabbonifebods Ststeu {Continued). Detailed Explanation of Joggins Section— Beptilian Bemains — Erect Treea— Condition of Cumberland in the Carboniferous Period—* Lower Carboniferous Limestone and Coal-measures of Eastern Coast — Erect Tree, Bain-marks, &c.— Useful Minerals — Coal of Joggins and Springhill — Soils .... . . 144 iyS90w*i»K^ii4>^ COMTBMTS. IX CHAPTER X. The Carbonifbrodb Btstem {Continued). Coal-field of New Brunswick— Detailed Description of Depoaita at Albert Mine— General Remarks on New Brunswick Page 195 CHAPTER XI. Tbe Carboniferous Btstem {Continued). District of Colchester and Hants— Shales of Horton Bluff— Lime- stone and Qjpsum of Windsor— Fossil Shells— Origin of Oypsam and Limestone — Section of Folly River — Coal-measures of Onslow, Londonderry, &c.— Section of Shubenacadie River— Qypsum Veina —Great Beds of Gypsum and Shell Limestone— General Arrange- ment of Rocks in Hants County— Musquodoboit Valley— UseAil Minerals— Gypsum, Coal, &c 212 CHAPTER Xn. The Carboriferods Stbtem {Continued). District of Pictou — General Structure — Section on East River — Coal- measures of Albion Mines — Fossil Reptile — Useful Minerals — Great Beds of Coal— District of Sydney— Gypsum and Limestone — District of Guysboro --Isolated Patches of Margaret's Bay and Chester Basin 241 CHAPTER Xni. The CARBOmFEROCS System {ConHnued). District of Richmond and Southern Inverness— Section at Plaister Cove— Origin of Plaster Pits — Useful Minerals — Coal of Carribon Cove and Little River — District of Northern Inverness and Yic- toriar— Coal of Port Hood— Erect Trees at Port Hood— Section at Cape Dauphin — District of Cape Breton County— Coal-measures of North Sydney, &c.— Erect Trees— Fossil Foliage— Rain-marks —Useful Minerals— Coal of Sydney and Bridgport . . 276 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Devonun Ain> Ufpeb Silvbun Ststemb. Metamorphosed Rocks — Igneous Masses — Distribution and Character in Eastern Nova Scotia — Fossil Bemains — Cobequid Mountains — ■Western Nova Scotia— Gape Breton — New Brunswick — Date of Dislocations and Metamorphism — Useful Minerals — Iron Deposits of Cobequid Mountains, Nictau, and East River of Pictou Page 309 CHAPTER XV. Metamorphio District of the Atlantic Coast. General Distribution — Local Arrangement — Geological Age and Date of Metamorphism — Waste and Derivation of Newer Rocks — Useful Minerals— Prospects of Discovery of Gold — Concluding Remarks 346 APPENDIX. List of Fossils— Sable Island and Sand-hills of Prince Edward Island— Earthquakes — Salt Springs — Ice Ravine near Annapolis —Additional Facts relating to the Origin of Gjpsum . 369 si • ,vi9*»*«««**^ ILLUSTEATIONS. GeoIiOOical Map— a< end of Volume. View of Cape Blomidon . . . . View on the Joggins Shore Fall of the Economj River . . . . Granite Hill and Lake near St Marj's River Page 73 121 320 346 WOODCUTS- Figs. 1 & 2. General Sections (Jonrnal of Geological Society) . 12 3. Coverings of Baccillarise 40 4. Stratified Gravel resting on Drift .... 54 5. Section at Walton (J. G. S.) 65 6 Blomidon to Horton .... 67 7 East of Swan Creek 87 8. Jaw of Bathygnathus Borealis, and Tooth . . 109 9. Rihs, Leaf-scars, and Roots of Sigillaria (J. G. S.) . 145 10. Fossils of Bituminous Limestone, Joggins . . 147, 148 11. Jaw and Tooth of Dendrerpeton Acadianum . . 160 12. Land Shell from Joggins Coal-measures . . lb. 13. Section of Reptiliferous Beds, Joggins (J. G. S.) . 161 14. Calamites with Roots (J. G. S.) . . . . 166 15. Leaves of Calamites (J. G. S.) ib. 16. Group of Erect Calamites (J. G. S.) . . • 168 17. Erect Coniferous Tree (J. G. S.) .... 172 18. Erect Tree with Stigmaria Roots (J. G. S.) . ' . 175 19. Erect Tree at Cape Malagash 185 20. Section Joggins to Albert Mine (J. G. S.) . . 197 xu ILLUSTRATIONS. Figs. Page 21. Arched Strata at Albert Mine (J. G. S.) . . . 199 22. Bent Strata at Albert Mine (J. G. S.) . . . SOO 23. Section of Albert Coal (J. G. S.) . . . .201 24 in another part of the Mine (J. G. S.) . 203 25. Ideal Representation of Disturbances at Albert Mine (J.G.S.) 204 26. Plan of " Jog " at Albert Mine (J. G. S.) . . 205 27. Fossil Shells of Lower Carboniferous Limestones . 219 28. Section of East Biver 244 29. Skull and Tooth of Baphetes Planiceps . . . ~ 255 30. Cliff of Gypsum near Antigonish .... 270 31. Section at Plaister Cove (J. G. S.) . . . . 277 32. Plaster Pits (J. G. S.) 281 33. Foliage from the Coal-formation .... 804 34. Section at Cape Porcupine . . . . 313 35. Devonian Fossils 317 ,^5S**^Ha»asfc.. ACADIAN GEOLOGY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION — OEOLOGICAL BIBLIOORAPHY OP NOVA SCOTIA, &C. . The aboriginal Micmacs of Nova Scotia, being of a prac- tical turn of mind, were in the habit of bestowing on places the names of the useful articles which could be found in them, affixing to such terms the word Ac apply to such portions of them as I have explored. This title is farther justified A a ACADIAN GEOLOGY. by the circumstance that the Acadian provinces form a well-marked geological district, distinguished from all the neighbouring parts of America by the enormous and remarkable development within it' of rocks of the Carboniferous and New Bed Sandstone systems. Nova Scotia, unlike the greater number of the states and provinces of North America, has not enjoyed the benefit of a public geological survey. Yet, though des- titute of this great aid to progress, and regarded as one of the more obscure and insignificant dependencies of the British crown, its mineral resources have been very ex- tensively developed by raining enterprise, its structure has been somewhat minutely examined, and it has af- forded some very important contributions to our know- ledge of the earth's geological history. Circumstances of a political character, rather than any want of liber- ality or scientific zeal on the part of the people, have prevented a systematic exploration of the country at the public expense, while the possession of useful minerals deficient in all the neighbouring regions, has made it oi necessity one of the most important mining districts in North America. Unfortunately, in one sense, for the colony, its abundant mineral wealth attracted attention at a period when the government of the mother country was not actuated by the liberal spirit that now charac- terizes its dealings with its dependencies, and when the rights of the colonists were not so jealously or ably guarded as at present. The valuable minerals were reserved by the crown, and were leased to an association of British capitalists, who have opened the principal de- posits of coal, and largely exported their produce, and some of whose agents have zealously and successfully aided in exploring the geology of the country. The j ^iH"""— : i i ii i iy IMTBODUCTION. 40 provincial legislature, however, has evinced a very nat- ural disinclination to expend the public money in the examination of deposits in which its constituents have no direct interest, and which continue to be a fertile subject of controversy with the mining company and the impe- rial government. It is to be hoped that these impediments to public ac- tion on the subject of geological exploration will soon pass away. Arrangements have been entered into be- tween the province and the mother country, in virtue of which the control of the mines will revert to the former on the expiry of the leaiie, thirty-two years hence. A recent act of the legislature has empowered the provin- cial government to grant leases of unopened mines to private speculators. Extensive railway enterprises have been undertaken, which will open up the inland mineral districts. Valuable metallic minerals have been disco- vered in localities which have escaped the reservation ; and negotiations have been commenced with the mining 1 company for the purchase of the unopened coal mines. In all these facts there is promise that the provincial government will soon find itself in a position to institute a scientific investigation of the structure and produc- tions of the country, and it is to be hoped that this will be done by competent persons and on a liberal scale ; and not, as has been the case in some neighbouring colonies, in a manner too imperfect to afford trustworthy results. The excellent survey of Canada now in pro- gress under Mr Logan, should be a model to the other provinces in this respect. In the mean time Nova Scotia may congratulate her- self, that the noble monuments of the earth's geological history exposed in her coast cliffs have induced eminent ^^ - •m m^m r |: 4 ACADIAN OEOLOOY. geologists from abroad to occupy themselves with the more interesting parts of the structure of the province, and have cherished a strong taste for geological inquiry among her own sons; and that much has thus been effected as a labour of love, which in other countries would have cost a large expenditure of the public wealth. Much, no doubt, still remains to be done, especially in those districts less fertile in facts interesting to the nat- uralist ; but a glance at the list of publications in the following pages, is su£Scient to show how much labour has been voluntarily and gratuitously expended, as well as the importance and interest of the discoveries that have been made. Though, however, a large amount of valuable infor- mation has been accumulated, it is scattered through the numbers of scientific journals and other publications, inaccessible to the general render, and not easily referred to by the geological student ; and it is in its nature fragmentary, and incapable of affording a complete view of the structure of the country. These considerations, and the possession of a mass of unpublished notes which have been accumulating for the last fourteen years, have induced the author to undertake the present work ; and he trusts that in doing so he will render an acceptable service not only to his own countrymen and to the in- habitants of the other Acadian provinces, but to those geologists in Britain and America who may be acquaint- ed with his published papers, and may desire a more complete acquaintance with Acadian geology. The earliest account of the geology of Nova Scotia with which I am acquainted, is contained in an elaborate paper in Silliman's Journal for 1828, by C. T. Jackson and F. Alger, Esqs., gentlemen who have since estab- V JSk ^i5Mi««««*«»r INTRODUCTION. lished for themselves a distingaished reputation. Messrs Jackson and Alger directed their attention principally to the trap and red sandstone formations of the western districts, and the interesting crystallized minerals con- tained in the former ; but they also gave a tolerably correct view of the distribution of the principal rock for- mations throughout the province, and made the earliest attempt to represent them on a geological map. Their determinations of the minerals of the trap district are accurate, and their catalogue of these minerals still ad- mits of scarcely any extension. This paper was pub- lished in a separate form in 1832. An important addition was made to the geology of the province in 1829, in a chapter contributed to Hali- burton's History of Nova Scotia, by Messrs Brown and Smith, then exploring the province on behalf of the General Mining Association ; and the former of whom has subsequently been one of the most successful inves- tigators of the geology of the coal formation. The ar- ticle in Haliburton relates principally to the eastern districts ; and is chiefly remarkable as containing the most accurate views of the development of the carbo- niferous system in Nova Scotia, promulgated previously to the visit of Sir Charles Lyell in 1842. In 1836, a volume, entitled " Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia, by A. Gesner, Esq.," was published and extensively circulated in the pro- vince, and it is still from this work that a great portion of the local public derive their ideas of the geological structure of the country. This work was in great part a. popular resumS of the previously published discoveries of Jackson and Alger, with many additional facts col- lected by its author in the course of careful examina- d AOADIAM OEOLOGY. tibhs of the coasts of the Bay of Fundy, and moi^ hurried journeys in other parts of the province. Though disfigured by some inaccuracies in nomenclature, and yery deficient in information as to the arrangement and superposition of rocks, Dr Gesner's work was of great service in directing popular attention within the pro- vince to the subject of geology, and it is still an excel- lent guide to the localities of interesting mineral speci- mens. In 1841, W. E. Logan, Esq., now provincial geologist in Canada, made a short tour in Nova Scotia, and con- tributed a paper on the subject to the Geological Society of London^ In 1843, Mr Logan, in passing through Nova Scotia on his way to Canada, visited the South Joggins, and executed the remarkable section which he published in 1845 in his first Beport on the Geology of Canada. This section, which includes detailed de- scriptions and measurements of more than fourteen thou- sand feet of beds, and occupies sixty-five octavo pages, is a remarkable monument of his industry and powers of observation, and ^ves a detailed view of nearly the whole thickness of the coal formation of Nova Scotia. The year 1842 forms an epoch in the history of geol- ogy in Nova Scotia. In that year Sir Charles Lyell visited the province, and carefully examined some of the more difficult features of its geological structure, which had baffled or misled previous inquirers. Sir Charles also performed the valuable service of placing in com- munication with each other, and with the geologists of Great Britain, the inquirers already at work on the geol- ogy of the province, and of stimulating their activity, and directing it into the most profitable channels. The writer of the present work gratefully acknowledges his '• 'i '^iMTTfii^irMr^rf^il '• ;!!#»*'"«««««»*; INTB0D(7CTI0N. t obligations in these respects. The results obtained by 1^ Charles, which much modified and enlarged the views previously entertained of the structure of Nova Scotia, were communicated to the Geological Society, and a popular account of them was given in his "Travels in North America." Since 1842, a great number of papers on the geology of Nova Scotia have been published in the scientific journals. The following list includes most of these, arranged according to their dates, and the periodicals in which they have appeared. Papers on the Geology of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick, published in the Proceedings and Journal of the Geological Society of London. 1842-43. 1. On the upright Fossil Trees found at different levels in the Coal-strata of Nova Scotia. Lyell, Geo!. Proc. iv. p. 176-178. 2. On the Coal-formation of Nova Scotia, and on the Age of the Gypsum. Lyell, ibid. p. 184-186. 3. A Geological Map of Nova Scotia. By A. Gesner, ibid. p. 186-190. 4to map. 1843-44. 4. On the Geology of Cape Breton. B. Brown, ibid. p. 269-272. 4 woodcuts. 5. On the Lower Carboniferous or Gypsifcrous formation of Nova Scotia. J. W. Dawson, ibid. p. 272-281 . 6 woodcuts. 6. On the Geology of Cape Breton. K. Brown, ibid. • p. 424-430. 3 woodcuts. ^#UCTION. 9 1849. 18. On the Lower Coal-measureH ol the Sydney Goal- field, Gape Breton. B. Brown, Geol. Joum. vi. p. 115-133. 9 woodcuts. 19. On the Metamorphic and Metalliferous Bocks of the East of Nova Scotia. Dawson, ibid. p. 347-364. 4 woodcuts. 20. Notice of the occurrence of upright Galamites, near Fictou, Nova Scotia. Dawson, Geol. Joum. vii. p. 194-196. 3 woodcuts. 21. On a Fossil Fern from Gape Breton. Bunbury, Geol. Joum. viii. p. 31-35. 1 plate. 1852. 22. Notes on the Bed Sandstone of Nova Scotia. Daw- son, ibid. p. 398-400. 2 woodcuts. 23. On the Bemains of a Beptile and a Land-shell in an erect Fossil Tree in the Goal-measures of Nova Scotia. Lyell, Dawson, Wyman, and Owen, Geol. Joum. ix. p. 58-67. 3 plates, 1 woodcut. 24. On the Albert Mine, New Brunswick. Dawson, ibid. p. 107-115. 7 woodcuts. 1853. 25. On the Goal-measures of the South Joggins. Daw- son, ibid. X. p. 1-42. 25 woodcuts. 26. On the Stmcture of the Albion Goal-measures. Dawson ; with Joumals of Exploratory Works, by H. Poole. Ibid. x. p. 42-47. 27. On a Fossil embedded in a mass of Fictou Goal. Professor Owen, ibid. x. pp. 207, 208. Litho- graphic plate. 10 ACADIAN OEOLOOY. I I: In the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1. On the Boulder-formation and Superficial Drift of Nova Scotia. Dawson, Abstract. 1847. 2. On the Mode of Occurrence of Gyi>sum in Nova Scotia. Dawson, Abstract. 1847. In the Journals of the Legislature of Nova Scotia. 1. Reports of the Committee on Mines. 2. Report on the Coal-fields of Caribou Cove and River Inhabitants. Dawson, 1846. Notices of the Geology of Nova Scotia have also ap- peared in Gesner's Industrial Resources of Nova Scotia, Taylor's Statistics of Coal, Murcou's Geological Map of the United States and British Provinces, and Dawson's Handbook of the Geography and Natural History of Nova Scotia. As portions of New Brunswick and Prince Edwant Island are described in this work, I may mention the principal publications on the Geology of those Provinces. Gesner's Geological Survey of New Brunswick. 1839-1843. Dr Robb's Notices of the Geology of New Brunswick in Johnston's Report. 1849. Jackson's Report on the Albert Coal Mine (New Brunswick). 1851. Deposition of R. C. Taylor, &c., on the Albert Mine. 1851. Perley's Handbook for Emigrants. 1854. Geological Excursion in Prince Edward Island. Daw- son, Haszard's Gazette. 1842. Gesner's Report on the Geology of Prince Edward Island. 1846. ,;ii*^-'««««i)ir INTRODUCTION. 11 Leidy on Bathygnaihm Borealii, an extinct Saurian of the New lied Sandstone of Prince Edward Island. 1854. Several other papers, on the geology of Nova Scotiu and the neighbouring provinces, of minor importance, or to which I have not now the means of reference, have been published, especially in the American journals. It will bo seen that large materials exist for a mere compilation on the subject of this work. I shall, how- ever, endeav.>i:r to confine myself as far as possible to original facts, of course giving due credit to my fellow- labotirers, where it may be necessary to refer to their publications, for materials to supplement my own notes. I may also state here, that, in addition to unpub- lished materials, this work is intended to give in a popular form the substance of my printed papers ; but the matter of these has not been transferred to the fol- lowing pages, except in a few cases where lists of beds and descriptions of sections admitted of no variation in terms. The reader desirous of farther information may therefore consult with profit all the papers in the above list, for the more full and technical discussion of the points to which they relate, as well as for detailed descriptions and figures of many fossils merely noticed in this work. f'fff^,^fS^;\ rfUi#,iifc. iV*T**'-fffl^^f!Ni^'A I M CHAPTER II. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NOVA SCOTIA — TABULAR ARRANGEMENT OF FORMATIONS. Let the reader glance at the map, and he will readily perceive some of the principal physical features of the region we have to describe. It consists of a peninsula and island, situated between north latitude 43° 25' and 47°, and between west longitude 59° 4(K and 66° 25' ; and bounded on the south-eastern side by the Atlantic, and on the western and northern sides by the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, and the Gulf of St Lawrence. The peninsular part, Nova Scotia Proper, is 250 miles in length, and about 100 in its extreme breadth, and is attached to the mainland of North America by a low isthmus sixteen miles in width. Its form is nearly triangular, and its surface is occupied by several rock formations, arranged for the most part in lines corre- sponding with its longest or Atlantic coast line. The insular part. Cape Breton, barely separated from the mainland by the narrow strait of Canseau, is 100 miles in extreme length and eighty in breadth ; and its rock isii*^'' " i * < i» Atlantic. H O o < > O S5 o H O o &< o H 55 SS a H O U > J I-} .5 >-i '*> OS o a: 3 <5 rs "35 Cobequid Bay. M S M^ ftrfS Northumberland Strait. a 5 S I £ o 3 *. ** r y-ii SI is § 9 i ?■'« » «■ ©J Gulf of St Lawrence. e« ,^^^. '^tgiur TABULAR ABBAMGEMENT OF FORMATIONS. 13 formations are similar to those of Nova Scotia Proper, though more irregularly distributed. The three sides of the triangle formed by Nova Scotia Proper, are, as seen on the map, distinguished by marked differences of outline. That fronting the north- west is deeply indented by large arms of the sea, sep- arated by precipitous promontories. The longest side, that facing the Atlantic, is dotted with innumerable islands, and penetrated everywhere by small inlets and indentations. The northern shore, fronting the Gulf of St Lawrence, is comparatively smooth and uniform in its coast-lines. This is also the character of the eastern coast of Gape Breton ; while its remaining sides are very irregular, and its interior is occupied by a lake-like arm of the sea, which, but for the isthmus of St Peter's less than a mile in width, would cut it into two parts. It will be observed that the characters of these several coast-lines, as well as the different physical dis- tricts of the province, are well marked by the arrange- ment of the tints which distinguish the different geo- logical formations. The boundaries of these often coincide with those of ranges of hills, and the general direction both of the hills and lines of rock-formation is N. E. and S. W., which is the prevailing direction of the structure of the whole eastern part of North America. The whole contour of the country indeed, as well as the directions of its coasts, rivers, and hills, depends on the nature and arrangement of its rocks, and on the eleva- tory movements to which they have been subjected. The former determine the minor details of the surface and the coast lines : the latter, the elevation and dis- tribution of the rocky masses on the great scale. For illustrations of this, I may refer the reader to the two 14 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NOVA SCOTIA. i ge^eral sections prefixed to this chapter, in connexion with the following explanation of the colours on the map. The carmine and purple portions of the map, repre- senting the oldest rocks in the province— rocks partly ejected in a molten state from the interior of the earth, and partly metamorphosed or altered by heat, extend in an unbroken band along the whole Atlantic coast ; wide at its western end, and tapering to a point in the eastern. This belt of country is in some parts low, rugged, and broken, and in others boldly undulat- ing. It is traversed by many rocky ridges, and abounds in lakes, bogs, and streams. Its soils are often sterile and stony, though it has also large tracts of fertile soil, supporting noble forests, and fine agricultural settle- ments. Its maritime situation and numerous harbours, have made it the abode of a large fishing and trading population ; and these advantages have also given to it the capital of the province, and several of the most pros- perous towns and villages. This district is low at the Atlantic coast, and gradually rises to the height of a few hundreds of feet at its northern limit, where it de- scends somewhat suddenly to the level of the inland valleys, which in the greater part of its length separate it from the district next to be mentioned. ^t-aij The very irregular bands and patches, coloured blue, with deep carmine lines and spots, also consist of altered rocks, with others of igneous origin, poured through them from beneath ; but the whole of somewhat later age than the rocks of the Atlantic coast. This district consists in great part of elevated ridges. It includes the highest and most continuous hills in the province, none of which, however, exceed 1200 feet in height, and TABULAR ARRANQEHENT OF FORMATIONS. 15 the sources of all the principal rivers. Its hills are coyered with fertile soil, and in their natural state sup- port some of the finest forests in the country ; and it includes valuable deposits of metallic minerals. Its deep ravines, cascades, and fine wood-clothed precipices, afibrd the nearest approach to picturesque mountain scenery that a country so little elevated as Nova Scotia can boast. The portions coloured yelbw and red represent low and undulating districts, stretching in plains or narrow valleys between and into the higher lands already de- scribed. The larger of these, that coloured yellow, is the great carboniferous district, including all the valu- able deposits of coal, freestone, grindstone, gypsum, and limestone, and having fertile soils over the greater part of its surface. It is, therefore, the principal abode of the mining, quarrying, and agricultural population. The red district, which is of comparatively small di- mensions, represents the New Bed Sandstone, a later formation covered by light and productive soil, and con- taining some of the oldest and finest agricultural set- tlements. The long green band, extending along the hilly dis- trict on the south coast of the Bay of Fundy, and the isolated patches of the same colour on the opposite side of Minas Channel and Basin, are the most recent rocks in Nova Scotia, being masses of volcanic origin which have been poured through the New Bed Sandstone for- mation. They constitute marked and picturesque fea- tures in the scenery of the western counties, and along their flanks and on their summits afford fertile soils and support valuable forests. Lastly, the recent alluvium produced by the tides of 16 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NOVA SCOTIA. 1 the Bay of Fundy, and fonning marsh soils of almost inexhaustible fertility, is represented by certain limited stripes and patches of a brown colour. While, however, each of the geological formations which appear on the map, has its special influence on the contour, coast-outlines, scenery, and industrial re- sources of the country, there is a great variety of minor differences within each ; for a geological formation, though it often includes a group of rocks characterized merely as rocks by many features in common, is distin- guished from others, not so much on this ground, as by the period when it was formed, and the fossils charac- teristic of that period which it contains ; consequently we shall often find very dissimilar conditions and min- eral productions in neighbouring parts of the same geological district. Such being the general physical features of Nova Scotia, it belongs to us, as geologists, to inquire into the structure of its different rock-formations, the various materials of which they are composed, the manner in which they were formed, the periods of the earth's his- tory in which they were produced, and the evidences they afford of the condition of the earth in those periods, the fossils which are embedded in them, and the useful minerals which they contain. No farther introduction will be required to enable the non-geological reader to understand the conclusions arrived at on these subjects, as well as in some degree the manner in which geolo- gists reach these conclusions. Nature, when carefully examined and minutely described, is her own best in- terpreter ; and I have endeavoured so to arrange the subjects treated of, as to lead gradually from those mod- em causes and changes with which nearly all are famil- I ^ KJ ^vHIgg: TABULAR ARRANGEMENT OF FORMATIONS. ir i vanous iar, to the more ancient natural processes and events, which can be understood only by calling the modem conditions of the earth's surface as witnesses to prove the nature and origin of their predecessors. Fortu- nately Nova Scotia affords in its modern deposits many remarkable parallels to the conditions evidenced by its rock-formations; and when we fail to discover such analogies within the province, they can generally be obtained by a reference to other countries with which the greater number of intelligent persons are familiar. Should any farthier aid be required, it may be obtained by a reference to any of those elementary geological works which are now so numerous and accessible. For these reasons, I shall not detain the reader with any geological information of a general character, other than that contained in the following table, which shows the formations already noticed in connexion with the map and sections, in their relation to the complete geological series, as represented in the rocks of Britain and those of the great mainland of North America. Tabular View of Rock Formations in Nova Scotia, com- pared vnth those of England, the United States, and Canada. Systems or Groups of Forniationu. NameR and Lncalities in England, United States, and Canada. Names and Localities in Nova Scotia, &c. I. MODERN AND POST TEUTIAUY. Modern. Peat Mosses, Shell Marls, Estuary De- posits and Deltas, River Alluvia. Peat Bogs and Savannahs, River Inter- vales, Marshes. B 18 OEMEBAL DESCRIPTION OP MOYA SCOTIA. P/».* p;;«—* / Superficial gravels "> Gravel ridges i-otfi-itocene. -^ and Raised Beaches.]" and mounds. ( I Newer Pliocene. n. TERTIARY. Boulder-formation, Cavern deposits, Upper Crag, Eng- land. Boulder-formation, United States. Boulder-forma- tion or drift. Older Pliocene. Lower Crag, Eng- land. Tertiary Clay and Sand of North Caro- lina, Maryland, &c. Not found in Nova Scotia. Miocene. Eocene. Tertiary Clays and Sands of North Ca- rolina, Maryland, New York, Massa chusetts, &c. • Not found in Nova Scotia. Bagshot beds, Lon- don Clay, &c. Green Sands and Marls of Maryland and Virginia. Limestones & Clays of Carolines, Geor- ^ gia, &c. Not found in Nova Scotia. TABULAR ABBAMOEMBNT OF F0BMATI0N8. 19 in. BECOMDARY OR MESOZOIC. Cretaceous: Wealden, Oolite, Lias. Trias. Chalk, Greensand, ' Kentish Rag, &c., England. Yellow Limestone and Greensand of New Jersey, &c. Weald Clays and ' Limestone, Hast- ings Sand, Purbeck beds, England. Portland beds, Eim- meridge Clay, Coral rag, Oxford Clay, Combrash, Great Oolite and Stones- field Slate, Fuller's Earth, Inferior Oo- lite, England. Argillaceous Lime- stone, Marl and Clay of Lyme Begis, &c., England. Sandstone, Shale & Coal of Bichmond, Virginia. Upper New Bed Sandstone, Eng- land. New Bed Sandstone of Connecticut,&c.? Not found in Nova Scotia. Not found in Nova Scotia. Not found in Nova Scotia. Not found in Nova Scotia. New Red Sand- stone of Nova Scotia and Prince Ed- ward Island? io GENERAL DE80RIPTIOM OF NOVA 8C0TIA.- IV. PRIMARY OR PALAEOZOU'. ! ■ Permian. Carhon\ferous. Devonutn. \ \-^m\- Magnesian Lime- stone and Lower New Red Sand- stone, England. New Red Sandstone of Connecticut, &c.? Goal Measures, Mill- stone Grit and Car- boniferous or Moun- tain Limestone, England. Coal Measures and Lower Carbonifer- • ous Limestone, Sandstone & Con- glomerate of Penn- sylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, &c. Old Red Sandstone, " and Slaty and Cal- ciferous rocks of South Devon, Eng- land. Old Red Sandstone, Chemung group. Portage group, Ge- nesee Slate, Tully Limestone, Hamil- ton group, Marcel- lus Slate, Corni- ferous Lknestone, Onondaga Lime- stone, Schoharie New Red Sand- stone of Nova Scotia and Prince Ed- ward Island, if not belong- ing to group above. Upper & Middle Coal-forma- tion, & Lower Carboniferous Limestone, Gypsum, Marl, Sandstone, ^ Conglomerate of Nova Scoti>». & Cape Breton Fossiliferous Slates of Bear River, Nictau, New Canaan, Pictou, Ari- saig, &c. Per- •«< TABULAR ARRANGEMENT OF FORMATIONS. 21 led Sand- 1 • of Nova 1 a and 1 r 36 Ed- ■ Island, H >t belong- H to group H 1 r& Middle 1 -forma- 1 & Lower 1 >oniferous 1 istone, 1 Upper mm, Marl, 1 Silurian stone, &, H glomerate 1 )va Scoti}^ 1 PC Breton 1 Lower Silurian. Grit, Cauda-galli GritjOris^anySand- stone of New York. Upper Calcareous Schist and Sand- stone of Gaspe, Lower Canada ; Upper Limestone, Upper Canada. Brecon Limestone, Ludlow Limestone and Shale, Wen- lock or Dudley Limestone, Eng- land. Silurian rocks of New York, &c. from the Upper Penta- merus Limestone to the Gray Sand- stbne, inclusive. Limestone and Schist of Gasp^ (chiefly). Lower Canada. Caradoc Sandstones, 1 Llandeilo Flags & Schists, England. Silurian rocks of New York from the Hudson Kiver group to the Pots- dam Sandstone, in- clusive. Conglomerate Lime- stone, Tourette's Sandstone, Grapto- lite Schist, of Lower Canada. haps also parts of the meta- morphic rocks of the Cobe- qnid and Pic- tou hills, &c. Possibly someof the Metamor- phic, non-fos- siliferous rocks of Nova Scotia and Cape Bre- ton, and per- haps some of th'i fossilifer- oiTS slates, the fossils of which have not yet been deter- mined and compared. Possibly some of the Metamor- phic, non-fos- ► siliferous rocks of Atlantic coaet of Nova Scotia. n OBMIHAL DESCRIPTION OP NOVA SCOTIA. V. AZOIC. Azote* Oldest Metamorphic rocks of Canada. Possibly some of the Metamor- phic, non-fos- siliferouB rocks of Nova Scotia and Cape Bre- ton. The English formations in the above Table have been taken from Lyell's Elements. Those of the United States from Marcou's Geological Map. i'.. 5- ■ I ii I ii r--%ttmmmAMim CHAPTER III. MODERN ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. MAR8UES— SUBMARINE FORESTS— INTERYALKS— LAKE DE- POSITS — INFUSORIAL EARTH — LAKE MARGINS — PEAT BOOS. The western part of Nova Scotia presents some fine examples of marine alluvial soils. The tide-wave that sweeps to the north-east, along the Atlantic coast of the United States, entering the fiinnel-like mouth of the Bay of Fundy, becomes compressed and elevated, as the sides of the bay gradually approach each other, until in the narrower parts the water runs oi the rate of six or seven miles per hour, and the vertical rise of the tide amounts to sixty feet or more. In Cobequid and Ghieg- necto Bays, these tides, to an laccustomed spectator, have rather the aspect of .u ire convulsion of na- ture than of an ordinary v phenomenon. At low tide, wide flats of brown mud are seen to extend for miles, as if the sea had altogether retired from its bed ; and the distant channel appears as a mere stripe of muddy water. At the commencement of flood, a slight ripple is seen to break over the edge of the flats. It m' MODERN ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. II rushes swiftly forward, and, covering the lower flats al- most instantaneously, gains rapidly on the higher swells of mud, which appear as if they were being dissolved in the turbid waters. At the same time the torrent of red water enters all the channels, creeks, and estuaries ; surging, whirling, and foaming, and often having in its front a white, breaking wave, or " bore," which runs steadily forward, meeting and swallowing up the re- mains of the ebb still trickKng down the channels. The mud flats are soon covered, and then, as the stranger sees the water gaining with noiseless and steady rapidity on the steep sides of banks and cliffs, a sense of insecurity creeps over him, as if no limit could be set to the advancing deluge. In a little time, how- ever, he sees that the fiat, " hitherto shalt thou come and no farther," has been issued to the great bay tide : its retreat commences, and the waters rush back as ra- pidly as they entered. The rising tide sweeps away the fine material from everv exposed bank and cliff, and becomes loaded with muc!. and extremely fine sand, which, as it stagnates at high water, it deposits in a thin layer on the surface of the flats. This layer, which may vary in thickness from a quarter of an inch to a quarter of a line, is coarser and thicker, at the outer edge of the flats than nearer the shore ; and hence these flats, as well as the marshes, are usually higher near the channels than at their inner edge. From the same cause, th^ more rapid deposition of the coarser sediment, the lower side of the layer is arenaceous, and sometimes dotted over with films of mica, while the upper side is fine and slimy, and when dry has a shining and polished surface. The falling tide has little effect on these deposits, and hence .ffi»V?0' MARSHES^ 25 the gradual growth of the flats, until they reach such a height that they can be overflowed only by the high spring tides. They then become natural or salt marsh, covered with the coarse grasses and carices which grow in such places. So far the process is carried on by the hand of nature ; and before the colonization of Nova Scotia, there were large tracts of this grassy alluvium to excite the wonder and delight of the first settlers on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. Man, howeVer, carries the land-making process farther; and by diking and draining, excludes the sea water, and produces a soil capable of yielding for an indefinite period, without manure, the most valuable cultivated grtiins and grasses. Already there are in Nova Scotia more than forty thousand acres of diked marsh or " dike," as it is more shortly called, the average value of which cannot be estimated at less than twenty pounds currency per acre. The undiked flats, bare at low tide, are of immensely greater extent. The differences in the nature of the deposit in differ- ent parts of the flats, already noticed, produce an im- portant difference in the character of the marsh soils. In the higher parts of the marshes, near the channels, the soil is red and comparatively friable. In the lower parts, and especially near the edge of the upland, it passes into a gray or bluish clay called " blue dike," or, from the circumstance of its containing many vege- table fragments and fibres, " corky dike." These two varieties of marsh differ very materially in their agri- cultural value. It often happens, however, that in the growth of the deposit, portions of blue marsh become buried under red deposits, so that on digging, two layers or strata are found markedly different from each other; He MODEBM ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. in colour and other properties ; and this change may be artificially produced by digging channels to admit the turbid red waters to overflow the low blue marsh. The red marsh, though varying somewhat in quality, is the best soil in the province, and much of it compares favourably with the most celebrated alluvial soils of the old and new worlds. The following analysis of recently deposited marsh mud from Truro, will serve to show the composition of this kind of soil. Moisture, . -5 Organic matter, . . . 1-5 SodaT^*' [-as common ss u *095 tit, . .115 SolublQ Potash, . ^013 in Water. 8«lphuncAo.d,|„g^ •073 ram, . .Qgi Alumina, . •oos Magnesia, . -004 ' Carbonate of Lime, . 3^60 Oxide of Iron, . 2-74 Soluble in Alumina, . 1^20 Hydrochloric - Magnesia, . -11 Acid. Soda and Potash, . . -8 Phosphoric Acid, . . -09 Silicious Sand (very fine ), • . 88-00 So valuable is this soil, though nearly destitute of organic matter, that it is found profitable to cart it upon the upland as a manure. Its best varieties have now been cropped without manure for more than two cen- turies, without becoming unproductive; though there can be no question that under this treatment a gradual diminution of its fertility is perceptible. The weakest point of the marsh land, judging from the above an- alysis, is its small proportion of phosphates. It is prob- ■fiJHiiiKWMMBM MARSHES. $7 ige may be I admit the larsh. in quality, it compares soils of the of recently re to show •5 1-5 '095 •115 •013 •073 •061 •005 •004 3-60 2-74 1-20 •11 •8 •09 88-00 istitute of ^rt it upon lave now two cen- igh there |a gradual weakest kbove an- is prob- able, however, that this is in part compensated by thei presence of fish bones and other matters of organic ongiay which do not appear in an analysis. Yet I have no doubt that the cheapest manure for failing marsh will be found to be bone dust or guano, which, by sup- plying phosphates, will restore it nearly to its original condition. There seems no reason to suppose that a soil with the fine mixture of mineral ingredients present in the marsh mud, requires any artificial supply of am- moniacal matters. Draining is well known to be essen- tial to the fertility of the marshes, and many valuable tracts of this land are now in an unproductive condition firom its neglect. The fertility of failing marsh may also be restored by admitting the sea to cover it with a new deposit. This remedy, however, involves the loss of several crops, as some years are required to remove from the new soil its saline matter. It is, however, observed, that in some situations the newly diked marsh produces spontaneously a crop of couch grass and other upland plants, the seeds of which must have been washed into the sea by streams and deposited with the mud. The low or inner marsh, which I have previously mentioned, under its other names of blue marsh and corky dike, is much less valuable than the red. It contains, however, much more vegetable matter, and sometimes approaches to the character of a boggy swamp ; so that when a quantity of it is taken out and spread over the upland, it forms a useful manure. It emits a fetid smell when recently turned up, and the water oozing from it stains the ground of a rusty colour. It produces in its natural state crops of coarse grass, but when broken up is unproductive, with the sole MOllKRN J^LLVVIAL DKrOBITfi. exception that rtuik crops of uatH can BomutimcB be obtained fVoni it. The duMuicul coniposition of this Bingulnr soil, bo unlike (ho red mud from which it is produced, involves some clianges which nrt^ of interest lx)th in Agriculture nnd gei>)og-y. The red uuirslt derives its colour from the |)eroxide of iiim. In the gray or blue marsh, the iron exists in the state of a sulphuret^ as may easily be proved by exiKwing a piece of it to a red heat, when a strong sulph\irous odour is exhaled, and the red colour is rostori'd. The change is pnHluced by the action of thcr nnitnal an«l vegetable matters present in the mud. These in^ their decay luwe a strong afllnity for oxygen, by virtue of which they decompose the sulphuric acid present in siMV-water in the forms of sulphate of mag- nesia nnd sulphate of lime. The suphur thus liberated enters into combination with hydrogen, obtained from the organic matter or from water, and the product is sulph»n"etted hydrogen, the gas which gives to the mud its unpleasiuit smell. This guss, dissolved in the water which ()ermeates the mud, enters into combination with the oxide of ii\>n, prinUioing a sulphuret of iron, which, with the remmns of the organic matter, serves to colour the marsh blue or gray. The sulphuret of iron remains unchanged while siibmerged or water-soaked ; but when exposed to the atmosphere, the oxygen of the air acts upon it, and it jxisses into sulphate of iron or green vitriol, — a substance ixiisonous to most cultivated crops, and which when dried or exposed to the action of alca- line 8ul>stances, deiwsita the hydrated brown oxide of iron. Hence the biul effects of disturbing the blue marsh, and hence also the rusty colour of the water flowing from it. The remedies for this condition of the II I .i ft l H i n ii iMfH i "^* ■ —• ' « V « MAIlHIIKfl. 29 soil are draining und liming. Draining adtnitR air and romoves the saline water. liinie docompoaes the tiul- phato of iron, and produces sulphate of lime and oxide of iron, both of whioh are useful substances to the farmer. This singular and oomplioated series of processes, into all the details of which I have not entered, is of especial interest to the geologist, as it explains the causes which have produced the gray colour and abun- dance of Kulphnret of iron observed in many ancient rooks, whioh like the blue marsh have been produced from red sediment, changed in colour by the presence of organic mutter. It also explains the origin of those singular stains, which, in rocks coloured by iron, so often accompany organic remains, or testily to the for- mer existence of those which have passed awUy. Much geological interest attaches to the marine allu- vium of the Bay of Fundy, from the great breadth of it laid bare at low tide, and the facilities which it in con- sequence affords for the study of sun-cracks, impressions of rain-drops, footprints of animals, and other appear- ances which we find imitated on many ancient rocks. The genuineness of these ancient traces, us well as their mode of preservation, can bo illustrated and proved only by the study of modern deposits. I quote a summary of facts of this kind from a paper on rain-prints by Sir Charles Lyell, who was the first to direct attention to these phenomena as exhibited in the Bay of Fundy.* " The sediment with which the waters are charged is extremely fine, being derived from the destruction of clilTs of red sandstone and shale, belonging chiefly to * Journal of London Ueologival Society, vol. vii. p. 239. 80 HODBRN ALLUVIAL DBP08IT8. i the coal-measures. On the borders of even the smallest estuaries communicating with a bay, in which the tides rise nxty feet and upwards, large areas are laid dry for nearly a fortnight between the spring and neap tides, and the mud is then baked in summer by a hot sun, so that it becomes solidified and traversed by cracks caused by shrinkage. Portions of the hardened mud may then be taken up and removed without injury. On examin- ing the edges of each slab, we observe numerous layers, formed by successive tides, usually very thin, sometunes only one-tenth of an inch thick, — of unequal thickness however, because, according to Dr Webster, the night- tides rising a foot higher than the day-tides, throw down more sediinent. When a shower of rain falls, the highest portion of the mud-covered flat is usually too hard to receive any impressions ; while that recently uncovered by the tide, near the water's edge, is too soft. Between these areas a zone occurs almost as smooth and even as a looking-glass, on which every drop forms a cavity of circular or oval form, and if the shower be transient, these pits retain their shape permanently, being dried by the sun, and being then too firm to be effaced by the action of the succeeding tide, which deposits upon them a new layer of mud. Hence we find on splitting open a slab an inch or more thick, on the upper surface of which the marks of recent rain occur, that an inferior layer, deposited perhaps ten or fourteen tides previously, exhibits on its under surface perfect casts of rain-prints which stand out in relief, the moulds of the same being seen in the layer below." After mentioning that a continued shower of rain . obliterates the more regular impressions, and produces merely a blistered or uneven surfince, and describing 552 8UBMABINB FOBESTS* 81 minutely the characteristics of trae rain-marks in their most perfect state, Sir Charles adds : — "On some of the specimens the winding tubular tracks of worms are seen, which have been bored just beneath the surface. Sometimes the worms have dived beneath the surface, and then reappeared. Occasionally the same mud is traversed by the footprints of birds {Tringa Minuta)^ and of musk rats, minks, dogs, sheep, and cats. The leaves also of the elm, maple, and oak trees have been scattered by the winds over the soft mud, and having been buried under the deposits of suc- ceeding tides, are found on dividing the layers. When the leaves themselves are removed, very faithful im- pressions, not only of their outline, but of their minutest veins, are left imprinted on the clay." We have here a perfect instance in a modem deposit, of phenomena which we shall have to notice in some of the most ancient rocks ; and it is only by such minute studies of existing nature, that we can hope to interpret those older appearances. Submarine Forests. — A still more striking geological fact connected with the marshes, is the presence beneath them of stumps of trees still rooted in the soil, and other indications which prove that much if not the whole of this marine alluvium rests on what once was upland soil supporting forest trees ; and thai by some change of level, these ancient forests have been submerged and buried under the tidal deposits. To illustrate this, I may describe one of the best instances of these subma- rine forests with which I am acquainted. It occurs on the edge of the marsh, near the mouth of the La Planche river in Cumberland county, at the extremity of Fort d2 MODfiBN ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. Lawrence ridge which separates the La Planche from the Missaquash ; and may be well seen in the neigh- bourhood of a pier which has recently been erected there. Tl' , upland of Fort Lawrence slopes gently down to- ward the diked marsh, on crossing which we find out- side the (like a narrow space of salt marsh thinly covered with coarse grass and samphire {Salicomia)^ and at the outer edge cut away by the neap tides so as to present a perpendicular step about five feet in height. Below thb is seen at low tide a sloping expanse of red mud, in places cut away into furrows by the tides, and in other places covered with patches of soft recently deposited mud. Oii this slope I saw impressions of rain-drops, sun-cracks, tracks of sandpipers and crows, and abun- dance of the shells of the little Sanguinolaria Fusca^ a shell very common in the muddy parts of the Bay of Fundy. There were also a few long straight furrows, still quite distinct in August, but which I was informed had been ploughed by the ice in the past spring. At the distance of 326 paces from the abrupt edge of the marsh, and about 25 feet below the level of the highest tides, which here rise in all about 40 feet, I saw the first of the rooted stumps, which appear in a belt of sand, gravel and stones mixed with mud, which inter- venes between the slope of mud already mentioned and the level of low tide. Beyond the stump first seen, and extending to a depth of at least 30 to 35 feet below the level of high tide, other stumps were irregularly scat- tered as in an open wood. The lowest stump seen was 135 paces beyond the first; and between it and the water level there was a space of 170 paces without stumps, but with scattered fragments of roots and trunks. 8UDMARINB FORESTS. 83 which may have belonged to rooted trees broken up and swept away by the ice. On digging under and around some of the stumps, they were found to be rooted in a soil having all the characters of forest soil. In one place it was a red- dish sandy loam, like the ordinary upland of Fort Law- rence. In another place it was a black vegetable soil resting on a white sandy subsoil. Immediately over the soil were the remains of a layer of tough bluish clay, with a few vegetable fibres, apparently rootlets of grasses, which seemed to have been the first layer of marsh mud deposited over the upland soil. All the rootlets of the stumps were entire and covered with their bark, and the appearances were perfectly conclusive as to their being in the place of their growth. Of thirty or forty stumps which I examined, the greater number were pine {Pinu8 Strobus)^ but a few were beech {Fagtts Ferruginea) ; and it is worthy of note that these are trees characteristic rather of dry up- land than of low or swampy ground. The pine stumps were quite sound, though somewhat softened and discol- oured at the surface. The beech, on the other hand, though retaining much of the appearance of sound wood in the interior, is quite charred at the surface, and is throughout so soft and brittle that large trunks and roots can be cut through with a spade or broken with a slight blow. Owing to their softness the beech stumps are worn down almost to the level of the mud, while some of the pines project more than a foot : even these last are, however, much crushed by the pressure of the ice, which with the tides must eventually remove them* The largest stump observed was a pine two feet six inches in diameter, and showing more than two hundred C §4 MODERN ALLUVIAL DEPChBITS. annual rings of growth. I was informed by respectable and intelligent persons that similar appearances have beeA observed on the opposite side of the La Planche, and in various other places in Cumberland Basin. It is only, however, in places where the marsh is being cut away by the current that they can be seen, and the stumps when laid bare are soon removed by the ice. Similar beds of stumps and vegetable soil are also occa- sionally disclosed in digging ditches in the shallower parts of the marshes, and there appears little reason to doubt that the whole of the Cumberland marshes rest on old upland surfaces. A submerged forest is also said to appear at the mouth of the Folly River in Cobequid Bay ; and peaty soils and trunks and stumps of trees are of frequent occurrence in digging in the marshes of King's and Annapolis counties. It would seem, there- fore, that these appearances are somewhat general throughout the marsh country. With respect to the age of these submerged stumps, there can be little difference of opinion. They belong to the modem period in geology ; and judging from the state of preservation of the wood, after making every allowance for the preservative effect of the salt mud, not to the very oldest part of that period. Yet their antiquity is considerable. The marshes are known to have existed in their present state for two hundred and fifty years ; and since these trees grew and were sub- merged, all the mud of the marshes must have accumu- lated, at least in its present position. Here then we have a modem phenomenon involving great physical changes in the relations of land and water, and rivalling some of those geological events of which we have evi- dence in the older rocks. mmm mm SUBMARINE F0BE8TB. 85 ■ How did this change of the sea level occur ? Only two cau8es can be assigned. It must have been either the rupture of a barrier previously excluding the sea water, or an actual sinking or subsidence of the whole of the western part of the province. The first of these suppositions is that which most readily recommends it- self to the popular mind, and we have at no great dis- tance an instance on a small scale of the effect which might be produced by the rupture of a sea barrier. At the mouth of the St John river, there is a transverse ridge of rock which obstructs the entrance of the tide and the exit of the river water. At low tide the river water falls outward over the ridge. At about half tide the water within and that without are on a level. At high tide there is a strong i.dl of the tide water inward. Without the barrier the tide rises from twenty to twenty- five feet ; within it raises the level of the water only about four feet Now there can be no question that if this barrier were removed, the tide would daily raise the river to a height which it now attains only in times of flood, while at low tide it would be laid dry to a great depth. If such a change had occurred at some former period, marshes might be found to exist in places which had at one time supported terrestrial plants. Against the application of this explanation, however, to the sub- marine forests of the Bay of Fundy, we have the great extent of the barrier required, the absence of any exist- ing remains of it, and the great depth below high water at which the rt jains exist ; as it is difficult to suppose that the existence of any barrier, even if it wholly ex- cluded the tide, could produce dry upland at such a level. The effect would rather be the production of a lake, or ^at the utmost of a morass. For these reasons it can \ hi «l 86 MODERN ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. scarcely be supposed that any cause of this kind can apply. It only remains to believe that a subsidence has taken place over a considerable area and to a depth of about forty feet. We have no distinct evidence to show whether this has been sudden or gradual, but an- alogy would lead us to suppose that it was the latter. If a gradual subsidence of this kind has occurred in times geologically modem, the question remains, has it ceased, or is the country still subsiding, as Newfound- land and the south of Sweden are supposed to be doing ? There are some facts which would seem to indicate that it is. In some localities portions of marsh formerly re- claimed have been abandoned, and it is said that it is now more difficult to maintain the dikes than formerly. We may, however, readily account for all this by sup- posing that the mud has settled, or that the tides have increased in height or have changed in their direction, in consequence of the contraction of the channels by the diking of new portions of marsh land. We are not therefore under the necessity of arriving at the unpleas- ant conclusion that our fertile marshes are again settling down beneath the level of the sea, or that the waters of the bay are likely to overflow the upland farms. I would ask the non-geological reader to pause here, to remark that, in the mud-deposits of the Bay of Fun- dy, we have an example of a geological formation en- closing remains and traces of several of the animals and plants now inhabiting the province or its shores ; and that if in consequence of the colonization of the country, or any physical change, these creatures or any of them were to become extinct, we might find, in digging into the marshes or by examining their borders, traces of the former existence of such extinct animals or plants, just as i SUBMARINE FORESTS. 