ies in hollows and valleys, some of them hundreds of feet above
the level of Lake Ontario. Near to great rivers, and often where now no
waters are at hand, undulations of rocks are seen like those found in
the beds of rapids where the channels are waved. These have evidently,
at some remote period, been the courses of floods now no longer
existing. On the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence detached bowlder
stones appear, some of enormous size, many tons in weight; they must
have come from a great distance, for nowhere in that region is there any
rock of similar material. In the upper strata of the country are
abundant fossil remains of distinct animal existences now unknown; they
are blended with the limestone in which they lie.

It seems certain that the whole of Canada has been violently convulsed
by some effort of nature since the floods of the deluge passed away; the
mountains are abrupt and irregular in outline, and in some places cleft
with immense chasms; the rivers also show singular contortions. North of
Quebec and in St. Paul's Bay are many traces of volcanic eruptions, and
vast masses of alluvial rocks, bearing marks of vitrification,
frequently appear on the surface of the earth. There is, besides, strong
evidence that the American Continent has lain for unknown ages beneath
the great deep, or that it is of later formation than Europe or Asia.

As far as it has been explored, the general geological structure of
Canada exhibits a granite country, with some calcareous rocks of a soft
texture in horizontal strata. The lower islands in the St. Lawrence are
merely inequalities of the vast granite strata which occasionally stand
above the level of the waters; the whole neighboring country appears as
if the Great River had at one time covered it. The banks of the St.
Lawrence are in many places formed of a schistus substance in a decaying
state, but still granite is every where found in strata, inclined, but
never parallel to the horizon. In the Gaspe District, many beautiful
quartz, and a great variety of cornelians, agates, copals, and jaspers
have been found, and traces of coal have also been observed.[152]

The north shore of the St. Lawrence, from thirty miles below Quebec
eastward, and along the coast of Labrador, is generally of the primitive
formations. Except in the marshes and swamps, rocks obtrude upon the
surface in all quarters; in many places, deep fissures of from six
inches to two feet wide are see