﻿1848. SELLWOOD BAY. 275 



we encamped on Point Stivens, which is a long 

 narrow gravel beach, composed mostly of pieces of 

 limestone, some of which contain corals. Sea- weed 

 is very scarce throughout the whole of the arctic 

 coast, but we saw on the beach here some re- 

 jected masses of decayed Laminaria^ probably sac- 

 charina ; also a stunted white spruce, lying on 

 the beach, still retaining its bark and leaves. Mr. 

 Rae shot a fine trumpeter swan, on which we 

 supped. The only water we could find here for 

 cooking was swampy, and full of very active insects 

 shaped like tadpoles, which were just visible to the 

 naked eye (Apus ; Lepidnrus, probably Lynceus). 



The crimson and lake tints of the sky, Avhen the 

 sun set this evening, were most splendid, and such 

 as I have never seen surpassed in any climate. 



On August the 13th, we embarked at 3 a.m., and 

 at half-past ten landed in Sellwood Bay on some 

 horizontal beds of limestone, which are the first 

 rocks in situ that become visible, in tracing this 

 peninsula from the south. No organic remains 

 were detected in the stone. Many very large slabs, 

 moved but a short way from their parent beds, were 

 piled upon each other within reach of a high surf, 

 and among them lay great boulders of greenstone- 

 porphyry and hornblende rock. To the north of 

 the bay, there are high cliffs of limestone, and 

 also a detached perforated rock, which employed 



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