37 tbe remains of the now extinct European beaver and Irish gigantic stag are found in the peat bogs and lake deposits of Qreat Britain. Farther, we have in the Mubmarine forests the evidence of extensive changes of level ; and if we suppose that by such changes occurring in the future, the marshes were to be buried under new deposits until they had been consolidated into rock by pressure, by aqueous infiltration of mineral substances, or by internal heat, and then elevated again to the sur- face, we should have in their hardened masses a variety of facts which if properly interpreted would throw much light on the present condition of the country. By bear- ing in mind these obvious conclusions, much time and perplexity may be avoided, when we arrive at the con- sideration of ancient formations to which changes of these kinds have actually happened. , The principal localities of diked marshes in Nova Scotia are, Ghiegnecto Bay and Cumberland Basin, Gobequid Bay, Minas Basin and Annapolis Basin, all of which are parts of the Bay of Fundy. The quantity of marsh in these several places appears from the census of 1851 to be as follows : — Chiegnecto Bay and Cumberland Basin, 16170 acres Cobequid Bay, . . . 7139 — Minas Basin, 10280 — Annapolis Basin^ . . . . 2793 — 36382 — A considerable breadth of marsh on the New Bruns- wick side of Chiegnecto Bay, is not included in the above statement. The value of the marshes in an agricultural point of view can hardly be overrated. For the maintenance of 88 MODERN ALLUVIAL DEPOSIT?. cattle and the production of butter and cheese, the marsh' counties of Nova Scotia possess facilities unsurpassed and perhaps unequalled by those of any other part of North America. T^e principal Freah-water Alluvia are the river in- tervales, and the deposits forming in the beds of lakes. The intervales occur on the banks of all the streams. They usually consist of fine friable soil resting on hard gravel, and they constitute most productive land for ftuming purposes, while their fine elms and alder copses form most pleasing features in our river valleys. I am not aware that they present any geological features re- quiring detailed notice. The lake deposits must be very considerable in amount, as there is an immense number of lakes all receiving sediment from the streams which flow into them. On the most detailed maps of Nova Scotia, about 400 lakes, varying in length from half a mile to fifteen miles, may be counted, and these are but a part, perhaps not much more than half, of the whole number. The mud forming in the bottoms of these lakes must contain large quantities of the remains of fresh water fishes, shell-fish, and other animals, as well as of terrestrial quadrupeds that have been drowned in them or killed on their margins ; and should these lakes be artificially drained, such remains may excite much interest. At present, however, I shall refer to only one kind of lake deposit, which is curious as an evidence of the large quantity of matter that may be accumulated by the growth and death of successive gen* erations of creatures too small to be observed individually except by the microscope. This is the substance knoM'n to naturalists as lT\fusorial earth, and which has been FRESH-WATER ALLUVIA. 39 found to abound not only in the deposits from modern waters, but in some ancient rocks, of which it appears indeed sometimes to form the mass. It is, ast found in Nova Scotia, a white and when dry very light friable earth, having a floury texture, and showing when ex- amined in a bright light an infinity of minute shining specks. A little of it difiused in a drop of water, and viewed through a powerful microscope, presents thou- sands of curiously formed cylindrical, bow-shaped, and rounded transparent bodies, which consist of pure silica or flint, and are the shells which once covered creatures belonging to a tribe of infusoria named BacillaricB^ which swarm in stagnant waters, and appear to occupy a place in nature on the confines of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. The shells of these creatures, mixed with a very little earthy sediment, form beds several feet in thickness in some lakes and ponds. The hard- ness, sharpness, and minute size of these shells render the mass composed of them useful as a polishing mate- rial ; the best tripoli being in fact an earth of this de- scription. The only specimens of infusorial earth in my possession, and found in Kova Scotia, are from the hills of Earlton and Comwallis. That from the last named locality is the finer of the two. It was discoRstecially in the rocky districts of the Atlantic coast. The largest that I have observed are the Savannahs, near Clyde river in Shelburne, and the Carriboo bog of Aylesford. With respect to the geological features of these deposits, I may notice : First, that they consist of vegetable matter which has grown on the spot, and has accumulated, because in water- soaked soils the decay of dead vegetable matter proceeds more slowly than the acquisition of new matter by grow- ing vegetation from the air and water. Secondly, The vegetable matter in bogs, forming a black carbonaceous mass, has entered on the first stage of the changes by which it may be converted into coal ; and it is not un- usual to find in the bottom of such bogs a substance much resembling ordinary bituminous coal. Thirdly, The organic acids produced by the vegetable matter, when long saturated in water, remove from the subsoil of the bogs the oxides of iron and manganese, as well HS lime and the other alkaline earths ; hence the sub- soils of bogs usually consist of bleached whitish sand or 42 MODERN ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. clay of a very unprodnctive character. There are • few exceptions to this in localities where the soil con- tains a very large proportion of lime. On the other handf when the underlying rocks contain bi-sulphnret of iron, as is the case in some parts of the slate dis- tricts, the sulphuric acid produced from this mineral gives a still greater degree of acidity to the bog, while the iron is sometimes in too great quantity to be re- moved entirely. Fourthly, The iron and manganese, removed in the manner above mentioned, are deposited, usually in rounded kernels, at the outlets of such bogs, or in the soils through which their waters soak, and become partially exposed to the air. In this way small quantities of bog iron or« ?nd bog manganese ore are formed in the vicinity of many swamps. All these facts respecting bogs have their analogues on a large scale in our ancient rock-formations. The bogs when drained, and their surface dressed with sand, or sand and lime, to supply the silicious and calcareous matter in which they are deficient, are ex- cellent soils, second only to diked marsh in their pro- ductiveness in hay and oats. Portions of bog have already been reclaimed in tiiis way in several of the counties, and there can be no doubt that many tracts of this description, more especially in the less fertile por- tions of the province, require only the application o£ skill and industry to render them valuable. CHAPTER IV. THE DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OB BOULDEB FORMATION. UNSTRATIFIED DRIFT TRAVELLED BOULDERS 8TRIATED ROCK SURFACES PEAT UNDER BOULDER CLAY ORIGIN OF DRIFT STRATIFIED GRAVELS REMAINS OF MASTO^ DON. The deposits last described are found in the bed or on the margin of the existing waters, and they rest on the ordinary upland soils, which are consequently older than they. These soils and subsoils, which are often of great depth, and which over a great part of the pro- vince completely hide the rocks which lie beneath, be- long to the formation which we are now to describe. The soils and subsoils of any country, so far at least as tliey consist of mineral matter, are as a matter of course derived from the waste of the rocks of which that coun- try is composed. Hence we are in no way surprised to find the soil overlying sandstone rocks to be sandy, that over shales and slates to consist in great part of clay, or that overlying limestone to be calcareous ; and we may attribute such appearances to the mere waste or decay of the underlying rock, by the action of the air, the 44 DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OR BOULDER FORMATION. water, aiid the frost. This waste may have been pro- ceeding ever since the country emerged from beneath the deep, and need not necessarily belong to one geo- logical period more than to another. But the case be- comes very different where we find the soil to consist of or to contain materials for whose presence we cannot account by any causes now in operation in the locality ; and that this is the case with the formation now under consideration, may be inferred from the names which stand at the head of this division of the subject — names which are applicable to the surface deposit over the greater part of the northern temperate and arctic lati- tudes. If we examine the malierials exposed in ordinary ex- cavations, or on the coasts and river banks, and which extend from the surface down to the solid rocks, we find them to consist of clay or sand intermixed with large stones, or it may be occasionally of large stones with their interstices filled with soil, or possibly in a few localities of rolled gravel, like that found on the beach or in river beds. If our inquiries proceed a little beyond a mere glance at these at first sight not very interesting materials, we may discover that the large stones in the drift are of very different kinds. Some of them, perhaps the greater number, may be of the same kind with the rocks occurring in situ in the vicinity. Others are of kinds not found in place except at great distances. It is farther observable that the clay or sand containing large stones, is not arranged in layers, but that its materials are confusedly intermixed. The fine rounded gravel, however, is not only comparatively free from large stones, but it is arranged in beds or layers, often with bands of sand between. By observing these UN8TRATIFIED DBIFT. 45 differences, the student of the superficial deposits will soon learn to divide them into two classes, the till or boulder sand and clay, and the stratified gravels. The Unstratijied Drijt may be viewed as consisting of a base or paste including angular and rounded frag- ments of rocks. The base varies from a stiff clay to loose sand, and its composition and colour generally de- pend upon those of the underlying and neighbouring rocks. Thus over sandstones it is arenaceous, over shales argillaceous, and over conglomerates and hard slates pebbly or shingly. The greater number of the stones contained in the drift are usually, like the paste containing them, derived from the neighbouring rock formations. These untravelled fragments are often of large size, and are usually angular, except when they are of very soft material, or of rocks whose corners read- ily weather away. It is unnecessary to give illustra- tions of these facts. Any one can observe, that on passing from a granitic district to one composed of slate, or from slate to sandstone, the character of the loose stones changes accordingly. It is also a matter of fa- miliar observation, that in proportion to the hardness or softness of the prevailing rocks, the quantity of these loose stones increases or diminishes. In some of the quartzite and granite districts of the Atlantic coast, the surface seems to be heaped with boulders with only a little soil in their interstices, and every little field, cleared with immense labour, is still half filled with huge white masses popularly known as "elephants." On the other hand, in the districts of soft sandstone and shale, one may travel some distance without seeing a boulder of considerable size. 46 DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OR BOULDKR FORMATION. Though I have called these fragments untravelled, it by no means follows that they are undisturbed. They have been lifted from their ori^nal beds, heaped upon each other in every variety of position, and intermixed with sand and clay, in a manner which shows convin- cingly that the sorting action of running water had nothing to do with the matter ; and this applies not only to stones of moderate size, but to masses of ten feet or more in diameter. It is as if a gplgan^ic harrow had been dragged over the surface, tearing up the solid rocks, and mingling their fragments in a rude and nn> sorted mass. Beside the untravelled fragments, the drift always contains boulders derived from distant localities, to which in many cases we can trace them ; and I shall mention a few instances of this to show how extensive has been this transport of detritus. In the low country of Cum- berland there are few boulders, but of the few that ap- pear some belong to the hard rocks of the Cobequid hills to the southward ; others may have been derived from the somewhat similar hills of New Brunswick. On the summits of the Cobequid hills and their northern slopes, we find angular fragments of the sandstones of the plain below, not only drifted from their original sites, but elevated several hundreds of feet above them. To the southward and eastward of the Cobequids^ throughout Colchester, Northern Hants, and Pictou, fragments from these hills, usually much rounded, are the most abundant travelled boulders, showing that there has been great driftage from this elevated tract In like manner, the long ridge of trap rocks, extending from Cape Blomidon to Briar Island, has sent off great quantities of boulders across the sandstone yalley which VMSTBATIFXU) DRIFT. 47 bounds it on the south, and up the slopes of the slate and granite hills to the southward of this valley. Well characterized fragments of trap from Blomidon may he seen near the town of Windsor ; and I have seen un> mistakahle fragments of similar rock from Digby neck, on the Tusket river, thirty miles from their original position. On the other hand, numerous boulders of granite have been carried to the northward from the hills of Annapolis, and deposited on the slopes of the opposite trappean ridge ; and some of them have been carried round its eastern end, and now lie on the shores of liondonderry and Onslow. So also, while immense numbers of boulders have been scattered over the south coast from the granite and quartz rock ridges imme- diately inland, many have drifted in the opposite direc- tion, and may be found scattered over the counties of Sydney, Pictou, and Colchester. These facts show that the transport of travelled blocks, though it may here as in other parts of America have been principally from the northward, has by no means been exclusively so ; boulders having been carried in various directions, and more ei^ecially from the more elevated and rocky dis- tricts to the lower grounds in their vicinity. As might have been expected, the removal of these travelled masses has occasioned important changes of the surface, or, to use the ordinary geological term, there has been very extensive denudation in the pro- duction of the boulder deposits. A very large propor- tion of the present features of the surface indeed result from this cause ; the ridges of Cumberland, the deep valley of Comwallis and Annapolis, the great gorges crossing the Cobequid Mountains and the western end of the North Mountains in Annapolis and Digby coun- is DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OK BOULDER FORMATION. ties, such eminences as the Greenhill in Pictou ciunty, and Onslow Mountain in Colchester, are due in great part to the removal of soft rocks by denuding agencies of this period, while the harder rocks remained in pro- jecting ridges. On the other hand, it might be shown that many masses of rock which once projected above the surface, have been greatly diminished or entirely removed. One of the most remarkable effects of the transport of surface materials, is the scratching and polishing of rock surfaces^ a phenomenon which prevails very extensively over the northern parts of America and Europe, and may be frequently observed in Nova Scotia. Indeed it is the rule rather than the exception, that when a fresh rock-surface is uncovered by the removal of the boulder clay, it is found to be smoothed and marked with strise, scratches, and furrows, usually in a uniform direction ; the whole being evidently the result of the passage of heavy and hard substances over the surface. These scratches or furrows are useful as indicating the direc- tion in which the mass of superficial detritus has been moved ; and I have even used this direction with suc- cess in tracing useful minerals found in fragments among the drift, to the sources whence they were derived. I give below the directions of the diluvial scratches in a number of localities in different parts of the province. Point Pleasant, and other places near Halifax, exposure south, very dis- tinct striae, . . . S.20°E.toS.30°E. Head of the Basin, exposure south, but in a valley, . . E. & W. nearly. La Have River, exposure S.E. S. 20° W. TKAVKLLEO BOULPRHS. 49 Petite River, exposure S. . S. 30° E. Be«r Biver, exposure K. . . S. 80° £. Bawdon, exposure N. . . S. 25° £. The Gore Mountain, exposure N., two sets of striee, respectively, S. 65° £. & S. 20° £. Windsor Road, exposure not noted, S.S.£. Gay's River, exposure N. , . Nearly S. I: N. Musquodoboit Harbour, exposure S. Nearly S. & N. Near Piotou, exposure E. in a valley. Nearly E. & W. Poison's Lake, summit of a ridge. Nearly N. & 8. Near Guysboro', exposure not noted, Nearly S. & N. Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, expos- ure 8. S. 30° W • suc- The above instances show a tendency to a southerly and south-easterly direction, which accords with the prevailing course throughout Northern America and Europe. Local circiunstances have, however, modified this prevailing direction. The travelled and untravelled boulders are usually intermixed in the drift. In some instances, however, the former appear to be most numerous near the sur- face of the mass, and their horizontal distribution is also very irregular. In examining coast sections of the drift, we may find for some distance a great abundance of angular blocks, with few travelled boulders, and then we may observe a portion of the shore or bank in which both varieties are equally intermixed, or in which travelled boulders prevail ; and we may often observe particular kinds of these last grouped together, as, for instance, a number of blocks of granite, greenstone, sye* * The above and other courses in this volume are magnetie, iht averag variation being about 18° W. -^ D fiO DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OR BOULDER FORMATION. nite, &c., all lying together, as if they had been removed from their original bods and all deposited together at one operation. On the surface of the country where the woods have been removed, this arrangement is sometimes equally evident; thus hundreds of granite boulders may be seen to cumber one limited spot, while in its neighbourhood they are comparatively rare. It is also well known to the farmers in the more rocky districts, that many spots which appear to be covered with boulders have, when these are removed, a layer of soil comparatively free from stones beneath. These ap- pearances may in some instances result from the action of currents pf water, which have in spots carried off the sand or clay, leaving the boulders behind ; but in many cases this is manifestly the original arrangement of the material. Boulders or travelled stones are often found in places where there is no other drift. For example, on bare granite hills, about 500 feet in height, near the St Ma- ry's River, there are large angular blocks of quartzite, derived from the ridges of that material which abound ill the district, but are separated from the hills on which the fragments lie by deep valleys. In Canada and the Northern States, as well as in Scotland, beds of clay containing marine shells are as- sociated with the boulder formation, and it is worthy of remark that these shells are of such species as indicate a colder or more arctic climate than that which at pre- sent prevails in those countries. In Nova Scotia I have observed nothing of this kind, and the only evidence of organic life during the boulder period or immediately before it, that I have noticed, is a hardened peaty bed which appears under the boiilder clay on the north-west ORIGIN Of DRIFT. 'arm of the River of Inhabitants. It rests upon gray clay similar to that which underlies peat bogs, and is over- laid by nearly twenty feet of boulder clay. Pressure has rendered it nearly as hard as coal, though it is somewhat tougher and more earthy than good coal. It has a glossy appearance when rubbed or scratched with a knife, burns with considerable flame, and approaches in its characters to the brown coals or more imperfect varieties of bituminous coal. It contains many small roots and branches, apparently of coniferous trees allied to the spruces. The vegetable matter composing this bed must have flourished before the drift was spread over the province, so that it belongs to some part (prob- ably one of the later parts) of the great tertiary group of rocks of which the drift is the latest member. If we ask what has been the origin of this great mass of shifted and drifted material, which overspreads the surface not only of the province we are now describing, but the greater part of the land of the northern hemi- sphere, we raise one of the most vexed questions of mod- em geology. In reasoning, however, on this subject as regards Nova Scotia, I have the advantage of appeal- ing to causes now in operation within the country, and which are at present admitted by the greater number of modern geological authorities to afford the best explana- tion of the phenomena. In the first place, it may at once be admitted that no such operations as those which formed the drift are now in progress on the surface of the land, so that the drift is a relic of a past state of things, in so far at least as regards the localities in which it now rests. In the next place, we find, on ex- amining the drift, that it strongly resembles, though ou a greater scale, the effects now produced by frost and 53 DBIFT, DILUVIUM, OK BOULDER FORMATION. floating ice. Frost breaks up the surface of the most solid rocks, and throws down cliffs and precipices. Float- ing ice annually takes up and removes immense quan- tities of loose stones from the shores, and deposits them in the bottom of the sea or on distant parts of the coasts. Very heavy masses are removed in this way. I have seen in the Strait of Ganseau large stones ten feet in diameter, that had been taken from below low water mark and pushed up upon the beach. Stones so large that they had to be removed by blasting, have been taken from the base of the cliffs at the Joggins and de- posited off the coal-loading pier, and I have seen resting on the mud flats at the mouth of the Petitcodiac river a boulder at least eight feet in length, that had been floated by the ice down the river. Another testimony to the same fact is furnished by the rapidity witli which huge piles of fallen rock are removed by the floating ice from the base of the trap cliffs of the Bay of Fuudy. Let us suppose then the surface of our province, while its projecting rocks were still uncovered by surface de- posits, exposed for many successive centuries to the ac- tion of alternate frosts and thaws, the whole of the un- travelled drift might have been accumulated on its sur- face. Let it then be submerged until its hill-tops should become islands or reefs of rocks in a sea loaded in winter and spring with drift ice, floated along by currents, which like the present arctic current, would set from N. E. to S. W. with various modifications pro- duced by local causes. We have in these causes ample means for accounting for the whole of the appearances, including the travelled blocks and the scratched and polished rock-surfaces. This, however, is only a general ■explanation. Had we time to follow it into details, STRATIFIED GRAVELS. H many most interesting and complicated facts and pro* cesses would be discovered. I mention merely one for an example, as it illustrates the manner in vrhich the land may have subsidbd beneath the boulder-bearing seas. I have stated that large blocks of sandstone from the plains of Cumberland have been carried to the sum- mits of the Cobequid mountains. When these blocks were carried to their present place, the waters must have reached to the summits of the hills ; but at that time the plain from which these blocks came must have been several hundred feet below the sea-level. How then could ice take them from such a depth ? We may fancy huge icebergs grounding in this deep water, but they could not float over the hills or ground against their summits. The explanation is that the country was grad- ually subsiding. While the water was shallow the blocks were drifted against the base of the bills. As the land sunk the ice-fields of successive years gradually pushed them higher, until the summits of the hills were submerged so deeply that the ice could no longer take up the blocks. Most of the apparent anomalies of the drift may be explained in such ways, when the theory of ice-carriage is once admitted. The stratified sand and gravel rests upon and is newer than the unstratified drift. This may often be seen in coast sections or river banks, and occasionally in road cuttings. I observed some years ago a very pretty illus- tration of this fact, in a bank on the shore a little to the eastward of Merigomish harbour (Fig. 4.) At this place the lower part of the bank consists of clay and fuuid with angular stones, principally sandstones. Upon •this rests a bed of fine sand and small rounded gravel, 54 DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OR BOULDER F0R5IATI0X. Fig. 4. Stratified Gravel resting on Drift,— Merigomlsh. with layers of coarser pebbles. The gravel is separated from the drift below by a layer of the same sort of an- gular stones that appear in the drift, showing that the currents which deposited the upper bed have washed away some of the finer portions of the diift before the sand and gravel were thrown down. In this section, as well as in most others that I have examined, the lower part of the stratified gravel is finer than the upper part, and contains more sand. It will be observed that the great distinction between the beds noAv under consideration and those last de- scribed, is that the former consist of materials sorted and rounded by currents of water, in the manner of the beaches of sand and gravel which may be seen on the coast or in the beds of rivers. In some cases we can trace these pebbles to ancient conglomerate rocks which have furnished them by their decay ; but in other in- stances the pebbles may 1 ave been rounded by the waters that deposited them in their present place. In places, however, where old pebble rocks do not occur, we sometimes find, instead of gravel, beds of fine lami- nated sand. A very remarkable instance of the con- nexion of superficial gravels with ancient pebble rocksi occurs in the county of Fictou. In the coal-formation STRATIFIED GRAVELS. 5A of this county there occurs a very thick bed of conglom- erate, the outcrop of which, owing to- Us comparative hardness and great mass, forms a high ridge extending from the hill behind New Glasgow across the East and Middle Bivers, and along the south side of the West Biver, and then crossing the West Biver reappears in Boger's Hill. The valleys of these three rivers have been cut through this bed, and the material thus re- moved has been heaped up in hillocks and beds of gravel, along the sides of the streams, on the side toward which the water now flows, which happens to be the north and north-east. Accordingly, along the course of the Albion Mines Bail way and the lov^er parts of the Middle and West Bivers, these gravel beds are everywhere ex- posed in the road cuttings, and may in some places be seen to rest on the boulder-clay, showing that the cut- ting of these valleys was completed after the drift was produced. Similar instances of the connexion of gravel with conglomerate occur near Antigonish, and on the sides of the Cobequid moimtains, where some of the valleys have at their southern entrances immense tongues of gravel extending out into the plain, as if currents of enormous volume had swept through them from north to south. The stratified gravels do not, like the older drift, form a continuous sheet spreading over the surface. They occur in mounds and long ridges, sometimes extending for miles over the country. One of the most remark- able of these ridges is the " Boar's Back," which runs along the west side of the Hebert river in Cumberland. It is a narrow ridge, perhaps from ten to twenty feet in height, and cut across in several places by the channels of small brooks. The ground on either side appears riifit •■iftiii^iiii. b6 DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OR BOULDBR FORMATION. low and flat. For eight miles it forms a natural road, rough indeed, but practicable with care to a carriage, the general direction being nearly north and south. What its extent or course may be beyond the points where the road enters on and leaves it I do not know ; but it appears to extend from the base of the Gobequid mountains to a ridge of sandstone that crosses the lower part of the Hebert river. It consists of gravel and sand, whether stratified or not I could not ascertain, with a few large boulder-stones. Another very singular ridge of this kind is that running along the west side of Clyde river in Shelbume county. This ridge is higher than that on Hebert river, but like it extends parallel to the river, and forms a natural road, improved by art in such a manner as to form a very tolerable highway. Along a great part of its course it is separated from the river by a low alluvial flat, and on the land side a swamp intervenes between it and the higher ground. These may serve as illustrations of the "boars' backs" and gravel ridges which occur in many other places, and are sometimes accompanied^ particularly where they are crossed by gullies, by circular and oval mounds, as regular as if thrown up artificially. Just as we attribute the formation of the older or boulder drift to the action of water and ice, while the land was subsiding beneath a frozen sea, so we may assign as the cause of the superficial gravels the action of these same waters while the country was being ele- vated above their level. Many of the mounds of gravel have evidently been formed by currents of water rush- ing through and scooping out the present valleys. Some of the more regular ridges are apparently of the nature of the gravel beaches which are thrown by the sea BEMAIN8 OF MASTODON. 07 kcross the mouths of bays and coves, and may mark the continuance of the sea-level unchanged for some time in the- progress of elevation. Others may have been pressed up by the edges of sheets of ice, in the manner of the ridges along the borders of our present lakes. That the action of ice in some form had not ceased, we have evi- dence in the large boulders sometimes found on the summits of the gravel ridges. In the island of Cape Breton the bones of a large elephantine quadruped, probably a species of mastodon, have been found in connexion with the superficial gravel. This gigantic creature probably inhabited our country at the close of the glacial or drift period, and may have been contemporary with some of the present animals, though probably extinct before the introduction of the human race. The existence of this huge quadru- ped does not imply a tropical or even very warm climate, since in a skeleton found in Wan*en county. New Jer- sey, fragments of twigs, found in such a position as to show that they had formed part of the food of the crea- ture, were found by microscopic examination to have belonged to a species of cypress, probably the common white cedar of America ; so that the animal probably browsed as the moose does at present, and could live in any wooded region.* One specimen found in the state of New York measured twenty-five feet in length and twelve feet in height. In Nova Scotia the animal must have attained to similar dimensions, for a thigh bono now in the museum of the Mechanics' Institute in Hali- fax, though apparently somewhat worn, measures three feet eleven inches in length. This huge bone and some • Lyell, '» Mamml of Geology." tAimillUttmdtii 58 DRIFT, DILUVIUM, OR BOULDER Fi^RMATION. fragments of a tusk, are the only ic^mains of this animid that I have seen in this 'province ; hut I am informed that others have heen found, though several of-tli'd hev\l specimens have heen unfortimately lost hy i>bip\vTeck. Not having seen the teeth, I can give no opinion as to the species, but presume it must have been the '■' Masto- don gigaateus" the species usually found in the United States. In conclusion of this part of the subject, we may view the drift period as tbe close of the great Tertiary era of geologists. In that jHyciod there was much dry land in the northern hemisphere. Hiid multitudes of large ani- mals now extinct inhabiteil u , apparently under a climate milder than at present. Oreat changes, however, took place in tLe relative positions of land and water, inducing very important changes of climate, which finally became of an almost arctic character over all the present tem- pf^rate regions. Then the greater part of northern Euiope and Asia appear to have subsided beneath the waters of the boulder-bearing semi-arctic ocean, until raised a^^ain by the fiat of the Creator to be the abode of man and the animals of the modern earth. This final elevation, marked by the superficial gravels, appears to have fixed the present contour of the country, though the extinction of the mastodon and the phenomena of submerged forests, show that important changes both in inorganic and organic nature have occurred subse- quently. We have thus, in tracing back the geological history of Nova Scotia, observed first, certain modem formations now in progress, and depending wholly on the present condition of the country. We have seen in connexion with these, evidences of subsidence of the land over an extensive area in the modem period. A REMAINS OF MASTODON. M little farther back, we have observed evidences that forra«:vly a large elephantine quadruped now extinct inhabi ^ed the province, which we find had at a time still farther back emerged from the bosom of the deep, under which it had long remained, while icebergs and floes were drifting masses of rock over its surface, and !scrapi:tig and polishing its hills. Lastly, we have found that at a still earlier period it must have been dry land, exposed to the influence of intense frost, yet having in places peat bogs on its surface. This whole history, however, reaches no farther back than the close of the Tertiary period ; and by referring to the Table in Chap- ter II. it will be observed, that between this period and the formation next to be described a great blank occurs, occupied in some other countries by some of the most wonderful monuments of the earth's history. CHAPTER V. THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. OENEKAL DISTRIBUTION RKD SANDSTONES VARIETIES OF TRAP NEW RED FROM TRURO TO AVON ESTUARY BLOMIDON TO BRIAR ISLAND. Between the drift and the New Red Sandstone, a de- posit, probably of the same age with the Permian System of geologists, there is a great hiatus in the geology of Nova Scotia. During all those periods in which the middle and older Tertiaries, the Cretace- ous and the Oolitic systems were produced, no rocks appear to have been formed within the area of our pro- vince, or if they were formed, they have been swept away. This remark applies not only to Nova Scotia, but to an immense region extending through New Bninswick, Canada, and the Northern United States ; and in some directions far beyond the limits of those countries. During those long periods, these regions, thus destitute of the newer secondary and tertiary rocks, may have been in the interior of a great continent, or in the fathomless depths of an ocean where no sediment was being deposited ; but whatever their condition, they OENEBAL OUTBIBUTION. H retain no geological monuments of the lapse of time. In passing then from the Boulder-fonnation to that which for convenience we may call the Nno Bed Sand- stone, to distinguish it from rocks of similar character but greater age, the reader may be reminded by a glance at the table in Chapter II., that we are passing at one leap over a great part of the earth's geological history. The distribution of the New Bed Sandstone, as shown on the map, indicates that, when it was deposited, the form and contour of the country already made some ap- proach to those which it still retains. Just as the marsh mud luies the coasts of the Bay of Fundy, so do we find the New Bed occupying an inner zone, and appearing to have been deposited in a bay a little wider and longer than the present one. It is indeed to this bay district that in Nova Scotia the New Bed has been chiefly confined, and it pnay have been deposited in cir- cumstances not very dissimilar from those of the present marshes, except that the older deposit is accompanied by evidence that active volcanoes poured out their lavas on the grandest scale in the waters and on the shores of the bay while its sandstones were being formed. While the New Bed Sandstone of Nova Scotia is limited to the Bay of Fundy, we have evidence in the wide extent of the same formation in Prince Edward Island, that a similar deposit was in progress in the Gulf of St Law- rence. In the gulf^ however, unlike the bay, we do not find the New Bed along the coasts, but in an isolated patch separated on all sides from the continent. I may remark here, that the New Bed Sandstone, though patches of it are scattered over several parts of North America, is nowhere very extensive. To the south- ^2 THR NEW RLD SANDSTONE. ward of Nova Scotia it reappears in Connecticut, where a band extends upward along the valley of the river ; and in New Jersey, where another band commences that extends a great distance to the south-east, some isolated patches occurring as far south as North Caro- lina. Westward of Prince Edward Island, the nearest locality is the Bay de Chaleur, along the north side of which a belt of this formation appears. Beyond this place no similar rock appears until we reach Lake Superior, where we find an extensive deposit of red sandstone, associated with the trap so celebrated on account of its copper deposits. The age, however, of this deposit 4s doubtful; some geologists maintaining that it is New Bed Sandstone, while others assign to it a much older date.* The aqueous rocks of the New Red Sandstone period in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, are princi- pally coarse and soft red sandstones with a calcareous cement, which causes them to effervesce with acids, and contributes to the fertility of the soils formed from them. In the lower part of the formation, there are conglom- erates made up of well-worn pebbles of the harder and older rocks. The volcanic rocks of this period are of that character known to geologists as Trap^ and are quite analogous to the products of modem volcanoes ; and, like them, consist principally of Augite, a dark green or blackish mineral, composed of Silica, Lime, and Magnesia, with iron as a colouring material. Various kinds of trap are distinguished, corresponding to the varieties of modem * Marcoa's Geological Map. Logan's, Jackson's, and Owen's Re- port". Possibly the Bay de Chalear Sandstone may be liable to simi jur doubts. VARIETIES OF TRAP. 61 lavM. Crystalline or basaltic trap is a black or dark green rook, of a fine crystalline texture, and having on the large scale a strong tendency to assume a rude columnar or basaltic structure. Amygdaloid or almond- cake trap, is full of round or oval cavities or air bubbles, filled with light-coloured minerals introduced by water after the formation of the rock. This represents the vesicular or porous lava which forms the upper surface of lava currents, just as the basaltic trap represents the basaltiform lava which appears in their lower and more central parts. The only difference is, that in the amyg- daloid the cavities are filled up, while in the modern lavas they are empty. In some old lavas, however, the cavities are already wholly or partially filled. A third kind of trap, very abundant in Nova Scotia, is Tufa or Tuff, a rock of earthy or sandy appearance, and of gray, greenish, or brown colour. It consists of fine volcanic dust and scorise, popularly known as the ashes and cinders of volcanoes, cemented together into a somewhat tough rock. Modem Tufa, quite analogous to that of the trap, is very abundant in volcanic countries, and some- times sufficiently hard to be quarried as a stone. As the New Bed Sandstone and trap are formations of one period, and differ only in origin, it will be con- venient to consider them t< ^^ether. I shall, therefore, proceed to describe these two rocks as they appear in connexion in different parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and then notice their fossil remains and useful or interesting minerals. '8 Be- lle to 1. Truro and south side of Cobequid Bay. In the valley of the Salmon river, four and a half miles eastward of the village of Truro, the eastern ex- 64 THE NEW BED IAND8T0NB. tremity of the New Bed Sandstone is seen to rest uncon- formably on bard reddish brown sandstones and shales, belonging to the lower part of the carboniferous system, and dipping N. 80° £ at an angle of 40°. At this place the overlying formation is nearly horizontal, and consists of soft and rather coarse bright red rilicious sandstones. Southward of Truro, at the distance of less than a mile, the horizontal soft red sandstone is seen, in the banks of a brook, to run against hard brownish grits and shales, dipping to the eastward at angles vary- ing from 45° to 50°. Westward of this place, the red sandstones extend in a narrow band, about a mile in width, to the mouth of the Shubenacadie, ten miles dis- tant. This band is bounded on the north by Cobequid Bay, and on the south by highly inclined sandstone, shale, and limestone of the lower carboniferous series. In the coast-section, between Truro and the Shubena- cadie, the red sandstone presents the same characters as at the former place, except that, near the Shubenacadie, some of the beds, which like most of the red sandstones of Truro have a calcareous cement, show a tendency to arrangement in large concretionary balls. West of the mouth of the Shubenacadie, the red sand- stone ceases to form a continuous belt, but occurs in several patches, especially at Salter's Head, Bamcote, and Walton. At the latter place, it is seen to rest on the edges of sandstones and other rocks of the lower carboniferous system, affording a very fine example of that unco;^r7na&/6 superposition, which in geology proves the underlying formation to have been elevated and disturbed before the overlying beds wer3 deposited upon it. This appearance is represented in Fig. 5, and was thus described by the writer in a letter supplementary NEW RfID FROM TRURO TO AVON ESTUARY. 65 Pig 6. SECTION ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE MOUTH OF PETITE RIVER. B. N a a (a) CarboniferouB Strata, highly inclined. (b) New- Red Sandstone. to his paper on the New Red Sandstone of Nova Scotia, and communicated to the Geological Society in 1852. '' I had in the past summer an opportunity of exam- ining these beds at Walton (Petite) and other places, and was much gratified by finding that the New Bed might be traced, as a narrow and occasionally inter- rupted band, from the mouth of the Shubenacadie nearly to the mouth of the Avon ; thus connecting as far as possible the distinct patches of New Bed aescribed in my former paper. At some points also I found very distinct coast- sections, showing the unconformable super- position of the New Bed on the Lower Carboniferous beds. A good instance of this occurs at Petite river. " Near the mouth of the river, the Lower Caribonifer- ous formation appears with the same characters observed at Windsor and on the Shubenacadie. It includes a large body of gypsum, extensively quarried for exporta- tion, and a bed of limestone with veins of oxide of man- ganese. In the neighbourhood of these beds, the softer E 66 THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. rocks have been denuded and do not appear. Still nearer the mouth of the river, however, there is a distinct section, showing black shales, with calcareous bands, dipping at a high angle to the south, and underlying the beds above mentioned. In a short space these beds become contorted, and then dip steeply to the north. " Succeeding these black shales, in ascending order, the Lower Carboniferous rocks are seen in the section. These beds probably underlie the gypsum and limestone, which would recur on the north side of the anticlinal formed by the black shales if the section extended suffi- ciently far. Before reaching the extremity of the point on the east side of the river, however, the edges of the beds sink to the level of the sea, and the lower members of the New Red are unconformably superimposed upon them. It is a somewhat instructive fact that the beds of the underlying series are at this place both redder and softer than the overlying New Red Sandstone." I notice this section particularly, because it gives a clear conception of the manner in which the New Red rests on the older Carboniferous beds, wherever it is in contract with them. , 1- l -J c CM P-H 'Xi o ^ ir- (^ BLOMIDON TO BRIAR ISLAND. 78 and contrasting strongly with the trap above and with the trees and bushes that straggle down its sides, and nod over its deep ravines, constitute a combination of forms and colours equally striking if seen in the distance from the hills of Horton or the shore of Parrsboro', or more nearly from the sea or the stony beach at its base. Blomidon is a scene never to be forgotten by a traveller who has wandered around its shores or clambered on its giddy precipices. From the shore of Blomidon, we may follow the trap formation in a continuous ridge without a break to Annapolis Gut. On the north side, the trap slopes down in rounded and abrupt eminences into the Bed Sandstone valley. On its summit it is somewhat level, though divided into a number of long rolling ridges, probably the effect of denuding agents on the edges of beds of trap of unequal hardness. The bay shore pre- sents to the sea a range of cliffs and precipices often overhanging or vertical, or rolled down into shapeless heaps of rubbish by the frost and the undermining action of the waves. Huge landslips occur every spring from these causes, covering acres of the shore with their ruins, and affording a rich harvest to the mineralogist who may visit the shore after one of these falb. The amount of debris annually thrown down and removed in this way is enormous. The cliffs are usually composed of alternate layers of soft and hard trarj and tufa, they are traversed by innumerable fissures, and the general dip is seaward. In addition to these circumstances, the ice annually removes large quantities of fragments from the shore, so that a cliff does not long continue to be protected by the masses that have fallen from it. Hence the whole shore wastes rapidly, with the exception of 74 THE MEW RED SANDSTONE. those places where beds of hard basaltic trap run down to the sea level, and form inclined planes against which the sea rages in vain. A very remarkable deviation from the ordinary regu- larity of the coast-line of the trap occurs at Cape Split, which forms a prolongation of the Blomidon shore to the north-westward. The dip of the Blomidon basalt grad- ually brings u down to the sea-level, and toward Cape Split it either thickens, or portions which are retired from the cliif at Blomidon come forward into the shore precipices, for toward the cape a cliff more than 300 feet in height, seems to be composed of compact and columnar trap, which extends in a promontory and series of islands and reefs far out into the bay. The appearances at this place render it possible that a trap- pean dike or dikes, indicating the point or line of ejec- tion of the great basaltic bed of Blomidon, may appear in these cliffs toward Cape Split. I have not, how aver, been able to study th«;m so closely as to ascertain decisively whether this is the case. There seems no reason to doubt at least, that the line from the summit of Blomidon to Cape Split marks the direction of one of the greatest lava streams of the region. At the extremity of the long continuous range ex- tending westward from Blomidon, in the cliff forming the east side of Annapolis Gut, we find the trap, as at the former place, forming a thick bed resting on the red sandstone, and dipping to the northward ; and there can be no doubt, from the appearances observed at several places along the coast, that the same arrangement pre- vails throughout the entire ridge. Annapolis Gut is a deep channel separating the trap of the promontory of Granville from the western pro- BLOMIDON TO BBIAR ISLAND. 75 longfaiion of the formation. This channel forms the only oatlet of Annapolis Basin and the rivers emptying into it. It is of grea. depth, and the tides rush through it with terrible rapidity. The trap on its west side is more largely developed than on the Granville side. T attains a greater width and height, and contains a larg mass of compact and basaltic trap. This circumstance, in connexion with the narrowing of the valley by a Bpur of the metamorphic rocks on the south, has probably caused the currents of the drift period to excavate the present outlet. Had it not been for these circumstances, the waters of the Annapolis river would probably have flowed into St Mary's Bay, and the Annapolis -basin, probably the finest sheet of salt water in the province, and its remarkable and picturesque outlet, would not have existed. The sandstone near the town of Digby is somewhat hard, and contains concretions of transparent calc spar. It passes under the southern edge of the trap, but cannot be seen toward the centre of the ridge, where the precipitous sid« of the " Gut " consists of compact and basaltic trap extending downwai'd to the water- level. In one place, I observed basalt with its pillars nearly horizontal, — an evidence that here a dike of molt- en rock had been ejected from beneath. Toward the entrance of the gut on the Digby side, the coast becomes low, and amygdaloid is seen in low cliffs and on the slopes of the hills, while sheets of compact trap run downward into the sea with scarcely any abrupt cliff or bank. In Digby Neck, the sandstone is well exposed on the side fronting St Mary's Bay, and compact and amygda- loidal trap rest upon it, and dip northward toward the Bay of Fundy. This long promontory, though only ^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 l£i|21 125 ■tt lii 12.2 I.I 11.25 III lU lit 14.0 U |L6 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation m v V s> ^' ;\ 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTeR,N.Y. 14S80 (716) 172-4503 '^ ^ iV 76 THE NKW RED SAMD8T0ME. from two to three miles in width, consists of two ridges, one forming the cliffs that front St Mary's Bay, the other sloping toward the Bay of Fundy ; while between them is a narrow and almost level valley, with several little lakes and ponds arranged in a line along its bottom. The rock in this valley appears to be amygdaloid, and it is probably owing to this circumstance that the valley has been scooped out, while the edges of the beds of more compact trap remain as ridges. This at least is the explanation which appears most probable from the structure of all parts of the ridge that I have visited, except the very singular and romantic spot named Sandy Cove.* At this place a deep cove penetrates about one- fourth across the ridge from the south, between pre- cipitous cliffs of trap resting on amygdaloid, and appar- ently with a southerly dip ; or, at all events, without that decided dip to the north which prevails over the greater part of this trappean ridge. Opposite the southern cove, there is on the north side of the ridge a shallower cove, and between is a little lake, on either side of which rise lofty beetling cliffs of basaltic trap, which appear to be parts of a thick bed dipping to the northward. I have marked in my notes the query — Can this be a volcanic focus? and I find that the same thought has occurred to other geologists who have visited the spot. It may have been so ; but it is perhaps more probable that the ridge has here been cracked across by a fissure caused by earthquake disturbances ; and that the cur- rents of the boulder-formation period have passed through and widened the chasm. Whatever the causes of its present appearance, Sandy Cove is more like something a poet or painter might dream of, than like an actual reality in our usually tame province of Nova Scotia. BLOMIOON TO BRIAR ISLAND. IT f its Though the trap ridge is very narrow at Digby Neck, it appears that this rock occupies a considerable breadth beneath the waters of the Bay of Fundy. I have already mentioned that the "Neck" consists of two ridges with a valley between. Now under water there are three similar ridges, the outer being nine miles distant fix>m the shore. They are thus described by Mr Perley in his Report on the Fisheries of New Brunswick; and his statements were corroborated by information which I obtained from gentlemen resident on this coast. " From Black Rock down to Briar Island, along the whole south shore, there are three fishing banks or ledges, lying parallel to the shore, outside each other ; their respective distances from the coast have acquired for them the designations of the three mile ledge — the five mile ledge — and the nine mile ledge. On these ledges there are sixty fathoms of water, but on the crown of each ledge, thirty fathoms only. The three mile ledge, and the five mile ledge, extend quite down to Briar Island ; but the nine mile ledge can only be traced down the bay, about fourteen miles below Digby Gut, abreast of Trout Cove, where it ends in deep water. Below Digby Gut, the three mile ledge and five mile ledge are composed of hard gravel and red clay ; above the gut, the three mile ledge has a rough, rocky bottom, on which anchors are frequently lost. Each of these ledges is about a mile in width, the outer one something more ; between them the bottom is soft mud." The trap of Digby Neck is remarkable for the large quantity of jasper and other coloured varieties of quartz contained in it. Red jasper is especially abundant, amethyst, stilbite, and laumonite are also abundant. I have collected all these minerals near Sandy Cove ; as ?$ THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. well as micaceous specular iron ore, a mineral which I have not observed elsewhere in the trap district, though it abounds in our more ancient igneous and altered rocks, and is also a not infrequent product of modem volcanic action ; the iron being apparently sublimed in a state of vapour from the intensely heated mass of molten rock beneath. This is probably its origin at Sandy Cove, where it occurs in brilliant little crystalline plates em- bedded in a quartzose matrix, and projecting from the sides of cavities in the fissures of the trap. Its occur- rence here lends some countenance to the conjecture already stated, that a focus of igneous activity may have been in or n^ar this place. It is not in sufficient quan- tity to be of importance for mining purposes. At the extremity of Digby Neck, we find another deep transverse ravine cut through the ridge, and sepa- rating Long Island, which geologically is a perfect con- tinuation of the Neck. The sides of this strait, which is named Petite Passage, as far as I examined them, consist principally of amygdaloid, the cavities of which have been lined with bright green chlorite before they have been filled with crystalline zeolitic matter. The water of Petite Passage is beautifully clear, the tides rush through it with great force, : : a rocky bottom is covered with seaweeds; the &i .iid more beautiful varieties of which are very abundant on this outlying tract of rocky coast. It is pz'obably the abun- dance of these seaweeds on the " ledges " before men- tioned, that supports the marine creatures that attract to these coasts the cod, torsk, pollack, haddock, halibut, and herring that abound in summer, and iumish a com- fortable subsistence to the numerous fishermen who inhabit Long Inland and Briar Island. The great BLOMIDON TO BBIAR ISLAND. 