210 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. VU. 



ilat, and rises from the water in a nearly-Aertical cliff, exposing 

 eighteen feet of apparently excellent coal. The bottom of the 

 seam here was beneath the water and could not be examined ; 

 above it, the cliff was not accessible and the rocks were concealed 

 by slides of earth and other debris. The second exposure, which 

 is no doubt a continuation of the same seam occurs in an arched 

 form and shews eiahtecn feet of coal with one small, two to three 

 inch parting of shale. The specimens collected were all taken 

 from the surfdce, and it is not unlikely that beyond the influence 

 of atmospheric action the coal in these seams will prove of better 

 quality than is indicired by these specimens. 



At intervals, the whole distance from Rocky Mountniii House 

 to Edmonton, 135 miles following the course of the river, and 

 thenc3 to Victoria, 76.;' miles farther down the liver, similar 

 rocks with coal seams ajid ii-onstoni' enncretions. were observed. 

 Dr. Hector has separated tha Ediuiiiitoii coal i-ocks from those 

 w^hich he saw nt Rocky Mount liu Mouse bv an interveniiiir area 

 which he considered to be occupied by a somowriat higher sec- 

 tion or division of" the Cret.iceous series. Me did not apparently 

 see the thick seam oi' coal which I found, as already stated, 

 below the Braze m River, about eighty-six miles fi-om Rocky • 

 Mountain House, and numerous indications of other senns which 

 I saw, probably also escaped his notice, as he descended the river 

 in the winter, when many of the exposures along the banks must 

 have been concealed by snow. At present I am unable to say 

 whether the seams retain their thicknesses for long distances, or 

 whether the numerous exposures and indications seen in the cliffs 

 along the river, represent only more or less lenticular shaped 

 patches repeated at different horizons and over large areas. Dr. 

 Hector appears to incline to the latter idea. 



Below A^ictoria, the river valley widens considerably, and often 

 rises by successive broad steps or terraces to the level of the 

 prairies on either side : sometimes these terraces are quite bare, 

 while at others they are pretty thickly clothed with small poplar 

 trees, a few spruces and pines, and brushwood of willow, alder, 

 and other shrubs. Occasionally the banks abut steeply upon the 

 river, and afford imperfect exposures of the strata, which differ 

 considerably from those met with at and above Victoria. Hard 

 flao'gy sandstones and impure limestones, associated with soft 

 blue and gray clay, with layers of large concretions of olive- 

 brown cement stones, or septaria, seamed by veins of yellowish 



