APPENDIX. 551 



thanbefore. The rocks were evidently granitic; but 

 no specimens were collected, as the party were carried 

 down the stream in their boat. 



Having passed through another small lake, or expan- 

 sion of the river, much impeded by ice, the stream turned 

 again to the east, and led to a steep fall, where Esqui- 

 maux were found who had never seen Europeans. 



From about the point called Wolf- Fall, the course 

 of the river is nearly from south-west to north-east; and, 

 after an abrupt and remarkable elbow on the north of 

 Mount Meadowbank, it runs in the bottom of a trough, 

 or deep valley, to its junction with the sea. 



The object of the expedition having rendered it neces- 

 sary that the party should proceed in their boat on 

 arriving at the sea, very few specimens or notes descrip- 

 tive of the rocks were obtained in the remotest part of the 

 route. The only specimens are from a " bluff" (Point 

 Backhouse) on the north-west of Victoria Headland, 

 which consists of reddish granite; and from another bluff 

 beneath Point Beaufort, composed of a similar rock of a 

 grey colour ; — both on the eastern coast of the inlet, 

 which forms the estuary of the Thlew-ee-choh-dezeth. 



The new ground therefore explored by Captain Back, 

 from Slave River to the sea in the parallel of 67° 10', 

 with only two or three exceptions, is composed, so far 

 as appears from his notes and specimens, of primitive 

 rocks ; a result which might have been expected from 

 the description of the country previously known, which 

 indicates a distinct line of boundary, in the north-east of 

 America, between the calcareous and primitive tracts; 

 the latter including the space traversed during Captain 

 Back's late expedition. The exceptions are: — 1. A 



N N 4 