79 Albeoore or King Mackaxel, Thynntts Vulgaris f the Sea Wolf, Anarrkiccu Lupus ; and the Sturgeon, Acci' penser Oxyrinchtu^ are also caught in these waters and in St ^!.iry's Bay, but are not niuch valued by the fishermen. On reaching the extremity of Long Island, another strait, the Grand Passage, appears. On the opposite side of this, we see the thriving village of Westport, on Briar Island the ultima thule of Nova Scotia in this direction, and one of the most active and intelligent fish- ing communities in the province. Briar Island is the ex- treme western end of the trappean ridge, which is, how- ever, prolonged beyond the land in a submarine ledge. It consists entirely of basaltic trap, very regularly di- vided into columns, which may be seen both as a pave- ment on many parts of the beach, and in lofty preci- pices which rise to their greatest height on the south- west side of the island, where they form a perpendicular wall several hundred feet in height, and adorned with buttresses, outlying towers, and pinnacles, such as basaltic clifis alone can produce in their full perfection. I was so fortunate as to be detained several days at Briar Island by a south-west gale, and had the pleasure of seeing the Atlantic swell bursting in all its grandeur on these iron-bound shores. The red sandstone is seen to underlie the trap of Digby Neck for several miles below the head of St Mary's Bay, but beyond this I did not again observe it. G«sner states, however, that a small patch of it can be observed at low tide beneath the trap of Briar Island. This in- teresting fact I had no opportunity of verifying, owing to the stormy state of the weather during my visit. CHAPTER VT. THE NEW RED SANDSTONE— Co««»nM*rf. TRURO TO CAPE d'oR-— GENERAL REMARKS — MINERALS OF TdE NEW RED SANDSTONE AND TRAP. 3. North Side of Cobequid Bay and Minas Basin and Channel. Recommencing at Truro, we may now consider the stripe of new red sandstone with occasional masses of trap, which extends with several interruptions as far as Cape d'Or. Northward of Truro, the red sandstone meets and overlies unconformably the carboniferous grits, shales, limestone, and gypsum of the North river and Onslow mountain. Its boundary in this direction is about three miles distant from the bay, and it occupies the low country ; the carboniferous rocks rising from under its edges into hills of considerable elevation. From the North river it extends in a band about three miles in width to De Bert river, where an apparently insulated patch of lower carboniferous rocks projects through it. These last appear at the bridge, and con- sist of limestone, with fossil shells characteristic of the lower carboniferous period, gypsum, and hard brownish TBtJKO TO CAPE D OR. 81 sandstone. They dip at a high angle to the north-east, while the new red sandstoiie, which laps around them, dips at a small angle to the south-west. This limestone and gypsum, as well as other rocks of the same age, were long believed to belong to the new red sandstone period, and it was only after their true age had been ascertained by careful comparison of a number of sec- tions, and the identification of the fossil remains with those of the carboniferous period in other countries, that their true geological position was appreciated. This very locality at the De Bert river, owing to the simi- larity of the lower carboniferous suidstones to those of the new red, and to the circumstance that the former have been ground down and their debris mixed up with the latter, is at first sight one of the most deceptive in the province, and might readily lead a geologist, un- acquainted with other more distinct sections, into an error on this subject. As the section at this place is remarkably obscure, I copy from my notes the following memoranda of the appearances. On the south side of the river, near the bridge, there are gray and brown shales, red sandstone, red grit, and conglomerate, with high dips and disturbed. These are evidently lower carboniferous, and quite dif- ferent from the horizontal soft red sandstones which appear lower down on the same bank. On the north side, at the end of the bridge, are dark red grit and Conglomerate, grayish conglomerate, marly and shaly beds with gray calcareous concretions, and a vein of calcareous spar. They dip N.E. and N.N.E. 88°. The limestone and gypsum seen a little below the bridge, are evidently associated with these beds, the whole being lower carboniferous, as indicated by the fossils oi V 69 TUE MEW RED SANDSTONE. m i the limestone. In the road-catting, soft red sandstone^ and conglomerate overlie these beds, and though they have a steep false bedding, I believe they are new red and unconformable. In the same road-cuttings, these upper beds are seen to be made up of the debris of the lower, with which they are confusedly intermixed at their confines, the underlying marls in some places rising like veins into the sandstone above. At Folly river the new red is soft and fine grained, with greenish stains and layers, and has a very slight northerly dip. In the point opposite the village, sandstones, apparently the continuation of the other formation seen at the bridge, dip ,to the N.E. at a very high angle. Within this islet of lower carboniferous rock, the new red sandstone extends up the Folly river, which runs into the same estuary with the De Bert, for about five miles. Its dip increases until it amounts to 50°, and the lowest beds rest against the disturbed carboniferous rocks which occupy the bed of the river between this place and the base of the Gobequid mountains. Near their junction with the older rocks, the red sandstones become coarse and pebbly. Westward of Folly river, the belt of red sandstone gradually decreases in width, and begins to contain in its lower part thick beds of conglomerate, made up of pebbles derived from the older rocks to the northward. Near Portapique river, and somewhat removed fix)m the coast, there is an eminence that I have not visited, but was informed by a gentleman, very familiar with this part of the country, that it consists of trap. If so^ this is the first appearance of this rock in this direction. Economy Point, as well as a detached reef named the Brick Kilns lying o£f the point, consists of new red TRURO TO CAPS d'oR. 88 If SO. sandttone, which here has in consequence a connderable breadth. It has a slight dip to the sonth? In the banks of Economy river, the red sandstone and conglomerate which, near the coast, dip to the southward at a low angle, undulate as they approach a hill of hard lower carboniferous rocks at no great distance from the shore. Behind these they again appear with a south-west dip, and are again succeeded by lower carboniferous rocks which continue to the base of the hills. The ridge of older rock which here divides the red sandstone, is probably a point or promontory connected with the mass of the carboniferous rocks to the westward. In Gerrish's mountain, six miles west of Economy river, the red sandstone and conglomerate are overlaid by amygdaloidal trap, and having been protected by it from denudation, rise into an eminence nearly 400 feet high. At Indian Point, the southern extremity of Ger- rish's mountain, the trap and red sandstone form a bold precipitous cliff, and are continued along the picturesque rocky chain of the Five Islands, in two of which the red sandstone is seen to underlie the trap. The isolated trap eminences at this place are prob- ably the remains of a continuous lava current, and it is interesting that the direction of the chain of islets cor- responds with that of the great trap ridge on the oppo- site side of the bay. To a traveller who has passed along the level shores of Londonderry and Onslow, and toward the close of day ascends the steep side of Ger- rish's mountain, the view which greets him at the summit is of the most grand and striking character. The rocky cham of the Five Islands, and the pretty inlet and settlement on the shore within them, lie at his feet. In front are the waters of Minas Basin stretch- u THR NEW RED SAMD8T0NE. ing far to the westward. On the one hand is the rugged and pictoresqite trappean shore extending toward Parrs- boro\ with the Cobeqnid moontains ranged behind it. On the other, Blomidon and Cape Split tower in the distance. I may remark here, that for grandeur and beauty of coast scenery, this part of Minas Basin and the Minas Channel are not surpassed by any part of the eastern coast of North America. It will be seen, on consulting the map, that at the Five Islands three great geological formations approach each other, so that within a very limited space the trap, the new red, the carboniferous system, and the older metamorp&ic rocks may be studied, and specimens of their characteristic minerals obtained. Hence, at vari- ous times, this locality has had the reputation of pro- ducing useful minerals of different descriptions. The latest instance of this led to the formation of a copper mining company in London, which, after a very fair pro- mise of success, was broken up, owing to a deficiency of the Ore, which on trial was found by no means to war- rant the reports that had been published respecting it. The trap which forms the summit of Gerrish's mountain is a huge bed resting on red sandstone, on which at the high cliff of Indian Point it is seen to rest. The trap at this place is traversed by a number of narrow and ir- regular veins of magnetic iron ore, mixed with the gray sulphuret and oxide of copper. Specimens of this sub- stance were sent to me, many years since, by the late George Duncan, Esq. of Truro, and I was somewhat struck by the singular appearance and composition of the mineral, which was stated to be found in^great quan- tity. From my knowledge of the superficial character of the trap, and the smallness and irregularity of the TRUBO TO CAPE d'OR. 85 metallic veins found in it, I rather discouraged Mr Dun- can from speculating on it, though some specimens seemed sufficiently rich to be useful as copper ores. It appears, however, that a veiy favourable report was given by an English mining engineer, and operations were commenced in consequence, though it almost im- mediately became apparent that they were hopeless. Between Five Islands and Swan Creek, ten miles distant, an excellent coast-section, rising in many places into lofty cliffs, shows the new red sandstone and trap, as well as the underlying carboniferous strata. As this section is an interesting specimen of the complicated ap- pearances that may result from the eruption of volcanic rocks through stratified deposits, I shall give a descrip- tion of it taken nearly verbatim from my notes. At the mouth of Harrington river, opposite the Five Islands, the carboniferous rocks approach the shore very closely ; and as seen in the west side of the river, con- sist of black shales and dark-coloured sandstones with Poacites and other fossil plants. They dip at high angles to the south, and are met by the new red sand- stone dipping gently to the southward. The sandstones of the newer formation here contain little conglomerate, and are variegated by numerous gieenish bands and blotches. They occupy tlic shore for some distance, and then contain a thick bed of trap conglomerate, consist- iDg of large partially rounded fragments of amygdaloi- dal and compact trap, imited by a hard brownish argil- laceous cement. At a short distance westward, another bed of trap conglomerate of the same kind appears in the cliff. It is overlaid by a bed of dark clay, filled with angular fragments of black shale constituting a kind of breccia. The sandstone underlying this bed of ^««««rwn an THE NEW BED SANDSTONE. trap contains small nodules of selenite and narrow veins of reddish fibrous gypsum. No other volcanic rocks oc- cur in the coast-section near these trap conglomerates. Westward of this place, the section is occupied for about three miles by soft red sandstones with greenish bands, dipping generally to the south-west : some of them are divisible into very thin layers, whilst others are com- pact and form beds several feet in thickness. Near Moose river, the red sandstones meet black shales and hard gray sandstones of the carboniferous system, containing Poacitea, Ferru, and Lepidodendra* At this pjace the junction of the two groups of rocks was not, at the time of my visit, well exposed in the cliff, and had the appearance of a fault ; but as Hcen in the horizontal section on the beach, the red sandstone with a south-west dip seems to overlie unconformably the carboniferous strata, dipping at a high angle to the E.N.E. On the west side of Moose river the carbo- niferous strata include three large masses of trap which have altered the grits and shales in contact with them, causing them to assume reddish colours. Beyond the last of these masses of trap, the shales and grits, there dipping to the north and north-east, have some red sandstone resting on their edges, and are succeeded by another great mass of trap forming a lofty cliff, and in part at least resting on soft red sandstone which it must have overflowed when in a fluid state. At the western side of this mass, or rather bed of trap, its upper surface is seen to dip to the W.S.W., and is conformably over- laid by red sandstones similar to those already described. These continue with various dips to a cove where there * These fossil plants will be described in treating of the coal-meas- ures. TBUBO TO OAra D'OB. 87 is ft break in the section, west* ward of which the coast exhibits the interesting and complicated appearances which I have en- deavoured to represent in Fig. 7. The lower part of the cliff, on the western side of the cove above mentioned, consists of hard, black, and reddish shales and grits, like some of those seen near Moose river, with a steep dip to the E.N.E. Best- ing on the edges of these are a few beds of red conglomerate and sandstone with greenish bands, dipping to the south-west, and apparently a remnant of more extensive beds. An enor- mous mass of trap conglomerate forms a high cliff towering above this little patch of sandstone, and is seen a little farther on to con- tain a wedge-shaped bed of red sandstone, and at its western ex- tremity rests on red sandstone mixed with fragments of trap.* Here the trap conglomerate seems to be cut off by a fault, and abuts \t V tft r^ ^i I I s|1 * This section was examined in 1846. When I revisited the place in 1850, the front of this mass of trap conglomerate had fallen, and formed a huge slope of fragments. ^•^ 8S THE M£W BED SANDSTONE. I I against a great trappean. mass, composed in ascending order of amygdaloidal trap, a wedge of red sandstone extending over part of the surface of the amygdaloid, a great bed of crystalline trap, and a bed of trap conglom- erate. The western side of this mass rests on an appa- rently denuded surface of soft red sandstones, with S. S.W. dip. These are overlaid by another trappean mass, consisting of beds which appear to dip conform- ably with the underlying sandstones. At its western side it abuts against greatly disturbed red sandstones succeeded by other red sandstones dipping to the south- ward, and extending as far as Swan Creek. On the west side of Swan Creek, the soft red and va- riegated sandstones are seen to dip to the north at an angle of 30°, and are underlaid by a bed of trap con- glomerate, which rests against disturbed strata of a composition different from any previously occurring in this section. They consist of laminated, compact, and brecciated gray limestone, a bed of white gypsum, hard reddish purple and gray marls and sandstones, some of them with disseminated crystals of specular iron ore. I saw no fossils in these beds, but as they are identical in mineral character with some parts of the gypsiferous member of the carboiiiferous group, and have evidently been disturbed and altered before the deposition of the overlying trap conglomerate and red sandstone, I have no doubt that they belong to the carboniferous system, the sandstones and shales of which, with some trappean rocks, occupy the cliff between this place and Partridge Island five and a half miles distant. The new red sand- stone in the vicinity of Swan Creek appears to form a small synclinal trough, occupying an indentation in the carboniferous rocks, and probably extending only a short TRUBO TO CAPE d'oB. m distance westward of the mouth of the creek. The two islands near Swan Creek are detached masses of trap, resting on or rising through red sandstones, which at low tide are seen to extend between them and the shore. The red sandstone and trap, occurring in the section be- tween Five Islands and Swan Greek, appears to be a very narrow band, extending parallel to the coast ; and as the section is nearly in the general direction of the strike of the formation, it is probable that some of the trappean masses above described are portions of beds dis- connected by faults and denudation. Many beautiful crystallized minerals occur in the trap rocks of the sections described. The masses near Moose river contain cavities coated with opaque white varie- ties of quartz, in stalactitic and other imperfectly crys- talline forms. Opposite the Two Islands, the fissures of the trap are lined with fine crystals of analcime and natrolite ; and the fissures and vacant spaces of the trap conglomerate in the same neighbourhood contain & red- dish variety of chabasie in rhombohedrons, often of large size. At Clarke's Head, immediately west of Swan Creek, are well-characterized lower carboniferous rocks, in- cluding beds of limestone and gypsum, with some igne- ous rocks of porphyritic character, and probably much older than the new red sandstone period. On the top of the cliff, a bed of compact trap is seen to rest on the edges of the disturbed lower carboniferous rocks, over which it has flowed as a lava stream. The trap conglomerate or breccia, noticed in describ- ing the above section, is a rock of very singular charac- ter. It consists of large fragments, often more than a foot in diameter, of amygdaloid, cemented together by a 90 THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. hard brownish substance. The boulder-like fragments of trap which make up this rock have probably been blown out of a volcanic orifice, and then rolled into beda by the sea, and finally cemented by a paste made up of fine volcanic mud or ashes. Beyond Clarke's Head, the coast extending toward Cape Chiegnecto is occupied by carboniferous rocks, for the most part in a very much disturbed condition, and it is only here and there that we meet with a small patch of new red, and its overlying trap, the remnants of a formation once continuous throughout the whole distance. The first ^f these isolated patches is Partridge Island, a high rock of trap resting at its west side on red sand- stone. Though called an island, it is connected with the shore, which consists of lower carboniferous sand- stones and shales in a vertical and contorted condition, by a shingle-beach. The island itself presents a high cliff to the bay, and slopes downward on the land side. In approaching it from the east, we see a cliff of colum- nar trap extending from the shore to the summit of the rock. By scrambling at low tide around the south side, we find that this, like the basalt of Blomidon, is a thick irregular bed, and that amygdaloid and tufa succeed it in descending order. On the western side these last rocks occupy nearly the whole of the cliff, and may, when examined from a distance, be seen to consist of several beds distinguishable by different shades of colour. In some lights this difference is very perceptible. On this side the basaltic trap still appears, but it forms only a thin bed, capping the amygdaloid and tufa. Under all these beds, and in the north-west comer of the island, the sandstone peeps forth, dipping to the south-east. TRURO TO CAPE D OR. 91 The trap of Partridge Island contains a variety of in- teresting crystallized minerals. A honey-yellow variety of stilbite, crystallized in fine sheaf-like aggregations of crystals, is especially abundant, forming veins running up the face of the cliff. Being one of the most acces- sible and easily explored portions of the formation, this place has been much ransacked by mineralogists and amateurs ; still large quantities of fine specimens may generally be seen going to waste on its beach. Ame- thyst, agate, chabazite, heulandite, apophyllite, and calc spar, may also be studied in some of their most beauti- ful forms at Partridge Island. The whole of these min- erals have been introduced by the action of water, trick- ling through the numerous fissures of the porous amyg- daloid and tufa, rocks which perhaps more than any others, are fitted to yield to water thus permeating them, the materials of crystallized silicious compounds. Westward of Partridge Island, vertical and contorted carboniferous rocks occupy the shore as far as Gape Sharp, three miles distant. This promontory, which, like Partridge Island, presents a precipitous front to the bay, and slopes toward the land side, consists of trap resting on red sandstone. Here, however, trap con- glomerate takes the place of the finer tufaceous matter seen at Partridge Island. It will be observed that though the red sandstone is not at these places seen very distinctly to rest on the carboniferous rocks, the former underlies the trap at a gentle angle, Lnd dips south- wards, or from the latter, while these are contorted and disturbed in the most extreme manner, serving at least to confirm the evidence, noticed at other places, of the later date of the new red. These contorted carbonifer- ous sandstones and shales must have formed a coast- 92 THE MEW RED 8AKD8TOME. line, at the time when the red sand was washing in the sea, and the trap and scoriae being belohed forth from submarine vents. Beyond Gape Sharp, with the exception of the iso- lated mass of Spencer's Island, which I have not visited, we see nothing of the trap or red sandstone till we reach Cape d'Or, the last and noblest mass on this coast. At Oape d'Or, as at the Five Islands, a great mass of trap rests on slightly inclined red sandstone, and this again on disturbed carboniferous rocks, while behind and from beneath these last, still older slates rise into mountain ridges. Gape d'Or thus forms a great salient mass standing ovU into the bay, and separated from the old slate-hills behind by a valley occupied by the red sand- stone and carboniferous shales. Cape d'Or differs from most of the trappean masses which have been described in the arrangement of its component parts. The upper part of the cliff consists of amygdaloid and tufa, often of a brownish colour, while beneath is a more compact trap, showing a tendency to a columnar structure. The whole forms a toppling cliff, more shattered and unstable in its aspect than usual. Cape d'Or derives its name from the native copper which is found in masses, varying from several pounds in weight down to the most minute grains, in the veins and fissures which traverse the trap. It is sometimes wedged into these fissures, along with a hard brown jasper, or occupies the centre of narrow veins of quartz and calc spar. At first sight, these masses and grains of pure copper appear to have been molten into the fis- sures in which we find them. On more careful consid- eration of all the circumstances, and those of the asso- ciated minerals, it seems more probable that the metal TRURO TO CAPE o'OR. 93 has been deposited from an aqueous solution of some salt of copper, in a manner similar to that of the electrotype process. Why this should have occurred in trap rocks more especially docs not appear very obvious ; and, in- deed, when we take a piece of native copper from Lake Superior, or Gape d'Or, with the various calcareous and silicious minertJs which accompany it, nothing can be more difficult than to account on chemical principles for . tiiese assemblages of substances, either by aqueous or igneous causes. Nature's chemistry is often thus in- scrutable in its details, for the behaviour of substances, when brought into contact with each other in the bowels of the earth, is often very different from that which they display in the laboratory ; and, besides, nature's processes are not limited by time, and long continued chemical actions often produce effects which would hardly be in- ferred from experiments which are limited for their per- formance to hours or days. The copper of Cape d'Or is not likely ever to become of mining importance, as it does not appear in large quantity in any one portion of the mass, and this latter is itself not of very great extent. The valuable dis- coveries, however, which have been made on the shores of Lake Superior, have in late years caused increased importance to be attached to the appearance of copper in trap rocks, and perhaps this and other cupriferous localities in the trap of Nova Scotia, may deserve ti more careful examination than they have yet received. The only remaining portion of the new red sandstone and trap formation is the little insulated spot of Isle Haut, lying off Cape Chiegnecto. I have not landed on this island ; but, viewed from the sea, it appears to pre- sent nearly on all sides lofty cliffs of trap. 94 THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. 4. General Remarks on the New Red of Nova Scotia. It will be observed, that in the notes referring to the coast-sections of the new red sandstone, I have given especial attention to its relations to the older rocks, especially those of the caiboniferous system. I have done so, because, until very recently, much doubt ex- isted as to the precise limits of this formation. The earlier writers on the geology of the province associated it with the red sandstones and gypsums of the carbonif- erous period, and described the whole as new red ; and it was not until the first visit of Sir Charles Lyell that the great beds of gypsum and limestone of Windsor, the Shubenacadie, and other places, with their associated sandstones and marls, were recognised as lower carbonif- erous. Even after Sir Charles had published his ^'^• suits, these were dissented from both by Mr Logan and Dr Gesner, though both these geologists subsequently convinced themselves, and admitted that they had been in error ; and the latter even went so far as to believe that the red sandstones of Blomidon and Comwallis were also carboniferous. It then became a question whether there were really any rocks of the new red period in the province, and to determine this point, the writer undertook, in 1846, a carefal examination of the red sandstone and trap on both sides of the bay, the re- sults of which were published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society of London.* In this paper, the re- lations of the new red to the older formations in this province were for the first time accurately defined, by * Journal of Oeologioal Society, iv. p. 50. OEMEBAL REMARKS. 95 ascertaining its stnicture, and its actual superposition on carboniferous strata, in the cliffs on the north side of Cobequid Bay and Minas Basin, and applying the facts thus obtained to the larger area of new red on the south side of the bay, in the manner indicated by the follow- ing quotation : — " It appears from the facts above stated, that the red sandstones of Gornwallis and Horton, though not seen in contact with the carboniferous rocks, extend parallel to their disturbed strata with uniform north-west dips, and passing beyond them with the same dip, rest un- conformably on the older slaty series. This arrange- ment, I think, satisfactorily proves that these red sand- stones and the overlying trap are really newer than the carboniferous shales of Horton, and unconformable to them. " Eastward of the estuary of the Avon, the country as far as the Shubenacadie River is occupied by a deposit of reddish, gray, and purple sandstones and marls, with large beds of gypsum and limestones abounding in ma- rine shells. This gypsiferous series is much fractured and disturbed, and is in many places associated with dark shales containing fossil plants, like those of Horton Bluff, and thin seams of coal. This association of the gypsiferous series with dark fossiliferous shales, occurs at Halfway River, where coarse brown and gray sand- stones, with imperfect casts of fossil trunks of trees, and a thick bed of anhydrite and common gypsum, rest con- formably on the continuation of the dark beds of Horton Bluff. The carboniferous date of this gypsiferous series has been fully established by Mr Lyell ; and though it contains red sandstones with veins of gypsum like those of Blomidon, these never extend to so great a thickness 96 THE MEW BED SANDSTONE. as that of the Cornwallis sandstones, without alternating with fossiliferous shales, or limestones, or with beds of gypsum. For this reason, in connexion with the undis- turbed condition of the Cornwallis sandstones, their ap- parent unconformability to the carboniferous shales of Horton, and their identity in mineral character and as- sociation with trappean rocks, with the red sandstones of Swan Creek and Five Islands, I have no hesitation in separating them from the gypsiferous series and in- cluding them in the new red sandstone formation." From the same paper, I quote the following general statements as to the age and mode of formation of the new red simdstone and trap, as affording in the most condensed form the conclusions at which I have ar- rived : — " I am not aware that any rocks equivalent in age to the new red sandstones which have been described, oc- cur in any other part of Nova Scotia. Bed sandstones not unlike those of Cornwallis and Truro, occur in some parts of the newer coal-formation, as seen on the shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence ; but they alternate with beds of shale and gray sandstone, containing fossil plants of carboniferous species. Prince Edward Island, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, is chiefly composed of soft red sandstones, little disturbed, and similar in mineral char- acter to the new red sandstone of Nova Scotia ; but they contain in their lower part silicified wood and other veg- etable fossils, which I have not been able to distin- guish from some found in the newer coal-formation. It is however probable that these red sandstones of Prince Edward Island may be post-carboniferous. It is not improbable that the new red sandstone of Connecticut, and some other parts of the United States, which is be- OBNCKAL BBMARK8. W lieved to be a Triaano deposit, may be of the same age with the formation above described. At present, how- ever, from the want of fossils in the new red sandstone of Nova Scotia, it must be regarded as a post-carbonif- erous deporit of uncertain age. " The new red sandstones now described appear to have been deposited in an arm of the sea, somewhat re- sembling in its general form the southern part of the present Bay of Fundy, but rather longer and wider. This ancient bay was bounded by disturbed carbonifer- ous and Silurian strata ; and the detritus which it re- ceived was probably chiefly derived from the softer strata of the carboniferous system. The arenaceous nature of the new red sandstone, as compared with the character of these older deposits, indicates that the ancient bay must have been traversed by currents, probably tidal like those of the modem bay, which washed away the argillaceous matter so as to prevent the accumulation of muddy sediment. When we consider the large amount of land in the vicinity of the waters in which the new red sandstone was deposited, the deficiency of organic remains in its beds is somewhat surprising, though this is perhaps to be attributed rather to the materials of the deposit and the mode of its accumulation, than to any deficiency of vegetable or animal life at the period in question. " The volcanic action which manifested itself in the bed and on the margin of the bay of the new red sand- stone, is one of the most remarkable features of the period, it has brought to the surface great quantities of melted rock, without disturbing or altering th6 soft arenaceous beds through which it has been poured, and whose surface it has overflowed. The masses thus ac- O TBB MIW BBD SAMDiTOME. onmulated on the nurface liave greatly modified the fea- tureB of the districts in which they occnr ; especially the great ridge extending westward from Gape Blomidon. It ii worthy of note, that this ridge, probably marking the site of a line of vents of the new red sandstone pe- riod, and occurring in a depression between two ancient billy districts, so nearly coincides in direction with these older lines of disturbance. The trap rocks associated with the new red sandstone do not precisely coincide in mineral character with any that I have observed in other parts of Nova Scotia, though it is possible that some of the igneous rocks which have penetrated and disturbed the carboniferous rocks of various parts of this province, may belong to the new red standstone period, or are of a date not long anterior to it." The red sandstone formation affords fine loamy friable soils, especially adapted to the culture of fruit and of the potato. The red sandstone valleys of Annapolis and King's are celebrated for their apple orchards, which furnish large quantities of excellent fruit for exporta- tion to the other parts of the colonibs, and even to the United States and Great Britain. The same districts are well adapted to the growth of Indian com, large quantities of which are annually produced ; and in those years in which the potato has failed over nearly the whole of America, it has remained uninjured in the red sandy loams of Comwallis, the farmers of which have in consequence realized large sums by supplying the markets of the New England States. The calcareous matter which serves as a cement to the sandstone, and the alkalis derived from the fragments of trap which have been scattered through the soil in the drift period, add much to the fertility of these districts. 1IIMERAL8 OF TBI MIW RID lAUDtTOHB AKD TRAP. 99 The agricultural capabilities of the trap are Tery dif- ferent from those of the red sandstone. The soil, f ova the the to 3na- )eds ver, luse op. cter nth ide, les, not unlike some of the upper parts of the coal-formation of Nova Scotia, and containing a few fossil plants. These are apparently the lowest and oldest beds in the island ; and the determination of their true geological age is important as affording data for ascertaining that of the red sandstone. I shall therefore give a somewhat detailed account of these beds as they appear at Orwell or Gallows Point on the south coast, about ten miles east of Charlottetown. In approaching this place the red sandstone forms long undulations sloping gently toward the shore, and the coast displays a series of low points, terminated by red sandstones, which, though not hard, have better resisted the wearing action of the waves than the softer strata which have occupied the intermediate creeks. Passing through Cherry Valley, the country has the same appearance until we enter the by-road to Orwell or Gallows Point, when the soil loses its bright red colour, and assumes a grayish tint, and more argillaceous composition, indicating to the geological traveller a change in the composition of the rocks beneath. On reaching the extremity of the Cape, a good section of a considerable variety of rocks may be seen. Their dip is to the E. S. E. by compass (variation about 19 deg. W.) at an angle of only 6 degrees ; consequently in pro- ceeding along the shore to the westward, lower and older rocks appear cropping out from beneath those which overlie them. Commencing with those which are higher in order, red and brown sandstone of soft and rather coarse texture occupy a considerable portion of the shore, projecting in low reefs into the sea, and rising to the height of a few yards in a water- worn cliff. Beneath these appear harder gray sandstones, contain- 106 THE NEW RED 8AN08TOME. ing gray and brown impure limestone, in beds a few inches in thickness. One of these beds contains a nam- ber of fragments of fossil plants, in a very imperfect state of preservation. Beneath these strata is a bed of sandstone, containing small nodules of red ochre, and in one place the impression of a large fossil tree, whose wood has disappeared, leaving a mould which has been filled with ochreous clay. Proceeding in the same direc- tion, we find beds of considerable thickness consisting of gray and brown clay, apparently without coal or fossils. Beneath these are several beds of brownish sandstone of various qualities, one stratum appearing to be suffi- ciently h(ird for building purposes. Embedded in one of these layers appear some largo fossil trees, one of them nearly three feet in diameter ; they are prostrate and much flattened by pressure, and the place once occupied by their wood is now filled with a hard dark-coloured silicious stone, which, when polished in thin slices, and examined by the microscope, displays the structure of the original wood. These trees appear to have been partially decomposed before they were submitted to the petrifying process, and the rents caused by decay are now filled with red-coloured crystals of Sulphate of Barytes. In some of the specimens the fissures are coated with silicious crystals, and portions of some of the trunks con- sist of a soft carbonaceous ironstone retaining the woody structure. These fossil tree^ carry back our thoughts to a period when Prince Edward Island was a tract of submarine sand, in which drift trees were embedded and preserved, and which has since been indurated and par- tially elevated above the level of the sea. In another of these sandstone beds are the remains of a large tree compressed to the thickness of an inch, and converted i I PRINCE EDWABD ISLAND. 107 into friable shining coal, coloured in some places with green carbonate of copper. These beds must belong either to the very newest portions of the coal-formation, which in some particulars they closely resemble, or to the lower part of the new red sandstone ; and in either case the sandstones of the greater part of Prince Edward Island will be new red. Unfortunately I could not observe whether the latter are superimposed conformably or unconformably on the lower beds, and the fossils are hardly sufficiently well characterized to indicate to which epoch they belong. With the view of obtaining from them all the informa- tion they are capable of affording, I have examined the fossil wood of this locality, and some specimens found lying loose on the surface at Des Sables and other places in the island, with the following results. Thin slices of the specimens from Orwell Point show under the microscope in the transverse direction a dense tissue of quadrangular cells, arranged in rows, with numerous but narrow medullary rays. Longitudinal slices in the direction of the medullary rays show elon- gated parallel cells, with traces of hexagonal discs on the walls of the cells, there being two rows of discs only in each cell. These characters are those of coniferous wood (that of the pine tribe), and of that particular type of coniferous trees which appears in the northern hemisphere only in the palaeozoic and mesozoic rocks ; though in the southern hemisphere this peculiar struc- ture of the wood is still found in the Araucarian pines of Australasia. The specimens from other parts of Prince Edward Island show similar structures, some of them even more distinctly. On comparing these specimens ydih a large number 108 THE NEW BED SANDSTONE. of slices of coniferous wood from various parts of the coal-formation of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, I find that the latter are wider or more open in the cellu- lar tissue, and with usually more than two rows of discs on each cell. The wood from Prince Edward Island, therefore, though of a type which may be carboniferous, does not appear to be quite identical with any species found in the coal-formation of the opposite coast. Such wood might readily occur either in the upper coal-for- mation or in the next geological formation in ascending order, the Permian System of geologists. A much more interesting fossil, which greatly aids in fixing the« geological age of the red sandstones of Prince Edward Island, has recently been discovered. It is a portion of the jaw of a large carnivorous reptile^ appa- rently closely allied to the Thecodontosaurus of the English new red sandstone. This creature must have rivalled in dimensions the modem alligators, and be- longed to a more perfect or higher type of structure, represented in the present world only by lizards of mo- derate or small dimensions. It was, in short, one of that giant reptile aristocracy which constituted the high- est animal type in the middle or secondary period of geological time, which in consequence has long been known as the peculiar " age of reptiles." The specimen was found by Mr D. M'Leod of New London, on the north side of the island, in the bottom of a well, at the depth of twenty-one feet nine inches, and embedded in the ordinary soft red sandstone of that part of the island. The discoverer was desirous of dis- posing of the specimen ; and the, writer being convinced that it would prove of great interest to naturalists, if examined and described by a competent anatomist, of- ,iu. '4***V>fc'->*V I REPTILIAN RSMAIM8. 109 fered to negotiate its sale. By the advice of Sir Charles Lyell, then in America, it was offered to the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; for which it was finally purchased for the sum of thirty dollars. It was described and figured in the Proceedings of the Society by Dr Leidy, from whose elaborate paper I extract the following description, which, with the aid of Fig. 8, will serve to give some idea of its character. Fig. 8. Outline of Jaw of Bathj/gnathus lioreali*. (a) CroM section of Second tooth, nat. size. (h) Fifth tooth, nst. sIer. "The specimen consists of the right dental bone, considerally broken, attached by its inner surface to a mass of matrix of a red granular sandstone, with large, soft angular red chalk-like stones embedded in it.* The fossil has seveit large teeth protruding beyond the alve- olar margin of the jaw ; and it is hard, brittle, and cream-coloured, and stands out in beautiful relief from • These are probably concretions.— J. W. D; 110 THE MEW BED SAMDBTONE. its dark red matrix. The jaw indicates a lacertian rep- tile, and in comparison with that of other known extinct and recent genera, is remarkable for its great depth in relation to its length. *^ The depth of the dental bone is five inches, whilst its length in the perfect condition appears not to have exceeded seven and a quarter inches ; for in the speci- men the middle part of the posterior border is so thin and scaIe-liV. distinction which well compensates the want of valuable minerals. I have not observed in any of my excursions in the island, any traces of igneous action ; but Dr Oesner, in the report of a survey undertaken for the pro- vincial Government, mentions the occurrence of a lim- ited mass or dike of trap on Hog Island, an isolated spot which I have not visited, in Richmond Bay ; and which I have accordingly coloured in the map with the tint appropriate to that rock. This fact, though not of any importance in establishing the age of the formation, establishes an additional analogy between it and the new red of Nova Scotia. CHAPTER VIII. THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. GENERAL REMARKS SYNOPTICAL TABLE aEOORAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICT OF CUMBER- LAND—SOUTH JOGGINS SECTION. I HAVE had frequent occasion to state that the lower beds of the new red sandstone rest on the edges of the upturned strata of the great geological series now to be described. In entering, therefore, on the carboniferous system, we go on« whole period back in the history of the earth, to a time when the rocks that formed the shore of the red sandstone sea were themselves being deposited in the form of sediment, in waters which . washed the sides of the Cobequid hills, and the other old metamorphic ranges of the province. The carboniferous system is of inestimable importance in an economical point of view, from the number and value of its usefiil minerals. It is also of exceeding interest to the geologist, in consequence of the singular and interesting monuments which it contains of the changes of the earth's surface, and of the character of its inhabitants, during a long and impoHant period. GENERAL BEMABK8. 117 None of the geological formations surpasses it in either of these respects ; and in Nova Scotia and the neigh- bouring colonies there is none which approaches to an equality with it. It is also a very thick group of beds, and these are very varied in their character. For this reafion, I shall commence my description with a synop- tical table of its various members, as they have now been ascertained in Nova Scotia. An examination of this table will enable the reader much more clearly to comprehend the statements hereafter to be made. SYNOPSIS OF THE CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS OF NOVA SCOTIA. UPPER OR NEWER COAL-FORMATION. Grayish and reddish sandstones and shales ; with beds of conglomerate, and a few thin beds of limestone and coal, the latter not of economic importance. — Thickness 3000 feet or more. Characteristic Fossils. — Coniferous Wood, Catamites, Ferns, ^c. Localities. — Cumberland north of the Cobequid moun- tains, Northern Colchester, Pictou. Well exposed in the Joggins coast, and in the coast of Nortimm- berland Strait west of Pictou Harbour. LOWER OR OLDER COAL-FORMATION. Gray and dark-coloured sandstones and shales, with a few reddish an^ brown beds ; valuable beds of coal and ironstone ; beds of bituminous limestone, and numerous underlays with Stigmaria. Thickness 4000 feet or more. 118 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. Characteristic Fossils. — Stigmaria, Sigillaria^ Lepido- dendroTif Poacites^ Catamites^ Ferns, ifc. Erect trees in situ. BemaiDS of Ganoid Fishes, Cypris, Modiola, and Beptiles of three species. Localities. — Cumberland north of Cobequid mountains ; Pictou, especially East Biver; Port Hood, Inhabitants Basin, and other places in Inverness and Bichmond ; Eastern part of Gape Breton ; parts of Colchester south of Cobequid mountains. Finest exposures South Joggins, and near Sydney, Cape Breton. LOWER CARBONIFEROUS OR OYPSIFEROUS FORMATION. Great thickness of reddish and gray sandstones and shales, especially in upper part ; conglomerates, espe- cially in lower part ; thick beds of limestone with marine shells, and of gypsum. Thickness 6000 feet or more. Characteristic Fossils. — Productus, Terehratula, Encri- nusy Madrepores, and other marine remains in the limestones. Coniferous Wood, Lepidodendron, Poa- cites, 4iC., in shales and sandstones. Scales of Ganoid Fishes very abundant in shales associated with low- est beds, in which are also small coaly seams and bituminous beds. Localities. — Northern Cumberland, Pictou, Colchester, Hants, Musquodoboit in Halifax county, Guysboro' in part, parts of Inverness, Bichmond, Cape Breton, and Victoria. The actual superposition and arrangement of all this great thickness of beds, are ascertained by the examina- tion of coast and river sections, in which portions of the OEOCIBAPHICAL ARRANGEMENT. 119 series are seen tilted up, so that they caii, by proceed- ing in the direction toward or from which they incline, be seen to rest on each other. There is one coast-sec- tion in the province so perfect that nearly the whole series is exposed in it. On the other hand, there are large areas in which the lower portion alone exists, and perhaps never was covered by the upper portions ; and there are other areas in which the upper members have covered up the lower, so that they appear only in a few comparatively limited spots. The area occupied by carbonJTerous rocks in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick is very extensive ; and in Nova Scotia it is divided by ridges of the older meta- morphic rocks into portions which may for convenience be considered separately. These are — 1. The Cumberland Carboniferous district, bounded on the south by the Cobeqmd hills, and continuous on the north-west with the great Carboniferous area of New Brunswick, which will be considered along with it. 2. The Carboniferous district of Hants and Colches- ter, including the long band of carboniferous rocks ex- tending along the south side of the Cobequids, and that reaching along the valley of the Musquodoboit river. 3. The Carboniferous district of Pictou, bounded on the south and east by metamorphic hills, and connected on the west with the Cumberland district and that last mentioned. 4. The Carboniferous district of Sydney county, bounded by two spurs of the metamorphic hills. 5. The long stripe of Carboniferous rocks extending from the Strait of Canseau westward through the county of Guysboro'. ido THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 6. The Carboniferous district of Bichmond county, and southern Inverness. 7. The Carboniferous district of Inyemess and Vic- toria counties. 8. The Carboniferous district of Cape Breton county. 1. Carboniferous Districts of Cumberland. The rocks of the great Cumberland carboniferous area have a general trough-shaped arrangement, which in the western part of the county at least appears to be very regular. (See Fig. 1.) On the south side, all along the base of the Cobequids, we find conglomerates and other lower carboniferous rocks dipping to the north, and forming the southern edge of the trough. Besting on these are the beds of the coal-formation, still dipping to the northward. Toward the centre of the county, we find the rocks of the upper coal-formation slightly inclined and finally dipping to the south, to form part of the northern side of the trough. Proceeding onward, we find the repetition of the older coal-formation and lower carboniferous series with southerly dips. The latter extends into New Brunswick, where it turns over and dips to the northward, underlying the great car- boniferous plain of that province. In crossing the county of Cumberland, this regular arrangement of the beds is evidenced by the long parallel ridges that cross the country from east to west, and which are produced by the outcropping edges of beds of firm sandstone, that have resisted wasting agencies better than the softer beds that occur between them.* On the western coast of the county, the clifis fronting Chiegnecto Bay and Cumberland Basin, and which have been cut and are ounty, dVic- ounty. iferous which I to be le, all lerates north, esting ipping aunty, ightly jartof iward, D and The s over ;t car- g the rf the cross duced >, that softer coast y and id are . CAUB0MFER0U8 DISTRICT OF CUMBERLAND. 121 .1^.. '/J ^ % 41 o r^ —I H *■( ■■'3 a, (1. '-^ kept clean and fresh by the same agencies which we have already noticed in treating of the trap and new red sandstone coasts, furnish the finest and most com- plete section of the carboniferous rocks in Nova Scotia, and one of the finest in the world ; and on this account I shall commence with its description, as affording the best guide to the understanding of the more obscure and complicated parts of the formation. This remarkable section, now well known to geolo- l^sts as the South Joggins section, extends across almost the whole north side of the Cumberland trough, and exhibits its beds in a continuous series, dipping S. 25° W. at an angle of 19° ; so that in proceeding along the coast from north to south, for a distance of about ten miles, we constantly fii»d newer and newer beds, and these may be seen both in a bold cliff and in a clean shore, which at low tide extends to a distance of 200 yards from its base. We thus ' see a series of beds amounting to more than 14,000 feet in vertical thick- ness, and extending from the marine limestones of the lower carboniferous series to the top of the coal-forma- tion. In the cliff and on the beach, more than seventy seams of coal may be seen, with their roof-shales and underclays, and erect plants appear at as many distinct levels ; while the action of the waves and of the tide, which rises to the height of forty feet, prevents the col- lection of debris at the foot of the cliff, and continually exposes new and fresh surfaces of rock. In describing this remarkable section, I shall take as guides Mr Logan's elaborate section of the whole of the coast, including 14,570 feet 11 inches of vertical thick- ness, and a re-examination of 2800 feet of the most interesting part of the section, made by Sir Charles 122 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. Lyell and the writer in 1852 and 1853, and published in the proceedings of the Geological Society of London for the latter year. I shall proceed in the ascending order, or from the older to th^ newer beds, and shall interpret each new appearance as it occurs. In this way I hope to give to the attentive reader a more accu- ' rate idea of the structure and mode of formation of a coal- field than he could obtain in any other way, except by an examination of the actual coast-section described. The oldest beds of the lower carboniferous series do not appear in the coast'Section, but may be studied at Napan river and other places near Amherst. They consist of sandstones and marly clays, including thick beds of limestone and gypsum. The mode of formation of this last rock I shall not now notice, as better opportunities will occur hereafter. Respecting the lime- stones, I may remark, that they are marine deposits, formed in an open sea, tenanted by various kinds of shell-fish, &c., the remains of which still exist in the limestone. They are principally bivalves of a family (the Brachiopoda), once very abundant, but in the modern world represented by very few species ; and the most abundant shell of this kind in these limestones is the Producta Scotica, a finely striated species, having one valve very convex externally, and the other very concave. It is found in rocks of the same age in Great Britain. There is also a Nautilus, nearly resembling in form the Nautilus of recent tropical seas, but smaller . in size ; and there are numerous fragments of EncriniteSy a tribe of creatures allied to modem star-fishes, but furnished with a stem by which they were attached to the bottom, while their radiating arms extended on all sides in quest of prey. These limestones must have CARB0NIFIR0U8 DISTRICT Ot CUMBERLAND. 128 been formed in a sea whose waves lashed the slopes of the Gobequid mountains and ground up the pebbles of old rocks which now form conglomerates on their flanks, while beds of shells were accumulating in its more quiet depths. Its northern boundary may have been the Silurian and metamorphic rocks of Lower Canada and Labrador. The limestones above described dip to the southward ; and if we proceed across the country in the direction of their strike, we find them again with the same fossils on the Hebert river near Minudie ; and in the opposite or eastern direction, at several places nearly in a line between the Nepan and Pugwash Harbour on the shore of Northumberland Strait, where the limestone with its characteristic marine fossils is largely developed. Leav- ing in the meantime the rocks that lie to the northward of and under this limestone, we may take that part of it which appears near Minudie as the base of the Joggins section. Following its direction across from Hebert river to the Joggins coast, we find there that it is overlaid conformably by a great series of sandstones and shales, which we shall now proceed to describe, just as we should see them if walking along the coast ; and if this process should seem at all tedious to the reader, I beg him to remember, that this finely exposed series of beds furnishes the key which will enable us to under- stand the whole structure of the coal-formation of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ; and farther, that this key to &cts so important both in geology and in reference to the economical value of the coal-fields, is now for the first time brought in a complete form before the general reader. Commencing at Seaman's Brook in Mill Cove, and 124 THE CARBOMIFEROUB BT8TEM. I taking Mr Logan's carefully detailed section as our guide, we see in the low clifif and in the shore-reefis beds of reddish and gray sandstone, alternating with reddish shales or beds of hardened and laminated clay. In a few places we find among these beds layers of gypsum and of a coarse sandy limestone. In several of the gray beds there are fragments of trunks and branches of trees, converted into coal, and resembling what they certainly once were, drift trees embedded in sandbanks. Asso- ciated with these remains, we find in four of the beds small quantities of the gray sulphuret and green car- bonate of copper, minerals introduced into these beds by waters holding sulphate of copper in solution, which the carbonaceous matter of the fossil wood has deoxi- dized and thereby caused its deposition. Such appear- ances are not infrequent in beds containing fossil plants, but they have not hitherto been found to afford suffi- cient quantities of copper to be of any practical value. I may also remark here, in connexion with the occur- rence of fossil plants in gray rather than red beds, that in the coal-formation, as in the modem marshes and peat-bogs already described, the presence of vegetable matter has often destroyed the red colour of beds tinged with peroxide of iron, and hence the fossils are in some sense the cause of the gray colour of the beds in which they are found. Beds of the kinds just described occupy the shore to a distance equal to 2308 feet, as ascertained by the careful measurements of each bed made by Mr Logan. I may remind the reader, that as these beds dip to the south-west, we are constantly pro- ceeding from older to newer beds. In the succeeding 3240 feet of beds we find a similar scries, with some additional features indicating our ap- * - CARB0NIFEK0U8 DISTRICT OF CUMBERLAND. 