GEOLOGY. 311 



to the northward of the Narrow Strait which opens into the Wellington 

 Sound : 



Having dispatched several shooting parties in quest of hares and ptarmigan, 

 one commanded by the boatswain returned about midnight, on the 12th of 

 September, 1853, bringing a report that they had discovered the heel of the 

 topgallant-mast of a ship hi an erect position, about one mile and a half in- 

 land ; and the carpenter's mate, one of the party, asserting that it was cer- 

 tainly " a worked spar," of about eight inches diameter, seemed to confirm 

 this report. Such a communication from such authorities considered of 

 sufficient importance to awake me, startled me not a little. One point, how- 

 ever, was not so clear to my imagination it was too far inland, and, more- 

 over, in a hollow. On the morrow I proceeded, accompanied by the boat- 

 swain, armed with picks and crows, to search for and bring in this discovery ; 

 but it was not without great difficulty that it was rediscovered, snow having 

 nearly obliterated the footmarks of the previous day. I at once perceived 

 that it was not a mast, nor a worked spar, nor placed there by human agency. 

 It was the trunk of a tree that had probably grown there and flourished, but 

 at what date who would venture to determine ? At the period when whales 

 were thrown up and deposited, as we found them, at elevations of 500 to 800 

 feet above the present level of the sea, and the land generally convulsed, and 

 also when a much higher temperature prevailed hi these regions, this tree 

 probably put forth its leaves, and afforded shade from the sun. Such a change 

 of climate just then would have been peculiarly acceptable! I directed the 

 party which attended me to proceed at once to clear away the soil, then frozen 

 mud, and splintering at every effort like glass. The stump was at length 

 extracted, but not without being compelled eventually to divide the tap root ; 

 and collecting together the portions of soil which were immediately hi contact, 

 and surrounding the tree, in the hope of discovering impressions of leaves or 

 cones, the whole was carefully packed in canvas, and eventually reached En- 

 gland. Near to the spot in question, I noticed several peculiar knolls, from 

 which I was led to infer that other trees had grown there ; and I caused them 

 to be dug into, but they proved to be peat mosses, about nine inches in 

 depth, and, on closer examination in my cabin, proved to contain the bones 

 of the Lemming, in such extraordinary quantity as to constitute almost a 

 mass of bony manure. Through the kindness of Dr. Hooker, the entire matter 

 having been forwarded to Sir. "W. Hooker, at Kew, I am enabled to furnish 

 the following interesting remarks : " The piece of wood brought by Sir 

 Edward Belcher from the shores of Wellington Channel belongs to a species 

 of pine probably to the Pinus (Abies) alba, the most northern conifer. This, 

 the 'white spruce,' advances as far north as the 68th parallel, and must be 

 often floated down the great rivers of North America to the Polar Ocean. 

 The structure of the wood of the specimen brought home differs remarkably 

 in its anatomical characters from that of any other conifer with which I am 

 acquainted. Each concentric ring (or annual growth) consists of two zones 

 of tissue ; one, the outer, that toward the circumference is broader, of a pale 

 color, and consists of ordinary tubes of fibers of wood marked with discs com- 

 mon to all conifer*. These discs are usually opposite one another when 



