﻿1848. ATHABASCA BRIGADE. 97 



and one of the small islands consists of large balls 

 of that stone, piled on each other like cannon shot 

 in an arsenal. They might be taken for boulders 

 were they not heaped up in a conical form and all of 

 one kind of stone ; and they have obviously received 

 their present form by the softer parts of the rock 

 having crumbled and fallen away. At Thicket 

 Portage and the lower end of the lake, the granite 

 is associated with greenstone slate ; and at Broken- 

 Canoe Portage, above the lake, a laminated stone 

 exists, whose vertical layers are about an inch thick, 

 and have a north and south strike, being parallel to 

 the direction of the ridges of the rock. This stone 

 is composed of flesh-coloured quartz, with thin 

 layers of duck-green chlorite, and no felspar. It 

 ought perhaps to be considered as a variety of 

 gneiss. 



Later in the afternoon we came to the Birch 

 and Pin Portages, on the last of which we en- 

 camped. The granite rocks here are covered by 

 a high bank of sand and gravel, filled with 

 boulders. 



June 22c/. — Embarking early, we passed through 

 Sand-fly Lake, and afterwards Serpent Lake, in 

 which we met the Athabasca brigade of boats, 

 under charge of Chief Trader Armitinger. This 

 gentleman informed us that he met Mr. Bell with 

 our boats on the lOtli, on which day they would 



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