125 proach to the great masses of fossil vegetables entombed in the true coal-measures which overlie them. There are here nine seams of coal, all very thin, their total thickness being only ten inches ; and under each seam we observe a bed of clay or crumbling argillaceous sand- stone, with remains of roots belonging to plants to be noticed hereafter, and which had much to do with the accumulation of the coal. We find also among this thick series of sandstones and shales, several bands of hard black limestone, yielding a bituminous and almost animal smell when rubbed or struck, and containing abundance of little diamond-shaped plates with smooth and polished surfaces, which if we are acquainted with the animals ,f the coal period, we recognise as the scales of a singular tribe of fish, the Ganoids, of which numerous species abounded in the carboniferous period, but which are now represented in America only by the bony pikes of the Canadian lakes. There is also in this part of the section a far greater prevalence of gray sandstones than in the part previously noticed, and in these gray sandstones are immense quantities of fossil plants, most of them trunks of trees confusedly inter- mingled and flattened more or less by pressure ; others long cylindrical reed-like stems {Calamites)j or immense creeping roots dotted all over with pits* from which their rootlets sprang [Stigmarice). In most of these fossils the bark is converted into hard shining coal, but the w^od has decayed away, and the hollow cavity left vvithin the bark, has been filled with sand now hardened into stone like that without. This is a distinct process from petrifaction properly so called, in which the minute cells of the wood become so filled with mineral matter y. h 126 THE CARBONIFEROUS SY8TEK. /:( that, the minutest parts of the stractnre are preserved. Some of the gray sandstones of this part of the section are of great thickness, and in them are the most im- portant quarries of the Joggins grindstones, which are exported to all parts of the United States. These grind- stones have been formed from beds of sand deposited in such a manner that the grains are of nearly uniform fineness, and these grains have been cemented together with just sufficient firmness to ^ve cohesion to the stone, and yet to permit its particles to be gradually rubbed off by the contact of steel. A piece of grind- stone may appear to be a very simple matter, but it is very rarely that rocks are so constituted as perfectly to fulfil these conditions, and hence the great demand for the Joggins stone. This part of the section suggests many interesting inquiries respecting the mode of formation of some of its beds, but I postpone these till we arrive at those por- tions which show coal-measures, properly so called, on a somewhat larger scale. Proceeding along the coast, we find that the strata last described are overlaid by a series amounting to 2082 feet in vertical thickness, and differing from the last group of beds in containing fewer gray sandstones, no coal-seams or bituminous limestones, and compara- tively few fossil plants, and these but imperfectly pre- served. This series then consists in great part of reddish shales and reddish and gray sandstones. These and indeed the greater part of the rocks composing the part of the section we have examined, must originally have consisted of beds of reddish sand and mud, spread over the bed of that ancient carboniferous sea once CARBONIFBROUS DISTRICT OF CUMBERLAND. 127 tenanted by tiie shells of the Napan limestone, much in the same manner that layers of mud are now deposited in the Bay of Fundy. We have now, after passing oyer beds amounting altogether to the enormous thickness of 7636 feet, reached the commencement of the true coal measures, or that part of the section which was examined in detail by Sir Charles Lyell and the writer in 1852 aifd 1853. Owing to the comparative softness of the rocks of the last group described, they have in many places been worn down nearly to the level of the beach, so that they cannot be very distinctly observed. Fortunately, how- ever, just where the section becomes most interesting, the beds rise into a high cliff, and every one can be measured, and its mineral character and fossil contents observed, by any person who is content to labour dili- gently, and who is not too apprehensive that he may be buried under the falling cliffs, which, especially in the spring and in stormy weather, often send down very threatening showei*K) of stones and sometimes terrible landslips. This portion of the section then I shall give in detail, as one of the best specimens in the world of that wonderful series of fossiliferous beds constituting the great coal-measures of the carboniferous period. In doing so, I shall first copy the section as it appears in my notes, and nearly as published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, and shall then describe and interpret its more interesting and important features. In order to give the beds in their natural order, it is necessary to proceed in the sectional list in descending order. For the purposes of description, it is, however, better to proceed as we have hitherto done from older to newer beds. For this reason the numbers of the groups I i 128 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. into which the section is divided proceed from beiovf upward. I may also explain that this division into groups of beds is to some extent arbitrary ; though the endeavour has been made to bring together in each group a series of beds somewhat similar in character and origin. Section of part qfthe Coal-measures of the South Joggins, Nova Scotia^ in descending order. Strike S. 65° E. Magnetic; Dip S. 25" W. 19°. (The asterisks denote the ancient soil beds, with roots.) Group XXIX. On the western side of M^Cairn's Brook, which is about three-fourths of a mile S.W. from the Coal Pier, the coast-section shows a great thickness of gray sand- stones, with gray and chocolate shales ; in which were observed five small coal-seams with underclays, and erect trees at two levels. East of M'Cairn's Brook is a thick bed of gray sandstone (grindstone) with prostrate Coniferous trees. Under this are gray and chocolate shales and gray sandstone with erect trees at two levels. Then fol- lows a space of about 100 paces without section. XXVIII. ft. in. Shale and sandstone, chocolate and gray 90 Shale and sandstone, chocolate and gray. In one of the beds an erect stump, converted into coaly matter 35 SOUTH J060INB SECTION. 129 ft. la. ^Sandstone and gray shale. Stigmaria rootlets 4 6 Shale, chocolate and gray . . . 25 ^Sandstone, gray. Stools of Stigmaria . 3 Shale, gray. Upper part full of Stigmaria rootlets 20 Shales and flags, gray, and in part calcareous. Vegetable fragments and fish-scales . 15 Shale, hard gray .6 ill. XXVII. Shale, calcareo-bituminous. Shells of Modiola 1 Coal ....... 10 *Underclay, resting on sandstone and shale. Rootlets 10 Sandstone, coarse gray. Irregularly bedded 6 *Underclay, arenaceous. Stools of Stigmaria and an erect stump .... 36 Shale, gray . . . . . . 6 ^Sandstone and shale. Irregularly bedded. One bed has Stigmaria rootlets ... 80 Shale, gray, with ironstone balls . . 2 8 ^Sandstone, gray. Bootlets of Stigmaria . 2 3 Shale, gray. An erect tree rooted in bed below 20 ^Bituminous limestone. Bootlets of Stigmaria, Modiola, Cypris 2 Shale, carbonaceous, with ironstone balls. Poa- cites, &c . 09 •Underclay. Rootlets of Stigmaria . 10 Coa^, shaly 10 *Underclay. Indistinct rootlets . . 12 I u 180 TUE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. ft. ia. 3 1 10 1 5 4 6 8 4 8 ^Sandstone, gray argillaceous, passing downward into shale -and bituminous shale. An erect tree ; Stigmaria roots . . . Coal . . . . *Underclay. Rootlets . . . . Sandstone, gray. Erect Calamites and Stig- maria rootlets descending from bed above Shale, gray, pyritous. Numerous flattened plants Coixly very pyritous .... Shale, bituminous and pyritous. Coaly layers, Poacites, Ulodendron .... Coalf v^th much mineral charcoal . *Underclay, hard and arenaceous. Stigmaria rootlets 3 XXVI. Shales, chocolate and gray, with sandstone bands, ripple-marks and coaly vegetable fragments on some of the sandstones. An erect tree. Reptilian foot-prints and rain-marks . 66 XXV. Shale, gray. Modiola in lower part, fewer towards the top 2 Limestone, black bituminous. Fish-scales, Co- prolites, Modiola, Spirorbis, attached to car- bonized trunks . . .... 20 Coal, impure. Sigillaria, &c., with Spirorbis attached; Modiola . ..... 01 *Underclay. Stigmaria rootlets . . 10 SOUTH JOOOIMB SECTIOK. 8 1 181' ft la. Shale, ironstone nodules, and coaly seams Coal^ impure, two inches • . * L 5 9 ^Underclay. Many rootlets of Stigmaria Shale. Ironstone nodules CiMl , , . . . . 5 ^Sandstone, gray. Many rootlets of Stigmaria 2 Shale, gray . • . . . ..50 ^Sandstone, gray. Rootlets of Stigmaria 13 XXIV. Sand"' ivt>>, gray, alternating with chocolate and grr o: iles. Prostrate carbonized trunks. Fk:.acales 45 Shales, chocolate and gray, alternating with even bands of gray sandstone. On some of the sandstones scratches of driftwood . . 75 XXIII. Shale, gray, passing into black. Modiola in lower part . . . . . . 6 Shale, calcareo-bituminous. Modiola, Cypris, Fish-scales 10 Coal an4 bituminous shale. Poacites, Sigillaria, Spirorbis, Fish-scales, Cypris . . 8 Underclay. Rootlets of Stigmaria . . 3 9 Sandstone, gray. Rootlets ... 46 Shale and sandstone .... 80 *Underclay, hard and sandy below. Roots and rootlets of Stigmaria .... 16 Coal impure. Full of Poacites . . 1 Shale and argillaceous sandstone. Plants with Spirorbis, rain-marks ? ... 70 I 182 TH9 GARBONirBSOUB SYBTEM. ft. in. Sandstone and arenaceous shale. Erect Cala- mites in five feet of upper part ; an erect coaly tree passes through these beds and the sand- stone below ..... 90 Sandstone, gray. Erect coaly tree as above 7 *Shale, gray. Roots of coaly tree spread in this bed . 4 Sandstone, gray 4 Shale, gray.. Prostrate and erect Sigillaria and Lepidodendron, Poacites, Asterophyllites, Ferns, Modiola, Spirorbis on surface of fossil planti|, Stigmaria and rootlets . . 6 Goal, fnain serrr^ worked by the General Min- ing Association 3 6 Shale or undorclay. Thins out in workingtoN.E. 1 6 Coal, worked with main seam ... 16 ^Underclay and shale with bands of sandstone 20 ^Sandstone and clay. Stigmaria stools ; on the surface of this bed a thin film of coaly matter. [Coal Mine Pier here."] ... 26 Sandstone and shale. Irregular beds . 5 Shale, gray, with bands of sandstone and iron- stone . . . . . . 4 Sandstone, gray. Two erect stumps, one of them a Sigillaria with Stigmaria roots, erect Gala- mites ...... 20 *Shale, gray and ironstone. Roots and rootlets of erect stumps 6 6 Coalt impure. Much Poacites . . 0^ Shale, gray llj Coal and bituminous shale. Prostrate trunks and mineral charcoal . . .0 0^ 6 6 6 6 6 IIOUTtl JbOOINS SECTION. iSl '' ft. la. ^Sandetone with clay parting. Stigniaria root- lets and prostrate Sigillaria above the clay parting . . . . > . . 8 6 Sandstone and shales with ironstone . 12 Ironstone-band. Sigillaria, Favularia, Poacites, Ferns, &c. ; Spirorbis attached to many of these plants 8 *Underclays. Rootlets of Stigmaria and carbon- ized plants 2 Coaly impure 1 ^Sandstone, argillaceous. Stools and rootlets of Stigmaria 2 6 ^Sandstone alternating with shales. In one bed Stigmaria stools and an erect tree. In another Ulodeudron and other trees, prostrate, with Spirorbis attached . . . . 10 *Shale, gray, passing downwards into underclay. Poacites, Lepidophylla, &c. ; an erect tree, Stigmaria rootlets in lower part . . 3 10 Coal ....... 03 *Underclay. Rootlets .... 05 Coal and bituminous shale, in several alterna- tions. Lepidodendron, Ulodendron, Poacites, Lepidophylla. (This is called the Queen's Vein.") 19 *Shale, gray. Poacites in upper part. In lower part an underclay with remains of erect stumps 4 4 Coal . ... . . . 10 ^Underclay, black, bituminous, slickensided, resting on hard arenaceous understone. Stools and rootlets of Stigmaria . * . 3 1 134 THE CARBONIFEROUS 8YSTEH. XXII. ft. in. Shales, red and chocolate, with sandstone in uneven beds. Two erect stumps in one of the sandstones, ironstone in the shales . 93 Sandstone and shales, chiefly gray. Erect Cala- mites, and an erect stump in one of the beds 11 C XXI. Shale, gray, passing into black. Foacites, Sigil- laria, Calamites, coaly trunks, and an erect stump 14 6 Coal \ . . . . . . 8 *Underclay. Rootlets and coaly matter, 4^ inches to 2 Coal 2 *Underclay and shale, pyritous. Stigmaria, small erect stems or roots, coaly layers 14 Sandstone and shale. Very irregularly bedded 3 Shale and ironstone nodules. Two erect stems 3 Sandstone and shales. Carbonized wood and Poacites 8 Shales, chocolate and gray. Ironstone nodules. [Brook here.] . . . . . 12 . ; .r, \ . XX. ***ShaleB, chocolate and gray, and gray sand- stones irregularly bedded. Stigmaria rootlets in three of the sandstones . . . 90 XIX. Sandstone, gray, laminated. Erect Calamites 15 .0 S s *s SOUTH JOOOINB SECTION. ^ 185 ft. In. *dhale, gray and chocolate. Bootfrof Calamitea 7 CoeUy layer. Carbonized flattened trunks 2 *Underclay. Boots and rootlets of Stigmaria ^ Sandstone, gray, with chocolate and gray shale. Very irregularly bedded, carbonized trunks, Artisia, rain-marks? . . . . 30 *Shale, gray. Erect stump, Stigmaria roots, one root traced six feet .... 36 Coal and bituminous shale. Foacites with Spir- orbis, erect and inclined Galamites stand on surface of this coal .... 10 *Underclay 2 4 Bituminous shale and coal. Foacites and coaly trunks . , ... . 10 *Understone, hard, arenaceous. Many rootlets of Stigmaria . . . . . 16 Sandstone 7 **Shale, including two underclays with thin coaly seams. Sigillaria, Foacites, Stigmaria rootlets 15 XVIII. ^Shales and sandstones. One sandstone has Stigmaria rootlets , ... . 25 Sandstone, and red and gray shales. Irregularly bedded, sim-cracks, erect Calamites in one bed 60 Sandstone, and chocolate and gray shale . 15 XVII. *Shale, gray and chocolate. Sun-cracked sur- face, and a stool of Stigmaria . , 14 186 THE CARBOMFEROUB BTBTEM. ft. Ilk Coal. In roof, Poacites with Spirorbis . 8 'Underclay passing into arenaceous shales 15 XVI. Sandstone, gray. Prostrate carbonized trunks and vegetable fragments. Forms a high reef at end of Coal Mine Point ; hab been quarried for grindstone ..... . . 25 XV, *Shales and bluish sandstone. Two erect fluted stumps. One has Stigmaria roots . 18 Coal and bituminous shale. Stigmaria^ Sigil- laria, Galamites, Lepidodendron, Poacites 1 2 •Underclay. Rootlets . . . .") **Shale, including two thin coals and under- > 8 10 clays J ^Sandstone, gray ar^llaceous. Erect trees and Galamites, Stigmaria and rootlets. Reptilian remains and land shell in one of the erect trees 9 Coal. Erect coaly tree (Conifer ?) at its surface 6 ^Underclay. Rootlets .... 20 Sandstone and shales. Prostrate Sigillaria, erect Calamites 21 Coal 4 *Underclay. Rootlets . . . .20 XIV. **Sandstones in thick beds, alternating with shales. In one bed an erect stump springing from shale with Poacites ; lower, a coaly bed SOUTH JOOOIMS SECTION. 187 in. 8 with Stigmaria nnderclaj ; still lower, a sand- stone with erect Calamites rooted in shale, and immediately below this another erect stomp 110 Sandstones, gray. Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, Ulodendron, Artisia, &c. ... 20 In. 2 10 6 4 XIII. *Shale, including a 4-inch coal with underclay. In the shale above the coal is a fine ribbed erect tree, two feet diameter, four feet of height seen. Its roots are well marked [Stigmaria ficoidea). The coal contains Spirorbis, Modiola, and Gypris ; and its underclay has rootlets of Stigmaria 10 Sandstones. Fine ripple-marks . . 6 Shales and sandstones. Irregularly bedded 12 Sandstone. Eipples, coaly fragments, Calamites 10 Shale and sandstone .... 10 Shale, calcareo-bituminous, resting on bitumi- nous limestone. Modiola, Goprolites, Fish- scales, Gypris 5 Coal. Prostrate Sigillaria ... *Underclay. Rootlets of Stigmaria . 2 Sandstone. Bipples, and coaly fragments 6 Shalyclay . . . . . . 13 Bituminous limestone. Gypris, Modiola, Gopro- lites ....... 3 Coal, with three clay partings . . 2 ^Underclay. Bootlets of Stigmaria . 1 Sandstone, gray. Two erect trees, one a Sigil- laria . . . ... 5 1 9 6 i I 138 THE CARBOMIFEBOUB BYBTBM. ft. In. Clay . . , . . . . 6 Sandstone. An erect fluted tree ; erect Gala- mites rooted one foot above roots of tree. Also an erect coaly tree penetrating this and clay above 8 Shale, gray and black, passing into bituminous limestone, with coaly bands. Modiola 10 Coal ....... 10 *Underclay. Stigmaria rootlets . . 10 ^Sandstones and shales. Stigmaria rootlets at two or three levels . . . . 30 Shales, coarse and fine. An erect tree ; also Poacites with Spirorbis ... 80 Coal 5 ^Bituminous limestone. Stigmaria roots and rootlets, Modiola, Goprolites, Cypris . 4 Coal . . . . . . . 7 *Underclay 16 XII. ^Sandstones and shales, including a 6-inch coal and several underclays. Erect trees at five levels. One of the trees four feet in diameter, ' and irregularly ribbed ; rooted in shale, with rootlets 80 XI. Shale, passing into bituminous limestone, with coaly layers. Cypris, Coprolites, Spirorbis, Modiola ... .... 80 SOUTH J00OIN8 IBCTIOM. 139 ft In. *Glay, pTritous, with coaly bands. Stigmaria rootlets 20 Sandstone ...... 50 Shale, with ironstone, passing into bituminous shale ■ 20 Goal and bituminous shalo. Foacites, Lepido- phylla 5 ^Underclay, resting on shale, with ironstone. Stigmaria rootlets .... 60 Shale, arenaceous. Stems, Galamites, Foacites, Lycopodium?, Modiola ... 03 Coal 5 Shale and coaly layers .... 40 Coal and shale . . . ... 04 Shale . . . . ... 9 Coal 2 Shale 10 Ironstone and bituminous limestone. Foacites, Spirorbis, Gypris .... 03 *Underclay and shale. Bootlets of Stigmaria 4 Goal . , 4 •Underclay, pyritous, passing into sandstone. Bootlets of Stigmaria ... 16 Sandstone and shale. Six large erect trees, one of them 15 feet in height, erect Galamites 30 Coal and bituminous shale ... 50 *Underclay. Stigmaria rootlets . , 2 X. Sandstone. Large erect tree . . 8 **Shale, with bands of gray sandstone, a few 140 TUB CARBONIFEROUS 8Y8TBM. ft. la. thin layers of coal, with underclays. Poa- cites, Ferns, &c, abound in the shales . 60 •**Shale, cholocate, with gray sandstone. Con- tain three thin coaly bands, with underclays and roof-shales, about . . . 500 *Shale, gray, and sandstone. In upper part, an understone, with Stigmaria rootlets, and an erect tree, Ferns, Poacites . . . 82 IX Sandstone, gray, and shale. In lower part an erect! tree extending 2 feet into these beds, and 3 feet into bed below . . 10 Shale 12 ^Bituminous limestone. Stigmaria stools and rootlets ; at bottom a thin coaly layer, with prostrate trunks and attached Spirorbis . 1 2 ^Underclay. Bootlets and remains of erect stumps . . . . . . 2 6 Coal 3 *Underclay 3 Gray sandstone and shale. Stigmaria rootlets 6 Shale, with coaly layers ... 80 Sandstone, argillaceous, and shale . . 6 Bituminous limestone. Rootlets, Fish-scales, Cypris ? 2 Coal and bituminous shale . . . 9 *Underclay 2 Coal and bituminous shale ... 08 *Under-clay. Stigmaria rootlets . . 13 Bituminous limestone. Rootlets ; Cypris . 4 Shale . . . It • • • 3 « s: Si SI ♦1 u Sfl Sfl 6 3 9 8 8 4 3 SOUTH J000IM8 BKCTIOK. 141 ft. ta. Coal ....... 01 *Underclay. Stigmaria rootlets . • 8 VIII. Sandstone 5 Sandstone and chocolate shales . . 70 i> VII. Shale, calcareo-bituminous, and bituminous lime- stone. Modiola, Cypris, &c. . , . 5 Coaly fiill of minute spines ... 04 *Underclay, passing into chocolate shale. Boot- lett . . . ..... 30 VI. ^Shales, chocolate and sandstone. Near bottom an erect tree rooted in hard arenaceous under- clay. Stigmaria rootlets . . . 38 Shales, chocolate and gray, and sandstones . 63 Sandstone, gray, with false stratification. Trunks of trees . . . .. .. , 15 V. Shale, chocolate above, gray below. Thin coaly layers in bottom, Poacites . . . 15 ^Bituminous, limestone. Bootlets, Cypris . 5 Underclay. . Rootlets ..... . 20 rv. Sandstones and shales . . . . 30 Sandstone, gray. Erect Galamites, flattened tnmks 8 14a THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. ft in. Shales, chocolate and gray. An erect tree (rib- bed) 40 III. Bituminoas limestone. Cypris, Modiola, Copro- lites, Fish-scales .... Bituminous shale Bituminous limestone. Cypris, Modiola, &c. Bituminous shale Coal Bituminous shale . . . . . Coal . . . . . . . Bituminous shale Bituminous limestone, earthy. Coprolites, Mo- diola, Fish-scales, Cypris Bituminous limestone, with coaly layers Shale and ironstone balls Bituminous limestone, calcareo-bituminous shale, and coaly layer. Fish-scales, Cypris, &c. Shale, gray . . . . . • * Coal and bituminous shale. Modiola *Underclay. Eootlets of Stigmaria Shale, arenaceous, and ironstone balls. Bootlets Sandstone, gray Shale, gray ...... Shale, black . . . Bituminous limestone. Modiola, Cypris, Copro- lites Coal *Underc!ay, passing into chocolate shale. Boot- lets of Stigmaria .... 5 4 3 11 3 11 3 7 10 7 7 3 3 6 3 1 6 5 4 4 6 7 5 8 6 3 6 6 7 5 SOUTH JOOOroS SECTION. 148 ft. in. II. Shales, chocolate and gray, and sandstones 45 I. Sandstone, gray. An erect tree (Lepidoden- dron ?) 8 inches diameter, 4 feet high ; erect Galamites 12 Shale, gray ...... 16 Bituminous limestone, Modiola, Cypris, Fish- scales, Spirorbis .... 04 Shale, gray . . . . . . 9 0, Bituminous limestone. Modiola, Fish-scales, Cy-. pris ,,-,,...» 06 Shale, gray 2 6 Bituminous limestone and calcareo-hituminous shale. Modiola, Fish-scales, Cypris . 3 0. Shale, gray 16 Calcareo-bituminous shale. Modiola, Fish-scales, Cypris, Poacites . . . . 6 Shale, gray 6 Bituminous limestone. Cypris, &c. * 3 Shale, black ,07 Coal 6 ^Bituminous limestone. Cypris, Stigmaria root- lets 2 Coal . 0^ *Underclay. Stigmaria rootlets . . 4 Shales and sandstones, red and chocolate (not measured). Total thickness, 2819 2 CHAPTER IX. THE CARB0NIFEB0U8 SYSTEM— CoiUmued. CUMBEkLAND GOAt*FIELD, Continued — EXPLANATION OP J0GGIN8 SECTION EASTERN COAST OF CUMBERLAND- USEFUL MINERALS OF CUMBERLANI>— SOILS. In the last line but one from the bottom of the section, in the preceding chapter, the reader will observe the words " Underclay — stigmaria rootlets," and over this underclay is a small seam of coal. An underclay is technically the bed of clay which underlies a coal seam ; but it has now become a general term for a fossil soil^ or abed which once formed a terrestrial surface, and sup- ported trees and other plants; because we generally find these coal underclays, like the subsoils of many modem peat->^ogs, to contain roots and trunks of trees which aided in the accumulation of the vegetable mat- ter of the coal. The underclay in question is accord- ingly penetrated by innumerable long rootlets, now in a coaly state, but retaining enough of their form to enable us to recognise them as belonging to a very peculiar root, the stigmaria^ of very frequent occurrence in the coaTmeasures, and at one time supposed to have been a { fi s 1 8 CUMBERLAND COAL-FIELD. U$ in a [able liar the len a swamp plant of anomalous fonn, but now known to have been the root of an equally sin^lar tr ee^ the ng illaruk , found in the same deposits (Fig. 9). The stigmaria has Fig. 9.—JRUi», Leaf Sean, ay»d At| (a) Ut Boot! of SiffiUaria— South Joggint. (») (a) Rib and Leaf Scan at S feet from the Root (5) At from 2 to 3 feet from the Root. !i (d) Stump with Roots, viewed nrom above. derived its name from the regularly arranged pits of spots left by its rootlets, which proceeded from it on all sides. The sigillaria has been named from the rows or leaf scars which extend up its trunk, which in some species is curiously ribbed or Anted. One of the most i i ui THE CABBONIFEROUS SYgTEU. .! remarkable peculiarities of the stigmaria rooted trees was the very regular arrangement of their roots, which are four at their departure from the trunk, and divide at equal distances successively into eight, sixteen, and thirty-two branches, each giving off, on all sides, an immense number of rootlets, stretching into the beds around, in a manner which shows that they must have been soft sand and mud at the time when these roots and rootlets spread through them. It is evident that when we find a bed of clay now hardened into stone, and containing the roots and root- lets of these plants in their natural position, we can in- fer, lst,i that such beds must once have been in a very soft cciidition ; 2dly, that the roots found in them were not drifted, but grew in their present positions ; in short, that these ancient roots are in similar circum- stances with those of the recent trees that underlie the Amherst marshes. In corroboration of this, we shall find, in farther examination of this section, that while some of these fossil soils support coals, others support erect trunks of trees connected with their roots and still in their natural position. Believing the underclays to have been soils, we find similar reasons to conclude that the coal seams were originally vegetable matter, which accumulated in the manner of peat ; and on examining the coal minutely, we often find distinct evidences that it is composed in part of woody fragments, sometimes retaining their structure in sufficient perfection to enable the kind of wood to which they belonged to be ascertained. These appearances are most distinctly seen in the coarser and more impure coals, and in the bands of clay and iron- stone which occur within the coal seams. In the more pure coals, the vegetable matter has sometimes been CUMBEBLAND COAL-FIELD. HI reduced by chemical change and pressure into an almost homogeneous mass. Here, then, at the commencement of the section, we have a soil four feet in depth, and supix)rting a layer of vegetable mould which has been compressed into half an inch of coal. Above the coal rests a very different description of rock, one of those hard dark-coloured lime- stones already referred to. It is filled with innumer- able little shells of a minute crustaceous animal, the Cyprisy the modern representatives of which reside in countleifis numbers in ponds. and in river estuaries. Our coal bog therefore became, from some cause, probably subsidence, a pond or lagoon, in which cyprides and other aquatic animals must have existed for some time before their remains could accumulate in sufficient quan- tity to form these two inches of hard bituminous lime- stone. The cypris-inhabited waters, however, were dried up, and on the rich marly soil grew another forest, whose rootlets may be seen finely preserved in the lime- stone ; and the result was a thicker seam of coal than the first, again inundated and covered by a considerable thickness of shales and bituminous limestones, in which we find not only the Cypris but the scales of small fishes, bivalve shells {Modiclce) allied to the common mussel, and a small whorled shell (Spirorbis) resembling those now found adhering to the seaweeds of the shore (the common Spirorhis Spirillum) Fig. 10. The bituminous Fig. 10. — Foasilt/rom Bitumitwui Limestone — Jogg'mt. a Cyfrit (a) natural rixe. /tpirorbU (a) natural tit«. 148 THK CARDOMFEROUS SYSTEM. Fiij'. to— Continued. ' ,11 Modioli. limestonod cortniuing thcKc remains, alternate with shales indicating' that irruptions of mud partially filled up, at dilVeroiu times, the waters in which cjilcareous beds were hoing gradually accumulated by the growth and death of animals. In the highest of thest) beds of mud, which probably restored the whole area to the stale of a swamp, trees took root and were buried hj an irruption of sand, in which they as well as an under- growth of Calamites still stand in an erect position. I have dwelt at some length on this first group, &a its appearances will help to explain others that succeed. It is evident that when read in the light of modem ge- ology, they tell a very intelligible tale, and show us that the circumstances in which these coal-rocks were formed were similar to those which we have found to ex- ist on a small scale in the modern marshes of the Bay of Fundy ; and also to those more extensive changes which occur in the deltas of great rivers, such as the Mississippi and the Ganges, in which low alluvial flats have often been alternately covered by water and by a dense swamp-vegetation. Let the reader also observe, that in this one group of the Joggins beds, only about 56 feet in thickness, we have at least three successive soil-surfaces, two of them sufficiently permanent to per- EXPLANATION OP JOOOINS SECTION. 149^ ler- linit the accumulation on them of peaty vegetable soils ; and four feet nine inches of calcareous beds, mostly made up of animal remains. The lapse of time required for the accumulation of this group alone must thus have been vastly greater than that necessary for the produc- tion of the modern marsh-formation with its one fossil soil. It will also be observed that these beds carry our thoughts back to a period when this province was cov- ered by a strange and now extinct vegetation, and when its physical condition resembled that of the Great Dis- mal Swamp, the Everglades of Florida, or the Delta of the Mississippi. One appearance only in this group requires farther explanation before we proceed to the next. One of the sandstones at the top of the group exhibited in 1853 a tree standing out from the cliff, as a pillar of hard sand- stone spreading out at the base, and beside it were numerous calamites, also represented by sandstone casts, and like the tree standing at right angles to the beds, which are now inclined at an angle of 19 degrees, but which must have been horizontal when these plants grew and were entombed. The manner in which the plants were preserved in their present state and position can easily be understood. Imagine a forest of trees and a tall brake of reed-like plants growing together on a iswampy flat. The flat is inundated and overspread with sand to the depth of four feet. The plants are thus killed and their dead tops project for some time above the sand. At length they decay and are broken oflf, and eventually the wood decays, leaving only a hollow cylinder of bark. Sand is now washed into the perpendicular pipes produced by the decay of the trunks and stems, forming casts of them. The whole is now /* ••-, ■^ * ^ 150 THB CARB0NIFEB0U8 SYSTEM. buried up by succeeding deposits and becomes hardened into stone, and so remains until tilted up, elevated above the water level, and exposed by the action of the tides and waves. The stump observed in the particular bed now under consideration is named in the section a Lepidodendron, with a note of interrogation to show that its surface was not so well preserved as to make it certain that it belonged to that genus. The Lepidodendra were tall and graceful trees, intermediate in their structure be- tween the pines and the humble club-mosses {Lycopo- dia) of our modem woods. Their trunks were marked by diamond-shaped leaf-scars, and their branches and twigs were thickly clothed with long lance-shaped leaves like those of the pine tribe, and bore large cones at their extremities. These trees did not send up straight trunks with numerous small branches, like the pines, but branched out by the continuous division of the trunk and limbs into pairs of branches, in the man- ner in which standard pear-trees are often trained in this country, by constantly cutting out the main ascend- ing twig and allowing two lateral branches to grow in its place. The Lepidodendra must have been among the most beautiful trees of the coal-period, and their roots appear to have been constructed on the same re- gular type with those of the Sigillaria. Mr Brown of Sydney has described some fine examples of this from the coal-field of Gape Breton. Group II. is a barren series of sandstones and shales, representing beds of sand and mud conveyed by water over the last terrestrial surface of the first group. For aught that the section shows to the contrary, these forty-five feet of sand and mud may have been rapidly . i EXPLANATIOM OF JOGOIMB BKCTION. m /I depoeited. It is quite likely that the formation of the half-inch bed of coal in the former group may have occupied a longer time than the deposition of the Mrhole of these beds. The reader will note here that the abfiolute thickness of any bed or mass of beds is no measure of the time occupied in their formation. A layer of sand may be spread over a wide surface by a single storm or inundation, but it requires time to accu- mulate even a very inconsiderable amount of organic matter by the slow growth of animals or plants. The next group is very similar to No. I. It shows that the locality was again for a very long period alter- nately a swamp and a lagoon. I say for a very long time, for much of this group consists of bituminous lime- stone, Modiola shale, and coal, all beds requiring a very long lapse of time for their growth. There is every reason, for example, to believe that the three feet bed of bituminous limestone, nearly in the middle of the group, consists mainly of the remains of Cyprideg^ fish, and other aquatic creatures, accumulated by the slow growth of successive generations ; and if we have any idea of the growth of modem beds of this kind, we will bu disposed to measure the growth of this limestone by cen- turies. Group IV. is comparatively barren of organic remains, and consists of coarse mechanical detritus ; and it will be observed that throughout the section groups of beds of this kind alternate with others composed of fine silt and organic matter. There were, in other words, long- continued swamp and lagoon periods, alternating with periods in which the waters of the sea or turbid streams were bearing in sand and mud. We have here, how- ...J 153 TUB CARBOMIFEROUS SYBTEIf. ever, two surfaces which had anfficient permanence, as land or swamp soils, to support trees and Calamitea. In Group V. we have a recurrence on a small scale of the conditions of Group III. Group VI. is another great series of sandstones and chocolate-coloured shales. It has, however, one erect tree, probably a Sigillaria^ rooted in an underclay with stigmaria rootlets ; and in the lowest sandstone there is a great mass of prostrate trunks of trees, imperfectly preserved, probably the wreck of some land-flood, or the drift-wood from a forest-clad coast. In Group VII. there are but three beds in an order which We shall find frequently repeated in the section. First, we have an underclay, a soil on which grew a small bed of vegetable matter represented by four inches of coal. This terrestrial surface was overflowed by water, for a very long time inhabited by Modiola and CyprU. This, it will be observed, implies subsidence of a terrestrial surface and its long submergence, and I may remark once for all that the appearances of the whole section imply continuous subsidence, only occa- sionally interrupted by elevatory movements. The suc- ceeding group marks the filling of the quiet waters ten- anted by ModiolcB, with thick deposits of clay and sand. Group IX. is a fine series of underclays and coals, al- ternating with Modiola beds. It contains nine distinct soil-surfaces, the highest supporting an erect tree, which appears as a ribbed sandstone cast, five feet six inches high, nine inches in diameter at the top, and fifteen at the base, where the roots began to separate. This tree being hardef than the enclosing beds, at the time of my visit, stood out boldly at the base of the cliff, nearly EXPLANATION OP J000IN9 8BCTI0N. 153 three-fourths of its diameter, and the bases of three of its four main roots being exposed. Five of the nnder- clays support coals, and in three instances bituminous limestones have been converted into soils, none of which, however, support coals. The last of these bitu- minous limestones is a very remarkable bed. First we have an underclay ; this was submerged, and Spirorbis attached its little shell to the decaying trunks, which finally fell prostrate, and formed a carbonaceous bot- tom, over which multitudes of little crustaceans [Cypris) swam and crept, and on which fourteen inches of calca- reous and carbonaceous matter were gradually collected. Then this bed of organic matter was elevated into a soil, and large trees, with Stigmaria roots, grew on its surface. These were buried under thick beds of clay and sand, and it is in the latter that the erect tree already mentioned occurs ; its roots, however, are about nine feet above the surface of the limestone, and belong to a later and higher terrestrial surface, which cannot be distinguished from the clay of similar character abovo and below. The Xth Group contains a vast thickness of sand- stones and shales, the latter chiefly of chocolate colours, which, as they afforded few facts of interest, were not measured in detail. This group points to a long-con- tinued interruption of the swamp-deposits previously in progress. During the greater part of the time occupied in the formation of these beds, the locality must have been a sandy or muddy sea-bottom, receiving much mechanical detritus, or an expanse of flats of reddish mud and brown or gray sand, covered by the tides. There are, however, some evidences of terrestrial con- ditions. In the lowest beds is a large erect stump. 154 TUB CARBOtlirEROUB 8YSTBM. filled with laminated clay after the complete decay of its wood. In the clay filling it were abundance of fern leaves, Poacltea^ LepidophylUxj a few plants with at- tached Sptrorbis, and a shell of Modiola. This tree was rooted in a thick underclay full of rootlets of Stig- maria. Higher up there are several thin coaly bands, with underclays ; many of the shales abound in leaves of Ferns and Poacites^ probably drifted, and the highest sandstone showed a large erect tree. Group XI. commences with a soil resting immediately on the truncated top of the tree last mentioned. On this soil was formed a deep swamp, now represented by five feet of coal and bituminous shale in alternate bands. Large quantities of clay and sand buried this swamp, but not in such a manner as to preclude the growth of trees, many of which were entombed in the erect posi- tion. In these sandstones and shales, no less than six erect trees were observed at different levels, the lowest being rooted in the shale forming the coal-roof ; fifteen feet of the trunk of one of these trees still remain ; two others were respectively five and six feet high. Erect Calamites were also observed. The soil which was formed on the surface of these beds supports one of the thickest coal-beds in the section, marking a long and undisturbed accumulation of vegetable matter. It was covered by clay, which became a Stigmaria soil, and was then submerged for a sufficient time to allow the formation of a small bed containing Cypria and Spirorbu. Above this we find a series of beds indicating swamp conditions, alternating with aqueous drift and deposition, and finally again giving place, for a long period, to the quiet estuary or lagoon, inhabited by Modiola and gan- oid fish, and receiving little mechanical sediment. We EXPLANATION OF JOOQINB SECTION. 155 have here, as in some previous groups, throe distinct conditions of the surface: — first, terrestrial surfaces more or less permanent ; secondly, undisturbed marine or brackish water conditions ; thirdly, intervening be- tween these the deposition, probably with considerable rapidity, of sandy and muddy sediment. We may also observe that, admitting the Stigmaria to be roots of trees, there are five distinct forest soils without any re- mains of the trees except their roots ; and we shall find throughout the section that the forest soils are mueli more frequently preserved than the forests themselves. The Xllth Group, eighty feet in thickness, consists of sandstones and shales, with few vegetable remains. There are, however, several underclays, and one thin coal, and erect stumps appear at five distinct levels. One of them is the largest tree observed in the section : it measured four feet in diameter, and was five feet in height. Its surface was irregularly ribbed, and it was I ""ted in clay containing Stigmaria rootlets. Its roots, however, were too imperfectly preserved to show the markings of ^%maria. In this group we have proba- bly the margin of alluvial deposits gradually spreading over the Modiola-inhabited waters of the last group, and occasionally presenting dry surfaces for a time suf- ficiently long to admit of the growth of trees of great size. In the large series of beds included in Group XIII., there are no less than thirteen distinct forest surfaces, marked by underclays or erect trees, and five periods of submergence indicated by beds with Modiola, &c., and three of them, at least, of very long duration. It will be observed that, in three instances, the order of suc- cession is underclay — coal — ^bituminous limestone. This CSafc. 156 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. arrangement, m common in other parts of the section, seems to show a connexion other than accidental be-' tween the long periods of terrestrial repose required for the growth of coal, and those of quiet submergence ne- cessary for the growth of Modiola beds. Perhaps the S'lbmerged coal-swamp was the most fitting habitat for Modiola and its associates; and these sunken swamp areas may have been so protected by thick margins of jungle as to resist for a long time the influx of turbid waters. In ascending through Group XIII., the first object of interest is a band of bituminous limestone with Modiola^ Coprolites, and Cyprh^ which forms the roof of one coal and the underclay of another, evincing important changes of level with scarcely any sedimentary deposition. Above the upper coal, however, we have an erect plant, only four inches in diameter, surrounded by arenaceous shale, and, in the finer clay surrounding its base. Poaches with attached Spirorbts, which probably, like some of its mod- ern congeners, could grow rapidly, and with equal facil- ity, either on drifting or stationary plants. Still higher in this group, and immediately above a thick bed of bi- tuminous limestone and Modiola shale, is a very curious association of erect plants. An erect tree, converted into coal, springs from the surface of the shale, and passes through fourteen feet of sandstone and shale. Apparently from the same level there rises an erect rib- bed tree, probably a Sigillaria, in the state of a stony cast, which, however, extends only to the top of the sandstone. In the sandstone, and rooted about a foot above the base of the erect trees, are a number of erect Catamites. In this case the forest-soil has been covered by about a foot of argillaceous sand, on which a brake EXPLANATION OF J000IN8 SECTION. Ufi of Calamttes sprung up. Further accumulations of sand buried them, and covered the trunks of the trees to the depth of eight feet. By this time the Sigillaria was quite decayed, and its bark .became a hollow cylinder, reaching only to the surface of the sand, and ultimately filled with it. The other tree still stood above the sur- face, until six feet of mud were deposited, when its top being broken off, it also completely disappeared beneath the accumulating sediment; and being softened and crushed by the lateral pressure of the surrounding mass, it was finally converted into an irregular coaly pillar, retaining no distinct traces either of the external form or internal structure of the original plant. The struc- ture of similar trees, to be noticed further on, renders it likely that this coaly tree is the remains of one of the Araucarian PineSj which, it appears, flourished in the coal-swamps in company with the Sigillaria. The sur- face of the clay which buried this remarkable tree became itself an underclay or soil ; and in the sandstone resting upon it were found casts of two erect trees, one of them five feet in height, and a Sigillaria with distinctly marked leaf-scars. The tops of these trees have been entirely removed, and their hollow stems filled with sand, before the deposition of a bed of mud resting upon them, and which is now the underclay of a bed of coal. This coal was next submerged under the conditions required fur bituminous limestone and Modiola shale. The Modiola waters were then filled up with clay and sand, the lat- ter ripple-marked, and with drifted vegetable fragments. Another soil was formed above these beds, and on it we find an inch of coal, with flattened Sigillariae, which probably once grew on the underclay. This terrestrial surface was succeeded, as usual, by waters swarming 158 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. with Modiola and fish, and on these were spread ofit beds of sand and mud, with ripple-marks, drift-trees, and evidences of partial denudation by currents. A ter- restrial surface was again restored, and four inches of coal were accumulated ; but the waters again prevailed, and in the coal itself we find Modiola, Cypris, and plants covered with Spirorhis, indicating that these crea- tures took possession while the vegetable matter was still recent, and probably much of it in an erect position. A terrestrial surface was, however, soon restored ; for in the shale which covers the coal there is a fine ribbed stump, two feet in diameter, and displaying on its roots the markings of the tme Stigmaria Jicoides, as well as the rootlets in situ in the shale. This is the first in- stance we have here yet met with of the distinct con- nexion of an erect ribbed stem with its Stigmaria roots. The causes of the difficulty of observing the roots and stem in connexion will be stated in the sequel. The next group is probably the result of somewhat rapid mechanical deposition. Its lowest bed is a thick sandstone, deposited by currents which have under- mined wooded banks, or passed through recently sub- merged forests, for it contains numbers of trunks of dif- ferent trees, retaining their bark and surface markings. In the succeeding 110 feet of sandstone and shale, I have noted but one underclay, supporting only a thin carbonaceous layer, which may, however, have been a soil for a long time. There are, however, erect trees and Calamites at three levels; and one of the trees springs from a shale loaded with Poacites which may have grown around its base. Here we may pause for a little, to note the appear- ance of some of the new vegetable remains to which we EXPLANATION OF JOOOIMB SECTION. 159 jr- liave been introduced. We have found a Sigillaria with distinct markings, namely its sides marked by bold ribs, having the effect of the flutings of a Grecian col* umn, and these ribs dotted with vertical rows of leaf scars. We have also seen a distinct instance of a Sigil- laria attached to its Stigmaria roots still spreadmg through the soil. (See Fig. 9, page 145.) Let us now endeavour to form an idea of the trees of this singular genus. Imagine a tall branchless trunk, perhaps two feet in diameter, and thirty feet in height. (One has been traced to the length of forty feet in the roof of the Joggins main coal-seam.) The trunk is covered with a thick bark, very smooth, and ribbed regularly, and is clothed to the summit with a dense mass of leaves, prob- ably of lengthened and grass-like forms. Such trees must have formed dense groves in the swamps of the coal-period. They have nothing closely analogous to them among living plants. There were a number of species of Sigillaria, differing somewhat in their nbs and leaf-scars, and probably also in their leaves. Th .^avii' laria and some other genera were nearly related ; and the Ulodendron, a plant whose remains occur with the Sigillaria^ was allied to the Lepidodendrov but wanted its graceful branching stem, while it had rows of stiff cones planted on the sides of its trunk, and its general aspect, when clothed with its long leaves, somewhat broader than those of Lepidodendron, must have much resembled that of the Sigillaria. Lepidophylla were the leaves of Ulodendron or Lepidodendron. We have also met with the Poacites, loj.g striated leaves resembling those of gigantic plants of Iris or In- dian corn, and sometimes five or six inches in breadtl), and half as many feet in length. They probably formed 160 THE CARBONIFEROUS BYSTEU. an undergrowth under and around the Sigillaria woods. We have also met with an erect coniferous tree, and erect Calamites, but shall reserve our notice oi these for l)etter instances farther on. Group XV. is one of the most interesting in the sec- tion, in consequence of the discovery in it, in 1852, by Sir Charles Lyell and the writer, of the bones of a rep- tile, Dendrerpeton Acadianum (Fig. 11), those of an- Fig. II.— Jaw of Dendrerpeton Acadianum. (a) Cross Section of Tooth (magnified). other small reptile, and the shell of a land snail [Pupa f) (Fig. 12). These remains are of great interest, as they Fi{?- \2. -Fossil Land Shdl—Joggin$ Coal-Measvntt. Magnified three diameters. are the first reptilian animals found fossil in t'le car- boniferous rocks of America, and the only land mail whose remains have ever been found in rocks of that age ; in fact, the only evidence yet obtained of the ex- EXPLANATION OF JOGOINS SECTION. i'6i is: id 'or JC- Bin- istence of animals of that tribe at bo early a period. These interesting remains were all found in the interior of an erect tree, mingled with the sand, decayed wood, and fragments of plants which had fallen into it after it became hollow. The bed of argillaceous sandstone, nine feet m thickness, which enclosed this tree, contains a number of erect plants (Fig 13). Three erect trees in the form of sandstone casts and erect calamites were ob- served in it, with many Stigmaria r»3ots. There was also a tree not in the form of a cast, but of a mass of coaly fragments surrounded by a broken and partly crushed cylinder of bark ; the whole being evidently the remains of a trunk which has been reduced to little more than a pile of decayed pieces of wood before the sand was deposited; consequently it must have been hey 'u Icar- [nail Ithat ex- Fig. 13.—Seetim of Middle Fart 0/ Group XV. in lohieh the Vendrerpetm and Land-sheUt have been found. 1. Underclay, with rootlets of Stigmaria, resting on gray sliale, with two thin coaly seams. 2. Gray sandstone, with erect trees, Calamites, and other stems : 9 feet. 3. Coal, with erect tree on its surface : 6 inches. 4. Underclay, with Stigmaria rootlets. (a) Calamites. (c) Stigmaria roots. (i) Stem of plant undetermined, (d) Erect trunk, 9 feet high. 162 THE CABBOMIFEROUS SYSTEM. El i either an older or more perishable plant than those which stand as pillars of sandstone. The wood of this tree shows, in the cross section, a cellular tissue, pre- cisely similar to that of the Goniferffi ; the longitudinal section shows only elongated cells, but is very badly pre- served. A tree of this description is not likely to have been more perishable than the SigillaricB, which, in the same situation, remained until nine feet of sandy mud had accumulated. I suspect, therefore, that this stump may be the remains of a coniferous forest, which pre- ceded the SigillaricB in this locality, and of which only decaying stumps remained at the time when the latter were bijuied by sediment. This is the more likely, as the appearances indicate that this tree was in a complete state of decay at the very commencement of the sandy deposit. The history of this group will thus be as follows : — (1.) The Stigmaria underclay shows the existence of a Sigillaria forest, on the soil of which was collected suf- ficient vegetable matter to form six inches of coal, which probably represents a peaty bog several feet in thickness. (2.) On this peaty soil grew the trees represented by the stump of mineral charcoal mentioned above, and which were probably coniferous. This tree, being about one foot in diameter, must have required 'about fifty years for its growth to tbs^t m.. It was then killed, perhaps by the inundation «. t the bog. (3.) During the decay of the tree last meiiLioned, SigillaricB grew around it to the diameter of two feet, when they were overwhelmed by sediment, which buried their roots to the depth of about eighteen inches. At this level Calamites and another Sigillaria began to grow, the former attaining a diameter of four inches, the latter a diameter of about EXPLANATION OF JOOaiMS SECTION. Ids le irs ^ps of to bd of Ind one foot. (4.) These plants were in their turn embedded in somewhat coarser sediment, but so gradually that trees with Stigmarian roots grew at two higher levels before the accumulation of mud and sand attained the depth of nine feet, at which depth the original large SigillaricB, that had grown immediately over the coal, were broken off, and their hollow trunks filled with sand. Before being filled with sand, these trees, while hollow, must for some time have projected from a swamp or ter- restrial surface, such as that which immediately succeeds them in ascending order ; and it is no doubt to this cir- cumstance that we owe the occurrence, in one of them, of reptilian remains and land-shells, as well as many vegetable fragments, such as Calamites, PoaciteSj and a Lepidostrobus, evidently introduced before the sedimen- tary matter, and forming just such a mass as might be supposed likely to fall into an open hole in a forest or swamp. (5.) The remaining beds of this group evidence the continuation of swamp conditions for a long time after the trees last noticed were completely buried. They include, in a thickness of twenty-eight feet, three underclays supporting coaly beds, and one with erect stumps ; one of them with Stigmarian roots and ribbed. One of the coaly beds, whi.^h alternates with laminae of shale, is filled with flattened trunks of Sigillaria and Lepidodendron^ which probably grew on the surfaces on which they now lie, and indicate how small a thickness of coaly matter may mark the time required for the growth and decay of many successive forests. On the whole, we can scarcely err in affirming that the habitat of the Dendrerpeton Acadianum and its asso- ciates was a peaty and muddy swamp, occasionally or periodically inundated, and in which growing trees and •■•^.^ 164 THB CABBOMIFEROUB 8Y8TEH. Galamite brakes were being gradually buried in sedi- ment, while others were taking root at higher levels, just as now happens in the alluvial flats of large rivers. Group XVI. consists of one thick bed of gray sand- stone with prostrate carbonized trunks. The sandstone is highly silicious, and of the kind used for grindstones. It is the result of the complete submergence of the swamps of the last group, and their invasion by sand- bearing currents. The next Group commences with the growth of CalU' mites on the surface of the great sand-bed last noticed, after which there was the formation of an underclay and coal, the latter being afterwards inundated, and the plants at its surface overgrown with Spirorbis. In the shale covering this coal, about fourteen feet above its surface, is a bed with shrinkage cracks, and containing a stool of Stigmaria^ one of the roots of which was traced 9^ feet. Its rootlets were attached, so that it can scarcely have been a drift-stump ; and if now in sitUy it must have grown on a mud-bank alternately inundated and dry, like the present salt-marshes of the Bay of Fundy. Group XVIII is a series of sandstones and shales, less perfectly exposed than most other parts of the section. Chocolate colours prevail among the shales, and there are few fossils. One of the beds, however, has its sur- face covered with casts of shrinkage-cracks, such as are now formed on mud left diy by the neap tides ; and there are also erect Calamites in one bed and a Stigma- ria underclay. The next group is of much greater interest, showing seven soil-surfaces, with a variety of sedimentary de- posits. Two of the coals in this group contain on their EXPLANATION OF JOOaiMB BECTIOM. 1(^5 ring de- leir surfaces of deposition well-preserved remains of the plants {SigiUariay Poacites, ^v.) which must have grown on their underclays. The thick mass of sandstone and shale in the centre^of the group is also very curious, as it evidently represents the side of a trench or gully cut by water in a series of mud-beds, and then filled up with a confused mass of drift-trees and sand. By far the most interesting feature in the group is, however, the fine brake of erect Calamites in the highest bed. The next bed above the confused mass already mentioned, is an underclay, on which grew a forest, whose only remains are two inches of coaly matter, made up of flattened trunks converted into coal. This forest must have been entirely destroyed by violence or decay, before the next bed, which is a shale seven feet thick, was deposited. On the surface of this shale grew a great brake of Ca- lamiteSf which were buried under sand, in such a man- ner that their forms and position were perfectly preserved : they stand in groups in the cliff just as they grew, some of them being five inches in diameter, and eight feet high ; and at that height they have been broken off with- out any decrease of their diameter. In one place twelve stems were counted in eight feet measured along the face of the cliff. From the base of the cliff to low- water mark, they could everywhere be seen abundantly along the continuation of the ledge of sandstone. This bed and others of similar character at the Joggins, have given us much information respecting the nature and mode of growth of these plants, which I may pause here to no- tice in detail. The Calamites were tall cylindrical stems, with a hard outer bark, and were either hollow or filled with cellular matter. The stems were regularly marked with 166 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. longitudinal strioB or farrows and cross joints, sometimes showing the marks of the attachment of the leaves^ which were verticillate, or in whorls around the stem, and long and needle-like (Figs. 14 and 15). The gen- eral habit of growth thus resembled the Equiseium or Mare's -tail of modem marshes, and probably these Fig. 15,— Leaves of Calamitt. Fig. U.— Erect Catamite, with Boots. One-obcth natural size. EXPLAMATIOM OF J000IN8 8ECTI0M. lii plants are also allied to the Calamite in structure. Ga- lai lant8, t 9 in. mts of ydney, 9 tbem id con- tionary ains of 8 feet, them cknesSf oduetut tiferous merate, lalent to tries of )ve, &c.