growing thinly among them, predominate. Within the Bay of Fundy, the coast, that of Nova Scotia in particular, is fertile and beautiful; and the features of Prince Edward Island, and the greater part of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, situated within the Gulf of St. Lawrence, are soft, luxuriant, and picturesque, with trees growing, almost uninterrupted, along the coasts and over the country.

Along the river St. Lawrence, from the Bay de Chaleur to Quebec, and for some miles upwards, the country is of a bold mountainous character, and covered with dense forests. After passing the highlands above Quebec, the lands on each side of the St. Lawrence are low, fertile, and in most part of alluvial formation. The country, with few interruptions, maintains this appearance, until we reach the Queenstone Heights, close to the falls of Niagara; above which, again, along the lakes, a flat country prevails. Wherever cataracts occur the surface of the adjoining country is unequal; we observe this at Niagara, and at all the falls and rapids of the St. Lawrence and other rivers. The districts lying intermediate between cataracts are usually flat and of alluvial formation.

The geological structure and mineralogy of the North American regions are, as yet, but very imperfectly known. The great chain of mountains, known by the general name of the Alleghaneys, rises abruptly out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Percé, between Bay de Chaleur and Gaspé, and following nearly the course of the river St. Lawrence, until, opposite Quebec, bends to the southward, and entering the United States, divides the Atlantic coast from the Basin of the Ohio. The mountains of North America are generally covered to their summits with trees. They have also a greater continuity in their ridges, and more regularity of outline, than those of Europe. They are, besides, with the exception of the Andes, far from being so high as those of Europe, Asia, or South America.

The nucleus of the Alleghaney chain appears, and is generally considered to be granite, which extends from those mountains, and forms the prevailing basis, with some exceptions, however, of all the countries lying between them and the Atlantic, and north of the river Hudson. Those ranges are also considered to have been frequently convulsed by earthquakes, while the ridges, west of the Alleghaneys, have remained undisturbed.

Limestone, generally in horizontal strata, prevails to the westward of the Alleghaney chain, as far as the St. Lawrence and the lakes. On the north of the St. Lawrence, and throughout Labrador, granite predominates; and Sir Alexander Mackenzie remarks in his travels, that the great lakes of North America are in a line of contact between vast chains of granite and limestone.

Volney observes, that the granitic range of the Alleghaney chain may be said to terminate southward, (or more properly loses itself to observation), at West Point, river Hudson, on the opposite side of which sandstone commences, and prevails from the Catskill Mountains to the angle of Georgia.

Those vast inland seas, the great lakes, form, with the St. Lawrence and

other magnificent rivers, most gigantic features in the geography of British America; to which we may also add the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a Mediterranean, bounded by our territories; the Bay of Fundy, with its extraordinary tides; and the Bay of Hudson, which divides Labrador from the north-western or frozen regions of the trans-Atlantic hemisphere.

The surface of the extensive countries of British America, with the exception of the sterile parts of the north, the prairies, and where towns and settlements have been formed, along the sea coasts, and on the banks of lakes and rivers, is still covered with dense and almost limitless forests, which commence at the sea coast, and extend to the banks and lakes of the St. Lawrence; beyond which they are succeeded by others of equally gigantic growth, and terminate with the occasional interruption of buffalo prairies only at the shores of the Pacific.

In many of the most extensive districts, we still discover no signs of civilisation, nor any marks of the progress of improvement; and the scenery, in its primeval wildness, and natural luxuriance, exhibits what the whole of America, north of Mexico, was about two centuries and a half ago; when none but the Indian tribes traversed its woods, and when no vessel but the bark canoe of the savage alone navigated the waters of its Atlantic shores, rivers, and inland seas.

We shall now proceed to describe briefly the configuration and aspect of the several British colonies and possessions in North America.

NEWFOUNDLAND. This large island is indented with deep bays, and its interior broken up by waters, rocks, and barren, as well as some tracts of soil fit for cultivation. Except on the Western Coast, within the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the general character of Newfoundland is rocky and barren. The Atlantic coasts, are formed generally of terrific rocky cliffs, rocky shores, and on the south and north indented with inlets, and lined with islands. From the straits within the Gulf of Belleisle to Cape Ray, the aspect of the country is far less forbidding, and generally wooded. Coal, lime, and gypsum, are said to abound in the western parts of the island; where the lands are adapted for cultivation and grazing.

