﻿84 IIALF-MOON LAKE. June, 



that is, it is formed of branching lake-like expan- 

 sions without perceptible current, connected by 

 falls or rapids occasioning portages, or by narrow 

 straits through which there flows a strong stream. 

 At four in the afternoon we crossed the Island 

 Portage, where the rock is a fine-grained laminated 

 granite or gneiss, containing nodules or crystals of 

 quartz, which do not decay so fast as the rest of the 

 stone, and consequently project from its surface : 

 the layers are contorted. In 1825, which was a 

 season of flood, this islet was under water, and our 

 canoes ascended among the bushes. 



Two hours later we passed the Pine Portage 

 {Portage des Epinettes), and entered Half-Moon 

 Lake {Lac Mi-rond^). At tliis portage the rocks 

 are granite, greenstone, and black basalt, or horn- 

 blende-rock, containing a few scales of mica, and 

 a very few garnets. The length of the portage is 

 two hundred yards. At our encampment on a 

 small island in Half-Moon Lake the gneiss lay in 

 vertical layers, having a north and south strike. 

 A few garnets were scattered through the stone. 

 This piece of water, and Pelican and Woody Lakes, 

 which adjoin it, are full of fish, and they are con- 

 sequently haunted by large bodies of pelicans, and 

 several pairs of white-headed eagles {Haliceetus 



•• Called by mistake Lac Heron in Franklin's overland 

 journeys. 



