﻿94 CHURCHILL RIVER. June, 



a south-west and north-east strike. The granite 

 veins here have a general direction nearly coin- 

 cident with that of the beds, but they are waved up 

 and down. In the vicinity of the veins the layers 

 of slate are much contorted, following the cur- 

 vatures of the veins closely. At the lightening- 

 place of the Rapid River, there is a fine precipice 

 of granite fifty feet high, which is traversed ob- 

 liquely from top to bottom by two magnificent 

 veins of flesh-coloured porphyry-granite. Five 

 miles further on there are precipices of granite one 

 hundred and fifty feet high. 



The country in this neighbourhood is hilly, and 

 a few miles back from the river the summits of the 

 eminences appear to the eye to rise four hundred or 

 perhaps five hundred feet above the river. The 

 resemblance of the whole district to Winipeg River 

 is perfect, and the general aspect of the country 

 is much like that of the north shores of Lake Su- 

 perior, though the water basin is not so deeply 

 excavated. 



An hour and a half after starting on the morning 

 of the 20th, we crossed the Mountain Portage, 

 one hundred paces long, where the rock is horn- 

 blende-slate. At Little Rock Portage, a short way 

 further on, the thin slaty beds have a north-east 

 and south-west strike. Above this, a dilatation of 

 the river, named Otter Lake, leads to the Otter 