} and 90 except are 16 its were observed at 22 levels. There are 24 bituminous lime- stones, 17 of which are immediately connected with seams of coal. '* The portion of the section examined by Sir G. Lyell and Mr Dawson in 1852, and by Mr Dawson in 1858, includes the lower part of No. 8 and the whole of No, 4." Beyond the extremity of Mr Logan's section, the beds become nearly horizontal and then rise with dips to the northward, which probably continue to the base of the metamorphic hills toward Gape Ghiegnecto. On this part of the coast the Joggins section should be repeated with a reverse dip, but the beds are not quite so well exposed. Nevertheless, I anticipate very interesting results from the study of this jtart of the section and its comparison with that of the Jogrrins shore. It is impossible to contemplate this vast series of de- posits, without been forcibly impressed with the great lapse of time and variety of change which it indicates ; and a glance at the table of formations in the introduc- tion to this work, will show how small a portion of the whole geological history of the earth is represented by the coal-measures. It is to be borne in mind also that this section represents the structure of the whole plain of Gumberland, and in a less precise manner that of the whole carboniferous areas of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with great tracts composed of similar rocks but not elevated above the bed of the present seas. I do not wish it to be understood, however, that all the changes represented by the Joggins beds extended con- tinuously over large areas. On the contrary, I believe that had we visited Gumberland during the coal-period, we might, by changing our position a few miles, have passed from & sandy shore to a peaty swamp, or to the 180 THE CARBONIFEROUS ST8TEH. margin of an estuary or lagoon ; but I believe that in each locality these changes succeeded each other in a similar manner, and that the great alternations between terrestial growth and marine deposition extended over very wide areas. Had we visited Cumberland during the time represented by one of the groups of coals, bituminous limestones and erect forests, we should have beheld vast swampy plains covered with dense forests, calamite brakes, and peaty bogs, intersected by sluggish streams and shallow lagoons. Had we visited it per- haps some centuries later, at the time when one of the barren groups of sandstone was being deposited, the eye would have ranged over a wide and shallow sea, filled with sandbanks, and with occasional low islets and spits, covered with sigillarise and fringed with wide borders of calamites, struggling for existence among the shifting sands. Changes of this kind alternated again and again, while the whole area was constantly subsiding at a rate so slow, that mechanical deposition and animal and vegetable growth were able to a great extent to coun- teract and sometimes altogether to neutralize its influ- ence. At length, however, in the upper ooal-formation, aqueous conditions regained a decided preponderance. This then, be it borne in mind, was the process employed by the great Architect of the universe, in building up the coal-fields of Nova Scotia and of the world, and we are indebted to the clean and sharp section, effected by the tides of Chiegnecto Bay, for that fine exposure of its stony monuments which enables us to understand and explain in such detail its nature. The beds that appear at the Jog^s can be traced inland for many miles, and reappear with a very similar arrangement in the banks of the inland streams on their I ■ ■ ■ ii*Mfcl>Wfclttfc*ftM>M EA8TSRM COAST OF CUMBERLAND. 181 line of strike. They no doubt extend, with some modi- fications in the details, quite to the coast of Northumber- land Strait. On this coast, however, the rocks are not BO well exposed as on the shore of Ghiegnecto Bay, and they have been disturbed by lines of fracture, extending from the great line of elevation of the Gobequid Moun- tains. At Pugwafih, we find large beds of limestone and gypsum, the former with lower carboniferous shellft; among which are the Producta Scotica and a very similar but more finely striated species the P. LyelU. There are also joints of Encrinites^ a pretty little Pecten or scallop, and a smooth shell, Terebratula Sufflata, be- longing to the same tribe with the Productee, but more closely allied in form to the few species of that tribe which inhabit the existing seas. This limestone is of good quality, and has been extensively quarried. It dips to the S.W. On the shore in the vicinity a series of sandstones and brownish shales appears also with S.W. dips. Associated with them are some beds of gray and black shale with leaves of Ferns and Poacites. The limestone is again seen at Canfield's Creek, and there it is associated with gypsum. The dip is S.S.W. These Pugwash beds are evidently lower carboniferous, and if the same regularity that we have observed at the Joggins prevailed, would be associated with a series of coal-formation rocks regularly succeeding them. A portion of such a series does appear in ascending Pug- waah Biver, but in proceeding to the eastward we find that the centre of the trough is broken up by a disloca- tion or anticlinal line, extending to Cape Malagash, which causes the coal-measure rocks to be ridged up. 1S2 THE CABBOMIFEBOUB BTSTBM. where otherwise they would have dipped gently toward the central line of the trough. Consequently on the east side of Fugwash Harbour, we find gray sandstones in yery thick beds dipping to the north, and containing prostrate trunks of carbonized trees and calamites. The shore runs nearly in the direction of the beds, and the gray sandstones in consequence form a sort of sea-wall sloping toward the strait, and it is only in the coves and the sides of the points that we can see the underlying beds. In such places we observe beds of gray shale with leaves of Ferns and a small seam of coal. Under- lying both these and the gray sandstones, are dark red, brown, and mottled sandstones and shales. These beds appear to belong to the Upper Coal-formation, and under and behind them there may be productive coal-meas- ures. The beds above mentioned occupy the coast from Pugwash Harbour to Oak Island. On the shore of Wallace Harbour, there are gray sandstones and gray and brown shales with high dips to the north-east; they are far beneath the beds seen on the Gulf Shore, and probably belong to the middle coal-measures, pos- sibly to their lower part. They contain at one place a thin seam of sulphurous coal, and chalybeate and sul- phurous springs rise from them. Sandstones and shales of the coal-formation prevail along the coast between Wallace and Cape Malagash ; and there present some appearances worthy of noticcj more especially the association of limestone, marine shells, and gypsum, with beds containing trunks of fossil coniferous trees, and the occurrence of coal-measure beds in a vertical position, or disturbed as far as pos- sible from their original horizontality. At M'Kenzie's CAPE MALAOABB. 18S/I pOB- Millt not far from the eastern extremily of Wallacie Harbour, the following curious succession occurs, in descending order : — Fe«t» Gray limestone with shells of Ptoducta LyeUi and Terebratula^ the cavities of the shells tilled with crystalline gypsum . , . . . 2 White small-grained crystalline gypsum . . 10 Beddish shale and sandstone with layers of arena- ceous and concretionary limestone . . .40 Gray sandstone and shales with some reddish beds. One of the gray sandstones is filled with trunks and branches of fossil trees, fossilized by car- bonate of lime, and showing under the micro- scope a very perfect structure of the Araucarian type about 150 Here we have, on a small scale, some of the principal features of the lower carboniferous series, associated with vegetable remains similar to those found usually at a much higher level in the carboniferous system. The beds at this place dip S.S.W. 20°; but a little farther to the north there are sandstones and conglom- erates, also of the carboniferous series, dipping to the N.E. Proceeding along the coast to the north-east, we find the gray sandstones containing fossil trees and thrown quite on edge. As the strike of the beds corresponds nearly with that of the shore, laige surfaces sometimes stand up along the face of the cliff like walls, and on these are distinct ripple-marks and worm-tracks, pro- duced when the sandstones were beds of incoherent sand, but now, in consequence of the hardening and dis- turbance of the sandstone, forming sculptures on a ver- «*!■ 184 THE CASBOMIFEROUS 8T8TEM. tical wall. A little fiurther on the same beds are seei( dipping to the north at an angle of 45", and containing abundance of fossil wood and some Calamites. A por- tion of the shore is then occupied by a salt marsh, and beyond this we have a considerable series of coal-mea8-< ure beds at the extremity of Gape Malagash, dipping south at an angle of 40°. That the reader may have an opportunity of comparing these beds with those of the Joggins, at the other extremity of the same coal- field, and sixty miles distant, I shall give a section of them in descending order. Feet. Broi^nish red sandstones and shales alternating . with gray sandstones, one of them containing pebbles of white quartz . . . about 600 . 2 . 50 . 3 . 50 not well seen. 6 Dark gray limestone Gray and reddish sandstones Daxk gray limestone . Gray sandstones - Reddish sandstones and shales Gray arenaceous shale. Fern leaves, and Poacites Underclay with SUgmaria^ and an erect stump with stigmaria roots, penetrating bed above . 3 Dark gray limestone 3 Alternations of gray and reddish sandstone and shale. In the lower part a bed of coal six inches thick, with stigmaria underclay about 300 Gray sandstone 20 Alternations of reddish sandstones and shales and gray sandstone, with thin layers of clay ironstone and a layer of coaly shale . . about 300 This is evidently very like some of the more barren parts of the Joggins shore, especially near the lower CAPS KALIOABH. isa piurt of the coal-measnreB. I may remark, however, that if the section at Malagash was exposed in a cliff like that of the Joggins, I have no doubt that more beds with erect plants would appear. The erect tree mentioned in the section was described and figured by me in the Proceedings of the Geological Society in January 1846. Mr Binney had described a similar specimen found in Lancashire in June 1845 ; and before the close of 1846, Mr B. Brown of Sydney had described still finer instances of the same kind from the Sydney coal-field. These were the three first instances in which the stigmaria was ascertained to be the root of the sigillarifls of the coal-period ; and even these were not altogether sufficient to dispel the doubts of some geologists. As the Malagash tree is thus an historical monument in the progress of geology, I give a sketch ofitinFig. 19. Fig 19.— Erect FoaM Tree est prospects of valuable discoveries are ; Ist, The line of country extending E. S. E. from the Joggins toward the branch of Biver Philip called Black Biver ; and, 2d, A line extending east and west, and passing through Springhill. Clay Ironstone occurs in the Joggim section, in balls in the shales, and in irregular bands. None of these deposits appear to be of any economical importance. Cfrindstone is one of the most important productions of the Cumberland coal-field. I have already referred to the mechanical qualities on which this rock depends for its value. The principal localities of the quarries are Seaman's Cove and Bagged Beef; the beds at the former being below the productive coal-measures, those at the latter above them. In smaller quantities grind- stones are obtained from a number of other beds and reefis along the coast, and also from the continuation of these beds on the estuary of the Hebert Biver, and fit>m the geological equivalents of the bieds at Seaman's Cove, where they reappear in New Brunswick. Thirty-dx thousand seven hundred and twelve tons of grindstones were exported from Cumberland in 1851. Grindstones are also quarried in the sandstones on the eastern coast USEFUL MINBBAL8 09 OUMBIBLlKD. 198 of GninberlMidf and at Wallace there are valuable beds of freestone, which have been quarried for exportation. Limestone and Cfypsum abound in the line of country extending from Minudie to Pugwash and Wallace. The former especially occurs in very thick beds at Napaii River and at Pugwash ; and these are also the principal localities of gypsum, which does not, however, appear to be so abundant in the lower carboniferous rocks of this county as in those of Hants and Colchester. A angular variety of limestone occurs in a number of places on the Joggins shore. It is the black bituminottt limestone, so often referred to in the section. This sub- stance, though not in sufficiently thick beds to compete with the larger lower carboniferous limestones for or- dinary purposes, is the most valuable limestone in the county for application as a manure, in consequence of the quantity of phosphate of lime contained in it, in the form of scales and bones of fish. In consequence of its containing this valuable ingredient, it is worth to the farmer more than three times the price of ordinary lime- stone, and I have no doubt that it will be extensively worked for agricultural purposes, when the use of mineral manures becomes more general among the fanners of Cumberland. It is possible that even at present the lime from the richest of these beds would be sufficiently appreciated on trial, to allow them to be profitably worked. The Soils resting on the carboniferous rocks of Cum- berland are very various in their quality, and run in lines across the county in correspondence with the strikes of the groups of beds from which the materials of the surface soils have been derived. Bich loamy and cal- careous soils generally accompany the limestones, gyp- N 194 THE CARBOMITEROUB SYSTEM. sums, and marly clays and sandstones of the lower car- boniferous system. The soils of the coal-measures vary from light and sometimes stony sands to stiff clays. The upper coal-formation produces soils approaching somewhat to those of the lower carboniferous series. Hence along the north side of the Cobequid hills we have a broad band of good soil, and a similar one ex- tending across the northern part of the county, while between these are alternate belts of poor and rich soils ; almost the whole, however, being sufiSciently deep and friable to be cultivable. The great fertility of the marsh-lands of the western coasts and rivers, and the almost exclusive attention of the population on many parts of the eastern shore to lumbering and shipbuild- ing, have caused the value of the upland soils of Cum- berland to be much underrated; but they are now constantly rising in the estimation of the people of the county, and will do so more and more as improved methods of cultivation become more generally diffused and appreciated. ■. » ¥ I i CHAPTER X. THE CARBONIFEBOUS SYSTEM— C7on(tnu« i ' lU f I I Shi M 1 '• 196 THE CABBONIFEBOUS BT8TEM. on the opposite side of the ferry, the same gray sand- stones reappear with southerly dips, and with fossils of the same species. The dip varies from S.S.E. to S.E. If we follow this series in descending order, to the north- ward up the Memramcook River, we soon come to con- glomerate, limestone, and thin-bedded bituminous and calcareous shales, all belonging to the lower carbonifer- ous series. On the west side of the Petitcodiac, we find a similar descending series toward the great metamor- phic band ending in Shepody Mountain, and which consists of rocks older than the carboniferous system. The order of succession seen here is as follows, though there may be important omissions in the list, as the sections are not continuous : — 1. Gray sandstone, often coarse and pebbly, with shales and conglomerate, Hopewell Ferry, &c. These beds perhaps correspond to the great sandstone ledges of Seaman's Quarries, Joggins. They may be traced through Albert County to the south-west for a con- siderable distance. 2. Eeddish sandstones and shales. ,. -^ , « 3. Limestone and gypsum. 4. Bed sandstone and conglomerate. 5. Gray and dark-coloured conglomerate. 6. Calcareo- bituminous shales of the Albert Mine, Hillsborough. These beds appear here to lie at the very base of the lower carboniferous series. (See Section, Fig. 20.) . Thus far, in the New Brunswick coal-formation, wc have met with the lower coal-measures and lower car- boniferous series only. The middle and upper coal- formation seem to be wanting; and this I suspect is ■>f:»W GOAL-FIELD OF NEW BBUNSWICK. 197 • sand- snls of »S.E. north- to con- )U8 and 3onifer- we find etamor- L which system, though , as the h shales lese heds ledges of le traced or a cou- rt Mine, lie at the BS. (See ation, we ower car- per coal- suspect is Fig. 70.— General Arrangement of the Strata bettotn South Joggins and AVbtrt Min*. 4 ii SB. § I a §1 '■'^ — :ai»>».*^^'>^ ^^^2,^_L i ! I ■y^BTC-' -^^^^grki i 1 I N.W. the character of the whole coal-area of New Brunswick ; in which only very insignificant seams of coal have hitherto heen discovered. The lower carhoniferous series occupies a wide area beyond the Albert Mine, extend- ing to and beyond the upper Petitcodiac, on which and at Butternut Bidge it contains much limestone and gypsum, with characteristic lower carboniferous fossils. Northward of this lower carboniferous tract, the gray sandstones and shales with fossil plants and thin seams of coal again appear, and extend northward as far as the Bay de Chaleur, and westward as far as Oromucto Lake, forming a great triangular district, the two longest sides of which are about 150 miles each in length and its shortest more than 100. I shall attempt no detailed description of this district, of which I have seen but a very small portion ; but shall give a somewhat minute account of the lower carboniferous shales of Hillsborough, these being of much interest both geologically and in an economical point of view ; and shall then very shortly notice the general features of the great coal-formation area to the northward. Albert Mine, Hillsborough. — The beds at this place are thin -bedded shales, composed of extremely fine w ' I 'I 198 THE CABBOMTFEROUS SYSTEM. indurated clay with much bituminous matter. Some of them contain much lime, and when this is dissolved away by the weather or by an acid, the bituminous matter remains in the form of light porous flakes, resembling half-decayed bark. These shales contain great numbers of fossil fishes in a remarkably perfect state. They are flattened by pressure ; but their forms are perfectly pre- served, and the fins are as perfect as they were in life. These fishes belong to the same genera with those found in the Joggins coal-measures, but have been buried in such a manner that every scale is in its place, instead of being scattered about as at the Joggins and in the carboniferous rocks generally. The shales con- taining these fossils have been singularly disturbed and contorted; and they contain a bed or vein of a remark- ably pure and beautiful bituminous substance, allied to pitch-coal, and of great value as a material for gas- making. This substance unfortunately became a subject of litigation ; and as one point in dispute was whether it should be called coal or asphaltum, scientific gentle- men were summoned from the United States as witnesses, and the most discordant opinions were given, both as to the name of the mineral and its geological age. This was not wonderful in the circumstances, for the sub- stance was really a new material, intermediate between the most bituminous coals and the asphalts, and the geologists examined had enjoyed very few opportunities of studying that very remarkable group of lower car- boniferous rocks to which the deposit belongs. Con- sequently some in all sincerity called the mineral coal, others asphalt ; and some maintained that it was in the true coal-formation, while others believed it to be in the old red sandstone. Only one of the geologists employed, COAL-FIELD OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 199 Dr Percival of New Haven, aangned the deposit to its true geological position, as subsequently ascertedned by Sir Charles Lyell and the writer, and stated above. To give an idea of this singular deposit, I quote the follow- ing details from a paper contributed by me to the Geological Society of London. " The pit for the extraction of the mineral is situated on the south side of Frederick's Brook, a small stream running eastwardly into the Petitcodiac, and near the junction of two branches of the brook. In approaching the mine from the south, the shales are seen in nearly a horizontal position in a road-cutting. This may be a deceptive appearance. Dr Percival, however, considers it the true arrangement at this point. At the pit-mouth the beds dip to the south at angles of 50° and 60°, and consist of gray and dark-coloured thin-bedded bitumi- nous shales ; and these shales appear with similar dips on the south branch of the brook. The outcrop of the coal is not now seen, but in a line with it I observed a remarkable crumpling and arching of the beds in the bank of the brook, at the point where the southwardly dipping beds above noticed meet a similar or the same series dipping to the north-west ; this is represented in Fig. 21. The outcrop of the coal in the bed of the brook was, as I was informed, very narrow, and the ap- pearances now presented are as if the shales had arched over it. On the northern side of the arch above referred to, and in the north branch of the brook, are seen a thick series of bituminous and cal- careous shales, with three Fig. 21.— Arched Strata near AU>ert Mine, !i\ aoo THS CARBONIFEROUS SYlilTEM. I J: Fig. 22.— £en( Strata, near Albert Mine. I i beds of sandstone, the whole dipping to the north-west at a high angle. The strike of one of the most regular beds I found to be S. 18° W. magnetic. Many of the shales contain scales of fish, and one of them has a peculiar oolitic structure, consisting of a laminated basis of impure coaly matter or earthy bitumen, with crystalline calcareous grains, which are removed by weathering, and leave a light vesicular inflammable residuum of very singular aspect. The shales are in some places remarkably bent and contorted, as if by lateral pressure when in a soft state. A part of one of these flexures is accurately represented in Fig. 22, and illustrates some appearances in the mine to be subsequently noticed. " The principal shaft has been sunk perpendicularly from the outcrop of the coal, and at its bottom is sixty- seven feet south of it. The gallery connecting the bottom of the shaft with the coal, shows thin-bedded bituminous shales with calcareous and ironstone bands and concretions, dipping at the end nearest the coal S.S.W., at an angle of 60°, though a dip to the S.E. is more prevalent along this side of the mine. The coal at this place is about ten feet in thickness, and its upper surface dips N.W. about 75°. On the S.E., or under side, it rests against the edges of the somewhat contorted beds, already noticed as dipping to the southward, and on the north-west side it is overlaid by similar beds dipping in the same direction with the coal, but so much contorted as to present on the small scale a most com- COAL-FIELD OF MEW BRUNSWICK. 201 plicated and confused appearance. The coal itself, as seen in mass underground, presents a beautiful and singular appearance. It has a splendent resinous lustre and perfect conchoidal fracture ; it is perfectly free from mineral charcoal and lines of impure coal or earthy matter. It is, however, divided into prismatic pieces by a great number of smooth divisional planes, proceeding from wall to wall, much in the manner of the cross structure seen in carbonized trccR, and in the streaks of pitch-coal in the ordinary coals. At the N.W. side or roof, the coal joins the rock without change. On the S.E. side, on the contrary, there is a portion of coal a few inches thick, including angular fragments of the shale, some beds of which on this side are very tender and cleave readily into rhomboidal pieces. The coal enveloping these fragments must have been softened sufficiently to allow them to penetrate it, but it has more numerous and less regular divisional planes than in the central parts of the mass, and has probably been shifted or crushed somewhat, either when it received the included fragments or subsequently. Both at the roof and floor, the coal shows distinct evidence of a former pasty or fluid condition, in having injected a pure coaly substance into the most minute fissures of the con- taining rocks. On both Fig. ti.— Relation of the ''Albert Coal" ,„^i«„„j fl«„« „1„. u,.<. „-~^ U, the containing _bed3, a, seen near rOOf and floor alSO, but espe- cially the latter, there are abundant evidences of shift- ing and disturbance in the slickenside surfaces with which they abound. All these appearances I have endeavoured to represent in the ahaft of the mine. i 202 THE CABBONIFEROUB BY8TBM. Fig. 23, which agrees in the essential points with a similar figare given by Professor Taylor, who does not, however, represent the contorted state of the beds and the crushing of the lower side of the coal. '* The levels of the mine extend on both sides of the shaft along the course of the coal. On the south-west they extend about 170 feet, when the coal narrows to a thickness of one foot. In this direction, however, I had not time to examine them. In proceeding to the N.E., the coal has a general course of N. 50° E., bending gra- dually to N. 65° E., and everywhere presenting the appearances already noticed, though attaining, in one place, a width of thirteen feet. At the distance of about 200 feet from the shaft, a remarkable disturbance oc- curs. The main body of the coal bends suddenly to the northward, its course becoming N. 29° E.* for about twenty-five feet, when it returns to a course of N. 50° E. At the bend to the northward, a small part of the vein proceeds in its original course, and is stated by the persons connected with the mine to run out, leaving a large irregular promontory of rock between it and the main body of the coal. This disturbance has been variously represented as a fault, and as a cutting of the vein across the strata. Though I confess that the ap- pearances are of a puzzling character, and are but im- perfectly exposed in the mine, the impression left on my mind is, that it is, on a large scale, a flexure similar to that represented in Fig. 22, and accompanied by a partial tearing asunder of the beds. It seems evident * These measurements were made with a pocket prismatic com- pass. They differ slightlj from those of Dr Jackson, either from accidental circumstances, or from being taken in different levels of the mine. COAL>nELD OF KBW BBUMBWICK. SOS Alibert Mine, that the beds mnst have been in a soft state at the time when this distnrbance occurred, although there may have been subsequently some vertical shifting, especially on the west side of this " Jog." " Beyond this flexure, the deposit contracts in width, and becomes more regular, and eventually its contain- ing walls assume a conformable dip to the S. 5° E., at an angle of 69°. The appearance presented at the time of my visit in the extreme end of the most advanced level, is represented in Fig. 24, where it will be observed that the S.E. wall still shows indications of the prevail- Fig. u.-8ecti be free firom sulphur ; but minute concretions of ironstone and iron pyrites occur in it, and films of iron pyrites line gome of the fissures of the containing beds. These ap- pearances are, however, rare. ■iT^ I m i I! 208 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. In inquiring into the origin and mode of fonnation of the deposit, the following alternatives present them- selves. (1.) It may have been a bed or sheet of bitu- minous matter, thinning out at the edges, like that in Kent, U. C, described in the Eeport of the Canadian Survey for 1851-2,* and probably produced by the oxidation and hardening of the liquid produce of naph- tha-springs. (2.) It may be bituminous matter melted by internal heat, and poured into an open fissure, as was perhaps the case with the chapapote of Cuba.-f- (3.) It may, like jet and other coals, have resulted from the bituminization of woody matter. With respect to these several hypotheses, I can merely state the probabilities which occur to me from the facts already known, and which may of course be greatly modified by the more perfect exploration of the deposit. On the first of these hypotheses, though there is no great improbability in supposing the deposit to have been a conformable bed, it does not seem likely that so large and extremely pure a mass of bituminous matter could be a deposit from springs, or that, without altera- tion of the containing beds, it could have assumed an aspect and consistence so much akin to those of coal. It also seems difficult on this view to account for the disposition, in waters tenanted by fish, of the accom- panying laminated bituminous shales. The second view requires us to suppose that, after the crumpling and contortion of the beds, and the pro- duction of an open fissure, an underlying portion of the bituminous shales was exposed to heat and pressure, which caused its bituminous ingredient to be melted, forced upward, and consolidated in the upper and un- • Page 90. t Tajlor, Statistica of Coal. COAL-FIELD OF KEW BBUNSWICK. 209 altered portion of the beds. This would acconnt for the occurrence and most of the appearances of the coaly deposit ; but we must of course still suppose that the bituminous matter was originally produced during the deposition of the shales, probably from organic matter. To give any great degree of probability to this view, therefore, it would be necessary to have evidence of ig- neous alteration in some portion of these shales. Some countenance is perhaps given to it by the existence of petroleum-springs at present in the continuation of the same deposit, and by the presence of minute fissures filled with the mineral, which might, however, be ex- plained on the supposition of pressure exerted on a soft or semifluid bed. The hypothesis of formation firom woody matter, after the manner of coal, is also accompanied with serious difficulties. The composition of jet and of recent bitu- minous coal found in peat-bogs, prove the possibility of this mode of formation ; and this is certainly the most natural way of accounting for the production of the coaly and bituminous matter of the containing beds ; but large and pure beds of coal are usually accompanied by evidences of growth in situ, and accumulations of drift-tranks are usually loaded with earthy matter, while none of these conditions exist in the deposit in question. The want of the first is, however, perfectly consistent with the long and perfect decomposition implied in this view, as well as in the homogeneity of the mass, and the abundance of bitumen in the containing shales ; and in a deposit containing so little evidence of strong cur- rents or violent changes, it may not be unreasonable to suppose that drift vegetable matter may have accumu- lated during long periods in clear water. In connexion \km i 'i ! ! 210 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. ' III with this it is worthy of remark, that the comparative absence of iron pyrites, in connexion with the presence of large quantities of carbonate of iron in the shales, proves* that these beds were deposited in fresh and very pure water, if it be admitted that their bitumen resulted from the decomposition of organic matter. Neither is the great purity of the mineral an evidence against its accumulation in the manner of ordinary coal, since varieties of coal almost equally pure have long been known.f On this view, then, which is perhaps the most probable of the three, the Albert deposit is a fresh- water formation of a very peculiar character, belonging to the lower carboniferous period, and very singularly distorted hy mechanical disturbances. With the exception of the 41bert bituminous shales, and their continuation on the Memramcook and towards the Petitcodiac, the lower carboniferous rocks of New Brunswick resemble perfectly those of Nova Scotia. The coal-formation rocks, however, which rest on these beds, and occupy a much greater area, appear to be de- veloped to a much less extent than in Nova Scotia. In short, so far as I can learn from my own limited obser- vations, and the reports of Mr Gesner and Dr Bobb, they resemble the lowest parts of the Cumberland coal- measures, or those upper members which overlie the workable coals ; as if these alone had been deposited, and the productive coal-measures left out. Consequently, although thin seams of coal and beds of " cannel-coal," which, however, appear to be in most cases bituminous shales analogous to those of Hillsborough, occur in a * See paper by the writer on the *' Coloaring Matter ot R^d Sand- stones," in Proceedings of Qeological Society, t See Assays in Taylor's Statistics of Coal. COAL-FIELD OF NEW BBUN8WICK. 211 great number of places, and in some localities are worked on a small scale, no really valuable bed of coal is known ; and judging from the details given in the geological ac- count of this coal-field contributed by Dr Robb to Pro- fessor Johnston's Agricultural Report, the prospects of any future discovery of this kind are by no means prom- ising. The valuable character of the Albert coal, how- ever, and the well-known fact that coal-measures often vary materially in their productiveness, as we trace them from one locality to another, give some ground to hope that a carboniferous area so extensive as that of New Brunswick may not ultimately be found to be so unproductive as it now appears to be. The coal-formation of New Brunswick is little dis- turbed, and its beds are inclined at small angles — at least this is the character of the great tract fronting on the Gulf of St Lawrence ; and in consequence of this, and the imperfect character of most of the coast and river sections, it is much less productive of facts inter- esting to the geologist than the rocks of the same age in Nova Scotia. In the map, the distribution of the carboniferous rocks, and the localities of coal, &c., are copied, with a few alterations, from the map attached to Professor John- ston's Report on New Brunswick. ;tf :> 1 ' WI««M •VMH CHAPTER XI. THE CARBONIFEROUS SYBTEll— Continued. f CABBOMIFEROUS DISTRICT OF COLCHESTER AMD HANTS — MUSQUODOBOIT VALLEY — ^USEFUL MINERALS. 3. Carboniferous District of Colchester and Hants. In this district, which is as extennve as that of Gom- berland, from which it is separated by the Cobequid chain of hills, we have a very great development of the limestones and gypsums corresponding to the Napaa and Fugwash rocks of Cumberland, and the mountain or lower carboniferous limestone of England, and a very small development of the coal-measures. In other words, in the carboniferous period marine deposits wen^ formed to a greater extent and perhaps for a longer time on the south than on the north side of the Cobequid chain, which, we shall presently see, was then a ridge probably not so high, but perhaps nearly as continuous as at present. On consulting the map, it will be seen that this dis- trict is very irregular in its form ; partly because the modem bay, with its fringes of marsh and new red DI8TKICT OP COLCHESTKB AMD HANTS. 213 lied. I HANTS — LLS. IHcmtB. of Cnm- Cobequid lent of the ;he Napaa I mountain and a very In other )ont8 wen^ onger time Cobequid ken a ridge continuous at tbis dis- )ecau8e the d new red sandstone, penetrates into it, and partly because it in like manner penetrates in long inlets, now river valleys, into the older metamcyphic hills to the eastward. View- ing this district, then, as a portion of the dried-up bed of the carboniferous sea, its original shores can be observed both on the north and on the south. Thus on the flanks of the Gobequids, the lowest carboniferous beds consist of conglomerates; the stones and pebbles of which are identical with the rocks of the hills from which they have been derived, just as the materials of shingle beaches on modem coasts are derived from neighbouring cliffs. In like manner, at the base of the Horton and Ardoise hills., the lowest beds consist of white sandstones composed of the debris of granite, and shales made up of the mud produced by the slow wasting of slate ; both of these materials being furnished by the rocks of the hills. One difference, however, of a marked character occurs on these opposite shores. The mate- rial of the lowest rocks on the south side of the district is fine and almost destitute of pebbles. That of the corresponding rocks on the north or Cobequid side is very coarse, being made up of large pebbles and even stones of considerable size. Similar differences occur in modern seas, and depend on the configuration and elevation of coasts, and their comparative exposure to the sea-swell and prevailing winds. The deposits in the more central part of the district are more uniform and persistent in their character. : In noticing this carboniferous area, I shall describe in the first place some of the localities and sections in which the arrangement and character of its rocks are most distinctly exposed; and these will afford us opportu- nities of studying the lower carboniferous series, almost L#*H-*^ •- ** • 2U THE CABBOMIFEKOUS STSTBM. \ as perfect as those which we enjoyed at the Joggms in the case of the coal-formation deposits. At Wolfdlle and Lower Horton, in the south-western part of the district, we find the lower carboniferous beds to consist of gray sandstones and dark shales, resting on the edges of the slates of the Oaspereau River. In the road-cuttings in Lower Horton, the sandstones may be seen to contain fine specimens of Lepidodendrorij a genus of which we have already seen examples at the Joggins. There appear to be two or three species of this genus in the beds of Horton Blufi', and one of them at least is distinct from any of those found in the true coal-measures. In some of the shales at the same locality, fish-scales are extremely abundant, and make up apparently the greater part of the mass of some thin beds. The whole of these rocks are, however, much better seen at Horton Bluff, a fine range of cliffs extending along the west side of the Avon estuary. At this place, however, the beds do not dip regularly in the same direction, but have been broken into great masses which dip in differ- ent ways, and have been fractured and displaced by faults or slips of one mass or another up or down, so as to break the continuity of the layers. Such distur- bances are very frequent in all the sections of this dis- trict, and it will be easily understood that in the upheaval of large surfaces of rock, these would readily give way along the lines of greatest and least pressure, and be tilted in different directions and slipped up or down. The general dip of these beds, however, so far as it can be ascertained by putting together their dis- jointed portions, appears to be to the north-east or away from the older slaty rocks. The Horton Bluff beds are the geological equivalents ^■■>.-.„^ — DISTRICT OF GOLCHBBTEB AMD HANTS. 215 of the beds previously described as occurring at Hills- borough in New Brunswick ; and like them they consist of dark calcareous shales abounding in remains of fish. At Horton, however, the bituminous matter, so abundant at Hillsborough, is almost entirely wanting, and the fish scales and teeth are scattered apart. There are also at Horton Bluff numerous bands of coarse limestone, and thick beds of the white granitic sandstone already re- ferred to, as well as gray and red sandstones and marls in the lower part of the section. The most interesting and abundant fossils in this section are the remains of fish, which occur in incalculable numbers ; every surface in some of the shales being thickly scattered over with their bright enamelled scales and sharp conical teeth. Some of them are smooth, others finely punctured, others marked with irregular ridges, and others with concentric lines ; but all belong to the tribe of ganoids, which ap- pears to have had exclusive possession of the carbon- iferous seas.* The appearances in these fish-beds, as in the bituminous limestones of the Joggins, indicate the long residence of these animals in the locality, and the gradual accumulation of their harder parts, as successive generations died or were devoured by their larger brethren, and as the waters in which they lived were gradually filled up by the deposition of fine mud. We have also evidence that trees grew on the neighbouring land, for trunks, branches, and leaves of Lepidodendron are very abundant, and Stigmaria is also found. In one bed, indeed, the trunks of Lepidodendron are found rooted in the erect position. They are very numerous * Some of these fish have belonged to the genera ralceoniacut and Hotoptychius, but they have not yet been examined by any competent ichthyologist. *&;'■ i i ! tie THE OABBONIFEBOUS SYSTEM. but small, the largest being only eleven inches in diameter, and their height is only six inches. The bed inmiediately overlying them is filled with prostrate and flattened branches of trees of the same kind. This is the oldest fossil forest yet known in Nova Scotia, per- haps in the world. Small reptiles tenanted these forests, for Mr Logan found in 1841 a few footprints of a small creature of this class — the first ever found in rocks of so great age. CoproUteSj or the fossil excrements of fishes, a shell allied to cypris, and trails resembling those made by worms on muddy shores, are also very abundant at Horton Blu£f. Ko coal has been found in these rocks. It is evident that in the beds above described, we have the occurrence, in the very lowest part of the carboniferous system, of beds very similar to the middle coal-formation as it occurs in Cumberland, though suffi- ciently distinct in their mineral characters and associa- tion of fossils to prevent us from confounding the two ; an error which has, however, been committed by some of the earlier writers on the geology of the country, and has led to much additional confusion. Beds of similar character and age occur at Halfway river, near Windsor, on the St Croix river, at Upper Rawdon, and at the Gore. In all these localities they skirt the base of the slate hills. On the north shore of Hants, they have been thrown up to the surface by an anticlinal bend of the strata, and are seen at Five Mile river, Noel, Teny Cape, and Walton. In all these places they appear to underlie the great lower carboniferous marine limestones. We have observed a similar fact at Hillsborough, and it also occurs in some parts of the eastern coal-districts. We may therefore conclude that in the very dawn of the carboniferous era, before or coeval with the forma- i ; , k\ f'' . ^:A li ' i DI8TBICT OF COLCHESTER AND HANTS. 917 and tion of the great limestone and gypsum beds, conditions somewhat similar to those afterwards so extensiyely exemplified iu the true coal-measures, prevailed very widely in Nova Scotia. This is not in any way un- accountable, for we have no reason to doubt that marine deposits were forming somewhere when alluvial flats existed at the Joggins, or that there were shores, dry land, swamps, estuaries, and lagoons, contemporary with the seas in which the Hants and Cumberland limestones were formed. At the same time, it is true that in the older carboniferous period marine deposits were formed in the greatest quantity, while in the later portion of the period there was much more of swamp and estuary deposition. We may now direct our attention to the strictly marine deposits which rest upon the Horton Bluff beds, and which may be seen along both sides of the estuary of the Avon, not directly in contact with the shales, &c., which intervene between them and the metamorphic hills, but in such positions as to leave no doubt as to their relative age. One of the best exposures of these rocks in this vicinity, is on the right bank of the Avon immediately above the Windsor bridge, and I shall describe this section in detail, that the reader may at the outset be familiarized with the principal members of that great gypsiferous series which occupies the greater part of the district now under consideration. The first rock seen south of the bridge is a thick bed of red marly sandstone, a soft rock coloured red by per- oxide of iron and cemented by carbonate of lime. Be- low this is a bed of greenish marl similar to that above in composition, but wanting its colouring matter. Then there is a thick gray limestone, containing enough of - e Colchester side ; the former being very little disturbed in comparison. Crossing Cobequid bay from the mouth of the Folly to that of the Shubenacadie, we find the first rock that appears at the mouth of the latter to be a black lami* nated crystalline limestone without fossils, and support- ing a great thickness of marls and gypsum similar to those of Windsor. The limestone and marls resting on it dip to the south-west. It thus appears that the lower carboniferous beds on the opposite sides of the bay dip inland, so that the bay forms, in so far as these rocks are concerned, an anticlinal valley; a somewhat rare occurrence, as the beds of sedimentary rocks usually dip away from hills rather than from depressions. The rocks in the banks of the Shubenacadie are, however, much broken by faults, though the general dip in the lower part of the river appears to be to the southward. The rocks succeeding the " Black Eock" limestone, for about three miles up the estuary of the Shubenacadie, consist principally of soft marly sandstones filled with veins of reddish fibrous gypsum, which run in every di- rection, and form a complete network, so complicated that it is difficult to understand how the rocks could have been supported in such a manner as to leave open ( 'i 230 THE OARBOIOFEROUS 8TBTEK. the fissnres which the gypsum fills. It is possible, how- ever, that these cracks were not all open at once, but were produced by different movements to which the mass has been subjected ; and there is another way of ac- counting for this appearance, to be stated shortly. There are also a few wide veins filled with the peroxide of iron and sulphate of barytes. The former is in part in the red ochrey state, and in part in the state of red and brown hematite, often in beautiful coralloidal forms with an internal fibrous structure. The barytes is in small tabular crystals. These veins also contain oxide of manganese and calc-spar. Their contents were prob- ably introduced by water, rising from rocks beneath which afforded these materials.* The reader will observe that the veins of gypsum contained in these rocks are very distinct from the large beds of the. same mineral. The latter were formed as horizontal layers at the same time with the containing beds. The former have filled up cracks opened after the beds were consolidated. The fibrous texture which the gypsum veins nearly always display, arises from the circumstance that little slender prisms of the mineral have sprouted forth from the sides of the fissures until they filled them. Hence they always stand at right angles to the sides of the vein. Similar appearances are observed in the greater number of minerals lining or filling veins or fissures. I am inclined to believe, how- ever, that the fibrous gypsum in the gypseous marls has been produced in a different manner from the " combs" of quartz and other minerals found in the fissures of slate, trap, &c. The gypsum veins show no signs of * For the maimer in which these minerals may have been formed, see descriptions of mineral veins at Fire Islands and Acadia Mine. DISTRICT OF COLGHBSTEB AND HANTS. 231 but having met in the middle, though they often appear to have been added to at each side ; and we may infer that the prisms of gypsum grew by additions to each end, furnished by water permeating the rock, and pressed the sides of the fissure apart as they grew in length. Veins of fibrous ice are formed in this way in banks of clay, exerting an enormous expansive force sufficient to break down the strongest retaining walls ; and when circumstances are favourable, these clusters of icy prisms may be seen to raise objects lying on the surface of wa- ter-soaked clays to the height of several inches. Wher- ever segregation and crystallization are going on in the fissures of rocks, similar effects may be produced ; and it is quite possible that they play an important part in geological dynamics. It is at least not unlikely that some of the remarkable contortions and dislocations ob- served in the gypsiferous rocks of Nova Scotia may have been produced in this way. These marly rocks contain a bed of anhydrite and common gypsum, in addition to the gypsum veins above mentioned. Proceeding to the southward, along the eastern bank of the river, we reach a high cliff of brownish-red and gray sandstones, dipping S. 30° W., and containing a few fossil plants. These beds probably overlie those previously noticed, and much resemble the sandstones that in the Joggins section intervene between the lower limestones and the coal-measures. To the southward of this cliff, which is called the Eagle's Nest, the shore for some distance shows no section. On the west side, how- ever, where the rocks corresponding to the Eagle's Nest form a high cliff, they are separated by a fault from an immense mass of gypsum named White's or the Big 282 THB OABBONirBROUl SYSTEM. I' PlMter Book, and one of the principal localities of the eztensive gypsum-trade of this river. The Big Bock at one time presented to the river a snowy front of gypsum, nearly 100 feet in height ; but it has been greatly reduced by the operations of the quarrymen, who bring down enormous quantities by blasting. It is a mas- sive bed, arranged in thick layers, and the whole bent into an arched or almost cylindrical form. In its lower part there is much anhydrite, and also dark laminated limestone, having on its surfaces of deposition immense numbers of flattened shells of Conularia. A compact limestone, containing Terebratuke, also appears near the bottom of the mass. Faults, denudation, and disturb- ance render it quite impossible to discover in the river section the relations of this mass of gypsum to the neigh- bouring beds. Its nearest neighbour to the south is a series of dark shales and gray sandstones, with a few fossil plants of coal-formation genera. These beds are very much contorted, but have a prevalent dip to the south. They may be either members of the coal-forma- tion or equivalents of the Horton lower carboniferous shales. A sheet of paper could hardly have been crum- pled into more fantastic curves than these beds, no doubt once flat and horizontal. This is an effect of lat- eral pressure acting upon them while in a soft state, and it testifies to the enormous forces of this description which havo been applied before these beds attained their present hard and brittle condition. These beds appear on both sides of the Five Mile river, a stream run- ning into the Shubenacadie at right angles, and they ex- tend along the course of this stream and that of the Een- netcook, which is continuous with it though flowing in the opposite direction, far into the interior of Hants. DISTRICT or COLCHIITEH AND HAKTS. 288 ID, On the Kennetcook, they contain a small seam of coal, and have more the aspect of trae coal-measures than any other beds I have seen in this county. Hitherto we have found few fossils in this section ; but at the next point above the contorted coal-measures of Five Mile river, we have a grand example of a fos- siliferous limestone, forming the cliff named Anthony's Nose. This limestone, which is a mass of corals and shells similar to those noticed at Windsor, is about 40 feet thick, and stands quite on edge projecting like a huge wall into the river. Soft marls rest against each side and include a bed of gypsum, and, at a little dis- tance, a thick bed of this mineral appears with an arched stratification. On the opposite side of the river there are other limestones and gypsums, also very much dis- turbed ; and, immediately adjoining them on the south, there is a cliff of reddish standstone, like that of Eagle's Nest, and nearly in a horizontal position. Beyond this place, the river-section is not continu- ous, but gypsum and limestone, full of marine shells, appear in several places, and the marls and red sand- stones occasionally peep forth from beneath thick beds of boulder-clay. Finally, at Gay's river, Key's on the Shubenacadie, the lower end of Grand Lake, and Nine Mile river, the gypsum and limestone are seen almost .in contact with the ancient metamorphic slate and quartzite, which bound this carboniferous district on the south. At one of these places. Key's, on the old Halifax road, one of the beds of gypsum contains white and bleached-look- ing quartzose pebbles and sand. In this case, it is prob- able that the acid Which produced the gypsum acted on a mass of calcareous matter, mixed with sand and gravel, 284 THE CARBONIFEROUS 8T8TBM. which became entangled in the gypseous mass produced. Such instances of the enclosure of foreign bodies in gypsum are rare. I have, however, seen layers of sand and earthy matter, and fragments of limestone, and in a few instances vegetable remains have appeared in the earthy layers. Some beds of gypsum are also blackened by bituminous matter, derived no doubt from animal or vegetable substances. Over nearly all the beds of gypsum in this region, the whole surface is riddled by funnel-shaped cavities, named " plaster-pits," by the aid of which the gypsum may be traced in localities where it does not itself reach the sui-face. These pits arc well exposed in the face of the " Big Rock " formerly described. They are produced by the solvent action of the surface-water penetrating through the fissures of the gypsum, in a manner which we shall have better opportunities of studying when we arrive at the gypsiferous districts of Cape Breton. The section formed by the long narrow tideway of the Shubenacadie, and continued less perfectly along its fresh-water portion, enables us to form an idea of the structure of the southern part of the Hants and Colches- ter area, across its whole breadth. It is evident that the regular succession of the beds has been much disturbed by faults or fractures, most of which have a direction approaching to east and west. They have shifted the masses of beds, so that we cannot now, without extensive investigations of all the minor sections afforded by trib- utary streams, put them together into a continuous series. The following is the nearest approximation to such a restoration of the original arrangement that I can offer. 1st, From the mouth of the Shubenacadie west- ward to Walton and Cheverie, the shales which lie at DISTRICT OF COLCHESTEV AND TIANTS. 385 the base of the carboniferous system appear in several places, and immediately resting on them are red sand- stones and marls, with limestone and gypsum ; and the lowest bed of limestone is a laminated dark-coloured crystalline bed without fossils. 2dly, The red sandstones and marls with gypsum and limestone, form a wide band extending through Hants to the Avon estuary, r iuth of these lowest members of the series ; and in places there appear, in and over these beds, gray and brown sand- stones with fossil plants. 3dly, Along the course of Five Mile and Kennetcook rivers, extend rocks having the aspect of the lower part of the coal-formation, and these appear to bo the newest carboniferous beds in this district. 4thly, Immediately to the south of these, we again find the red marls, gypsum, and limestone, form- ing a second broad belt, extending from Bose's Point and Admiral's Bock, on the Shubenacadie, through Newport to Windsor. This is the re-appearance of the same part of the formation seen below White's Plaster Bock, and it is worthy of note, that it is here much more fossiliferous than in the lower part of the river. Lastly, From the point of the Gore mountain, along the base of the Douglas and Bawdon hills, we can trac* the lower carboniferous shales all the way to Hori »n. That trough-shaped arrangement, so characteristic of the car- boniferous rocks in this part of Nova Scotia, can there- fore be traced even in the fractured section of the Shu- benacadie. Eastward of the Shubenacadie this general arrange- ment soon disappears, for the carboniferous district of Colchester here splits into three branches, entering be- tween the hilly ridges of the metamorphic country to the eastward. The most northern of these passes along the 236 THE CARBONIFEROUS STSTEH. valley of the Salmon river, and is connected with the Pictou district. The second passes up the valley of the Stewiacke river. The third forms a narrow band ex- tending from the Grand Lake nearly to the sources of the Musquodoboit river. In the northern branch both the lower carboniferous and coal-formation series appear, as we have already noticed ; but in the two others the lower carboniferous rocks prevail almost or altogether to the exclusion of the coal-formation. In one place only on the Lower Stewiacke, do rocks having the aspect of those at Five Mile river appear. In the Stewiacke branch, which in the period in question must have been a sheltered bay or channel, the corals and shells of the limestones attain a magnitude and perfection not, so far as I know, equalled in any other part of the province. Gypsum also abounds in this branch, and in one place there is a large deposit of sulphate of barytes. In the southern or Musquodoboit branch there is much gypsum and also limestone ; but the latter does not appear to be rich ii\ fossils. I have found in it only a few Encrinites. •As the district just described presents the most im- portant development in the province of the Lower Car- boniferous series, I have employed it to introduce the reader to that part of this great system of rocks, just as the Cumberland district served a similar purpose in re- lation to the coal-measures ; and I may now conclude by a review of the condition of Southern Hants and Col- chester at the time when the marine limestones and gypsums were produced. At this period then, all the space between the Cobequids and the Rawdon Hills was an open arm of the sea, communicating with the ocean both on the east and west. Along the margin of this sea there were in some places stony beaches, in others m DISTRICT OF COLCHESTER AND HANTS. 