he
waters so early in the history of the world, and has not since been
submerged, has, of course, prevented any subsequent deposits from
forming above it. And this is true of all the northern part of the
United States. It has been lifted gradually, the beds deposited in one
period being subsequently raised, and forming a shore along which
those of the succeeding one collected, so that we have their whole
sequence before us. In regions where all the geological deposits
(Silurian, Devonian, carboniferous, permian, triassic, etc.) are piled
one upon another, and we can get a glimpse of their internal relations
only where some rent has laid them open, or where their ragged edges,
worn away by the abrading action of external influences, expose to
view their successive layers, it must, of course, be more difficult to
follow their connection. For this reason the American continent offers
facilities to the geologist denied to him in the so-called Old World,
where the earlier deposits are comparatively hidden, and the broken
character of the land, intersected by mountains in every direction,
renders his investigation still more difficult. Of course, when I
speak of the geological deposits as so completely unveiled to us here,
I do not forget the sheet of drift which covers the continent from
north to south, and which we shall discuss hereafter, when I reach
that part of my subject. But the drift is only a superficial and
recent addition to the soil, resting loosely above the other
geological deposits, and arising, as we shall see, from very different
causes.

In this article I have intended to limit myself to a general sketch of
the formation of the Laurentian Hills with the Azoic stratified beds
resting against them. In the Silurian epoch following the Azoic we
have the first beach on which any life stirred; it extended along the
base of the Azoic beds, widening by its extensive deposits the narrow
strip of land already upheaved. I propose ... to invite my readers to
a stroll with me along that beach.

With what interest do we look upon any relic of early human history!
The monument that tells of a civilization whose hieroglyphic records
we cannot even decipher, the slightest trace of a nation that vanished
and left no sign of its life except the rough tools and utensils
buried in the old site of its towns or villages, arouses our
imagination and excites our curiosity. Men gaze with awe at the
inscription on an ancient Egypt