APPENDIX. 557 



" By carrying the eye over the map from point to 

 " point above mentioned, it will be seen that the western 

 " boundary of the eastern primitive rocks as it runs north- 

 " ward, inclines towards the Rocky Mountains. There 

 " are- no prairie lands north of Peace River, and no flat 

 " country skirting the Rocky Mountains beyond Great 

 " Slave Lake. I have seen the Rocky Mountains only 

 " on the M c Kenzie, and there from a distance ; but the 

 " great valleys seemed, as I viewed them in passing 

 " down the river, to cut the general direction of the 

 " chain at right angles. A Canadian, who had crossed 

 " the mountains in the quarter I speak of, said that he 

 " travelled over thirteen separate ridges. He did not, 

 " therefore, go directly across the general line of the 

 " chain : — or, the valleys, that I saw, do not penetrate 



" deep. 



" I cannot," Dr. Richardson adds, " give any personal 

 " information respecting the country to the eastward of 

 " what I have hitherto been speaking of. The high pri- 

 " mitive hills on the Coppermine River (p. 5 C 25. of 

 " Geognostic Observations, first journey,) lie in ranges 

 " nearly parallel to the river, having a north-west direc- 

 " tion (and not a south-west, as erroneously marked in 

 " the map). These primitive rocks extend to the Cont- 

 " wov-to, or Rum, Lake, and, I doubt not, also to 

 " Back's new River. There are limestone deposits 

 " between the eastern primitive rocks and Hudson's 

 " Bay, and also northward, on the Arctic Sea, where 

 " Captain Ross was. 



" All the primitive rocks in that part of the country 

 " which I have called the " eastern primitive district " 

 " are low, and do not form mountain ranges, except 

 " on that part of the Coppermine River already al- 

 « luded to." 



