No. 4.] SELWYN — THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 



201 



name implies, a sharp bend occurs, again giving it a general 

 north-easterly course, which it maintains to the vicinity of 

 Cumberland Lake, where it a second time reaches the latitude 

 of 54° north between the 101st and 103rd degrees of west longi- 

 tude, thence a comparatively short south-easterly course of about 

 one hundred miles, carries it to its mouth in Lake Winnipeg, 

 while the three upper sections above described, have a nearly 

 equal length of about 300 miles each. In this great distance of 

 more than eleven hundred miles, as might be expected, the cha- 

 racter of the country bordering the river exhibits considerable 

 diversity. The most prominent features, however, may be sum- 

 marised in the three words prairie, swamp, forest, and we may 

 add vast, boundless, immense, illimitable, and yet scarcely convey 

 an adequate idea of their greatness. 



The rapidity with which we were obliged to travel through 

 this vast region in order to escape being overtaken by winter 

 was a matter which I regretted exceedingly, as no time was af- 

 forded for anything like minute investigation, or for the collec- 

 tion of specimens ; and such notes as I was able to make upon 

 the geology of the country are the result of observations of the 

 most hurried description, and will probably add very little to the 

 information which has already been supplied by the labours of 

 Dr. Hector in his admirable sketch of the geological structure of 

 the region published in the Journal of the Geological Society 

 (Vol. XVII-1861) and which is the result of observations ex- 

 tending over a period of nearly four years. I have already men- 

 tioned the prevalence of drift-covered hills and ridges, strewn 

 with large, ice-borne boulders. From Fort G-arry westward, on 

 the route we travelled, no rock exposures were seen till within a 

 few miles of Edmonton. An universal mantle of drift-sand, clay 

 and gravel are spread over the face of the country but gradually 

 diminishes in thickness towards the higher levels, though even 

 where the drift is thin, the rocks are still concealed by a deep, 

 rich, black soil. Without doubt, however, interesting exposures 

 of the underlying strata might be found if sought for in the banks 

 of some of the numerous creek valleys which we crossed between 

 Carlton and Edmonton running from the high plain towards the 

 river, but which, on the present occasion, we could not stop to 

 examine. 



In connection with the distribution of the materials forming 

 the drift some noteworthy facts were observed. Blocks, and often 