237 low alluvial flats covered with the vegetation character- istic of the Carboniferous period. In other places there were creeks and lagoons swarming with fish. In the bottom, at a moderate distance from the shore, began wide banks of shells and corals, and in the central or deeper parts of the area there were beds of calcareous mud with comparatively few of these living creatures. In the hills around, volcanoes of far greater antiquity than those whose products we considered in a former chapter, were altering and calcining the slaty and quartzose rocks ; and from their sides every land-flood poured down streams of red sand and mud, while m many places rills and springs, strongly impregnated with sulphuric acid, were flowing or rising ; and, enter- ing the sea, decomposed vast quantities of the carbonate of lime accumulated by shells and corals, and converted it into snowy gypsum. Of the creatures that may have crept or walked on the land, we know nothing except the hint afforded by the few footprints found by Mr Logan and Dr Harding in the shales of Horton and Parrsboro', and which testify that reptilian life in some of its lower forms had already begun to exist. The sea had already attained almost its maximum of productive- ness in fishes and creeping things, but we have no reason to believe that the land had yet received from its Creator any of those higher creatures which were destined to be introduced in a subsequent " day of the Creator." Useful Minerals of the Hants and Colchester District. Gypsum is at present the principal product of this district. It is largely quarried at Windsor, Newport, ' 238 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. Walton, Shubenacadic, and a number of other places ; and, in 1851, 78,903 tuns* were quarried, amounting to the value of over £ 10,000 at the ports of shipment. The greater part of this large annual produce of gypsum is exported to the United States for agricultural pur- poses. The quantity of gypsum in this district is enor- mous, and probably cannot be exhausted by any demand ever likely to occur. It is now quarried only in the places most accessible to shipping, and its small value per ton indicates the facility with which it can be ob- tained, in a country in which the price of labour is by no means low. Limestone is also extremely abundant in this district, and might be quarried and exported as readily as the gypsum. Limestone being abundant in New, Bruns- wick and in the United States, is not however in demand for exportation, and the wants of the country are at present small ; especially in a district in which the land is in most places well supplied with calcareous matter. So soon, however, as a railway or canal connects this district with Halifax, it may be anticipated that a de- mand will arise for lime to supply the wants of the shore-districts, which are almost entirely destitute of this mineral. Iron Ore occurs in veins traversing the lower car- boniferi »us limestones and sandstones near the mouth of the Shubenacadie. The ores are red ochre, red hema- tite, and brown hematite. The quantity does not appear sufficient to form a basis for mining or smelting opera- tions. Grai/ Oxide of Manganese occurs in the iron veins of * 76,743 in Hants and 2160 in Colchester. .ri 'i DISTRICT OF COLCHESTER AND HANTS. 239 the Shubenacadie, and in irregular veins and nodules in limestone at Walton and Cheverie, from which places small quantities have been exported. It also occurs on the Musquodoboit river. I have no doubt that if the limestones of Walton and Cheverie can be profitably quarried on a large scale, the manganese might be sepa- rated and form a considerable additional source of reve- nue ; but it seems doubtful whether mining operations for the manganese alone can be carried on without loss. Oalena, or sulphuret of lead, is found in disseminated crystals and small veins in limestone at Gay's river and some other places. Some specimens which I have ex- amined contain a considerable proportion of silver ; but I cannot learn that this ore appears at any of these localities in sufficient quantity to pay for its extraction. The occurrence of valuable ores of lead in the lower carboniferous limestones in England and other countries, gives some reason to hope that more important indica- tions of this metal may yet be discovered. Sandstone suitable for building purposes occurs at Horton, Halfway river, Windsor, the Shubenacadie, and probably many other places ; but not in such quantity nor of such excellent quality as in the coal-formation of Cumberland and Pictou. For this reason it may not, for some time at least, be worthy of attention as an article of export, but it can be abundantly obtained for domestic use. Clays suitable for bricks and common pottery can also be procured in large quantity on the Shubenacadie. Yet in the last census Hants made no return of bricks, while the quantity made in Colchester was stated at 420,000. Coal in small seams occurs at Salmon river. North river, Chiganois river, De Bert river. Folly river, and i hi) j 240 THE CARBONIFEROUS BYSTElf . Great Village river, in the coal-measure belt extending along the south base of the Gobequids, and these small seams appear at intervals as far west as Cape Chiegnecto. I have seen the outcrops of these coals in several places, and according to my own observations and the best in- formation I can obtain from others, none of them exceed eighteen inches of clean coal. Better seams may pos- sibly be found, but the measures are exposed by so many river-sections that it seems unlikely that they should have so long escaped observation. Indications of coal have also been observed in the coal-measure band ex- tending from Lower Stewiacke toward and along the Sennetcook river. These measures are not well exposed, and I believe that nothing definite is known as to their real value. The occurrence of coal in this central dis- trict would, however, be of so great importance to the province, and to the success of its main line of railway, that the subject well merits a thorough investigation. Sulphate of Bart/tes, which is manufactured into a pigment employed as a substitute for or adulteration of white lead, has been quarried on the banks of the Stew- iacke. The deposit, which at first appeared to be large, is stated to be now exhausted, at least in so far as it can be reached by the ordinary operations of the quarryman. ■•.?B,-. -;»;'.; CHAPTER XII. THE CAEBONIFEROUS SYSTEM- C^on«mu«f. CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICTS OF PICTOU, SYDNEY, AND 0UY8- BOEOUGH ISOLATED PATCHES AT MARGAREt's BAY AND CHESTER BASIN. 4. Carboniferous District of Pictou. In noticing this and the following districts, T shall avail myself of the details into which we have entered, to en- able me to condense my descriptions, and to dwell only on those features that may be peculiar, or very dissim- ilar from those already described. In entering the Pictou coal-district from Colchester, we pass over dis- turbed and somewhat altered lower carboniferous sand- stones and conglomerates, with intrusive and metamor- phic rocks on either side, forming outlying masses of the Eastern Cobequids. The first characteristic and dis- tinctly marked beds that we find, are the limestones on the upper part of the West river. At the Salt Springs these limestones, with their accompanying sandstones, are seen in a vertical position, and with their fissures filled with micaceous iron-ore, a very decided proof of Q ; iM m4& : '1 iW 242 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. igneous action. There appears to be in this part d the Pictou district a considerable are;i of altered carbonife-- ous rocks, showing that in this vicinity active volcanic agencies have subsisted after the deposition of tSie lower carboniferous series. A little ftirther down the West river, at M'Kay's Lime Rock, we find the limestone unaltered, and containing Encrinite»^ Terehratulas^ Fen- esidla, Corak, and other fossils, similar to those of tho liineritones of Hants and Colchester. Having thus reached u known mi-mber of the carboniferous series, we may take a general glance over the district with the aid of the mu]), and mark the distribution of its principal rock-formations. From the West river we can trace the limestones and other members of the lower carboniferous series to the East river, along the valley of which they enter, in the form of a narrow bay, into the metamorphic district to the southward. Beyond the promontory of these latter rocks bounding this inlet on its eastern side, the lower carboniferous rocks continue to skirt the older hills as far as the coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence near Arisaig, where they rest unconformably on slates belonging to an older formation. The lowest carboniferous rocks seen here are conglomerates interstratified with beds of amygdaloidal trap, which have flowed over their sur- fiaces as lava currents, just as the trap of the Bay of Fundy has flowed over the red sandstone. Several of these ancient lava streams alternate with beds of conglo- merate ; and while their lower parts have by their heat slightly altered the underlying bed, their upper parts, cooled and acted on by the waves, have contributed fragments to the overlying conglomerate. Over these conglomerates is a great series of reddish and gray sand- r 'H DI8TBICT OF PICTOU. 243 stones and shales, similar to those we have observed elsewhere. They contain no gypsum, but there is a thick limestone with a number of the fossil shells already no- ticed in similar beds of this age. Along the whole southern edge of the Pictou district, therefore, we ob- serve the lower carboniferous series, distinguished by its characteristic fossils, and containing beds of limestone and gypsum, though the latter, as well as the associated marly beds, is less important than in Hants county. To the northward of these older members of the system, we find in some localities, and especially in the East river, a large development of the productive or middle coal- measures ; and the remaining part of the district, stretch- ing along the coast of Northumberland Strait, and con- nected with the eastern part of Cumberland, presents precisely the same characters which we have observed in the last mentioned district, of which it is strictly a continuation. The most remarkable feature in the Pictou district is the enormous thickness of coal-measures on the East river, forming the Albion Mines coal-iield ; and these deserve a detailed notice, not only from their economical importance but their geological interest, as presenting a vastly greater development of coal-seams and their ac- companiments than we have observed elsewhere. I shall therefore describe the general arrangement of the rocks on the East river with the aid of the general section, (Fig. 28.) The oldest carboniferous bed that I have observed on the East river, is a limestone which rests directly on the edges of a hard metamorphic slate, which must have formed the sea-bottom on which the former rock was de- ported. Ang^ar fragments of the slate are included I' :; 244 THB CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. S 00 I n B LImeatone of Lime Brook, &e. Oypsnm of Springville, Ac. m 8 o I o S * «\/ I I ■- Albion Mines. — Nev Glasgow. f I 1 .Coal and Limestone of Frasei's Mt. •5. .Goal at Loading Gronnd. Fictou Harboor. DISTBICT OF PICTOU. 245 in the lower part of the limestone. This limestone which appears at Lime Brook on the east branch of^the East river, contains in its upper part fossil corals of the genus Cyaihophyllum^ the branches of which are some- times half an^ inch in diameter. On this limestone rest marls with gypsum veins, and at least one large bed of gypsum and anhydrite, the outcrop of which appears distinctly at Forbes Lake and Greelman's Farm on the East Branch, and less conspicuously at Springville. Above these gypseous rocks, which being soft have been eroded into a valley, is another limestone rich in fossil shells, including many of those already noticed and some others. Succeeding this in ascending order is a great series of hard brownish sandstones and shales, like those of Eagle's Nest on the Shubenacadie, and probably cor- responding to the lower members of Mr Logan's Joggins section. These occupy the East Branch and main river for some distance. They contain a few fossil plants, in one instance impregnated with carbonate and sulphuret of copper ; and at least two beds of limestone, not rich in fossils, but affording the characteristic species Tere- hratula Elongata and Productus Scoticus. One of these limestones, seen near the forks of the river, is remark- able for showing, when slices are examined under the microscope, that it is made up of small fragments of shells with entire specimens ofvery minute species. The rocks in this part of the section are much fractured ; but a comparison with the continuation of the same beds in M'Lellan's Brook, shows that the order is ascending, and that the lower coal-measures rest on the rocks last described. The coal-measures of the Albion Mines consist of the same materials, and contain many of the same fossil re- I 346 THE CARB0NIFEB0U8 8YSTEM. mains with those of the Joggins ; but they differ in the arrangement of these materials and fossils. Instead of a great number of thin beds of coal and bituminous shale, we have here a few beds of enormous thickness, as if the coal-forming processes, so often inteonipted at the Joggins, had here been allowed to go on for very long periods without inteiference. It is almost a necessary consequence of this that erect plants are not found in the Albion measures, and that well-preserved vegetable fossils are comparatively rare, while vast quantities of vegetable matter have been accumulated in the state of coal. The sections at the Albion mines are not perfect. They show, however, five or six seams of coal, and an immense thickness, perhaps 800 feet, of black shales with cypris and remains of ferns and other leaves. There are also underclays and ironstones abounding in stig- maria. The parts of these measures best known are those exposed by the operations of the mine, and the following section observed by H. Poole, Esq., late superintendent of the mine, in sinking the " Success Engine Pit " at the New or Dalhousie workings, will enable the reader to understand the gigantic development of the coal-seams at this place. ft. in. Surface clay ... . 82 Shale and bands of ironstone alternate 64 10 Main coal seam — ft. in. ' Coarse coal . . 2 Good coal . . 5 Ironstone . . 6 ■' Carry forward, 5 8 73 DISTRICT or PIOTOV. 247 Brought forward. Good coal Ironstone Coarse coal Ironstone Coarse coal Ironstone Coarse coal Ironstone Coarse coal ft. in. 5 8 14 7 8 4 4 7 4 1 4 2 II 5 4 11 ft. in. 73 39 11 39 11 Shale and bands of ironstone alternate 157 7 Deep seam — Bad coal 2 Good coal 3 10 Ironstone 1 H Coal 3 H Slaty coal H Good coal 4 2 '■ Coarse coal 1 oi Good coal, "worked byCarr"3 8 Inferior coal 6 3 ■ • . ^ ' " 24 Total 9 24 9 •■ - ^ '. ' 295 3 These measurements were taken on the side of a ver- tical shaft, and the beds dip to the north-east at an an- gle of twenty degrees. The vertical thickness of the two large seams of coal, the main and deep seams, 248 THE CABB0MIFEB0U8 8T8TEM. which are the largest yet known in Nova Scotia, is therefore 37^ feet and 22^ feet respectively. The m^n seam has been very extensively worked, and its outcrop has been traced for several miles ; but it is remarkable that it preserves its character as a seam of good coal only fur a limited distance. Both in the north-west and south-east extension of the workings, it becomes very impure and intermixed with shale, indicating that though great in thickness, it i^ very limited in horizontal extent. The measures are also cut ofif to the northward by a lino of disturbance running along the south side of an enor- mous bed of conglomerate which succeeds these coal- rocks in ascending order, or apparently o. (See section.) This conglomerate is a very remarkable bed, quite dissimilar from any thing occurring elsewhere in the coal-formation of Nova Scotia. It consists of large rounded stones firmly cemented together by calcareous matter, and with occasional small irregular layers of red sandstone. It dips at a high angle to the north, though much of this dip seems to be due to false strati- fication, or deposition on originally inclined surfaces. Owing to its hardness it forms a prominent ridge, ex- tending nearly east and west from Fraser's mountain, east of the East river, to the Middle river, and thence through the Greenhill to the West river, beyond which it reappears in Eoger's Hill and Mount Dalhousie, at the base of the eastern end of the Cobequid range. On the East river it is succeeded by a series of coal-measure sandstones and shales, with one small seam of coal and a bed of limestone, the whole dipping at moderate an- gles to the northward. This bed might be supposed to be a re-appearance of the lower carboniferous conglome- rate, thrown up by a great fault ; but it contains within DISTBICT OF PIOTOU. 249 it fragments of older lower carboniferous grits found higher up the river, and is not succeeded by any equiv- alent of the middle coal-measures. It must therelbre either be a bed formed after the Albion coal-measures and resting on them, or a contemporaneous gravel- beach extending across the Fictou coal-area, and sepa- rating these coal-measures from the more open space in which the less productive coal-formation rocks to the northward were formed. This would account for all the anomalies of the Albion coal-measures, as it would im- ply that they were guarded against the disturbing causes which in other localities prevented the continuous accu- mulation of coal. For this reason and a variety of others which are fully stated in my paper on these coal-meas- ures in the Journal of the Geological Society, I prefer this last view. The following quotation from that paper presents a summary of the argument. " 1. The outcrop of the conglomerate extends from a point opposite the promontory of metamorphic rock east of the East river to the high lands of Mount Dalhousie, in the eastern extremity of the Cobequid range of hills, crossing the mouth of an indentation in the metamorphic district, which in the older part of the carboniferous period must have been a bay or arm of the sea, exposed to an open expanse of water lying to the northward. 2. The conglomerate cannot be traced to the margin of the metamorphic country, except at its extremities ; so that in all probability it never extended over the low car- boniferous district included within its line of outcrop. This is the more remarkable, inasmuch as the conglo- merate has evidently resisted denudation better than any of the associated beds. 3. The conglomerate is full of false stratification and wedge-shaped beds of reddish sandstone, in the manner of ordinary gravel-ridges, and t 250 THE CABBONIFEROUS 8T8TEM. it even presents the appearance of passing into sandstone toward the dip, as if the coarse conglomerate were limited to the vicinity of the outcrop. 4. In the sand- stone overlying the Albion measures, as well as in por- tions of the coal-formation manifestly overlying the great conglomerate, there are small seams of coal cor- responding in their characters with those of th? Jog- gins and Sydney, where no similar conglomerate occurs. 5. The supposition that the Albion coal was formed in a depressed space, separated by a shingle-bar from the more exposed flats without, accounts for the great thick- ness of the deposits of coal and carbonaceous shale, the absence of sandstones, and the peculiar texture and qual- ities of the coal, as well as the association with it of re- mains of fish and Cyprh ; since modern analogies show that such an enclosed space might be alternately a swamp and lagoon without any marked change in the nature of the mechanical deposits. 6. Movements of depression causing the rupture of the barrier, or enabling the sea to overflow it, and perhaps also admitting currents of oceanic water through the valleys of the metamorphic district to the southward, would sufficiently account for the overlying sandstones, as well as for the denudation of the coal-measures supposed to have preceded the ac- cumulation of these sandstones.* 7. The dislocation ex- tending along the outcrop of the conglomerate is easily explained by the supposition that, in later elevatory movements, this hard and stony bed determined the di- rection of fracture of the deposits." To these reasons I may add, that if in the carbonifer- ous as in the modern period, westerly winds prevailed in this latitude, it would be very natural that a beach * These sandstones overlie the coal-measures as they approach the conglomerate, but with dip to the N. ii^c:v DISTBICT OF nCTOU. 251 should be thrown out from the eastern end of the Cobe- quid range, across the bay to the eastward, in which the Albion measures are situated. If these views are correct, we have a right to expect that the tract of coal-formation country to the northward of the great conglomerate, and extending from it to the eastern extremity of the Cumberland district, should present characters similar to those of that district. Ac- cordingly the section on the tideway of the East river, and the corresponding sections on the Middle river, and on the coast toward Merigomish, show a series of coal- formation rocks not very dissimilar from some parts of the Joggins section. Their dips are to the i orthward, and in their lower part there is a bed ot cono.'etionary and laminated limestone, the only fossil in which appears to be the little Spirorbis already so frequently mentioned. Almost immediately above this limestone is a small bed of impure coal, probably two feet thick. These beds are accompanied by some black shales, and succeeding them in ascending order is a series of sandstones and shales abounding in leaves of ferns, calamites, &c. The highest beds seen on the south side of Pictou harbour and at Merigomish are thick bedded gray sandstones, which afford grindstone and building stone, and abound in petrified coniferous wood ; and with these are asso- ciated some shales and underclays with a thin seam of coal, which in Merigomish island is eleven inches thick. Perhaps it is the same seam which has been found at the loading ground at South Pictou, and near the mouth of the Middle river. Northward and westward of Pictou harbour is a series of rocks, nearly resembling those just described, and generally dipping to the south-east at angles of 15° to 252 THE CABBONIFEBOUS SYSTEM. 25°. In Eoger's hill, six miles westward of Pictou, are thick beds of coarse conglomerate, considerably dis-: turbed, associated with greenstone and hard claystone, and showing in one part a vein of crystalline sul- phate of barytes. This conglomerate I believe to bo geologically identical with that of New Glasgow. It is succeeded by a great series of deposits, chiefly consisting of reddish sandstones and shales ; but including several thick beds of gray sandstone, affording quarries of valu- able grindstone and freestone, and accompanied by gray shales, conglomerates, thin beds of coarse limestone, and thin beds of coal. As there are no very good natural sections in this part of the country, it would be difficult to ascertain the aggregate thickness of these deposits ; it must, however, be great, since they occupy, with gen- eral south-east dips, the whole country from the hills last named to the entrance of Pictou harbour. The principal fossils found near Pictou, are Calamites^ Lepi- dodendroHf Endogenites, coniferous wood, ferns, Artisia* and carbonized fragments of wood impregnated yj^th iron pyrites and with sulphuret and carbonate of copper. In this series also, and near the town of Pictou, is a bed of sandstone containing erect calamites, evidently rooted in situ, and described in a paper by the writer in the proceedings of the Geological Society for 1849. The appearances at this place are so similar to those observed at the Joggins, that they need not be noticed here ; but these and the occurrence of Stigmaria in situ in some of the shales and sandstones of the same neighbourhood, serve to indicate the analogy that obtains between the coal-rocks of Cumberland and this part of Pictou. Some * Transversely wrinkled stems, believed to be casts of the pith of plants, some of them of rush-like forms. DISTRICT OP PICTOU. 253 Some pith of of the shales near the town of Pictou are loaded with feras and Poacites ; and shells of a Unto or some nearly allied genus also occur though rarely. Small seams of coal are believed to occur in this neighbourhood, but their outcrops cannot at present be seen. The coast-section, westward of the entrance of Pictou harbour, is for some distance very imperfect. Much red sandstone, however, appears ; and a bed of limestone from two to three feet thick, and a small bed of coal, have been discovered. Some gray sandstones also ap- pear : in one of which there are numerous fragments of carbonized wood, containing sulphuret and carbonate of copper. This deposit and others of a similar nature, found in this series at various places, have given rise to hopes, probably delusive, that valuable deposits of copper may be found in this part of the coal-formation. These ores of copper are always associated with remains of fossil plants, and they have no doubt been produced by the deoxidizing effects of this vegetable matter on water impregnated with sulphate of copper, and .lobably rising in the form of springs from some of the older sub- jacent rocks. The rocks in the coast-section west of "^ictou harbour, dip to the south-eastward as far as the mouth of Cairi- bou river, beyond which the same beds are repeated, but better exposed, and dipping to the north. One of the cupriferous beds above referred to, a coarse gray sandstone, appears in Carribou river, and was at one time worked for the copper it contains, but is now aban- doned. At the mouth of the river are gray sandstones, red sandstones, and red and gray shales, and associated with these is a bed of coal five inches in thickness, with the usual underclay with stigmaria rootlets. Beyond I I PI 254 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. this place, as far as the second brook beyond Toney river, there is a great series of beds having precisely the aspect of the upper coal-formation oi Cumberland, and containing one thin bed of non-fossiliferous limestone, and a great thickness of reddish shales, some of them finely ripple-marked and worm-tracked, and with leaves of ferns. The beds then become horizontal, and are re- peated with southerly dips (S.S.E.), at first at a small angle, but toward the extremity of Cape John the dip increases, and the rocks at length become vertical. The lowest beds seen at the extremity of the cape are gray coarse sandstones, with Calamites and carboiiized trunks of trees. Associated with these are reddish sandstones and shales, and in front of the cape, but under water^ is the outcrop of a small bed of gypsum. The northerly dipping beds in the above section extend to the west- ward across River John, and are continuous with those described [vide Cumberland District) as occurring on the French river of Tatamagouche. The southerly dipping beds towards Cape John probably extend under Tatamagouche Bay, and are continuous with the rocks on the south side of Cape Malagash. ^ , A coal-district so singular in its structure, and prob- ably also in the mode of formation of its beds, as that of the Albion mines, might be anticipated to afford in- teresting and peculiar fossils. Unfortunately, however, these beds are not exposed in good natural sections, and the operations of the miner are a very imperfect substi- tute for these. One bed, however, included in the Al- bion main coal, has afforded some interesting facts. It is a seam of coaly ironstone varying in thickness from four inches to a foot, and in some portions of the mine is extracted with the coal and thrown aside as rub- " ill / DISTRICT OF PICTOU. 255 , bish, so that large quantities of it can be examined at the surface. It contains abundance of Spirorbis, at- tached to much-decayed plants. Large scales of ganoid fishes are also found in it, as well as fragments of the large bony spines with which these fish were armed. Some of the latter are half an inch in diameter. A still more interesting fossil was found by the writer in this bed in 1850. It is the upper part of a skull, seven inches in breadth and five inches in length, and armed with strong conical teeth, somewhat curved, and finely striated longitudinally. (Fig. 29.) This fossil was sent Fig. 29. Outline of Skull of Baphetea Planieeps ; and Tooth, natural riu. (a) Anterior part of Skull, viewed from beneath. (b) One of the largest Teeth, natural size. to London, and examined by Professor Owen, by whom it was described, and figured in the Proceedings of the Geological Society (1853) under the name of Baphetea Planicepsj alluding to its supposed amphibious habits, and the flatness of its skull. Professor Owen believes the creature to which it belonged to have been one of those gigantic batrachian or frog-like reptiles whose re- 256 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. i' i! mains have been found in the triassic sandstones of Ger- many, but not previously in rocks 80 old as the coal- measures. When this opinion was ^ven, the head only, without the teeth, had been received in London, and a more definite and detailed decision may be anticipated when the latter have been examined. In the mean time, however, we may consider it probable that this skull belonged to a large frog-like reptile, which preyed on the fishes whose remains are found with it in the "holing stone," as the bed is called by the miners. This band, with its peculiar fossils, thows that, at Pic- tou as at the Joggins, the coal-forming area was occa- sionally submerged under brackish water, perhaps by the partial rupture of the great conglomerate bank to which we have already referred. - * Useful Minerals of the Pictou District. Coal is the most important of these ; and Pictou has long been the principal producer of this valuable min- eral in British America. 59,574 chaldrons were raised in 1851, and the quantity has I believe been still greater in subsequent years. The greater part is shipped to the United States, and is used in iron-foundries and gas-works, and for the production of steam. The mines are worked by tlie General Mining Association, and a populatioji of about 2000 souls is clustered around the pits and supported by their produce. The coals are carried by a railway, worked by locomotives, to the loading ground at South Pictou, six miles distant from the mines. The coal hitherto exported has been obtained almost exclusively from the upper part of the main seam ; from I DISTRIGT OF FICTOU. 257 twelve to nine feet of which axe worked on the post and stall method. The pits originally worked were on the low ground immediately west of the East river, where an engine-pit was sunk to the depth of ahout 400 feet. In the progress of these worksj however, it was found that the coal deteriorated very much in quality in its extension to the eastward ; and this circumstance, in connexion with a serious " crush " in the mine, deter- mined the proprietors to make new openings to the westward, named the Dalhousie Pits. After these were sunk, however, and connected with the railway by an expensive incline, it was found that in this direction also the good coal gradually diminished ; and after two years' experience the new pits were found to be insufficient to meet the increasing demand for coal. The present man- ager, Mr Scott, has therefore reopened the old pits, and is now working a new floor of this great seam, below that previously worked out in this part of the mine ; and in this way the whole area of the mine will be worked over, and after this is exhausted there will still remain the underlying or " deep seam." Both seams can also be worked to a much greater extent by sink- ing deeper pits farther toward the dip, or by work- ing below the present engine-pit on the "under-dip" method. Although, therefore, as previously explained, the thick seams of the Albion mines are not spread over a very extensive area, there is no immediate prospect of their exhaustion ; and it is to be hoped that long before this can occur other seams will be discovered within the district. The following detailed section, taken from a continu- ous specimen of the whole seam, extracted for the New York Industrial Exhibition by Mr Poole, the late man- 258 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. i'« I ( :; I 1 ager, will enable the reader to understand the availabla amount of good coal wliicli the main seam contains. a e ^ o c 03 04 13 ^ ft. In. 1. Eoof-shalo : vegetable fragments and attacked Spirorbis (in specimen) . 3 2. Coalj with shaly bands 6^ 3. Coaly laminated ; layers of mineral char- coal and bright coal ; band of iron- stone balls in bottom .... 2 4. CbaZ, fine, cubical, and laminated; much mineral charcoal 3 2 5. Carbonaceous shale and ironstone, with , . , layer of coa/se coal ("holing-stone"). Remains of large fishes and coprol- ites. This bed varies much in thick- ness 4^ 6. Coal, laminated and cubical, coarser to- wards bottom 9 3 7. Ironstone and carbonaceous shale, with , ., coaly layers and trunks of Lepido- dendron, Ulodendron,SigiUaria,Stig- maria, &c., all prostrate ... 8 8. Coal, laminated as in No. 6, a line of ironstone balls in bottom ... 1 8 9. Coal, laminated and cubical, a few small ironstone balls. Many minute spines in this and underlying coal ..67 10. Ironstone and pyrites 3 11. Coal, laminated and cubical, as above 10 3 12. Coal, coarse, layers of bituminous shale and pyrites 10 Carry forward, 35 6 DISTRICT or PICTOU. 259 ft. In. Brought forward, 35 6 13. Coal, laminated, with a ioauil trunk in pyrites 2 1 14. Coal, laminated and cubical, with lay- ers of shale, passing downward into black slicken-sided under-clay with coaly bands 2 3 15. Under-clay (to bottom of specimen) . 10 Thickness perpendicular to horizon 40 8 Vertical thickness . . . . ". 38 6 From this seam at least 24 feet in vertical thickness of good coal can be extracted. A cubic foot of Pictou coal weighs about 82 lbs., rather less than 28 feet being equal to a ton of coal ; hence a square mile of this seam would yield in round numbers 23,000,000 tons of coal — an enormous quantity as compared with the present annual produce, but less than two-thirds of the annual consumption of Great Britain. The other seams in the Albion measures may be safely estimated at half the value of the main seam. The Albion coal has a laminated texture, and much mineral charcoal on its surfaces, and is a highly bitu- minous caking coal. Its specific gravity, according to the trials of Professor W. E. Johnston,* is 1*318 to 1*325. The result of t'.velve trials made by the writer of samples from different parts of the mine was, that the specific gravity varies from 1*288, which is that of the best coal extracted, to 1*447, which is that of the coarsest coal that has been worked. The mean specific gravity of six samples taken from the top, middle, and bottom of the seam, in the central part of the mine, * Beport to the United States GoTernment on American Coals. h ^ B § 2-2 22-7 62-- 131 100-0 2-5 22-7 58-8 160 100-0 It will be observed that in all parts of the mine the lower coal is inferior to that of the middle of the seam, and still more so to that of the upper part above the " holing stone," or the "fall coal," fp ' is termed by the miners. It will also be observe lat all the coals in the first column are inferior to tl i e second, and that those in the third are a1 while in this part of the mine the upper three leet oi fall-coal have disappeared, or been reduced to an insignificant thickness by thinning out or being replaced by shaly matter. The following table gives the composition of all the varieties of coal in the whole thickness of the seam, as ascertained by an elaborate series of assays made by the writer in 1854. Assays of Samples of Albion Coal, taken one foot in thickness, in the main at distances of seam. No. Volatile mat- Volatile mat- ter by rapid ter by bIow coking. 1. Coal 2. Do. 3. Do. 4. Do. 5. Do. 6. Do. 7. Do. 8. Do. 9. Do. coking. 26- 27-8 27-4 27-2 25-8 25-2 27-4 26-8 27-0 10. Carbonaceous shale 16-4 11. Coal ... 28-8 12. Do. ... 27-2 13. Do. ... 27-6 14. Do. ... 26-6 19-9 24-1 25-7 25- 25-1 24-9 220 22-9 23-9 15-9 25-8 25-4 24-7 23-9 Carbon fixed. 63-8 63-8 60- 65-5 64-8 62-5 68-5 66-7 61-3 26-3 59-7 62-5 65-5 61-0 Ashes. 16-3 12-1 14-3 9-5 10-1 12-6 9-5 10-4 14-8 58-8 14-5 12-1 9-8 151 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ ^ 1.0 1.1 USD "^^ MHI >ii lii |22 iM 12.0 lU Its 11-25 11.4 m I 1.6 o> <^ 7 y Photographic Sciences Corporailion 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716)«72'4S03 m \ 5V <^ 4 < V 262 THE OABBONIVEBOUS StSTEH. Mo. Volatile mat- Volatile mat- ter by rapid ter by slow eoking. coking. Carbon fixed. Aflhet. 15. Goal 26-8 231 651 11-8 16. Do. 28-8 24-9 62-3 12-8 17. Do. 80-4 260 65-0 9-0 18. Do. 26-0 261 63-0 10t9 19. Do. 260 250 66-3 8-7 20. Do. 26-8 22-7 63-6 13-7 21. Coarse Coal 25-8 23-3 58-3 18-4 22. Do. ... 27-2 22-5 60-3 17-2 23. Coal ... 29-4 23-6 64-3 12-1 24. Coarse Coal 25-8 22-4 57-6 20-0 25. Dq. 25-8 23-1 60-2 16-7 26. Do. 27-8 21-9 54-8 23-3 27. Coal 27-0 24-3 65-5 10-2 28. Do. 25-6 22-4 65-0 12-6 29. Do. 25-8 22-7 62-7 14-6 30. Do. 27-2 231 67-4 9-5 31. Do. 32-6 22-4 66-5 111 32. Coarse Coal 22-2 21-5 50-4 28-1 These coals being taken from the western part of the workings, do not show the fall coal of the old pits, this part of the seam having there, as already explained, thinned out. All these coals afford a fine vesicular coke, and their ashes are light gray and powdery, with the exception of those of the coals marked " coarse," which are heavy and shaly. The Deep Seam^ situated at the vertical depth of 150 feet below the main seam, and consequently crop- ping out to the surface about 150 yards to the south- west of the outcrop of the latter, contains about twelve feet of good coal, divided by intervening layers of shaly DISTRICT OP PIGTOU. Ashet. 11-8 12-8 9-0 l(h9 8-7 13-7 18-4 17-2 121 200 16-7 23-3 10-2 12-6 14-6 9-5 111 28-1 of the ts, this )lained, esicular with and impure coal into three bands. The best coal of this seam is superior to that of the main seam, but owing to the division above mentioned, it cannot be worked so economically as the main seam, and is there- fore likely to be left until the latter is exhausted, at least in its more accessible portions. The comparative parity of some portions of this seam, however, would entitle them to demand a higher price in the market than the ordinary produce of the Pictou mines. Its best portions contain only from 5*3 to 11 per cent, of ashes, and afford much illuminating gas, and a fine vesicular coke, similar to that of the main seam coal. The ashes of some of the deep seam layers are of a red- dish colour, whereas those of the coal from the main seam are invariably white or light-gray. There can be no doubt, that nothing but its association with a bed of so much greater magnitude prevents this seam from being immediately worked. Several other coal-seams exist in the Albion meas- ures. One of these is six feet in thickness, and affords coal similar to that of the main seam, but with a larger proportion of ashes. Another, which occurs about 450 feet below the main seam, is a coarse-looking coal of shaly aspect. On trial, however, I have found a specimen of it to yield no less than 56*6 per cent, of gas of high illuminating power, and a good vesicular coke, the ashes of which amount to only 8 per cent, of the whole. Such a coal would be as valuable as the best Scottish cannel for the production of gas, if it occurs in sufficient quantity without too great an ad- mixture of Bulphuret of iron. I have no definite in- formation on these points, but I am informed that it is only fourteen inches thick. 264 THE GABBONIFEBOITS SYSTEM. As Pictou coal is now largely used in the mannfac* ture of illuminating gas, the following comparative trials of the volume of gas which it affords, made by the writer in the spring of 1854, may be interesting. They were made on a small scale, by means of an iron retort and graduated glass- vessels ; but their accuracy was afterwards confirmed by trials of some of the coals on the large scale in the Pictou gas-work. Coal from upper nine feet of the main seam, from the Dalhousie pits, .... Goal from middle of main seam, the portion now mined in the lower floor, Goal from upper three feet of best coal of deep seam, Goal from lower three feet of best coal of deep Coble f«et f»rT«m. seam. 3902 5080 6668 8504 The average yield of the first of these samples in the Pictou gas- work is about 4000 cubic feet. As the lower coals now beginning to be opened are more productive of gas, it may be anticipated that the reputation of Pictou coal in the gas-works will incr.?; I may men- tion here that the value of Pictou c< t* this purpose, as well as for family and steam uses, depends in part on the good quality of its coke, and in part on its compara- tive freedom from sulphur. Thebe excellent qualities, in connexion with its great heating power, more than compensate for its large per-centage of ash as compared with some other coals. The small coal-seams already mentioned as occurring near New Glasgow, at Merigomish, Middle river. South DMTUCT OF PICTOU. 265 3902 5080 6668 8504 Fiotou, Carribon, &c., are all too small to be profitably worked in the present state of the country, and no large or valuable seams are at present known within the 001 utj of Pictou, except those of the Albion measures. The coast and river sections are, however, too imperfect to warrant the assertion that no such beds remain to be discovered ; but it is probable, for reasons already stated, that the coal-seams north of the New Glasgow conglom- erate will all be found to be thin, like those of the Joggins and Wallace sections, which in other respects the coal-measures in that part of the county so much resemble. Still there is no part of the country surround- ing Pictou harbour of such a character that it may not contain seams of coal of workable dimensions, though such beds as those of the Albion mines cannot reason- ably be expected. It is also probable that workable seams occur in the eastern prolongation of the Albion measures, toward Merigomish. In this part of the dis- trict, a small seam associated with shales containing Modiolce like those of the Joggins, is known in M'Lel- lan's brook. It dips to the north-west, showing that it is broken off from the Albion measures by a fault or iaults ; and it appears to belong to the lowest part of the coal-formation, as the lower carboniferous sandstones and limestone almost immediately underlie it. Another seam appears to the south-east of New Glasgow, near the new road to Fine-tree gut. It is of larger dimen- sions than that in M'Lellan's brook, and good coal has been taken from its outcrop for domestic use. Other seams no doubt exist along this tract, which is marked by a valley or depression extending to the eastward, be- tween the ridge caused by the New Glasgow conglom- erate and the lower carboniferous and Devonian hills d66 THE OABBONITESOUS ST8TEM. toward M'Lellan's mountain. It is by no means improb- able that a very valuable prolongation of the Albion measures may be found in this direction. Clay Ironstone occurs in the Albion coal-measures, apparently of good quality, and in sufficient abundance to be extracted profitably, if in a country in which smelting-fumaces are in operation. At present, how- ever, no attention is paid to it. From the abundance of boulders of Brown Hematite scattered over the sur- face of the lower carboniferous rocks on the East river, it would appear that veins of that rich ore of iron exist in these rocks, in the same manner as at the Shubena- cadie^ The outcrop of these veins has not yet been ob- served, and, as the country is much covered by drift materials, it may prove somewhat difficult to discover them. The presence of these ores, in connexion with a large bed of peroxide of iron in the older slates to be hereafter described, leaves little doubt that were other circumstances favourable, iron-works might be estab- lished on the East river without any fear of deficiency in the raw material. Gray Freestone, for architectural purposes, is found in a great number of places in the Pictou coal-formation, and is quarried both for domestic use and for exportation to the United States and neighbouring colonies. Many buildings have been constructed of Pictou freestone in the large cities of the American Union ; and its cheap- ness, durability, and fine colour, are likely to secure an extended demand. The principal quarries are on Saw Mill brook, at the head of Pictou harbour, where stone of excellent quality and colour, and both in blocks and flags, is found in great abundance. These quarries have been very extensively opened, and a railway and load- DI8TBIGT OF nCTOU. 167 II ing per three-fourths of a mile in length have been conBtruoted* The greatest quantity shipped in any year has been 8000 tons ; but with the present facilities from 10,000 to 12,000 tons can be annually shipped from the " Aeadia Quarry," which is the principal opening. OSfpntnif in workable quantity, occurs only on the East river, and is at too great a distance from a port of shipment to be quarried at present, except for domestic use. Limestone is quarried for use in the country at the East and West rivers, and small quantities are occa- sionally taken from the beds at Merigomish and Cape John. Manganese ore, Sulphate of Barytes, Umber and Ochres, are found in small quantities. Brick and coarse Pottery are made to a small extent. Some of the sand- stones are quarried for grindstones, and the bed of limestone mentioned as occurring near New Glasgow and at Little Harbour, afifords a curiously waved gray marble, which has not, however, been yet brought into the market. The Copper Ores found in the coal-formation have been already mentioned. The principal localities are Garribcu river the West river a little below Durham, and the East river a few miles above the Albion mines. Similar appearances also occur on French and Waugh's river, in the band of coal-formation n.cks connecting the Cumberland and Fictou districts. In all these places the principal ore is the gray sulphuret of the metal, with films and coatings of the green carbonate. These ores are associated with fossil plants, to which, as already explained, their accumulation is to be attributed. The ores are rich and valuable, and the only reason 268 THE OABBONIPEBOUS SYSTEM. which prevents them from being worked, is the convic- tion that the deposits are too limited to be of economical importance. This has been found to be the case in two instances in which trials have been made by the agents of the Mining Association. The following is the com- position of a sample from Garribou analyzed by the writer: — Iron 11-06 Cobalt . 210 Manganese •50 Sulphur . 25-42 Carbonate of lime m -92 80-00 5. Carboniferoiu District of Sydney County. The Fictou district is bounded on the south by an irregular tract of slaty and syenitic rocks, forming the hills of Merigomish and those extending toward Cape St George. In the coast-section, the last and lowest rocks of the Pictou carboniferous district are seen near M'Cara's brook to rest unconformably on slates to be subsequently described, and which are of Devonian age. Passing these, towards Malignant cove, the lower car- boniferous conglomerates and sandstones are again seen, but very much disturbed and altered by heat. It is a very instructive study to compare the soft conglomerates and their interstratified trap at M'Cara's brook, with the continuation of the same beds eastward of Arisaig pier, where they appear fused into hard quartzose rocks, in PISTRIOT OF SYDNEY COUNTY. 869 lome of which the original texture is entirely obliter- ated. The conglomerate and sandstone seen at Malignant cove conduct us through a gap in the metamorphic hills, or round by Gape St George, to the gypsiferous rocks of the neighbourhood of Autigonish. These run along the south side of the metamorphic hills with general southerly dips, from Gape St George to the western extremity of this district, and exhibit a very large development of the gypsums and limestones, the latter containing some of the fossils already noticed in other localities. At Gape St George the lower carboniferous conglom- erates appear to be largely developed. Between this place and Morristown there are red sandstones, conglom- erate, and gray sandstone, the latter containing Calamitesj Artisia, and other coal-formation fossils. Near Morris- town these beds dip to the N.E., and have been dis- turbed by a spur of trappean or altered rock, containing kernels of epidote, and associated with contorted dark shales, probably the equivalents of the Horton Blu£f beds. Beyond this interruption, the coast shows soft reddish sandstones and shales with some beds of gray sandstone and conglomerate, dipping to the S.S.E. at an angle of 50°, and on these rests a bed of limestone nearly 100 feet thick ; in its lower portion laminated, the laminffi being occasionally broken up so as to give it a fragmentary or brecciated appearance ; in its upper part, compact and penetrated by small gypsum veins. On this limestone rests a rock consisting of alternate layers of limestone and gypsum, above which is a great thickness of pure flesh-coloured crystalline gypsum, and on this again, white laminated fine-grained gypsum, with 270 THE CABB0NIFER0U8 SYSTEM. minate grains of carbonate of lime. The whole thick- ness of the gypsum is about 200 feet, and it forms a beautiful clifif fronting the sea. (Fig. 80.) Fig. 80. Cliff pf CrytUMiM O/fptum, ntar Ogden'a Lalu, Sydmy County. This gypsum and limestone can be traced with scarcely any interruption to the village of Antigonish, about five miles distant, where the same beds are seen in the banks of Right's river. Near the mouth of this river, at the head of Antigonish harbour, is a thick bed of white gy{>sum, dipping to the south-west. Succeeding this, in descending order, after a small interval (which appears to have been occupied by sandstones, now nearly re- moved by denudation), is a bed of dark-coloured lime- stone, in which, at different points where it appears, I found Productus Martini with other shells also occurring on the East river ; and Productus Lyelliy a shell not yet met with in the East river limestones, but very charac-< OI8TBI0T OF 8TDNBT COUNTY. 371 I thick- forms a i(y. scarcely )out five banks at the white this, in appears arly re- lime- )ears, I curring not yet charac-< teristic of the gypsiferons formation in other parts of the province. Below this limestone there is another break also showing traces of sandstones and a bed of gypsum, and then a thick bed of dark limestone, partly laminated and partly brecciated, without fossils, and containing in its fissures thin plates of copper-ore. Beneath this lime- stone is a great thickness of reddish conglomerate, com- posed of pebbles of igneous and metamorphic rocks, and varying in texture from a very coarse conglomerate to a coarse-grained sandstone. In one place it contains a few beds of dark sandstones and shales. These are suc- ceeded by red, gray, and dark sandstone and dark shales, in a disturbed condition, but probably underlying the conglomerate. They contain a few fossil plants, especi- ally a kind of Lepidodendron^ which appears to be identical with a species found in a similar geological position at Horton and Noel. The limestones with their characteristic fossils may be seen still farther west on the West river of Antigonish. On the west side of the Ohio river, about fifteen miles firom Antigonish, this carboniferous district terminates against the metamorphic hills, which here occupy a wide surface, and send off a long branch to Cape Porcupine in the. Strait of Oanseau. This branch consists in great part of slates older than the carboniferous system, but it also appears to contain altered carboniferous rocks. It bounds this district on the south. Along its northern side, the lower carboniferous limestones and gypsum appear at the north end of Lochaber lake, at the South river, and at the northern end of the Strait of Canseau. They are probably continuous or nearly so between these points. In the coast between the place last mentioned and Antigonish, carboniferous rocks, principally sand- 972 THE OARBOmrBROUt ITITBM. ■tones, appear in several places ; and towards Pomket and Tracadie, in the central part of the district, the coal- formation, probably its lower portion, is seen ; and small seams of coal have been found in it. I have had no opportunity of examining them, but have no doubt that they form the southern edge of the coal-field underlying St George's bay, and the eastern side of which appears at Port Hood in Gape Breton. The Sydney area thus appears to be of triangular form, with the lower carboniferous beds extending along its western and south-eastern sides, and the coal-forma- tion occupying a limited pateh on the northern side. It does *not appear probable that any valuable deposits of coal occur in it ; but it is rich in limestone and gypsum, and has that fertile calcfureous soil which so generally prevails over the rocks of the gypsiferous series. 6. Carboniferous District of Ouyshorougk. This district is separated from that last described by a narrow belt of metamorphio country forming a range of low elevations. Fart of these altered rocks may be- long to the lower carboniferous series itself, but the greater part of them are of higher antiquity. On the south side of this ridge, we find a belt of carboniferous rocks, extending from the Strait of Ganseau along the north side of Ghedabucto bay. Westward of the head of this bay, the carboniferous rocks extend in a narrow band, separating the inland metamorphic hills from those of the Atlantic coast, almost as far as the sources of the west branch of the St Mary's river, fifty miles west of Ghedabucto bay. DIITBIOT OP OUYIBOROUOH. 378 North of the town of Gnysboro', and not very far from the mctamorphic rocks, is a bed of blackish lami- nated limestone. I could find no fossils in it, but it has the characters of the lowest carboniferous limestones aa seen elsewhere. It has some of its fissures filled with micaceous specular iron, and is associated with conglom- erate and sandstone somewhat altered. This limestone dips N. 60° W. at a high angle. Limestone re-appears with a high easterly dip on the opposite side of the har- bour, and near it are altered shales neorly in a vertical position. Southward of the town of Guysboro', lime- stone again appears in thick beds, and between it and the town are reddish sandstones and conglomerates dipping S. 60° E. Some of these beds are evidently made up of the debris of the granite-hills to the south- ward, proving that these older hills were land under- going waste in the carboniferous period. The whole of the beds near Guysboro' harbour are much disturbed and in part altered ; and, immediately to the westward of the town, a spur of porphyritic and trappean rock extends from the hills to the northward, nearly across the carboniferous valley : the eruption of these igneous rocks has probably occurred in the carboniferous period, and effected much of the baking and other alteration which the rocks of that period have experienced. Beyond this ridge of igneous rock, the long valley extending to the westward is occupied by gray and red- dish sandstones and conglomerate, with gray shales in a few places, the whole forming a narrow trough. On the southern margin of this trough, the conglomerate contains pebbles of gray quartzite, micaceous flag, and blue slate, precisely similar to the metamorphic rocks S I 274 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. immediately to the southward, and in these conglom- erates and the sandstones resting on them, I found a few fragments of Catamites and Lepidodendron. Fossils appear, however, to be rare in this district, and I have not observed in it any coal ; nor do the limestones ap- pear, so far as I am aware, west of Guysboro'. With the exception of limestone and freestone for building, I am not aware that this district affords any useful minerals. Galena, or sulphuret of lead, is said to have been found in small quantities near Guysboro', and small veins of Specular Iron traverse many of the altered rocks in that vicinity. The soils of this valley, however, especially on the St Mary's river, are causing it to rise rapidly in importance as an agricultural dis- trict, and its scenery is in many places varied and beautiful. Before passing to the coal-fields of Cape Breton, I may shortly notice two limited patches of carboniferous rocks occurring on the margin of the metamorphic rocks on the south coast of Nova Scotia, at Margaret's bay and Chester basin. At Margaret's bay, red and gray sandstones and a bed of limestone appear, though much buried under masses of granitic drift. In limestone from this place, I have found the Terebratula Elongata, a characteristic lower carboniferous shell. At Chester basin, the lower carboniferous rocks appear still more distinctly, and contain thick beds of limestone of various qualities. One of the beds is said to be a good hydraulic cement, and another in weathering leaves an um5er of a rich brown colour, which is manufactured and sold under the name of Chester mineral paint. The limestone at this DI8TBICT OF GUYSBOROUOH. 