ANTICOSTI. This island is said to owe its name to an Indian word, Natiscoti, but it is more likely from the Spanish, Antecuesta. It is situated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and near the entrance of that great river. Its length is 125 miles, and its greatest breadth about 30. The whole of its north coast is high and without harbours. The rocks that present themselves are calcareous and contain various animal petrefactions.

The water, close to the cliffs, is very deep; and there are some coves where vessels may take shelter with the wind blowing off the land. The south shore is low; the lands wet and swampy, and covered with birch and fir trees. There is a bar harbour near the west point, which will admit small vessels; it can scarcely be said that this island has any rivers, if that called Jupiter River be not an exception. On the south the water is shoal, but the soundings are regular. Flat

rocky reefs extend a considerable distance from the east, west, and some other points. Sandy downs line a great part of the south coast, within which there are lagoons or ponds, filled by small streams running into them from the interior. During stormy weather and high tides, the sea frequently makes its way over the sands into these lagoons, out of which, also, there are small streams running into the gulf.

LABRADOR.-This vast country, equal in square miles to France, Spain, and Germany, has not a resident population of 4000 inhabitants, including the natives and Moravians.

Its surface is as sterile and naked as any part of the globe. Rocks, swamps, and water, are its prevailing features; and in this inhospitable country, which extends from 50 to 46 deg. north latitude, and from the longitude of 56 deg. west, on the Atlantic, to that of 78 deg. west, on Hudson's Bay, vegetation only appears as the last efforts of expiring nature. Small scraggy poplars, stunted firs, creeping birch, and dwarf willows, thinly scattered in the southern parts, form the whole catalogue of trees; with the exception of where in a few valleys which are sheltered, some large firs and birches grow. Herbs and grass are also, in sheltered places, to be met with; but in the most northerly parts, different varieties of moss and lichens are the only signs of vegetation.

The climate is, in severity, probably as cold as at the poles of the earth, and the summer is of short duration. Yet, with all these disadvantages, this country, which is along its coasts indented with excellent harbours, and which has its shores frequented by vast multitudes of fishes, is of great importance to England. The whole of the interior of Labrador appears, from the aspect of what has been explored, and from the reports of the Esquimaux and other Indians, to be broken up with rivers, lakes, and rocks. The wild animals are principally bears, wolves, foxes, and otters; beavers and deer are not numerous, but their furs are remarkably close and beautiful.

CAPE BRETON.-The aspect of Cape Breton is romantic and mountainThe coast, washed by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is of dangerous access, without any harbour, except Port Hood near the Strait of Canseau; and its high iron-faced cliffs are in many places perpendicular. On the Atlantic, the shores are broken and rugged, but indented with numerous harbours and bays. A vast inlet named the Bras d'Or, entering by two narrow passages, and afterwards spreading into numerous bays and arms, nearly divides the island into two.

Woods, with the exception of small patches cleared for cultivation, and such spots as are thrown open where rocks occupy the surface, cover the whole island. The trees are of much the same kind and description as those hereafter described, unless it be on the sea-coast, and mountains; in which situations they are of a dwarfish character.

It is usually conjectured that the island has been detached from the continent of America by some violent convulsion. This, like most speculative opinions

for which we have no historical data, must ever remain uncertain. The strait of Canseau is not, for a distance of five leagues, more than a mile and a half wide, and in some places, not one mile. The highlands also, rising on each side rather abruptly, make the width of the strait to seem much less, and impart to it, at the same time, the appearance of an immense fissure, laid open by the explosion of some tremendous agency.

There is not, however, a striking resemblance in the geological structure of the opposite shores of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia; but this is no uncommon circumstance in nature; and we often, in America, meet with a chain of granite predominating on one side of a river, and a calcareous region prevailing on the other.

