60 ALEXANDER MURRAY ON THE 
date, of conglomerates, sandstones, serpentines and various igneous rocks—corresponding 
with the formations which occupy the central and southern portions of the island. All 
these continue to be thickly scattered, advancing easterly clear to the sea-board. 
Mount Peyton, situated about seven miles north-west from the upper end of Great 
Gander Lake, consists of a brick-red feldspar rock of porphyritic character, which is readily 
disintegrated, and wears rapidly when exposed to the weather. Two sets of parallel joints 
divide the mass intoa set of rectangular blocks, many of which have been removed from the 
parent rock, and are heaped up in the wildest confusion on the south-east and eastern flanks 
of the mountain, while the plain of Careless Brook and the land round Careless Cove are 
spread over by athick deposit of red sand, derived from the mountain. The outlet of Gander 
Lake is shallow, and mud of the bottom is encumbered with large boulders which, in a 
few instances, are heaped together so as to form islets, and the banks and bed of the river 
below are likewise so strewed, particularly at the lower rapids towards the outlet into Gan- 
der Bay. The Great Gander Lake which lies obliquely transverse to the general course of 
the river is about thirty-three miles in length, of a somewhat serpentine form, with a breadth 
varying from one to two miles, but tapering toa point at the extreme eastern end. The rocks 
exposed on the banks of the lake are chiefly slates, more or less micaceous, with a band of ser- 
pentine near the central part seen upon the north side. Slates continue to be exposed on the 
banks of the lake until reaching Joe’s Brook, about four and a half miles from the eastern 
extreme end, where gneiss or granite comes in and occupies the rest of the country between 
it and the sea. Between the eastern end of the lake and the sea at Freshwater Bay (Bona- 
vista Bay) the distance in an air line is barely eight miles, while the maximum elevation 
of the land is not above 150 feet. A small lake called Butt’s Pond occupies a considerable 
area near the summit of the ridge 120 feet above H.W.M., which drains by a small rivulet 
into Freshwater Bay. A confused mass of boulders, mostly of large size, is piled up on 
the eastern shores at the head of the Gander Lake, many of which are sharply angular, 
others being more or less rounded. Those are of various qualities, the majority apparently of 
Laurentian derivation, but amongst them were perceived several resembling the rock of 
Mount Peyton, with numerous blocks and fragments of mica slate and serpentine. There 
are no boulders around Butt’s Pond, and the soil is of good quality, having at one time been 
covered by a stout growth of trees, now removed by a succession of great forest fires. The 
sub-soil here appears to be alternations of clay, gravel and sand; the shores of the Pond 
are sandy. 
Parallel grooves and scratches have been preserved on rock surfaces, capable of retain- 
ing such, at all altitudes from the sea level to the height of a thousand feet, and perhaps 
more. The prevailing bearing, as a whole, of these markings is N. H. and 8.W., or nearly so, 
but there are many exceptions, and sometimes the directions point nearly at right angles 
to that course and run parallel with the transverse valleys of the minor streams. As 
instances, the bearing of the série at the entrance of St. George’s Bay, near “The Gravels,” 
is N. 50° E., 8. 50° W., or nearly exactly parallel with the axis of the Bay; in the valley of 
the Exploits, they bear N. E. by E. and 8. W. by W., corresponding with the general course 
of the river; but in the Bay Hast River, which flows southerly, the direction of these 
marks points almost due north and south, although there are occasional deflections from 
that course corresponding with the turns of the yalley. But it is on and approaching 