275 place contains several of the shells already mentioned as characteristic of the carboniferous system. A small seam of coal is also stated to occur near Chester ; but I have not seen it. These isolated patches are interesting, as they are evidently portions of the margin of a carboniferous dis- trict either sunk beneath the Atlantic or removed by the action of its waves. CHAPTER Xin. THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM— Contfntwirf. CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICT OP RICHMOND AND SOUTHERN INVERNESS USEFUL MINERALS — DISTRICT OF NOR- THERN INVERNESS 'and VICTORIA — USEFUL MINERALS — DISTRICT OF CAPE BRETON COUNTY — USEFUL MINERALS. 7. Carboniferous District of Richmond and Southern Inverness. This district is separated from those of Sydney and Guysboro* only by the Strait of Canseau, a narrow transverse valley excavated by the currents of the drift period. The lower carboniferous conglomerates and limestones are seen on both sides of the strait, and the lowest members of the system are seen at Plaister Cove and its vicinity, and are succeeded to the southward and eastward by the coal-formation. As this district presents some curious and interesting features, I shall notice some parts of it rather in detail. ' The coast-section in the vicinity of Plaister Cove is remarkable for the highly perfect manner in which it displays the gypsiferous rocks, and the information DISTRICT OF. BIGHMOMD AND 80UTHEBN IMYEBNESS. 277 which it consequently afforcU as to their structure and origin. The following summary of the beds seen in this sec- tion, is from a paper contributed by the writer to the Geological Society in 1849. (See Fig. 31.) " (1.) At M'Millan's Point/ about three quarters of a mile north of the cove, are thick beds of gray conglom- I HeadofPlaister CoTe. 00 ^ H'Millan's Point. ( 278 THE CABBONIFESOUS SYSTEM. erate, in a vertical position. These beds form the base of the carboniferons system in this district ; and, at a short distance inland, they have been invaded by trap and other igneous rocks, belonging to a great line of igneous disturbance extending to the north-eastward. The conglomerates near McMillan's Point have been thrown up along an anticlinal line connecting the igneous range last mentioned with that of Cape Porcu- pine, on whose flanks the same conglomerates appear. The valley now occupied by the strait is in great part due to the want of continuity of the igneous masses at this point, though the distribution of the surface de- tritus shows that it has been subsequently deepened by diluvial waves or currents from the northward. " (2.) Between M'Millan's Point and Plaister Cove, the shore is occupied by black and gray shales and very hard sandstones in frequent alternations. The sand- stones have been much altered by heat, and are traversed by veins of white carbonate of lime, sometimes mixed with sulphate of barytes. At the point immediately north of Plaister Cove, these beds dip at a high angle to the south-eastward. " (3.) Overlying these beds is a bed of limestone about thirty feet in thickness ; it is of a dark colour, laminated and subcrystalline ; its laminae are in some parts corrugated and slightly attached to each other, and in other places flat and firmly coherent ; it is tra- versed by numerous strings of white calcareous spar, containing a little carbonate of iron and small crystals of blue fluor spar, a mineral rare in Nova Scotia, and which I have found only in the lower carboniferous lime- stones. The limestone supports a few layers of greenish marl and gypsum, which appear in a small depression DISTRICT OF RICHMOND AND SOUTHERN INVERNESS. 279 jression on the north nde of the cove ; but beyond this depres- £don the limestone re-appears with a northerly dip. It is then bent into several small folds, and ultimately resumes its high dip to the south-east. I found no fossils in this limestone, except at its junction with the overlying marl, where there is a thin bed of black com- pact limestone containing a few indistinct specimens of a small species of Terebratula. In appearance and structure this limestone is very similar to the laminated limestones which underlie the gypsiferous deposits of Antigonish and the Shubenacadie. " (4.) This bed is succeeded by greenish marl, tra- versed by veins of red foliated and white fibrous gypsum, and containing a few layers of the same mineral in a granular form ; it also contains a few veins of crystal- line carbonate of lime. In its lower part it has a brecciated structure, as if the layers had been partially consolidated and afterwards broken up. Near its junc- tion with the limestone, it contains rounded masses of a peculiar cellular limestone, coloured black by coaly matter; and higher in the bed there are nodules of yellow ferruginous limestone, with a few fragments of shells. The greenish colour of the marl seems to be caused by the presence of a minute quantity of sulphuret of iron. Where a portion of the marl is heated, the sulphuret is decomposed, and the colour is changed to a bright red. " (5.) On this marl rests a bed of gypsum, whose thickness I estimated at fifty yards. Where the marl succeeds to the limestone, the shore at once recedes, and the gypsum occurs at the head of the cove. The gyp- sum is well exposed in a cliff about eighty feet in height; but, like most other large masses of this rock, it is broken 280 THE CABB0MIFER0U8 SYSTEM. by weathering into forms so irregular, that its trae dip and direction are not at first sight very obyious. On tracing its layers, however, it is found to have the same dip with the subjacent limestone and marl. About two- thirds of the thickness of the bed consist of crystalline anhydrite, and the remaining third of very fine-grained common gypsum. The anhydrite prevails in the lower part of the bed, and common gypsum in the upper ; but the greater part of the bed consists of an intimate mix- ture of both substances, the common gypsum forming a base in which minute crystals of anhydrite are scattered ; and bands in which anhydrite prevails, alternating with oth^s in which common gypsum predominates. It is traversed by veins of compact gypsum, but I saw no red or fibrous veins like those of the marl. In some parts of the bed, small rounded fragments of gray limestone are sparingly scattered along layers of the gypsum. , " The exposed part of the mass is riddled by those singular funnel-shaped holes named "Plaster pits," sections of which are exposed in the cliflF; they pene- trate both the anhydrite and common gypsum, though they are contracted where they pass through harder portions of the rock, and especially the veins of compact gypsum, some of which are only slightly inclined, and look at first sight like layers of deposition. The pits of which I saw sections have evidently resulted from the percolation of water through the more open parts of vertical joints, and they were cut off where they were intersected by another slightly inclined set of open fis- sures, which afforded a passage to the water. The accompanying sketch (Fig. 32) shows one of these pits, and its relations to the joints and stratification of the gypsum. DI8TBI0T OF BIOHIfOND AND SOUTHERN IMVERNESB. 281 I I Fig. 92.—FUuUr PU: (a) Gypsum vein. (fi) Open Joint. (e) Bedding of the gypsum. '' (6.) Above the gypsum are a few layers of limestone, portions of which appear near the base of the clifif ; one of them is studded with tarnished crystals of iron py- rites ; another is a singular mixture of gray limestone and reddish granular gypsum. The portions of lime- stone contained in this rock do not appear to be frag- ments or pebbles, and they are penetrated by plates of selenitic gypsum. They may be parts of a bed of lime- stone broken up and mixed with gypsum when in a soft state, or the limestone and gypsum may have been deposited simultaneously and separated by molecular attraction. A rock of this kind is not rare as an accom- paniment of gypsum, and it may be merely a result of the mixture of the soft surface of the gypsum with the mechanical detritus first deposited on it. *' (7.) On the opposite side of the creek, which makes a small break in the section, is a thick bed of marl, whose dip appears to be the same with that of the gyp- 389 THB GABB0NIFER0U8 STITBM. ncf Bum. In general character it resembles the marl nnder- lying the gypsum. In some parts it is greenish and homogeneous in texture ; in other parts it is brecciated, and some layers have a brownish colour and shaly texture. In some parts it is highly gypseous and con- tains layers of granular gypsum, one of which is black, its colour being due to a small proportion of coaly or bituminous matter. " (8.) Beyond the marl the shore is occupied for a short space by boulder clay. Beyond this it shows a great thickness of dark shales with calcareous bands, containing a few small shells ; they dip to the E.S.E. at a jiigh angle, and overlie the gypsum. They are succeeded by a thick band of very hard gray and brownish sandstones and shales, containing a few frag- ments of plants stained by carbonate of copper. These are again overlaid by dark shales, and these by an enormous thickness of gray and brown sandstone and shale. Some of the shales in this part of the section have assumed a kind of slaty or rather prismatic structure." I beg the reader to observe, in the above section, the contrast between the hardened 'Sandstones and shales and the soft marls and gypsum, a contrast equally marked in other parts of the carboniferous districts, and often producing, by the removal of the softer beds, that isolated position of the gypsum masses which is fre- quently so perplexing. It is also important to observe, that this great mass of gypsum is a regular bed, inter- stratified with the others, and belonging to the series of processes by which the whole were formed. I have already, in noticing the gypsum of Windsor, referred to its probable origin, and may now apply the same the DIBTRIOT or BICHXOMD AMD 80UTBSBM mTEBMEM. 388 method of explanation to that of Plaiiter Gove. On this view then the history of this deposit will be as follows : — Firstf The accumulation of a vast number of very thin layers of limestone, either so rapidly or at so great a depth that organic remains were not included in any except the latest layers. Secondly^ The introduction of sulphuric acid, either in aqueous solution or in the form of vapour; the acid being a product of the volcanic action whose evidences remain in the neighbouring hills. At first the quantity of acid was too small, or the breadth of sea through which it was di£fused too great, to prevent the deposition of much carbonate of lime along with the gypsum produced; and its intro- duction was accompanied by the accumulation on the sea-bottom of a greater quantity of mechanical detritus than formerly : hence the first consequence of the change was the deposition of gypseous marl. At this stage organic matter was present, either in the sea or the detritus deposited, in sufficient quantity to decompose part of the sulphate of lime, and produce sulphuret of iron ; and also to afford the colourin{; matter of the nodules of black limestone found in the marl. Thirdly^ The prevalence for a considerable period of acid waters, combining with nearly all the calcareous matter pre- sented to them, and without interruption from mechani- cal detritus. The anhydrite must have been deposited with the common gypsum ; but, under the circumstances, it seems difficult to account for its production, unless it may have been formed by acid vapours, and subsequently scattered over the bed of the sea. Fourthly^ A return to the deposition of marl, under circumstances very similar to those which previously prevailed ; and, 2a»%, II 384 TBB OABBOMITEROUB BTSTBM. The restoration of the ordinary arenaceous and argil- laceong depositions of the carboniferous seas. Of the gypsum veins found in the marls, those which are white and fibrous may have been nearly contem- poraneous in their origin with the marl itself; those which are red and lamellar have been subsequently introduced. The granular gypsum is in all cases a part of the original deposit. The comparatively small quan- tity of red oxide of iron in these marls and other asso- ciated beds is the most important feature of difference between the deposit of Plaister Cove and those of most other parts of this province. There is, however, a large quantity of reddish and brown sandstone in the beds overlying the gypsum, though on the whole these col- ours are less prevalent than in the carboniferous system of Nova Scotia Proper. The rocks seen at Plaister cove and its vicinity ap- pear to be overlaid in ascending order by a great thick- ness of black shales, which near Ship harbour contain shells of Modiola. These shales are succeeded by true coal-measures, which, at a place called Little river and at Carribou Gove, contain seams of coal and a variety of characteristic fossil plants. One remarkable peculiarity of these coal-measures is, that they have been folded up by lateral pressure, so that they are often vertical, and that the limestones with marine shells and the gypsum, are often brought into immediate contact with masses of these disturbed coal-measures. Goal-measure beds in a less disturbed condition extend up the river of In- habitants nearly to its sources, and occupy the country between that river and the southern part of the Bras d'Or lake. The lower carboniferous limestone appears on the north-west arm of Biver Inhabitants, at West i-^.-t-jrt-rrt,*^::^--^ ■: ' _-r In the direction of the beds of coal, the ground in the vicinity of the river is low, rising to about thirty feet only above the stream. Only a very small depth of coal could therefore be drained by a level from the river-bed, or without the aid of machinery. The ver- tical position of the beds will also require a method of mining diflferent from that employed in the other coal- fields of the province, where the seams are only slightly inclined. These circumstances, in addition to the com- paratively small dimensions of the beds, as they tend to increase the expense of extracting coal, must operate as USEFUL MINERALS. 289 objections to the opening of this deposit. On the other hand, the seam No. 1 is sufficiently large to be conve- niently worked, its coal would command a fair price in the market, and it is near harbours from which its pro- duce could be shipped at any season. There is also a probability that the beds might be traced to localities more favourable for the extraction of the coal ; and that, by works of discovery carried on in the adjacent meas- ures, other workable seams might be found. A com- pany has recently applied for a lease of this coal-field. Goal also appears at the basin of Inhabitants, and in two places on the river of the same name ; but I am not aware that it is of any practical importance. The only other useful minerals found in the district are limestone and gypsum. The most accessible depo- sit of the former is that of Plaister Cove, which is large and of fair quality. Large beds of good limestone also occur at Little river and the north-west arm of River Inhabitants. The bed of gypsum from which Plaister Cove derives its name is of enormous thickness, and con- tains some good gypsum, though about two-thirds of its thickness consist of anhydrous gypsum or " hard plas- ter." The bed which occurs near Carribou Cove is of good quality ; but where it appears on the shore it is deeply covered by boulder-clay. A little farther inland, however, it is nearer the surface. The marls associated with these beds, as they contain large quantities of car- bonate and sulphate of lime in a finely divided state, might be usefully applied as a dressing to land. Gypsum has been exported from the bed already mentioned at Little river, and to a considerable extent from Lennox passage, where, as well as at Arichat and St Peter's, there is good limestone. t U I >' 290 THE CABBONIFEBOUS SYSTEM. I 8. Carboniferous District of Northern Inverness and Victoria. In following the coast-sections to the northward and westward of Plaister Cove, we find the carboniferous rocks reduced to a narrow belt, by the projection of a mass of igneous and altered rocks toward the coast. The conglomerate appears in several places, and also the lower carboniferous limestone, which has been al- tered by heat into a variegated marble, capable of being applied to ornamental purposes. At Long Point the metamorphic hills begin to recede from the coast, and from Port Hood the carboniferous rocks extend quite across the island to St Ann's harbour, and northward to Margarie, beyond which place a narrow belt contin- ues to line the coast as far as Cheticamp. At Port Hood the coal-measures appear with charac- ters very similar to those of the Joggins section. Their dip is W. 20°, in some places varying to W. by N. 25° ; so that their strike nearly coincides with that of the shore, and only a small thickness of beds can be seen in the coast-section. The beds seen consist of gray sandstones and gray and brown shales, with black and calcareous shales, and thin seams of coal. Calamites, Artisia, Stigmaria, and coniferous wood abound ; and, in a bed of sandstone a little to the northward of the village, magnificent examples of Sigillaria stumps, with their roots and rootlets attached, are seen in situ. The beds dipping seaward at a small angle, and undergoing rapid waste, expose these stumps on a horizontal sur- face, and not in a vertical cliff as at the Joggins ; and this affords great facilities for studying the arrangement of their singular roots. Some of the stumps are two NORTHERlt INVERNESS AND VICTORIA. 291 feet and a half in diameter, and may be seen to ^ve ofif their pitted stigmaria roots in four main divisions, ex- actly at right angles to each other, each main root sub- dividing regularly into two, four, and so on. They are in the state of casts in hard calcareous sandstone, and they have grown on a soil consisting of loose sand, now sandstone, and stiff clay, now represented by beds of shale. Some of the layers of sandstone immediately under the roots are distinctly ripple -marked, and must, when the trees grew on them, have been either very recently elevated from the sea-bed, or must have been layers of blown sand. If it were not for the general uniform bedding of the coal-formation sandstones em- bedding these plants, an observer would be strongly inclined to refer them to the latter cause ; and I think it by no means impossible that some of them may have had such an origin, and may have been afterwards smoothed and levelled by water, before the overlying beds were deposited on them. More than one generation of these trees have grown on this sp||t, for I observed one of the stony trees to be penetrated by a cast of a Stigmaria with rootlets at- tached, which passed quite through it. This had mani- festly belonged to a new generation of trees, growing above the remains of others already in the state of casts in sand, but not consolidated into stone. One of the beds of shale in the vicinity of a small coal-seam at this place, contains abundance of Modwlce, Ct/pris, fish-scales and teeth, and CoproUtes, or the fos- sil excrement of fishes. Four miles to the north-east of Port Hood, the lower carboniferous limestone and gypsum appear ; and this part of the system continues to Mabou river, where it is 292 THE CABBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. very extensively developed. The limestone near this river has shells of Productm Martini^ and abundance of fragments of Encrinites ; and one of the beds has an Oolitic structure, that is, it is made up of small round grains, precisely like small shot cemented together, or the roe of a fish. This peculiar structure is supposed to have been produced by the calcareous matter collecting itself around minute grains of sand or other bodies, and thus taking the form of little balls, which were rolled about by the waves until cemented into rock. It was at one time supposed to be confined to a particular part of the geological series, still named in England the Oolitic formation, but it has been found in rocks of very different ages. Examples of it occur in the limestones of Windsor and Pictou ; but this of Mabou is much more perfect. Its little rounded grains are nearly quite uni- form in size, smooth and black, and cemented together by gray calcareous matter. Near thei mouth of Mabou river, there is an enormous bed of gypsum, which was being quarried when I last visited it, for the purpose of making road-embankments, this rock being the only available material at hand. Enormous plaster-pits have been excavated in the out- crop of this great gypseous mass. One of them forms a circular grassy amphitheatre, capable of containing hun- dreds of persons, and I was informed that there i^ a spring of water in its centre. Immediately to the northward of Mabou river, the lower conglomerates crop out from under the limestones and gypsum, and rise on the flanks of Cape Mabou, a lofty headland, the nucleus of which is syenite, of greater antiquity than the carboniferous system, and which is connected with an isolated chain of igneous and meta- NORTHERN INVERNESS AND VICTORIA. d^s morphic hills extending for some distance to the north- ward. At Margarie, the coal-formation again appears, with its characteristic fossil plants; but it occupies only a very limited area, and the whole of the remainder of this district seems to consist of beds of the lower carbonif- erous series. The coal-formation rocks of Port Hood and Margarie are evidently only the margin of a coal- field extending under the sea, and perhaps as far as its appearance above the sea-level is concerned, in great part swept away by the waves. This coast is now ra- pidly wasting, in consequence of its exposure to the pre- vailing westerly winds blowing across the whole width of the Gulf of St Lawrence ; and its rivers and harbours are from this cause choked with shifting sands. Owing to this waste of the coast, a sand-beach which connected Port Hood Island with the mainland has been swept away, and a safe harbour has thus been converted into an open roadstead, exposed to the northerly winds and encumbered with shoals. This will prove a t;erious drawback to any attempt to work the coal-beds of this locality. The lower carboniferous limestone and gypsum ap- pear at Cheticamp, in a number of places on Margarie river, and at Ainslie lake, which is a fine sheet of water, more than ten miles in length, and the largest lake, properly so called, in Cape Breton. To the eastward of this lake, a spur from the metamorphic country to the northward separates this part of the district from the lower carboniferous country of the county of Victoria. At the extremity of this spur, on the border of Whyko- komagh basin, the lower carboniferous conglomerate with syenitic pebbles forms a hill named the Salt Moun- 294 THE OAHBOKIFBSOUfl 8TBTBU. tain. Ou this conglomerate rest thick beds of laminated limestone, from which rise unusually copious springs, some of them of pure water, others said to be salt or brackish. At Middle river, we again find the lower car- boniferous limestone with several of its characteristic fossil shells ; and from this place, as far as St Ann's harbour and the Big Bras d'Or, the whole of the low country consists of sandstone, shale, and conglomerate, with limestone and gypsum appearing in several places. A lofty ridge of syenitic rocks separates St Ann's from the Bras d'Or, and at its extremity. Gape Dauphin, there is a patch of carboniferous rocks which have been described in de^ by Mr Brown in the proceedings of the Geo*- logical Society. Mr Brown gives the following section, which is interesting as illustrating the arrangement of the several members of the series in this part of Gape Breton. The order is descending, and the beds dip S. 80' E. at an angle of 58°. Lower coal-measures, seen about half a mile from Gape Dauphjh — a few fossil plants— thickness not stated. Fine grained and pebbly sandstones (millstone^grit) — fossil plants 200 ft. Finely laminated gray shales with thin bands of limestone 110 Slaty sandstones with traces of plants . 10 Blue and gray shales with thin beds of nodular , limestone . . . . . . 120 Strong sparry limestone .... 6 Soft crumbling marls .... 90 Strong limestone ..... 18 Garry forward, 354 ft. • rfK.a»*'i*.* .'J.^.**!^*-.' ...^, NOBTBBSN IMYBBNBSI AMD TIOTORIA. MA Brought forward, 854 ft. Brown Bandstone 12 Bed ghalei ...... 38 Blue shales 8 Strong limestone — ^lower beds laminated— fossil shells.— iVoductiM Lyellif Encrinm . 17 Mottled red and green marls ... . 24 Intermingled sandstones and limestone . 22 Blue shale ...... 6 Bed shale . . . . . . 8 Strong limestone 5 Mixed gray and brown shales ... 12 Concretionary limestone .... 4 Soft blue clay ..... 8 Slaty limestone in layers one to two inches thick 47 Soft blue marl, with gypsum near the bottom 82 Gypsum 8 Soft green marl 8 Marl, with layers of limestone ... 28 Coarse limestone and shales ... 44 ■ Crumbling porous limestone ... 50 Calcareous breccia, containing partially worn fragments of red syenite ... 24 Limestone showing no lines of bedding — Tere- hratula Elongata, T. Sufftata^ Productus Lyelli^ fragment of Avicula ... 60 Compact slaty limestone .... 6 Soft brown shale ..... 6 Brown and purple marls ... 40 T056ft. In this section the lower carboniferous rocks are of 296 THE GABBOMIFBROUB ITSTIM. much less aggregate thickness than usual ; yet they dis- play the several dissimilar members of the series pretty fully. The " millstone grit" corresponds with the de- posit of the same name overlying the carboniferous limestone of England. It also corresponds with the thick succession of sandstones between Plaister Gove and Ship harbour, with those overlying the gypsiferous rocks in Pictou county, with the sandstones of tiie Eagle's Nest, on the Shubenacadie, and with the lower groups of Mr Logan's Joggins section. The limestone, marls, and gypsum are well developed, except that the latter is of smaller thickness than is usual. The lower con- glomerate is wanting ; but this is always an irregular deposit, and it appears in its proper place in most other sections in this part of Gape Breton, as for instance at St Ann's harbour, where the gypsum also is very largely developed. This section, as described by Mr Brown, did good service in confirming the new and more acoa- rate views of the structure of the carboniferous rocks in this province, promulgated by Sir G. Lyell in 1842. Useful Minerals ofN. Inverness and Victoria. Gypsum and limestone are very abundant in this dis- trict. The former may be obtained in any quantity at Mabou, Margarie river, St Ann's, Big Harbour on the Great Bras d'Or, &c. The latter abounds in the same localities, as well as in several others where the gyp- sum is absent. The altered limestone at jGraignish and Long Point would afford several pretty and unusual va- rieties "of coloured marble. Coal occurs at Port Hood, and the outcrops of the beds have been opened on a small scale for domestic MORTHERN INYERMESS AND VICTORIA. m use. I saw only a bed of one foot in thickness, the outcrops of the others being completely covered with snrfiEM^ rubbish ; but I believe all the beds that have been found are small. The coal is, howerer, said to be of good quality, and I have no doubt will eventually be worked for domestic use, if not for exportation. As but a very limited thickness of beds can be seen in the coast- section, it may be anticipated that a judicious survey of the district would discover other seams of coal in addi- tion to those at present known ; and if any means could be devised to restore to Port Hood a safe harbour, it is probable that, should the present demand for coal con- tinue, these measures would soon attract the attention of adventurers. Freestone for building is obtained, of good quality, at Port Hood Island and Margarie, and also at Whyko- komagh ; but it is not yet worked on a large scale. The soils of this district being based principally on the calcareous rocks of the lower carboniferous series, are in general of excellent quality. 9. Carboniferous District of Cape Breton County. This, though the last, is one of the principal carbo- niferous districts of the province, as it includes the im- portant and productive coal-field of Sydney, which is second only to Pictou in its export of coal, and scarcely yields to the Joggins in its excellent exposures of the coal-formation rocks and fossils. As we owe nearly all that is known of this district to the labours of R. Brown, Esq. of Sydney, I shall avail myself, in describing it, of the information contained in his papers ;* adding occa- * See List in Chapter L 298 THE CASBOMITEBOUB ST8TBM. sionally any other items of infonnation that I have col- lected in Bhort visits to this interesting district. The island of Boulardarie, the whole of which I in- clude in this district, though politically a part of it be- longs to Victoria county, consists in its western part of the lower carboniferous limestone, and overlying hard sandstones, having apparently an undulating arrauge- ment, as represented by Mr Brown in his section of the island. The limestone, as I have observed it on thd north side of Boulardarie, is hard and compact, and con- tains the Productus Martini, At the eastern end of the island, the limestone and millstone-grit dip to the N.E. an4 underlie the coal-imeasures which appear near Point Aconi. The coal-measures, extending from Point Aconi to the outcrop of the millstone-grit, are stated by Mr Brown at 5400 feet in vertical thickness. Grossing the Little Brasd'Or, the coal u/easures con- tinue with north-easterly dip across the peninsula sepa- rating this strait from Sydney harbour, and thence with various faults and disturbances to Mire bay. As the general dip is seaward, Mr Brown remarks, " this great area of coal-measures is probably the segment only of au immense basin, extending toward the coast of New- foundland ; a supposition which is confirmed by the ex- istence of coal-measures at Neil's harbour, 30 miles north of Gape Dauphin." Inland of this broad band of coal-measures, the whole country northward of a line drawn west from Mire bay to the east arm of the Bras d'Or lake, is occupied by the older members of the series, with the exception of a tract of syenitic, porphy- ritic, and altered rocks, which appears at and near George's river on the south-east side of Little Bras d'Or. These igneous rocks have altered the lower carbonifer- .f"' CAR BRKTON COUNTY. 999 one limestone, as well as perhaps some underlying beds of the same system, showing that igneous action had not terminated in these ancient metamorphic districts at the commencement of the carboniferous period; and this appears to have been the case along the boundary of the metamorphic and igneous rocks in many parts of Gape Breton. This extensive carboniferous district is connected with that of Richmond county on the south, by a very nar- row stripe of limestone, red conglomerate, and sand- stone, skirting the base of the hills of porphyry, syenite, and slate, which rise steeply from the side of the Bras d'Or lake, which here is a broad and beautiful inland sea, presenting fine scenery in almost every direction. The limestone and conglomerate may be seen in several places to rest on the edge^ of the older slates and in some places, especially at Irish Gove, the former rock is filled with well-preserved fossil shells, including im- mense quantities of the Conularioj which in most other localities is rather rare ; as well as Productus Lyelli^ Terebratula Elongata, Spirifer Glctber^ and a species of Euomphalus. The limestone is sufficiently soft to allow fine specimens of these shells to be detached by weath- ering. The coal-measures are by far the most interesting part of this area, and are well exposed on the north side of Sydney harbour, and on the south end of Boulardarie. Mr Brown has published an elaborate section and de- scription of them as they occur at the former place, from which the following facts are gleaned. ^' The productive coal-measures cover an area of 250 square miles ; but, owing to several extensive disloca- tions, it is impossible to ascertain their total thickness 800 THE GARBONIFEROUI IT8TEM. with any degree of accuracy ; from the best information in my possession, I conclude that it exceeds 10,000 feet. We have one continuous section on the north shore of Boulardarie island, 5400 feet in thickness, and in the middle portion of the field several detached sections, va- rying from 1000 to 2000 feet in thickness, whose exact relative i>ositions have not yet been determined ; al- though it is quite clear that they are higher up in the formation than the highest beds of the Boulardarie sec- tion." . Mr Brown then proceeds to describe the section on the north-west side of Sydney harbour, from Stubbard's Point to Cranberry Head, a distance of 5000 yards, and exhibiting a vertical thickness of 1860 feet of beds. The dip is N. 60° E. V. Of these beds he gives a de- tailed section, including 34 seams of coal, and 41 under- clays with Stigmaria or fossil soils. The whole of the beds composing the section are summed up as follows : — Arenaceous and argillaceous shales 1127 ft. 3 in. Underclays 99 6 Sandstones 562 Goal .... 37 Bituminous shales 26 5 Carbonaceous shales . 3 3 Limestones 3 11 Conglomerate 8 1860 ft. in. Erect trees and calamites occur at eighteen distinct levels. The greater number are Sigillariee, many of them with distinct Stigmaria roots, and a few are Lepi- )^^;y»<^.T><-vvA.,j^ •*,*?3'**'i^i5:^ CAPS BRETON GOUMTY. 801 dodendra. They oconr in circumstances very similar to those of the erect trees at the Joggins already descrihed. Mr Brown's various papers on these fossils gave to the geological world the first really satisfactory information* respecting the true nature and mode of growth of Stig- maria ; and to these I may refer the reader, more espe- cially to that in volume fifth of the Geological Journal, page 355, from which I quote the following account of a fine specimen of Sigillaria Altemaru with Stigmaria roots, regularly ramifying, and having attached to them conical tap roots, which penetrated directly downwards into a thin bed of shale overlying the main coal. This seam, like the main seam at the Joggius, has, when it was a bed of soft peat, supported a forest of Sigillariie and Lepidodendra, many of which still remain erect in the overlying shale, with all their roots and long spread- ing rootlets attached. '* Immediately over the coal there is a bed of hard shale, six inches in depth, xn which no fossils are found ; this is overlaid by a softer shale abounding in coal- plants ; all the upright trees that I have examined are rooted in the six-incl shale ; the crown of the base of that which I am no\\ describing is just four inches above the coal ; its roots dip gradually downwards until they come in contaof ith the coal, at about eighteen inches from the c( e the tree, and then spread out over its surface. W i this fossil was brought out of the mine the under side was covered up with hard shale to which about one inch cf coal adhered ; in cutting r way this layer of coal, I met with the termination of a perpendic- * Mr Binnej can claim priority in date of publication ; bat his speoimens were much less perfect in details of stractnre, and there- fore less satisftctory than those described by Mr Brown. 302 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. ular root immediately in contact with the coal, which I carefully developed ; proceeding in this manner, my patience was amply rewarded by the discovery of a com- plete set of conical tap roots. The horizontal roots branch off in a remarkably regular manner, the base being first divided into four equal parts by deep chan- nels running from near the centre ; an inch or two far- ther on, each of these quarters is divided into two roots, which, as they recede from the centre, bifurcate twice within a distance of eighteen inches from the centre of the stump." " There are four large tap roots in each quarter of the' stump, and, about five inches beyond these, a set of smaller tap roots, striking perpendicularly downwards from the horizontal roots, making forty-eight in all : namely, sixteen in the inner, and thirty-two in the outer set ; and what is a still more remarkable feature in this singular fossil, there are exactly thirty-two double rows of leaf-scars on the circumference of the trunk. This curious correspondence in the numbers of the roots and vertical rows of leaf-scars, surely cannot be accidental. I am not aware that any similar correspondence has ever been observed either in recent or fossil plants. The inner set of tap roots vary from two to two and a half inches in lengt,h ; the diameter at their junction with the base of the trunk being about two inches. The outer set are much smaller, being about one inch in dia- meter at their junction with the horizontal roots, and from one to one and a half inch in length. Very few of either set are strictly conical, although they probably were originally of that shape ; some are squeezed into an elliptical, others into a triangular form ; all have been wrinkled horizontally by the shrinkage due to ver- CAPE BRETON COUNTY. 303 my tical compression. A thick tuft of broad flattened root- lets radiates from the terminations of the tap roots, and a few indistinct areolee are visible on their sides ; the length of these rootlets does not appear to exceed three or four inches, their width being one -fourth of an inch ; a raised black line runs down the middle of each, simi- lar to that observed in the rootlets of Stigmariae. These short thick tap roots were evidently adapted only to a soft wet soil, such as we may easily conceive was the nature of the first layer of mud deposited upon a bed of peat, which had settled down slightly below the level of the water." " We may infer also, from the existence of a layer of shale without fossil plants, immediately over the coal, that the prostrate stems and leaves which occur in such large quantities in the next superincumbent bed, fell from trees growing upon the spot, and were entombed in layers of mud held in suspension in water, which at short intervals inundated the low marshy ground on which they grew ; for had the plants been drifted from a distance, we should find them in the first layer of shale as well as in those higher up." " Although the main coal is generally overlaid by shale, yet occasionally the shale thins out, and the thick sandstone, which is the next stratum in the ascending order, forms the roof of the coal. In such cases the surface of the peat-bog could not have been level when the shale was deposited upon it, some small patches having been still above water ; and as no upright trees are found in the sandstone roof, it may reasonably be inferred that plants would not vegetate upon the bog itself, a layer of soft mud being necessary in the first instance for germinating the seeds ; but when a plant 304 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. had once taken root in this mud its rootlets penetrated downwards into the peat, and furnished an abundant supply of nutriment for the rapid growth of the tree, from the rich mass of decaying vegetable matter be- neath." ■ The Sydney coal-measures contain not only erect trees, but also numerous beds with Modiola, Cypris, Spirorbisj Fish-scales^ &c. ; though these do not so fre- quently overlie coal-seams as at the Joggins. The shales at Sydney are also much more rich than those at the Joggins in the leaves and other more delicate parts , Fig. 33. Foliagafrom the Coal-/ormation. a h c d t f g. (a) Feeopteris Hetcrophylla (?) (fern)— Moose River. (&) Sphenophyllnm Schlotlieiinii— Pictou. (e) Leptdodendron Binerve— Sydney. {to alter- nate for a considerable distance, the dip being generally to the southward, in one place at as low an angle as 55°. About a qu jter of a mile above the fall they are tra- versed by a dike or mass of fine-grained homblendic igneous rock. On the elevated ground east of the Follv river the vein is again largely developed, and two excavations expose a part of its thickness on the property of the Londonderry Mining Company. The excavation near- est to the river shows a thickness of 190 feet of rock on the south side of the vein. This consists of gray quartz- ite, olive slate, and about three feet of black slate. These beds are traversed by a few small strings of ankerite, which increase in dimensions on approaching the broken and irregular wall of the vein. About seventeen feet of the south side of the vein consist principally of ank- erite. Adjoining this on the north is red iron ore, with nests of specular ore, veins and blocks of ankerite USEFUL MINERALS. A87 decomposed in part to yellow ochre, and fragments of rock. Ten feet in thickness of this red ore are seen without exposing the north wall of the vein. On the surface in this vicinity are large fra;gments of brawn hematite, which mark the course of the vein. In the eastern excavation, this mineral is seen in place near the surface and occupying fissures in a fragment of quartzite. In this second excavation the red ore is more largely mixed with the micaceous specular variety, and also includes large rounded blocks of ankerite and an- gular fragments of rock. The width exposed here is thirteen feet, and neither wall is seen. The ankerite is decomposed to the depth of eight feet. The same appearance of transverse vertical layers seen at the Aca- dia mine is observed here, and is probably due to the same cause. Still further east, on the property of C. D. Archibald, Esq., and on ground equally elevated, three excavations have shown a still greater development of the vein. A trench fifty-three feet in length, and nearly at right angles to the course of the vein, shows in its whole length a mixture of red and specular ores with ankerite. Another excavation, ninety-five feet to the northward of the first, exhibits ankerite tinged of a deep red col- our by peroxide of iron, and traversed by reticulating veins of red iron ore. A third opening, 365 feet south- eastward of the first, shows white and gray ankerite, having some of its fissures coated with tabular crystals of white sulphate of barj^es. The walls of the vein are not seen at this place ; but 150 paces south of the first trench a thick dike of greenish igneous rock, apparently a very fine-grained greenstone, appears, with a course of S. 102° W. This dike is not seen westward of this Y 838 DEVONIAN AND UPPER SILURIAN ROCKS. |i I place, but it can be traced for a considerable distance ' to the eastward. In the Mill brook, two miles east of Folly river, it appears in connexion with a bed of black slate near the margin of the metamorphic system, and probably a continuation of that seen in a similar posi- tion in the Folly and Great Village rivers. At the Mill brook the dike is about 100 feet in thickness. In the bed of the Mill brook, the vein is seen in the form of a network of fissures chiefly filled with anker- ite ; and in its eastern bank it attains a great thickness. In the bank of another brook still further to the east- ward and in the same line of bearing, it appears to bo of large dimensions, and contains abundance of red iron ore and red ankerite. I have not traced it further to the east, but I have no doubt of its continuance to a great distance in that direction. The geological history of this deposit embraces the following occurrences : — 1st, The formation of a wide irregular fissure, along a great part of the length of the Cobequid mountains. 2dli/, The filling of this fissure with a molten mass of ferruginous and calcareous mat- ter. 3 I — . 14', 1' < ^■. S; w f: Mi 1 ( ir MIWMM g l'- gpgnB^ OENEBAL DE8CBIPTI0N. 347 could be seen to rest on those now to be described. Tet I believe the group of rocks now under consideration to be the older of the two, for the following reasons. On the St Mary's river, fragments of slate and quartz- rock from this formation, are found in the lower car- boniferous conglomerate, proving that these rocks were metamorphosed before the commencement of the car- boniferous period. They must therefore belong at least to the devonian group. They differ, however, so mate- rially from the rocks of that age, that they cannot be assigned to it with any probability. We must therefore go back at least to the Silurian period for the time of their deposition ; and possibly they may belong to that still older or Azoic series which has been recognised in Canada. Farther, while there is evidence that much of the igneous rock of the devonian hills was erupted dur- ing the carboniferous period, there is no evidence what- ever that any igneous action occurred within the granitic group as late as the commencement of that period ; con- sequently the igneous as well as the stratified rocks of the present group are older than those of that last described. Large though this district is, there is by no means so great a variety in its rocks as in those of the district last described ; and most of them are nearly related to each other, being composed of the same materials vari- ously arranged. 1. Oranite, as it occurs in this district, is a crystal- line mixture of white, or more rarely flesh-coloured, felspar,* with smoky or white quartz and gray or black mica. It varies in its texture, and is sometimes por- * Orthoclase, but with soda as well as potash. The granite of Annapolis, mentioned iu last chapter, has in some places reddish quartz. 348 METAMORPHIC DISTRICT OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. phyritio ; that is, it consists of a base of fine-grained granite, with large crystals of felspar forming distinct spots. It often contains altered fragments of the neigh- bouring slates, and penetrates in veins into the adjoining rocks, which in its vicinity are always more highly metamorphosed than usual. 2. Cfneiss is a fine-grained granite, arranged in laminas or layers, as if it had been a bedded rock fused into a granitic state by heat. 3. Mica-slate consista of quartz and plates of mica, forming a highly fissile rock with shining surfaces, and usually of a gray or silvery colour. In the coast-meta- njiorphic district of Nova Scotia, it appears in many and beautiful varieties. When chlorite, talc, or hornblende take the place of mica, rocks of somewhat similar charac- ter, named Talcose, Chloritic,orHornblendic slates result. These are, however, comparatively rare in this district. 4. Quartz-rock, or Quartzite, consists of grains of flinty sand fused together, and with occasionally a little mica. It is probably altered sandstone. 5. Clai/ Slate is common slate, usually in this district of bluish and black colours, and varying very much in texture and hardness.* Between these rocks there are many intermediate forms. Granite often passes by imperceptible gradations into gneiss — this into mica slate — this into quartzite — and this into coarse or flinty clay slates. There appears every reason to believe that all these rocks, except the granite, are merely variously metamorphosed forms of common sandstones and clays. The granitic metamorphic group forms a continuous * See page 310, where, however, I omitted to mention pressure as one cause of slaty structure. • - - ,, ,-w;^ GENERAL DESCRIPTION. m belt along the Atlantic coast of the province, narrow at its north-eastern extremity, and attaining its greatest development in the western counties. Its southern or coast side has a general direction of S. 68° W. ; its inland side, though presenting some broad undulations, has a general direction of about S. 80° W. Its extreme breadth at Gape Canseau, its north-eastern extremity, where it is bounded on one side by the ocean, and ou the other by Chedabucto bay, is only about eight miles. In its extension westward, it gradually increases in width, until at the head of the west branch of the St Mary's river, eighty miles distant from Cape Canseau, it is about thirty miles in breadth. In the western coun- ties it again increases in width, and though its northern boundary is not irell ascertained, its brteadth can scarcely be less thp.n lifty miles. Its total length is 250 miles. The general character of the geology of this district may be very shortly stated. It consists of thick bands of slate and quartzite, having a general N.E. and S.W. strike, and highly inclined. In several places large masses of granite project through these rocks, and in their vicinity the quartz rock and clay slate are usually replaced by gneiss and mica-slate, or other rocks more highly metamorphosed than usual. Bearing in mind this general character, we may proceed along this dis- trict from west to east, noting the more interesting points of its structure as they occur. The county of Yarmouth presents a succession of low ridges of slate and quartz-rock, separated on the coast by narrow inlets, and inland by valleys, often containing lakes and bogs. The prevailing strike appears to ap- proach more nearly to north and south than in other parts of this district. Near the town of Yarmoutii it iiiiiiii h (■'>' 850 METAMORPBIC DISTRICT OF THE ATLAMT/>^ (OAST. was observed to be N. 20° E., and at Pubnico nearly N. and S. Near the town of Yarmouth there are horn- blende and chlorite slates, and inland, in the direction of Carleton, clay-slates appear to prevail. Veins of white quartz abound in these rocks. On the east side of the Tusket river quartz rock prevails, and forms a stony country. Toward Pubnico, luica slate and mi- caceous quartz rock appear, and are traversed by grani- tic veins, leading us to the massive granite of Shel- burne county. Granite is also said to occur inland at Kempt ; but I have not visited this place. On entering Shelbume, we find granite at Wood's and Shag harbours, and extending inland for some distance. At Barrington there is still abundance of granite and mica slate, -with strike N. 23' E. At Port La Tour, the mica slate and gneiss abound in large prismatic crystiJs of a greenish magnesian mineral, allied to stea- tite. These crystals, which !ire perhaps pseudomor- phou >, project from the weathered surface of the rock. At the town of Shelbume there is abundance of a fine- grained granite of excellent quality, and toward the mouth of the harbour gneiss occurs, with small crystals of garnet ; its strike is S.W. Veins of coarse-grained granite penetrate these rocks, and in some places, these veins present the singular variety to which the name graphic granite has been applied, from its resemblance to written characters. In this variety of granite, quartz and felspar alone are present, and the quartz in hardening has arranged itself in plates between the felspar crystals, so that when the mass is polished, the sections of these quartzose plates present the appearance of ancient Sa- maritan on modem phonographic writing. In the gra- phic granite of Shelbume, the characters are in gray 0A8T. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 851 30 nearly are horn- direction Veins of I east side ,nd forms 3 and mi- by grani- of Shel- inland at T^ood's and ) distance, ■anite and La Tour, prismatic id to stea- seudomor- tbe rock, of a fine- )ward the 11 crystals le-grained ,ces, these Ithe name lemblance [te, quartz lardening crystals, of these cient Sa- the gra- in gray quartz, and the ground is white or flesh-coloured fel- spar. In surface-gravel, near the town of Shelbume, I found pebbles of the beautiful mineral rose-quartz, but did not observe it in place. At Jordan and Sable rivers, in astern part of this county, gneiss and mica-slate a] >. in many fine varieties, and contain abundance < of Stau- rotide; and Schiller spar and talc Botnetiraes enter into the composition of these rocks as well as mica. On entering Queen's county we find granite at Port Joli and Port Mouton, and toward the town of Liver- pool these give place to quartz-rock, which, with some beds of micaceous slate, here occupies a great breadth, and produces a very stony and barren country, encum- bered with large boulders. This rocky surface, at the distance of about ten miles from the coast, gives place to a fine undulating wooded country, supporting popu- lous agricultural districts, and traversed by the Liver- pool and Port Medway, two of the largest rivers in the province, with numerous and large lakes at their sources. The source of the Liverpool river is in the high lands near Annapolis, not more than ten miles from the shores of Annapolis Basin ; and the distance in a direct line from its source to its outlet is more than fifty miles. Lake Eosignol, one of the many fine lakes that stud its course, is twelve miles in length and five in its greatest breadth. The prevailing rock in this northern district of Queen's county is clay-slate, having a general south- west strike, and almost everywhere polished and marked with diluvial striae. This inland slate-district appears to be continuous with that of Lunenburgh on the east, and that of Yarmouth on the west ; so that in this part IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^vT 1.0 1.1 Ui|2J |25 V lU 12.2 S Ui 12-0 u& IL25 iU iy^i 1.6 Photographic Sciences CcHporation \ ■<^"^^ <> 23 WEST MAIN STREET WSBSTiR,N.Y. 14S80 (716) •72-4503 ^^ ^\ ^rN «*1* '^ r ;V 352 HETAMOBPHIO DISTRICT OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. of the province, the granitic rocks appear to be confined to the vicinity of the Atlantic coast, and to the inland hills near the Annapolis valley, while a fine undulating slate country, diversified with numerous lakes, occupies the interior. In such a situation, more modem rocks than those of the Atlantic coast may be expected to oc- cur. I searched in vain, however, for fossils in the northern district of Queen's, but obtained from a gentle- man resident there a fragment of hard quartzose rook, which he believed to have been found in situ, and which contains some fragments of fossil-shells, apparently of a species of ribbed spirifer, common in the Devonian dis- tricts. On the eastern side of Queen's county, the quartzite and mica-slate are associated with granite, and beyond this they ^ve place to clay-slate, which occupies the county of Luneriburgh as far as Cape Aspatogoen, and inland as far as I have any acquaintance with its struc- ture. The country here has much of the aspect as well as the agricultural value of that of Northern Queen's, and presents in these respects a favourable contrast to most other parts of the Atlantic coast. The slates of this county are usually blue or black, and often charged with iron-pyrites, which, when weathered, gives them an intense rusty yellow colour. This appearance is especially prevalent in some places in the western part of the county. The general strike is S.W. and N.E. It is on the margin of this slate-district of Lunen- burgh, and at the bottom of a deep bay penetrating into it, Uiat the limited tract of lower carboniferous rocks, already noticed as occurring at Chester Basin, appears. These carboniferous beds dip at a moderate angle S.S.E., and give no evidence that this metamorphic district has OBMERAL DEIOftlPnON. 