TERRACES OF THE THOMPSON AND ERASER. 339 



the mountain side, seldom more tlian a few acres 

 in extent, and raised sixty or seventy feet above 

 the lower one ; while, marked at an inaccessible 

 height along the face of the bluffs which run down 

 to the river, and probably 400 or 500 feet above it, 

 is the third tier. These "benches" are quite 

 uniform, and of even surface, entirely free from the 

 great boulders so numerous in the present bed of 

 the river, being composed of shale, sand, and gravel, 

 the detritus of the neighbouring mountains. They 

 are clothed with bunch-grass and wild sage, while 

 here and there a few scattered pines relieve the 

 yellow bareness so characteristic of the district. 

 Similar terraces were noticed by Dr. Hector on the 

 Athabasca, Kootanie, and Columbia Rivers, and they 

 have been also observed on some rivers in California 

 and Mexico ; but in none of these instances do they 

 appear comparable in extent and regularity with 

 those of the Thompson and Eraser. It is worthy of 

 remark that in nearly every instance where these 

 terraces have been found, in various countries, they 

 occur in three successive tiers, as in these of 

 British Columbia ; which would seem to mark as 

 many separate epochs when important geological 

 disturbances took place. 



Gold is found in all these benches on the Eraser 

 in the state of the finest ''flour gold," but not in 

 sufficient quantities to satis-fy the miner when the 

 richer diggings of Cariboo outrun all competition. 

 There seems to be some unexplained connection 

 between these terraces and the celebrated '' bunch- 



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