n bearing witness to volcanic violence;
the Indians describe some of these rents as several miles long, and
forty or fifty deep; when covered with the thick underwood, they are, at
times, very dangerous to the traveler. These chasms are probably owing
to some great subterranean action; there is a manuscript in the Jesuits'
College at Quebec which records the occurrence of an earthquake on the
5th of February, 1663, at about half past 5 P.M., felt through the whole
extent of Canada: trees in the forests were torn up and dashed against
each other with inconceivable violence; mountains were raised from their
foundations and thrown into valleys, leaving awful chasms behind; from
the openings issued dense clouds of smoke, dust, and sand; many rivers
disappeared, others were diverted from their course, and the great St.
Lawrence became suddenly white as far down as the mouth of the Saguenay.
The first shock lasted for more than half an hour, but the greatest
violence was only for fifteen minutes. At Tadoussac, a shower of
volcanic ashes descended upon the rivers, agitating the waters like a
tempest. This tremendous earthquake extended simultaneously over
180,000 square miles of country, and lasted for nearly six months almost
without intermission.[153]

In the neighborhood of Quebec, a dark clay slate generally appears, and
forms the bed of the St. Lawrence as far as Lake Ontario, and even at
Niagara; bowlders and other large masses of rock, however, of various
kinds, occur in detached portions at many different places. The great
elevated ridge of broken country running toward the Ottawa River, at the
distance of from fifty to one hundred miles from the north shore of Lake
Ontario, and the course of the St. Lawrence, is rich in silver, lead,
copper, and iron. On the north shore of the Saguenay, the rugged
mountains abound in iron to such an extent as to influence the mariner's
compass. The iron mines of St. Maurice[154] have been long known, and
found abundantly productive of an admirable metal, inferior to none in
the world; it is remarkably pliant and malleable, and little subject to
oxydation. In 1667, Colbert sent M. de la Potardiere, an experienced
mineralogist, to examine these mines; he reported the iron very
abundant, and of excellent quality, but it was not till 1737 that the
forges were established by the French: they failed to pay the expenses
of the speculation; the superintendent and fourteen clerks, however,
gai