853 has suffered any considerable disturbance since their depo- sition. At Mahone buy, however, I observed a large quantity of fragments of reddish amygdaloidal trap, which cannot be far from their original site, and prob- ably belong to some trappean eruption of the carbo- niferous period. Aspatogoen, which is a rocky promontory, about 500 feet in height, separating Mahone from Margaret's bay, consists of granite, and is the extremity of a thick dike or ridge of that rock, extending to the northward across the stratification of the country. It is the highest land on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. Margaret's bay is another deep indentation, between the granitic mass of Aspatogoen and a broader but lower tract of the same rock, extending to the north-west arm of Halifax harbour. Around Margaret's bay, as at Chester, there are small patches of lower carboniferous rocks ; but these are for the most part concealed under granitic debris drifted from the neighbouring districts. The granitic district east of Margaret's bay, and ter- minating at Cape Sambro, like that of Aspatogoen, has a north and south direction. It contains several varie- ties of aommon and porphyritic granite, with veins of coarse grained, and more rarely of graphic i^ranite. Near the north-west arm, there are good opportunities of observing its junction with the slates which succeed it to the eastward. The slate is not here converted into mica-slate ; but, in the vicinity of the granite, it is hardened and rendered crystalline, and in some places passes into a rock resembling hornblende-slate. In other places it appears as a hard flinty slate, filled with slen- der prismatic crystals apparently of staurotide. In close contact with the granite, the slates assume the appear- Z 354 MBTAMORPmC DISTRICT OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. ance of gneiss, and are traversed by granite veins, which often contain crystals of schorl and garnet, indi- cating that these veins received additions of foreign sub- stances, as boracic acid, iron, &c., in passing through the stratified rocks. The granite itself is here porphyritic^ and occasionally contains fragments of the rocks through which it has passed, Aised into gneiss and mica-slate. All these appeurances indicate that the intensely heated and molten granite was the cause of the alteration of the slates. Eastward of Halifax, the whole country as far as Musquodoboit river, and northward to the northern limits of this district, consists principally of alternate thick beds of coarse clay-slate, often highly pyritous, and quartzite ; granitic bosses projecting through it in a few places. The strike of the beds in this part of the province approaches more nearly to E. and W. than at the places previously described. At many localities, however, it retains its usual S.W. and N.E. direction. Thus, at the tower at Point Pleasant, the strike of the bedding is N. 30° E., and that of the slaty structure N. 75° E. On the shore near the same place, the strike is N. 60° E., and the dip is to the north-west. • Nearer the city, the dip of the true be'^'^ing is in some places to the south, the strike bein^' rly E. and W. The cleavage is, however, here mucu uetter defined than the bedding, which is indicated principally by lines of dif- ferent colour, and appears to undulate very much. On the road from Halifax to Windsor, at Dartmouth, and at Mus- quodoboit river and harbour, the strike both of the bed- ding and slaty cleavage approach to E. and W. magnetic. On the Musquodoboit river, granite reappears, and extends to the eastward, at least as far as the Great Ship OBNERAL DESCRIPTION. 355 and Ihip Harbour lake. Beyond this place, as far as the ex- treme eastern end of the district, quartzite and mica- slate, with masses and bands of granite and gneiss, pre- vail ; but I have scarcely any knowledge of their distri- bution, except in the vicinity of the St Mary's river, and in the peninsula of Cape Canseau. The valley of the lower St Mary's river is a rugged and rocky gorge, excavated at right angles to the structure of the country, and affording an outlet for the waters of several streams that, seeking a passage across the hilly barrier of the metamorphic district, form a small lake at the entrance of this common channel. At the mouth of the river, a considerable breadth is occupied by micaceous slates, with bands of quartzite. The strike of these rocks is N.E. and S.W., and in the places where I observed their dip, it is to the S.E. at high angles. Behind the village of Sherbrooke, and two miles eastward of the river, a mass of granite projects through these rocks, but does not occur in the river section. This granite is well seen in the lakes emptying into Indian harbour. On the river itself, the slates and quartz rock continue with considerable regu- larity of strike ; the latter becoming quite predominant, and rising into considerable eminences as it approaches the " Forks," where it suddenly descends into the car- boniferous valley of the St Mary's. Eastward of the St Mary's river, this district gradu- ally narrows toward its extremity at Cape Canseau, but still presents on its northern mar^n a range of abrupt eminences, and on the south a low, rugged, and in- dented coast. Indeed, the steep rounded swell with which its northern side descends at the head of Cheda- bucto bay, and the precipitous headlands beyond Crow 356 HETAMOBPHIO DISTRICT OP THE ATLANTIC COAST. harbour, are the finest appearances in point of scenery which it presents in its whole extent. A large part of the peninsula, terminating at Gape Ganseau, is occupied by white fine-grained gneiss, with veins and masses of granite, sometimes of a reddish col- our. There is also much mica-slate, and dark coloured clay-slate, filled with crystals of the singular mineral chiastolite or cross-stone. Near the extremity of Cape Ganseau, specimens of this mineral occur, of a reddish or fawn colour, three or four lines wide, and exhibiting the characteristic black cross in considerable perfection. I have not found this mineral in any other part of Nova Scotia. Having thus shortly surveyed this large though little explored district, I may notice its probable geological age, the waste it has undergone, and the materials it has contributed to newer formations, its useiul minerals, and the peculiarities of its surface and soils. The geological age of the formation above described is, in one direction at least, somewhat uncertain. We have already seen that it must be older than the carbonifer- ous system, and I have stated in the commencement of this chapter some reasons for believing it to be also older than the Devonian rocks which immediately underlie that system. One of these reasons was the difference in mineral character of its beds from those of the inland metamorphic hills. This difference we can now better appreciate, after having studied both in detail. Quartz rock we have found to occur in both formations ; but it Exists in much greater abundance, and in more massive beds, in that last described. Clay-slate also occurs in both ; but in the first described it presents much greater variety of colour and texture, it is associated with many QEOLOOICAL AGE. 857 poarse beds, which have been usually named greywack^, and greywack^-slates, and in many places it approaches to the character of a steatitic slate. These inland slates are also highly metalliferous, abounding in veins of iron ore, and containing at least one great conformable bed of that mineral, while copper ores also appear in a variety of places. They also contain numerous calcareous bands and layers of limestone. In all these respects the slates of the Atlantic metamorphic district are strikingly dif- ferent. They are thick-bedded and uniform in their appearance, destitute of calcareous matter and metallic minerals, and pass into micaceous slate, which is rarely seen in the other district. These and other differences of detail must prevent any observer acquainted with both districts from supposing their rocks to be geologi- cally equivalent. The rocks of the district at present under considera- tion are thus not so recent as the Devonian period ; but they may belong to any of the older groups, or to more than one of these. No fossils have been found in them, and we therefore want the surest means, next to actual superposition, of comparing them with the Silurian and other ancient rocks of other parts of America. If we take mineral character as our guide, it is at once appa- rent that no analogy can be established between these rocks and the thick limestones which characterize the Upper Silurian, and the middle portion of the Lower Si- lurian, in the United States and Canada. If, however, we suppose the limestone to be wanting in Nova Scotia, the quartz rock and slate of the Atlantic metamorphic district would very well represent the Potsdam sand- stone, and Utica and Hudson river shales, in an altered condition ; and this I am at present inclined to believe 358 METAMOBPHIC DISTRICT OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. the most probable view of their age. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the gneiss, mica-slate, and other more highly metamorphosed rocks of this district, are not very dissimilar in mineral character from the Laurentian group of Canada, which Mr Logan has as- certained to underlie unconformably the lowest Silurian rocks. This similarity, however, being mainly a result of metamorphism, is of no great value in determining the relative ages of beds situated in different regions. The metamorphism of these rocks must have occurred prior to the carboniferous period, and there can be no doubt that the granitic rocks have been the agents in effecljing it, if they are not themselves portions of the stratified beds completely molten and forced by pressure against and into the fissures of the neighbouring un- melted rocks. It will be observed that many of these granitic masses have a north and south direction, where- as the general strike of the beds is N. E. and S. W. This would indicate either that the lines of greatest ig- neous intensity and intrusion of molten matter, had no direct connexion with the elevating and disturbing forces, or that these granitic masses are merely outliers from a great N. E. and S. W. granitic axis, at one time the summit of a line of hills of which only the margin remains visible, the axis itself having sunk again into the bowels of the earth, before the commencement of the carbopiferous period. M. Marcou, reasoning on the general direction of the strike of this district, supposes it to be of the date of the Alleghany chain, that is, the close of the carboniferous period. The facts already stated show that the eleva- tion and metamorphism of these rocks must be much older. Taking geographical direction as a guide, they DERIVED ROCKS. 859 may i)erhape belong to his second system of dislocations, which he refers to the Lower Silurian period. Whatever view may be taken of the age of the gran- itic rocks of this group, it is certain that they are strictly hypogene rocks, that is, that they belong to the deep- seated foci of subterranean heat, and are not superficial products of volcanic action. They are substances such as we might expect to find, could we penetrate miles below the surface, beneath modern volcanoes. They were therefore probably at one time buried deeply, and have been brought up by movements of dislocation, and by the removal of their superficial portions by aqueous agents. They have without doubt furnished much of the material that has been employed in building up the more recent formations of the country. This leads to the question. Can we discover in the subsequent rock-formations evidences of such an origin, and can the changes which these derived materials have undergone be satisfactorily explained? This subject, the genealogy of rocks as it may be termed, is of some interest, and I may glance at it in its bearing or the geology of Nova Scotia. The granite of Nova Scotia and its associated gneiss and mica-slates are among the oldest rocks found in the province, and we may therefore take them and their derived rocks for illustrations. The products of the decomposition of granite are quartz sand, scales of mica, and fine clay which results from the decomposition of felspar. Such materials, when washed down and depo- sited in water, will form coarse and fine sandstones, mi- caceous sandstones and flags, arenaceous and argillaceous shales ; and these may, by heat and pressure, be converted into quartzite, mica-slate, and clay-slate. From pure 860 METAMOBPHIO DISTRICT Or THE ATLANTIC COAST. white granite the derived detritus would be colourless or nearly so. But the mica and felspar of manj granites contain iron, and the sulphuret of iron is also present in some granites. In these cases the derived sediment will have a yellow or buff colour, from the presence of the yellow oxide of iron ; or in some cases the clay may have a red colour from the peroxide of iron present in red felspar. Of course, when the granites contain hornblende or are syenitic, much more iron may be pre- sent in the derived sediment. In nature nearly all soils of granitic origin are more or less coloured in these ways. In this manner, buff, brown, and red clays, and buff and brown sandstones may be produced. Igneous action may produce still farther changes. The yellow sand which results from the decay of granite is merely stained on the surface by the ferruginous colour- ing matter, and a very slight degree of heat is su£Scient, by expelling the water of the iron rust, to convert this yellow stain into a bright red. This change is super- ficially produced by forest fires, and might readily occur when decomposing granitic rocks have been subjected to the influence of intensely heated or molten masses, with access of air or water. Bed sands and clays pro- duced in this way, and washed into the sea, become red sandstones and shales. Such red deposits are, how- ever, liable to still farther change. If long washed about in the sea, the red coat is worn from the sands and added to the fine clays, so that whitish sandstones may alternate with red shales. If vegetable or animal matter is present, the changes of colour referred to in treating of the marsh mud may take place, and dark coloured or gray beds may result, or greenish stripes and bands may appear in the mass of red deposits. UIBFUL MIMBBAL8. 861 Farther, if beda coloured by the peroxide of iron aie subjeoted to the influence of internal beat at consider- able depths below the surface, part of the oxygen of the colouring matter may be expelled, and black, blue, or dark green rocks result; while cleavage and other changes may result from pressure and percolation of mineral waters. It will thus be perceived that from granitic rooks alone it is possible to deduce a variety of red, yellow, brown, white, and gray sandstones, shales, quartz rocks and slates. Many other rocks, however, beside granite have been decomposed, especially to form the more mo- dem deposits, and other colouring matters beside iron have occasionally been present ; hence more complicated results than those above stated have been produced. Enough has been said, however, to show how much de- rived deposits may differ in appearance from those which have furnished their materials ; and also the mode in which the waste of the oldest rocks has been disposed of ; as well as to illustrate the connexion of red deposits with periods in which igneous causes have been active, and the prevalence of gray and dark-coloured sediment at times when deposition has been slow or organic matter abundant. Other facts and reasonings on this subject will be found in the author's paper on the Colouring Matter of Eed Sandstones. The useful minerals found in the coast metamorphic district are few. Oranite of excellent quality for build- ing is quarried at the north-west arm near Halifax and at Shelbume, and exists in abundance at Musquodoboit river and toward Gape Ganseau. Gneiss, mica-slate, and the more compact varieties of clay-slate, also a£ford good building materials, and roofing slates could pro- 863 METAMORPHIC DISTRICT OF TIIB ATLANTIC COAIT. bably be procured. In New Brunswick good granite is obtained from the band which terminates above Long Reach on the St John river. I am not aware that any metallic mineral, except iron pyrites, has been found in these rocks ; though reports of valuable discoveries have at various times been circulated. Since the gold discoveries in California and Australia, reports of similar discoveries have locally arisen at dif- ferent times in Nova Scotia ; but, so far as I am aware, have always proved deceptive. Iron pyrites, or the bright golden scales which occur among the debris of granite containing black ferruginous mica, have usually been mistaken for the precious metal. Quartz veins, however, occur abundantly in some parts of this district, and it would not be wonderful if some of them should be found to be auriferous. It is, however, much more probable that such discoveries may be made in the inland matamorphic district described in last chapter, than in that now under consideration, as its rocks bear a much closer resemblance to those of the auriferous districts in other parts of America. Most parts of Nova Scotia have been too well explored to leave much prob- ability that any extensive surface deposits of the preci- ous metal exist; but that it does not occur in small quantities cannot with safety be asserted, until careful trials of the sands and gravels of the streams flowing from the metamorphic districts shall have been made. The gold deposits of the River Chaudiere in Lower Canada, afford an instance in which, while individual search has proved quite unprofitable, washing operations on a large scale with the aid of machinery have repaid the labour and capital employed. Unless some acci- dental discovery should indicate a promising locality, it USEFUL MIMtlULS. would be unwiw for individualB to engage in such trials ; but if a public survey should bo undertaken, they would form a part of its duties. A few years since an article appeared in Blackwood's Magazine on the subject of gold discoveries, in which it was boldly affirmed, that gold would be found in the hills south of the Annapolis valley, and comparisons, having very little foundation in the facts of the case, were instituted between this valley and that of the Sacramento. In the colony this article was incorrectly ascribed to an eminent geologist who had visited the province, much excitement arose on the subject, rumours of actual discoveries of gold appeared in the local papers, persons were induced to abandon their employments to engage in the search, and there seemed every proba> bility that a rush of gold-hunters would take place to the land of promise. The first adventurers, however, having been disappointed, and some pains having been taken to expose hi the public prints the errors of the article in question as to matters of fact, the excitement subsided with little loss to the community. The cir- cumstance, however, shows how much injury to t)ie reputation of science and to the welfare of individuals, may result from injudicious predictions of this sort. Clay suitable for bricks and coarse pottery is found at Chezzetcook and other places on the Atlantic coast, and manufactured to some extent. As the felspar of granite affords by its decomposition fine porcelain clays, it is quite possible that deposits of this kind might be found in some of the numerous hollows in the coast meta- morphic district. Iron Ochres of yellow and reddish colours, and also Bog Ores of iron and manganese, are found in the low 864 METAMORPHIC PISTBICT OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. grounds of this district in many places ; but I am not aware that any of these deposits are large or valuable. Little attention has as yet been bestowed on these and other minor economical products of this district, and it is therefore possible that their value may be greater than is now supposed. With respect to surface and industrial capabilities, the different rocks occurring in this district present very various aspects. The clay slate often has a regular undulating surface, and a considerable depth of shingly or clay soil of fair quality, though usually deficient in lime. These slate districts, however, often contain beds of quartz-rock which form rocky ridges, from which boulderd have been scattered abroad, and which, by damming up the surface waters, produce lakes and bogs, an effect also often produced by the ridged structure of the slate itself, and the impervious subsoil which it affords. Wherever, as for instance in Northern Queen's and Lunenburgh, the slate is sufiGciently elevated for drainage, and not encumbered with surface stones, it supports fine forests and valuable farms. Where quartz- rock prevails, the soil is almost invariably extremely stony and barren. Instances of this occur in Southern Queen's, near Halifax, and in the hills near the St Mary's river. The mica-slate is little better, for though it does not furnish fragments to cumber the surface, it scarcely affords any soil. The granite and gneiss in some places appear in pre- cipitous hills of considerable elevation, and in others form low and uneven tracts. Their decomposed surface affords a sandy quartzose soil, often strewn with large rounded blocks of granite, which in some instances cover the whole surface, so that a granitic hill appears to be CONCLUDINQ REMARKS. 365 it merely a hnge mound of boulders. This appearance results in most cases from the nodular character of the granite, or from its consisting of great balls of hard re- sisting rock, united by a material of more perishable character. Where the granite or gneiss is wholly of a resisting character, their surface is sometimes almost entirely bare, or coated only with a layer of peaty vege- table soil. This occurs to a great extent in the penin- sula of Cape Canseau. The granitic soils in their na- tural state often support fine groves of oak and other deciduous trees ; but the bare summits, destitute of soil, are clothed only with stunted spruces and various shrubs and mosses. Where the original vegetation has been destroyed by fire, the granite hills often become perfect gardens of flowering and fruit-bearing shrubs. I have collected in a day in August, on a single granitic emi- nence, sixteen species of edible wild fruits. The alka- line matter afforded by the waste of the granite is espe- cially favourable to the growth of these plants, as well as of ferns ; fields of which (chiefly the common brake, Pteris Aquilina) may be seen in the valleys among the granitic hills to attain the height of four feet. As a fitting sequel to my account of the present state of our knowledge of Acadian geology, I may shortly mention, in conclusion, the most promising directions of future inquiry, and the extent of the work that remains to be done. , The carboniferous system has for some time been the most productive field of investigation, and its structure in those localities where the best sections occur is well known. Its geographical limits, however, and its struc- ture in the more inland and less exposed localities, re- 366 MBTAMORPHIC DISTRICT OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. quire much farther study ; and the extent and value of the coal-seams, ironstone, manganese ores, limestone, gypsum, freestone, &c., are yet imperfectly known, and well merit public as well as private efforts for their ex- ploration. The fossil remains of this system still afford a large field for discovery. The great interest of the dis- coveries already made, shows that Nova Scotia is equal to any country in the world in the opportunities which it offers in this department ; and in a country where so many curious relics of the ancient world are constantly being exposed and washed away in the coast cliffs, even persons themselves unacquainted with geology may ad- vance the interests of science by preserving such speci- mens, atid making them known to those who can decide on their scientific value. The metamorphic districts present a large and almost unexplored field. The valuable metallic deposits already found in them encourage the expectation that farther useful discoveries may be made. The unravelling of the relations of these disturbed and altered beds would require long labour and much thought from the most practised and acute observers. The fossils which occur in the less altered portions of their margins are very numerous, and well deserve the attention of palaeonto- logists, as belonging to an outlying portion of the great Devonian and Upper Silurian area of North America, far removed from the districts in which the fossils of that period are best known. This ground may in part be occupied by private observers and mining surveyors, but I have no hope that it will be fully worked out without the aid of a public survey. The trap and new red sandstone of the Bay of Fundy are a vast storehouse of curious and beautiful minerals, CONCLUDING REMARKS. 367 of great interest to students in mineralogy. These rocks also furnish excellent opportunities for studying the phe- nomena of volcanic action as it existed in the secondary period. The solitary reptilian jaw found in Prince Edward Island holds forth the hope that, in the many miles of coast cliff of the new red in that island and in Nova Scotia, other discoveries of similar character may await zealous collectors. In the surface gravels and drift, and in fissures of rocks laid open by excavations, fossil remains, whether of large mammals hke the mastodon, or of shells or land plants, should be carefully sought for. The deposition of marine mud in the Bay of Fundy has afforded many interesting illustrations of geological facts, and may afford more ; and the agency of coast-ice in removing masses of rock, and othei'wise acting on the shores and cliffs, is a subject at present of much interest, and one of which the shores of the Acadian provinces present many illustrations. to- ^at 3a, ut The above are probably only a few of the directions in which inquiry may be profitably prosecuted ; but they may serve to indicate the extent of the field which re- mains to be explored. The discoveries already made show that it has pleased the Great Architect to place in the Acadian provinces many remarkable monuments of His creative work, and to enrich them with no small portion of the " precious things of the earth and of the lasting hills." — And here, as in other lands, those who in an earnest and truth-loving spirit, and in due subordi- nation to their social duties and the higher ends of their spiritual being, engage in the study of these wonders of the ancient world, will not be unrewarded. APPENDIX. (A) LIST OF ACADIAN FOSSILS. In preparing this list I Iiave referred principally to the fol- lowing sources : 1st, Lists of fossils published by Sir Charles Lyell in his Travels and papers on the coal-formation of Nova Scotia, and determined for him by De Vemeuil and Bunbury ; 2d, A list of eighty-seven species of plants from the coal-field of Sydney, communicated by Mr Brown for insertion in this work. The plants marked Sydney are from this list, and those with an asterisk prefixed are new species discovered by Mr Brown and described by Mr Bunbury ; 3d, Notes on some Devonian fossils from Nova Scotia, furnished by Professor Hall of Albany ; 4th, Specimens in the collection of the author, in so far as he ha» been able to determine the genera to which they belong. The list is necessarily very imper- fect ; and materials exist for largely increasing it, could the attention of palaeontologists be directed to the subject. NEW BED SANDSTONE. Beptile. Bathygnathus Borealis (Leidy) . A large carnivorous Saurian, allied to Thecodontosaurus. New London, Prince Edward Ishmd, 1852. ArticukUa. Trails of marine worms, Red Sandstone, Folly. 2a 870 APPENDIX. PlarUs. ' Coniferous wood, Araucarian type. Orwell Point and Des Sables, P. E. I. Calamites ? Orwell Point, P. E. I. CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. (a) CocU-formation. Battles. Dendrerpeton Acadianum (Owen and Wyman). Allied to perennibranchiate batrachians, as Menopoma, &c. ; discov- ered at South Joggins by Sir C. LyeU and Mr Dawson, 1852. Vertebrae apparently of a smaller reptile; at same time and place. ' Baphetes Planiceps (Owen). A large batrachian allied to Labyrinthodon ; discovered at Albion Mines by Mr Daw- son, 1851 ; described in 1854. Tracks of Reptilian animals, discovered at Tatamagouche by Mr Dawson, 1843 ; at Parrsboro* by Dr Harding, 1850 ; at S. Joggins by Mr Dawson, 1853. Fiahea. Pakeoniscus, Holoptychius, Megalicthys — species referable to these and several other genera not yet determined. Joggins, Pictou, Sydney, &c. ArticukUa. Cypris or Cytherina — several species. Joggins, Pictou, Onslow, &c. Spirorbis — ^attached to fossil plants. Joggins, &c. MoUttsca. I^and shell, allied to Pupa. South Joggins, in the interior of a fossil-tree, with remains of Dendrerpeton, discovered by Sir C. Lyell and Mr Dawson, 1852. APPENDIX. 871 Modiola, two or more apecies. Joggins, &c. Unio ? two or more species. Joggins, Pictou. Planta. Finites, allied to or identical with P. Brandlingii (WUham) and other species, all when sufficiently well preserved showing the Araucarian structure. Albert Co., N. B., Joggins, Wallace, Pictou, &c. In this genus, I would also include slender scaly branches, similar to those of Lepidodendron, but not dichotomous, found in the upper coal-formation at Tatamagouche and Cape John. Eoiorria Imbricata (Stemb.), Sydney. Taxina (Stemb.), Sydney. Another species, Pictou. Lepidodendron Elegans (Brong.), Joggins, Sydney, Pictou, &c. Gracile (Brong.), Sydney, Joggins. Undulatum, Sydney. •Binerve (Bunbury), Sydney. •Tumidum (Bunbury), Sydney. Plumarium (Lind. & Hut.), Sydney. Selaginoides (Stem.), Sydney. Obovatum (Stem.), Sydney. Stembergii (Brong.), Sydney. Harcourtii (Witham), Sydney. Omatissimum, Joggins. Several undescribed species, Sydney. Ulodendron Minus (L. & H.), Sydney, Joggins, Salmon R., Pictou. Majus (L. & H.), Joggins. Several undetermined species of Ulodendron and Lepi- dophloios ? ; also Bothrodendron (L. & H.), which is evidently the ligneous surface of Ulodendron. Lepidostrobus Variabilis (L. & H.), Sydney, Pictou, *Trigonolepis (Bunbury), Sydney. Lepidophyllum Intermedium (L. & H.), Sydney. Lanceolatum, Pictou. Another species or variety, Pictou. Cyperites Bicarinata (L. & H.), Sydney. 372 APPENDIX. Sigillaria Laevigata (Brong.), Sydney. ^ Elongata (Brong.), Sydney. Renifonnia (Brong.) Sydney, Joggins. Organum (L. & H ), Sydney, Jogging, Pictou. Saulii (Brong.), Sydney. Menardi (Brong.), Sydney. Flexuosa (L. & H.), Sydney. Altemans (L. & H.), Sydney, Joggins. Pachyderraa (Brong.), Sydney. Scutellata, Joggins. Several undetermined species, Sydney, &c. The erect trees in the Joggins and Sydney section show that the sigillarisB formed forests in swampy flats ; that their roots were of the stigmaria structure, and always four in^ number, dividing dichotomously and spreading to a great distance ; that their bark was strong and du- rable, and their wood perishable ; that their growth was exogenous, and that the bark expanded in such a manner as to preserve the regularity of the scars and furrows; but that these changed so much in their forms and proportions in different stages of growth, that characters which might readily, if taken sepa- rately, be referred to distinct species, occur in dif- . ferent parts of the same trunk. (See papers on Sydney and S. Joggins by Mr Brown and the author, referred to in Chapter I.) Favularia Nodosa ? Joggins. Another species, Pictou. In some specimens the trunk is crossed by bands of con- fused or deformed scars,' as if the upward growth of the trunk had been arrested at intervals. Stigmaria, or roots of sigillaria of different species, with their long cylindrical rootlets, Sydney, Joggins, Pictou, &c. Sphenopteris Obtusiloba (Brong.), Sy^ey. Artemisifolia (Brong.), Sydney. Braunii (Goep.), Sydney. Latifolia (Brong.), Sydney. Erithmifolia (L. &. H.), Sydney. ▲PPEMOIX. 873 Sphenopteris Obovata (L. & H.), Sydney. Multifida (L. & H.), Sydney. PolyphyUa (L. & H.), Sydney. Crenata (L. & H.), Sydney. Cyclopteris Obliqua (Brong.), Sydney. Oblata (L. & H.) Sydney. Neuropteris Cordata (Brong.), Sydney, Pictou. AnguBtifoIia (Brong.), Sydney. Ingens (L. & H.), Sydney. Flexuosa (Brong.), Sydney. Gigantea (Stem.), Sydney, Pictou. •Rarinervis (Bunbury), Sydney. Co^jugata (Goep.), Sydney. Altemata (L. & H.), Sydney. Goepertiana (Goep.), Sydney. Soretii (Brong.), Sydney. Heterophylla (Brong.), Sydney. Odontopteris Schlotheimii (Brong.), Sydney. *Subcuneata (Bunbury), Sydney. Dictyopteris *Obiiqua (Bunbury), Sydney. Pecopteris Longifolia (Brong.), Sydney. Serlii (Brong.), Sydney. Nervosa (Brong.), Sydney. Toeniopteroides (Bunbury), Sydney. Plumosa (Brong.), Sydney. Abbreviata (Brong.), Sydney. Polymorpha (Brong.), Sydney. Cyathea (Brong.), Sydney. Bucklandii (Brong.), Sydney. Oreopteroides (Brong.), Sydney, Equalis (Brong.), Sydney. Arborescens (Brong.), Sydney. Villosa, Pictou. Lonchitica, Joggins. Muricata, Pictou, Joggins. The six last genera are all ferns, many of them of small size and probably herbaceous ; others possibly fronds of tree ferns. I have from the coal-formation of 874 APPENDIX. Picton, a fragment of a trnnk with large irregiilar leaf scan, which probably belonged to an arborescent fem. The largest single leaflet in my collection, ap- parently the terminal one of a frond of some species of Neuropteris, is Ave inches in length and three in breadth near the base. Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii (Brong.), Sydney, Pictou. EroBum (L. & H.), Sydney. The beautiful whorls of wedge-shaped leaves of these plants, are often very well preserved in the shales of Sydney and Pictou. At Pictou they are found with leaves of the next genus in such a manner as to coun- tenance the opinion, expressed by Dr Newbury of Ohio, that some of the species of Asterophyllites are oiUy the lower and probably submerged leaves of Sphenophyllum. Asterophyllites Foliosa (L. & H.), Sydney. Equisetiformis (Brong.), Sydney. Tuberculata (Brong.), Sydney. Galioides ? (Brong.), Pictou. This species, the leaves of which are broad and obtuse, is found mixed with Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii at Pictou. Bechera Grandis (Stem.), Sydney. Tenuis (Bunbury), Sydney. Probably a variety of B. Grandis. Annularia Brevifolia (Brong.), Sydney. Calamites Approximatus (Brong.), Sydney. Ramosus (Artis), Sydney. Suckowii (Brong.), Sydney, Joggins. Nodosus (Schlot.), Sydney, Pictou. Cannaeformis (Schlot.), Sydney, Joggins. Dubius (Brong.), Sydney. Cistii (Brong.), Sydney. Steinhauerii, Joggins. The Joggins section shows that the calamites were tall equisetiform plants, with stiff verticillate linear leaves. They formed thick brakes in and around the sigillaria woods, especially on mud and sand flats subject to I ' APP£llDn. n le ;h 1- •e )f )8 >f inundation; and as the surface was raised by the deposition of sediment, the buried joints of the cala- mites gave out tufts of long cylindrical irregularly branching roots, and also secondary stems ; so that each plant spread into a group of stems sending forth a mass of roots into the mud beneath. Borne of the coarser species had large and numerous roots. The roots of the smaller species were slender and appa- rently perishable. Equisetum Infundibuliforme (Bunbury), Sydney. Hippurites Longifolia (L. & H.), Sydney. Pinnularia Capillacea (L. & H.), Sydney. Myriophyllites (the root) (Artis), Sydney. Foacites, Sydney, Joggins, Fictou, &c. These large finely striated leaves are perhaps more generally diffused than any other fossil plant in the coal-formation of Nova Scotia. The superior extremity terminates in a point ; the lower extremity is occasionally curved as if it had clasped a round stem. Artisia Approximata (Brong.), Fictou, Sydney, Joggins, Fort Hood, &c. Other more coarsely wrinkled species. Fictou, Jog- gins, &c. The fossils of this genus are casts of the pith of plants, some of them of a rush-like character, others trees, probably Conifers or Lepidodendra. (b) Lower Carboniferous Series. Eeptile. Footprints discovered by Mr Logan at Horton, 1841. Fishes, Scales, teeth, and spines of Holoptychius and other genera (species undetermined), Horton Bluff, &c. Falseoniscus, several species, in entire specimens at Hills- borough, New BrunsMrick. 87$ APPENDIX. Artieulata. Timils of marine wonns, Horton, HalfWay River, &c. Cypris or Cytherina, Horton Bluff. Spirorbis, attached to marine sheila, Windsor. IVilobite or Limulus, De Bert River. Motttuca. Nautilus, allied to N. Leplayii (Demidorf), Brookfield, Wind- sor, Napan. Cjrrtoceras, Windsor. Orthoceras, analogous to 0. Gesneri (Martin), Windsor. A second species, Windsor. Conularia, allied to C. Quadrisulcata, Shubenacadie, Windsor, Cape Breton. Littorina ?, Shubenacadie, Gay*s River, Pugyrash. . Cirrus Spiralis ?, Windsor. Euomphalus Levis ?, Windsor, East R., Gay's R. Natica, like N. Dicistria, Windsor, Gay's R. Several small spiral univalves, undetermined. Terebratula Elongata (Schlot.), all the L. C. limestones. Sufflata, probably variety of T. Elongata, all the L. C. limestones. Several other species, one with sinus like T. Diodonta, Windsor, De Bert, Shubenacadie, East R., &c. Spirifer Glaber, Windsor, Brookfield, East R., Cape Breton, Merigomish, Ac. Cristatus ?, Windsor. Minimus ? (Sow.), Windsor, Brookfield, Shubenacadie, De Bert. Octoplicatus, Windsor, East R. Productus Martini, almost everywhere. Lyelli (De Ver.), almost everywhere. Scotica ?, or variety of P. Lyelli, almost everywhere, Spinosa (Sow.), C. Breton. AJitiquata (Kon.), Brookfield. Cardiomorpha Archiacana, Windsor. APPEMDTX. 87T Pecten PlicAtus, Windior, Hrookfield, Shubeiiacftdie. Three other speciei, Brookfield, De Bert, Shubenacadie. AviouU Antiqua (Munat.)> 6ay*8 R., Shubenacadie, &c. Five other species. Modiola, allied to M. Pallasii, Windsor, Brookfield, Shu- benacadie. Another species. Cucallaea, N.S., Windsor. Isocardia Unioniformis (Phil.), Brookfield, Stewiacke. Cypricardia, N.S., Windsor, Ac. Several other bivalves undetermined. Fenestella Membranacea, Windsor, Shubenacadie, Brook* field, Pictou, &c. Another species or well-marked variety. Radiata. Crinoidal joints, Windsor, Shubenacadie, Pictou, C. Breton, &c. Ceriopora Spongites, Windsor, Brookfield, Shubenacadie. Favosites Ramosa, Windsor, Shubenacadie, &c. Cyatbophyllum, East River. Planta. Lepidodendron Elegans ?, Horton, &c. Harcourtii ?, Horton, &c. Another species. Poacites, Horton, &c., Hillsborough. Stigmaria, Horton. Calamites, St Mary's River. The above list ehovfa a very marked resemblance in the carboniferous fauna and flora of Nova Scotia to those of Europe. A majority of the species are identical with Euro- pean forms, and most of the others are closely allied to Euro- pean species. This circumstance has been commented on by Sir C. Lyell and Mr Bunbury. The latter remarks that it points to a greater similarity of clinutte than at present ob- tains, and to the possible connexion of the coal-formation 378 APPENDIX. areas of Europe and America by groups of islands. It may be considered corroborative of this last conjecture, that, at the period in question. Nova Scotia and Cape Breton consti- tuted, as ah-eady explained in this work, a group of hilly islets of metamorphic rocks, separated by sea channels, but bordered, and perhaps connected in one portion of the period, by alluvial flats clothed with vegetation. As compared with existing nature, the coal-formation flora is remarkable for the almost exclusive prevalence of the higher orders of crypto- gamous or flowerless plants, as the ferns and Lepidodendra, and of the gymnospermous or naked-seeded dicotyledonous plants, represented in the coal-period by the Pines, and pos- sibly also by the Sigillariae and Calamites, which, though I have referred to them in the text as probably cryptogamous and allied to tree-ferns and Equiseta, are now supposed by some eminent botanists to be more nearly related to the Cycads. They were possibly connecting links between the Gymnosperms and the higher Cryptogams. With the ex- ception, perhaps, of Poacites, and a few other plants which have the aspect of Monocotyledons, the two largest and most important classes of the modern vegetable world have no known representatives in the coal-mea8iu*es. The terrestrial fauna of the coal-period as yet contains only a few reptiles, one land-shell, and some insects which have been found only in Europe. It would be rash to maintain that animal life on the land was confined to these forms ; but it must be ob- served that the vegetation of the period, though luxuriant, was not well fitted to sustain the higher herbivorous animals. DEVONIAN AND UPPER SILURIAN SYSTEMS. The fossils in these rocks are very numerous, but many of them can be found only in a fragmentary or distorted state, or in the form of casts ; and it is only very rarely that they occur in a state of preservation approaching to that in which the fossils of these rocks exist in the United States. Owing to this, much care and skill are required in their determina- APPENDIl. 379 tion, and I have not attempted to compare them with the published figures and descriptions of fossils of the same age found in other countries. Of the specimens which I have sent to Professor Hall, that eminent palaeontologist has re- cognised the following shells as identical with New York species, or very closely allied to them. Leptsena Carinata — Depressa Avicula Boydii NuculaBellatula^ — Obliqua Beside these there are Trilobites, especially a species of Phacops allied to P. Caudata ; and shells and corals of the following genera, the species being all undetermined : — Or- thoceras, Comulites, Tentaculites, Bellerophon, Pleuroto- maria, Orthis, Chonetes, Spirifer, Strophodonta ? Lingula, Loxonema, Graptolithus, Dictyonema, Favosites, Cyatho- phyllum. There are also abundance of crinoidal joints, and in some localities imperfectly preserved remains of plants, probably sea-weeds. (B) SABLE ISLAND, AND SAND HILLS OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. In describing the modem deposits, I omitted those of blown sand, which occur somewhat extensively within the region to which this work relates, and therefore notice them shortly here. Sable Island is the highest part of one of those banks of sand, pebbles, and fragments of shells and coral, which form a line extending under the waters of the Atlantic, and par- allel to the American coast, from Newfoundland to the vici- nity of Cape Cod ; and which are separated from the coast and from each other by valleys of mud. Sable Island Bank is one of the largest of these submarine sand-beds. Its area is equal to one-third of that of Nova Scotia. The depth of 880 APPENDIX. water at its margins varies from 35 to 68 fathoms ; and from this depth it shoals gradually toward the shores of the island, which is situated near its eastern extremity. Sable Island itself is about 23 miles in length, and from one mile to one and a half in breadth. It is distant about 85 miles from the nearest part of Nova Scotia. Its surface consists entirely of light gray or whitish sand, rising in places into rounded hills, one of wliich is stated by persons who have visited the island to be 100 feet in height. The whole of this sandy surface has evidently been washed and blown up by the sea and wind ; and I have not been able to learn, from any of the accounts of the island, that any more solid substratum exists. Pools of fresh water, however, appear in places, which would seem to imply that there is an impervious subsoil. This may, however, be caused by the floaiing of rain water on water- soaked sand, an appearance which may sometimes be ob- served on ordinary sand-beaches, where, in consequence of their resting on the surface of the sea-water, these pools or spruigs sometimes rise and fall with the tide. I am not aware, however, that this occurs at Sable Island. There is also a large salt water lake or lagoon, which at one time formed a harbour ; but its entrance was closed by a storm. The sur- face of the island is covered with coarse grass and cranberry and whortleberry plants ; and horses, rabbits, and rats have been naturalized and exist in a wild state. The government of Nova Scotia, aided by an annual sum from Great Britain, supports an establishment on the island for the succour of shipwrecked mariners. Captain Darby, late superintendent of the establishment on the island, states in a letter contributed to Blunt*s Coast Pilot, that within twenty-eight years the western extremity of the island has decreased in length seven miles. He also states that the island has been increasing in height, especially at the eastern end, and at the same time diminishing in width. He believes that the bank and bar extending from the western end have been constantly travelling to the eastward. It would indeed appear from the ditTcreiicc in the longitude of the island, as given in the old charts and by late surveys, APPENDIX. 381 Irn lit of that the whole island is moving eastward ; a very natural effect of the prevailing westerly winds, which must conti- nually shift the particles of sand from west to east, and may eventually throw the island over the edge of the bank into deep water, and cause it to disappear ; unless indeed the whole bank is moving in the same direction under the influence of marine currents. A singular intermixture of animal remains may be produced by this movement of a sand-island, tenanted by land and fresh- water creatures, over the surface of a marine sandbank remote from land, and which otherwise would con- tain only deep sea shells. Sand hills and beaches exist in many parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ; but nowhere to so great an extent as on the northern side of Prince Edward Island, where the sand resulting from the waste of the soft red sandstones of the island has been moved upward by the waves, and blown by the wind until it forms long ranges of sand-dunes, extending along the coast and crossing the bays, but I believe in no place penetrating far inland ; though, sinte the forest has been cleared, the sand is becoming troublesome on some parts of the coast fanns. Across Cascumpec and Richmond bays, and along the intervening coast, a nearly continuous range of sand beaches and hills extends for more than twenty miles ; and at New London, Rustico, Covehead, Tracadie, and St Peter's bays, there are similar ranges of sand-hills, amounting altogether to about twenty miles more. At New London, the only place where I have had an op- portunity of examining these sand-hills, they attain the height of forty feet, and are covered with tufts of coarse beach grass. Their northern sides are frequently cut away into escarp- ments of loose sand ; but on the whole they do not appear to be rapidly changing their form or position. The sand is of a gray or light brownish colour, though derived from red sandstone ; its coating of red oxide of iron being almost en- tirely removed by friction. i<. I 382 APPENDIX. (C.} EARTHQUAKES. Slight earthquake shocks have been felt at rare intervals in several parts of the Acadian provinces. The latest oc- curred on the 8th of February 1855, and was observed throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and as far to the south-west as Boston. Its point of greatest intensity appears to have been at the Bend of the Petitcodiac, near the extremity of the New Brunswick coast-line of meta- morphic hills. At this place there were several shocks, one of them sufficiently severe to damage a brick building, whereas in the other places only one slight shock was experienced. At Fictou and Halifax, the only shock felt occurred a few minutes before 7 A. m., and it appears to have been simulta- neous throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. (D.) SALT SPRINGS. One of the points of similarity between the lower carbo- niferous rocks of Nova Scotia and the new red sandstone of England, is the presence of salt in the beds of the former series, indicated by the occurrence of salt springs, which appear at several places in Hants and Cumberland counties, at Salmon river in Colchester, and at the West river of Pictou. Rock salt in situ has not been discovered at any of these places ; nor are the springs at present applied to any useful purpose. (E.) ADDITIONAL FACTS RELATING TO THE ORIGIN OF GYPSUM. The following modem instances of the formation of gyp- sum by the agency of springs of sulphuric acid, serve to con- firm the view stated at page 223 of this work. APPENDIX. 883 Sir H. T. De la Beche, in the Geological Observer, second edition, page 375, quotes from Professor Bunsen an analysis of the water of one of the hot springs of Iceland, and a state- ment of the effects which it produces on the rocks (hardened volcanic tufa) with which it comes in contact. It appears that these springs deposit on a small scale layers of gypsum embedded in bleached and variegated clays, in which there are also small crystals of iron pyrites. On a large scale, and with access to beds of limestone, they would evidently pro- duce gypseous deposits quite similar to those of Nova Scotia. In the Reports of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1847-48, and 1849-50, Mr Hunt describes springs containing sulphuric acid and sulphates, and notices their probable agency in forming the deposits of gypsum which occur in the Upper Silurian rocks of Canada and New York. The ex- pansive effects of the formation and crystallization of gypsum, referred to in page 231, have been observed both in Iceland and Canada. (P.) POPULATION AND MINERAL STATISTICS OP THE ACADIAN PROVINCES. ties, of of my UN From tlie Census of IS51. New Prince Nova Scotia. Brunswick. Edward Island. Population 276,117 193,800 70,000 Acres of cleared land . 839,322 643,954- About 200,000 Coals, raised 114,992 chals. 2,482 tons Gvpsum, quarried . . . 79,795 tons 5,465 . . Lime, burned 28,603 casks 35,599 casks Iron, smelted 250 tons 810 tons Grindstones 37,100 . . 58,849 stones Bricks, made 2,845,400 No return Granite, Freestone, '\ Slate, Barjtes, Min- >■ No returns No returns eral Paints, &c. ) Of the adult male population of Nova Scotia, 31,600 are returned as engaged in Agriculture, and 15,300 in Naviga- 384 APPBMDIX. tion and the Fisheries. In New Brunswick, the numbers are, Agriculture, 18,601 ; Navigation and Fisheries, 1454. In Prince Edward Island, Agriculture preponderates still more largely. ./ n INDEX, Page Acadia, origin of the name . 1 Acadia Quarry 267 Acadia Iron Mine S29 Agate 101 Albert Mine 197 AUuvlal Soils, Marine .... 28 Fresliwater 88 Amygdaloid 63 Amethyst 101 Annapolis 321 Out 74 Analcime 103 Analysis of Marsh Soil . ... 26 Anhydrite 226 Antigonish 269 Mountains 318 Ankorite 329 Apophyllite 103 Araucaria 107 Artisia 252 Arisaig 816 Assays of Coal 190, 260, 288, 287, 307 Aspatogoen 363 Baccillabia 39 Basalt 63 Bathygnathus Borealls .... 109 Bass Creek 69 Barytes 240,332,343 Baphetes Flaniceps 256 Bibliography, Geological ... 4 Blomidon 66 Bogs 41 Boulder-formation 43 Boulders 46,^ transport of 61 Boar's Back 66 Bout Island 69 Briar Island 79 Page Bracbiopoda 12S Brown, Mr, on Sydney Coal-field 297 on Section at C. Dauphin 294 Cape Breton, general description 12 Metamorphic Rocks of . 822 County, Coal-formation of 297 Caped'Or 92 ... John 254 ... Dauphin 294 ... Porcupine 313 ... SpUt 74 Calcareous Spar 108 Calamites 126,166 Carboniferous System, general description 116 District of Cumberland . 120 of Colchester, &c. . . .212 Pictou 241 Sydney County .... 268 Guysboro' 272 Margaret's Bay, &o. . . 274 Richmond, &c 276 M. Inverness, &c. . . . 290 C. Breton Co. .... 297 Carribott 263 Carribou Cove 286 Canseau Cape 366 Ceriopora 222 ChiastoUte 366 Chester Basin 274 Chabazite 102 Clyde R 86 Clarke's Head 89 Clare 323 CUys 239,863 Coal, origin of 144 ... Brown, Tertiary .... 61 .., of Joggins 188 2b .y 386 INDEX. I > Page Cotl of Springhlll 180 ... field of N. Brunawlok . . IBS ... of Onslow, &c. . . . 289,226 ... ofStewiBckeandUantsCo. 240 ... of Pictou 2S6 ... of Pomket 272 ... of Carribou Cove .... 285 ... of Little River 286 ... of Port Hood 269 ... of Sydney 806 ... of Bridgrport 807 ... of HillBborougli .... 205 Copper, Native 03, 100 Gray Sulphuret . 100, 267 Carbonate 101 Oxide 100 Veins of Metamorphic Districts 842 Comwallis 69 Coniferous 'Wood . 107,172,176,188 Colours of Rocks 29 Colchester 218 Conularia 220 Cobequi^ Mountains 818 Crop-stone 866 Cumberland 120 Cypris 147 Denudation 47 DeBertR 80 Dendrerpeton Acadianum . . . 160 Devonian System 309 in C. Breton 322 in N. Brunswick ... 328 Diluvial Strite 48 Diluvium 43 Digby 75 DiatomacesB 89 Drift 43 ... Origin of 51,68 East River of Pictou . . 294, 816 Earthquakes 381 Economy . . ' 82 Encrinites 122,222 Erect Fossil-trees, Joggins, 149, 156, 170, 171, 175 at Malagash 185 at Port Hood .... 290 at Sydney 301 Favularia 159 Felspar, Compact 311 Five Islands 83 Formations, Tabular View of . 17 Footprints in Recent Mud ... 29 in Joggins Coal-measures 175 at Tatamagouche . . . 187 Fort Lawrence 32 Folly River 82,226,329 Page Fouila of Lower CarbonUiBrona Limeatone 910 of Devonian Rocks . .817 List of see Fossil Foliage at Sydney ... 804 Frost, Action of 62 Freestone .... 239,266,297 Fnndy, Bay of, tides in ... 28 Maraheiof 24 Ganoid Fishes .... 126, 192 Galena 280,274 Gaspereaux River 820 Gerrish Mountain 88 Gesner, Mr, on Geology of Nova Scotia 5 Gold 362 Gneiss 848 Gravel, Superficial . . . . 63, 65 Granville 74 Grand Passage 79 Grindstone .... 126,102,267 Greenstone 311 Granite 811,347,861 Graphic 860 Great Village River 328 Gypsum of Pugwash 181 of Wallace 183 of Windsor . . . . .218 of Hants, &c 237 of Shubenacadie ... 232 of East River . . 245, 267 of Antigonlsh .... 270 ofPlaister Cove . . . 277 of Richmond 289 of Mabou 292 of Inverness and Victoria 296 Origin of Beds of . . .223 of Veins of 229 Guysboro' 272 Hates, J. L., on Iron-ores . . 839 Haut Island 93 Harrington River 85 Harding, Dr, Footprints discov- ered by 227 Hants 212 Halifax 363 Hebert River 66 Heulandite 101 Hillsborough 107 Horton 69 Bluff 214 Ice, transporting Power of . . 62 Ice Ravine at Annapolis . . . 382 Intervales 38 Ini\iBorial Earth 39 Indian Point 83 Inverness 290 WDEX. 38T 227 212 363 66 101 197 69 214 62 882 38 39 83 290 P«ge Iron On, Munetie 100 gpecuUr SaO Bog 43 Hematltlo .... 230,332 of Joggina 192 of Shubenacadie . . . 238 of Plctou 266 of Cobequid mountains . 32C Iron Ochroa 368 Jaspkb 101 Jackaon, Dr, on Geology of Nova Scotia 4 Joggins, tuai-measurea at . . 123 Kbntvillk Lakes, Deposits in .■ ... 88 Margins of 40 Laumonite 102 Land Shell in Coal-measures . 160 Leldy, Dr, on Fossil Reptile . . 109 Lepidodendron 160 Lepidophyllum 169 Limestone of Napan, &c. , . .122 Bituminous . . 147,193 of Pugwash .... 181 of Windsor .... 218 of Shubenacadie 229, 233 of West River . . .242 of East River . . . 243 of Antigonish ... 269 of Ouysboro' . . . 273 of Plaister Cove . .278 of Mabou 292 of St John . . . . 349 Logan, Mr, on Joggins Section 6, 121 Ljrell's, Sir C, Visit to Nova Sco- tia 6 Lyell, Sir C, on Recent Rain- marks 30 Lunenburgh 363 Mabshes, Deposition of ... 24 Composition of Mud of 26 Blue or Low .... 27 Changes of Colour of Mud 28 Extent of 37 Marcou, J., on Parallelism of Mountains 326 Mastodon 67 Map, General Description of . 12 Malagash 189 Manganese Ore ... 99, 238, 344 Marble 267,344,291 Margaret's Bay .... 363, 274 Merotype 102 Minudie 123 Mines, Tenure of, in Nova Scotia 2 MUIatone Grit Js Mica Slate 848 Minerals of New Red Sandstone and Trap 99 Minerals of Carboniferous Dis- tricts 188, 237, 266, 272, 274, 286, 296,306 Minerals of Devonian Metamor- phic Districts 328 Minerals of Older Metamorpbio Rocks 361 Moose River 821,86 Modiola 147 Natrolite 103 Napan River 122 Nautilus 219 New Brunswick and fields of . 196 Metamorphic rocks of 323 New Canaan 820 Nictau 320 North Mountain 67 North River 80 Oak Island 70 Oolitic Limestone 293 Onslow Mountain 80 Opal 101 Orwell Point 106 Orthoceras 220 Paint, Mineral 274, 341 Partridge Island 91 Paradise 321 Parallelism of Lines of Disloca- tion 326 Peat 41 ... under Boulder Clay ... 61 Pereau River 69 Petite Passage 78 River 65 Pine Fossil of Prince Edward Island 107 Pine Fossil of Joggins . . 172,176 of Malagash ... 183 Pictou, Carboniferous District of 241 Metamorphic Rocks of . 315 Plaister Cove 277 Plaster Pits, Origin of . . 234, 280 Poacites 159 Portapique River 82 Pomket 272 Porphyry 311, 344 Prehnite 103 Prince Edward Island .... 104 Fossil Wood of . 107 Fossil Reptile of 108 Soils of .... 114 Productus 122,220 Pugwash 181 xihair. - """"•W^IIPNW 888 IHDIZ. I' t r s Fsfa QUABTl 101 Smokjr 844 HoM 861 QiMrtzitfl 815,848 Queen'a County 851 Bain-iiarks, Becent .... 29 in Coal-fonnktion 160, 225 Beptile in New Ited Sandstone 109 in CoAl-formation . 187, 806 Bichmond 276 Bobb, Dr, on New Brunswick 210, 826 Bavankahs 41 Salmon Biver 68 Salter's H<%ad 64 Sandstone, New Red 60 of Truro, &c. . . 68 ofComwallis . . 67 ofDlgby ... 75 of Londonderry, &c. 81 of Swan Creek, &c. 86 of Pr. Edw. Island 104 Oen. Remarks on 94 Sandy Cove 76 Sandstones, Colours of .... 124 Sand Hills or Dunes 880 Sable Island 879 Salt Springs 881 Sooleclte 102 Sharp Cape 91 Shubenacadie 64,229 Shelbume 850 Si^llaria 145, 169 Slates 810,844 SUte, Artificial 841 SoUs, Alluvial 26 ... Peaty 42 ... oftheNewRed Sandstone 98,114 ... of the Coal-measures . . 193 ... of the Metamorphio Dis- tricts 864,846 Split Cape 74 Spirorbis 147 Spirifer 220 Strie, Diluvial 48 ... of Drift-wood . . . . .174 Bur's Point T*S Stourotide 8B1 Stilbita 101 Stigmarla 145 St John Blver, Falls of ... 85 St Croix Blver US St Mary's Biver 8B6 Submarine Forests 81 Subsidence, Modem 85 Swan Creek 88 Sydney County 968 Sydney, Cape Breton .... 297 Syenite 811,844 Tatamaoouchi 186 Terebratula 220 Thomsonite 108 Tides of the Bay of Fundy . . 28 Truro 68 Trap, Varieties of 62 ... Modes of Formation . 71,97 ... of Blomidon, &e. .... 66 ... of Five Islands .... 88 ... of Swan Creek .... 87 ... of Partridge Island ... 90 ... of Cape Sharp .... 91 ... ofCaped'Or 93 ... of Hog Island 116 ... Minerals of 100 Tufa 68 ULODKK.'I >N 160 Unconfcrmability 64 Underdays 149 ViCTOBiA County 290 Walton 64 Wallace 182 Westport 79 Webster, Dr, on Bain-marks . 30 Discovery of Infu- sorial Earth 89 Windsor 217 Wolfville 70 Yabmovtb 849 THE END. Printed by Olives & Botd, Tweeddale Court, Edinburgh. JUMn^* "«». ,f,»— .*"..* iJ^ Page . 60 .861 . 101 .146 . 86 .SS6 .806 . 81 . 86 . 88 .M8 .297 11,844 .186 . 220 .108 .116 . 100 169 64 ,149 .290 . 64 .182 . 79 . 80 21T , 70 .349 CampiLei "by J.W. D avrs on . 64b 65 02 rv- J L F O F IJ) o JL A W .E J \\ ^ '^^ m cC* At*'" LH&tCMttii'M .FriaT's J •u^iJton I. hmvirej.. hion-B. «irrayI1l.m \ I miu^^m^r. & Cameau />rT r • pf 'V,. •> CranpileaL by J W. J) sws on <> i ^ > V i; :» •injtn I i,3lomidon Vbodwa ^^' MJ H d ^ ^ tla I 'liffbiti. ■% Wa Iff B ^«*iV-.j XfmptLi '^i (M.LX J> \ \ Ji Jittet^ ^ '^ I w -A- &>' / / ?%... .. V J JToi .^ nptviOe '<■• ^ /^Q^ V H. ^%1 \ v^ j,^ ^ 9^ [•i^: '•a-e '^^'iJu, '«> Jbiu W. Jioi >'>i.V^'tJ^ =^^;. 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