162 Overland Arctic Eocpediticm, 



might occupy some months very pleasantly ; but the delay of a 

 few days here is the loss of a season, and we cannot reckon on 

 more than two months in the year for such purposes." 



" Fort Franklin, Great Bear Lake, 

 " March 23. 1826. 



" My Dear Sib, 



" In consequence of an imperfect, but very interesting, In- 

 dian report of Captain Parry's wintering on the coast, and 

 which Captain Franklin is desirous of investigating, I have an- 

 other opportunity of writing to you this season. The particu- 

 lars of the report, when ascertained, will be transmitted to Mr 

 Barrow, from whom you may get them. 



" I mentioned, in a former letter, that a formation of lignite 

 occurs in this quarter. The lignite has a slaty structure, thin- 

 nish, or only moderately thick ; and, when exposed to the atmo- 

 sphere, cracks into forms generally nearly rectangular. Some 

 portions, which are rather thick slaty, with a flat conchoidal 

 fracture in the small, bear a very near resemblance to the slag- 

 gy mineral pitch or bitumen so common in the limestone forma- 

 tion of Slave River (zechstein ?). It is distinguished from it 

 when put in the fire. 



" In the more common form of the lignite, the surface of the 

 slates is more dull and earthy, of a brownish-black colour, but 

 yielding a shining streak. These slates are entirely composed 

 of fragments, having all the appearance of charred wood united 

 together by a paste of more comminuted woody matter, mixed 

 perhaps with a minute portion of clay. In the paste, there are 

 some minute perfectly transparent crystals, having the form of 

 compressed four sided prisms, and sometimes of tables. The 

 fibrous structure of the woody fragments is fine, and the lustre 

 resembles that of fresh well-made charcoal of brick. The struc- 

 ture is evidently exogenous. The fragments are generally 

 small, but, when several inches in diameter, their layers of 

 structure are waved and curved, as if they had been knots, 

 which of course would not so easily break down as the other 

 portions- One of my specimens shews a small grain, either 

 of resin or of amber; and I have picked out of another a 

 membranous substance, which has all the appearance of a por- 

 tion of Ulva montana (Bot. App. Franklin's Journey) common 



