MARBLE ISLAND. 195 



rounded stones from Hudson's Bay, which were now put ashore, 

 attracted considerable attention and were much admired. 



Marble Island and the mainland opposite are entirely destitute of 

 timber, which, near the coast, does not extend further north than 

 Seal River, 280 statute miles to the south. From Seal River, the 

 northern limit of the forest, which at the verge consists of only small 

 spruce and tamarac, runs in a noHh-westerly course almost directly 

 to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, thus leaving two or three 

 hundred miles of the Barren Grounds between this line and the coast 

 opposite to Marble Island. 



Although no trees grow on the island, there is an abundance of 

 sub-arctic vegetation. The large ponds or small lakes among the 

 hills in the interior are encircled with green, and they have become 

 the breeding places of swans, arctic and red-throated divers, and 

 other water-fowl. Many species of smaller birds were noticed, and 

 owing to the open nature of the country they probably fall an easy 

 prey to the peregrine falcon which also breeds on the island. The 

 reindeer, or barren-ground carriboo, and the musk-ox, are found on 

 the mainland opposite, which is the southern limit, on the coast, of 

 the latter animal, but it ranges further south in the interior. 



The American whalers and others constantly speak of Marble Island 

 as if it were really composed of marble. Although I had not ain 

 opportunity of personally examining it before 1884, I had long been 

 aware that the white rock of this island was quartzite, having re- 

 ceived specimens of it through friends in the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's service. It appears to be identical with the quartzites of the 

 Huronian series, so largely developed on the north shore of Lake 

 Huron between Killarney and the Spanish River. The Marble 

 Island quartzite must have a very great thickness, and it is unlikely 

 that this is the only locality in the region where similar rocks occur. 

 Indeed we have statements from both Hudson's Bay Company's 

 officers and Indians that similar white rocks are found in abundance 

 on the mainland opposite, and at vai'ious places for a long way into 

 the interior in a south-western direction. I have obtained a speci- 

 men of quartzite of a light or delicate pink color, said to have been 

 broken from the rock in situ on the south side of Nevil Bay, about 

 150 miles south-westward of Marble Island. Continuing the same 

 course inland, white i-ocks are reported as occurring around 

 White Rabbit Lake, between Nevil Bay and Hatchet or Wollaston 



