14 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Till is not only well exposed in the cliffs beside the river, but 
many of the tidal flats show a hard, cleanly washed surface of the same 
material dotted over with a few boulders. On these flats one can 
walk with comfort anywhere when the tide is out. Just at the mouth 
of Nelson river some mud derived from the cliffs bordering the tidal 
estuary is being deposited in quiet water near the shore, but in the 
channel, where the tidal currents are strong, the bottom is doubtless 
composed of hard, undisturbed till. 
On Hayes river, whose waters join those of Nelson river as they 
flow into Hudson Bay, the section is somewhat different from that on 
the latter stream. As on the Nelson river the stream is actively 
cutting a cliff along its western bank near its mouth, but in this 
instance the cliff is of stratified marine sand and clay and not of till, 
and it was not until Pennycutaway river was reached, at a distance of 
32 miles from the Bay that till was first seen. Here the cliffs are 90 
feet high above a sloping beach of boulders, many of which are striated. 
At the bottom of the cliff is a thickness of 10 feet of unstratified 
brownish till holding many small fragments of marine shells, above 
which is stratified brown sand, then light blue sandy clay, and then 
brown sand on top witha basal layer of boulders, some of which are 
striated. 
Thence southward to the forks of Steel and Shamattawa rivers 
the valley is bounded by steep banks on both sides, the bottom usually 
of till, while the upper portions are of marine sands and clays. 
At the mouth of Steel river the following section is exposed on 
the northwest side of the valley just above the forks: 
Feet 
Marine sand win Sheller + wera, eke ty a eee eee 10-20 
Wnstratihed“tlls7rwithspebbles: eme 40 
Stratified sand carrying much water. This water- 
bearing bed causes many of the large slides on the 
sides ofthe walley: (arts in colts ced aera ae 10-20 
Unstratified till with pebbles of greenstone, limestone, 
granite red) Guartzitic sandstone, ete... seek 50 
This till extends down to the bottom of the bank where many striated 
boulders are lying. 
A short distance further up the river the bank of similar height is 
composed entirely of stratified clays and sands, till being absent. 
Thence up to the mouth of Fox river the banks average 100 feet 
in height, chiefly stratified sands, though till appears at the bottoms 
of the cliffs in the upper portion of this course. At the mouth of Fox 
river the cliff is 70 feet high, all but the upper 12 feet of which is till. 
