220 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xiv. 



impressions. The forest on the lower part of the hill 

 surprised us : the birch were not less than fifteen inches 

 in diameter, and well grown, thus showing that on a 

 good soil trees will flourish well at the altitude of 1,700 

 feet above the sea, notwithstanding the rigour of the 

 climate. An examination of the 'snow-white rock' ex- 

 plained the origin of the soil and the luxuriance of vege- 

 tation. A belt of spruce through which we passed also 

 contained some very fine trees: they averaged eighteen 

 inches in diameter and about fifty feet in height. After a 

 long and tedious walk, we came suddenly upon the ' snow- 

 white rock,' and found it to be a very coarse gneiss, such 

 as is commonly, but very erroneously, called granite, 

 consisting of magnificent crystals of flesh-coloured felspar, 

 clear and brilliant quartz, with a sprinkling of mica. The 

 felspar was largely in excess and weathering white : it gave 

 to the rock a brilliant appearance in the sunshine, exactly 

 resembling a mass of snow in the distance. The ' snow- 

 white rock ' was nothing more than a narrow strip of the 

 hill-side exposed by a land-slide ; it was fifty feet broad, 

 and perhaps 300 feet in length, inclined at an angle of 60 

 to the horizon. We ascended to the summit of the hill, 

 and arrived at a plateau, where the forest had been 

 burnt ; but the second growth consisted of cherry and a 

 great profusion of currant and raspberries. 



Crossing the plateau we made another ascent, and sat 

 down to mark the particulars of the wonderful scene 

 winch lay before us. We were some hundred feet above 

 the lake, and from that elevation could see the country far 

 and wide in all directions, except the one in which our 

 course lay. A bold projecting peak, 200 or 300 feet 



