During the summer the waters are much lower, and we can walk for some
way along the flat shores, which are composed of different strata of
limestone, full of fossil remains, evidently of very recent formation.
Those shells and river-insects that are scattered loose over the surface
of the limestone, left by the recession of the waters, are similar to
the shells and insects incrusted in the body of the limestone. I am told
that the bed of one of the lakes above us (I forget which) is of
limestone; that it abounds in a variety of beautiful river-shells, which
are deposited in vast quantities in the different strata, and also in
the blocks of limestone scattered along the shores. These shells are
also found in great profusion in the soil of the Beaver meadows.
When I see these things, and hear of them, I regret I know nothing of
geology or conchology; as I might then be able to account for many
circumstances that at present only excite my curiosity.

[Maps: Charts shewing the Interior Navigation of the District of
Newcastle and Upper Canada.]

Just below the waterfall I was mentioning there is a curious natural
arch in the limestone rock, which at this place rises to a height of ten
or fifteen feet like a wall; it is composed of large plates of grey
limestone, lying one upon the other; the arch seems like a rent in the
wall, but worn away, and hollowed, possibly, by the action of water
rushing through it at some high flood. Trees grow on the top of this
rock. Hemlock firs and cedars are waving on this elevated spot, above
the turbulent waters, and clothing the stone barrier with a sad but
never-fading verdure. Here, too, the wild vine, red creeper, and poison-
elder, luxuriate, and wreathe fantastic bowers above the moss-covered
masses of the stone. A sudden turn in this bank brought us to a broad,
perfectly flat and smooth bed of the same stone, occupying a space of
full fifty feet along the shore. Between the fissures of this bed I
found some rosebushes, and a variety of flowers that had sprung up
during the spring and summer, when it was left dry, and free from the
action of the water.

This place will shortly be appropriated for the building of a saw and
grist-mill, which, I fear, will interfere with its natural beauty. I
dare say, I shall be the only person in the neighbourhood who will
regret the erection of so useful and valuable an acquisition to this
portion of the township.

The first time you send a parcel