The geology and mineralogy of Cape Breton can only be said to be known in outline. From all that we have observed, however, and from all the information we have been able to obtain, it may be remarked, that almost all the rocks named in the discordant nomenclature of Werner, are found in this island. Among the primitive rocks, granite prevails in the peninsular country south-east of the Bras d'Or; and it probably forms the nucleus of the highlands between this inlet and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Sienite, trap, mica, clay-slate, and occasionally quartz, also appear on the gulf coast. Primitive trap, sienite, mica-slate, and clay-slate, show themselves, together with transition limestone, gray wacke, gypsum, and coal, generally in all parts of the island.

The class of floetz rocks, appears, however, to be the most numerous; and coal exists in such abundance, that persons unacquainted with geology have stated seriously to us, that they considered this mineral formed the base of the whole island. Coal, in a field, or fields, of vast extent, abounds in the southeastern division of the island, surrounded by carboniferous limestone, excellently adapted for common fire-places.

The extent or quality of the coal-fields, north of the Bras d'Or, have not been ascertained. Gypsum occurs in great plenty along the shores of the Bras d'Or, at the Strait of Canseau, on the gulf coast, and in some other parts of the island. We may conclude, from the strongly saturated salt-springs which are found in different places, that the rock-salt formation is extensive. Iron ore, in various forms, iron pyrites, red ochre, &c., exist in great abundance. Pieces of copper ore, lead, &c., have also been found, and various other minerals will probably be discovered.

NOVA SCOTIA.-The Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, from Cape Canseau to Cape Sable, is pierced with innumerable small bays, harbours, and rivers. The shores are lined with rocks and thousands of islands; and, although no part of the country can properly be considered mountainous, and there are but few high steep cliffs, yet the aspect of the whole, if not romantically sublime, is exceedingly picturesque; and the scenery, in many places, richly beautiful. The land

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scape which the head of Mahon Bay, in particular, presents, can scarcely be surpassed. There is deep water, almost without exception, close to the rocks and islands, and into the harbours. The coasting vessels sail among and within the myriads of islands that line the coast, during the most boisterous weather, and have thus the advantage of passing along in smooth water, while there is a heavy sea running in the main ocean. Within the Bay of Fundy, the shores have a more continuous outline; and after passing St. Mary's Bay, the rugged appearance of the coast diminishes, but it still presents a bold and generally high character as far as the Basin of Minas.

The interior of Nova Scotia is intersected and watered by numberless streams, rivers, and lakes. None of the last are large, or, at least, not considered so in America. Lake Rossignol, out of which a river, named the Mersey, runs to the harbour now called Liverpool, but formerly Rossignol, is said to be thirty miles long; and Lake George approaches to the same extent.

The mountains, so called, scarcely warrant the appellation; the highest elevation not being more than 700 feet above the level of the ocean.

The geological features of this province are prominent; and a greater variety of rocks present themselves, particularly along the Atlantic shores, than we have observed in any other part of North America. Granite, trap, and clay-slate, predominate, not only as primitive, but as prevailing rocks, along the whole of the coast of Nova Scotia, and several miles into the country, extending from the Strait of Canseau to Cape Sable, and from thence to Brier Island.

Quartz, usually in veins, with clay-slate, mica-slate, sienete, and gneiss, but always detached, occur also in this extensive district. Gray wacke is the most prevailing kind of transition rock. Whether all the gypsum strata and calcareous rocks belong to the floetz class, we have not been able to ascertain. The vast gypsum strata within the Bay of Fundy, at the Strait of Canseau, and at Antigonish, evidently belong to the latter. Granite and trap rocks appear at Cobequid Mountains, and occur probably in all the hilly parts of Nova Scotia; but so small a portion of the interior has been examined, and so little is known respecting its geology, except where roads cross the country, that it would be presumptuous to state even what appearances indicate.

Granite and calcareous rocks, with gray and red sandstone, prevail in the northern parts of Nova Scotia, from the Strait of Canseau to the Bay de Vert, and extend across the province to the Basin of Minas, if not interrupted by a granite ridge, which may very probably occur in the Mount-Tom range of highlands. The hard gray or bluish sandstone which occurs in various parts of the province, makes excellent grindstones. The light-gray granite quarried at Whitehead, near Cape Canseau, makes remarkably good millstones; and a beautiful freestone, most admirably adapted for building, is abundant in several places, particularly at Port Wallace.