186 EXPEDITION TO THE 



phibole, and talc ; but these cannot be said to constitute 

 important features ; they are, at best, formations subordinate 

 to the general sienitic mass. The colour of the rock is in- 

 fluenced by that of the feldspar which is in great excess, 

 and is of a flesh colour ; the amphibole is green. The quartz 

 sometimes penetrates the rock in the manner of veins, but 

 this accident is considered of contemporaneous origin with 

 the formation of the mass itself, because, in detached frao-- 

 ments of the same, the quartz of the vein, and that in the 

 body of the rock itself, were found to run one into the 

 other. We were detained in this harbour forty-eight hours 

 by the prevalence of the storm. At midnight we were 

 awakened by one of the party, with the unpleasant infor- 

 mation, that the boat was in danger of being dashed to 

 pieces against the large stones or small rocks on the shore. 

 The wind was blowing a gale from the south-south-west. 

 A heavy swell was rolling into the harbour, breaking, with 

 a loud noise and high spray, against the immoveable rock 

 on each side, and expending its violence in a dangerous 

 surf upon the stony shore on which our boat was fastened. 

 All our force was immediately summoned, and with much 

 difficulty we succeeded in raising the boat upon logs. Be- 

 ing old and very leaky, it required great care. Had it been 

 unfortunately broken, our situation on that deserted coast 

 would have been very precarious. Few persons have ever 

 attempted to travel by land along the lake shore, and this only 

 in winter, when the swamps, rivers, and small lakes are frozen 

 up. But at other times of the year, it is thought that all tra- 

 velling, except in boats or canoes, would be impracticable. 

 What aggravated our situation was the state of our provi- 

 sions, at all times very scanty, but which had lately been 

 much reduced by the pilfering of the deserter. The small 

 store of maize obtained at Fort William was nearly ex- 



