368 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



dense forest forming great obstacles to proper inves- 

 tigation, and rendering tlie transport of provisions 

 and other necessaries exceedingly costly ; the long 

 and severe winter, which prevents the working of 

 the mines from October until June ; and the great 

 geological disturbances which have taken place, 

 although they doubtless are one cause of its 

 exceeding richness, render the following of the 

 "leads'' very difficult and uncertain. The two 

 former disadvantages wdll be removed ere long by 

 the clearing of the country, the formation of roads, 

 and the employment of steam power to drain 

 the shafts. The difficulties encountered in tracing 

 the course of the gold are more serious ; but more 

 acciu-ate knowledge of the geological formation wdll 

 give greater certainty to the search. At present the 

 changes which have taken place in the face of the 

 country continually upset the most acute calcula- 

 tions. The drift gold carried down the streams 

 settled on the solid " bed rock," or in the blue clay 

 immediately above it, and has been covered by the 

 gravel accumulated in after times. Now, if the streams 

 ran in exactly the same channels as they did when 

 the gold came down, the matter would be simple 

 enough. But great changes have taken place since 

 then. At one point an enormous slide has occurred, 

 covering in the channel, and forcing the stream to find 

 a new course. At another, some convulsion appears 

 to have upheaved a portion of the old bed high and 

 dry. In the first case the " lead " is found to run 

 into the mountain side ; in the other it scales the hill. 



