h?.cl had a moderate rain of about 70 

 points at the most up till the time it 

 cee.sed. At Tinder Bay, about 30 points 

 were registered. 



This i?, doubtless, a fair instance of the 

 locally heavy rainfall at the north end, 

 and shows the effect the adjacent moun- 

 tains have on its precipitation around the 

 head of the lake. Four miles to the 

 north, at ^he Pine Lake, the source of the 

 Shannon Eivulet, the fall must have beeii 

 much greater, as is proved by the heavy 

 flood which ce.me down this stream about 

 1 o'clock on the 4th. 



The four principal streams, which drain 

 the watershed above the lake, are, com- 

 mencing at the east — firstly, Breton's 

 Eivulet, which rises in the Dry's Bluff 

 region, and has a southerly course of 

 about 10 miles, until it flows into the lake 

 about a mile to the east of the channel; 

 secondly the Shannon Bivulet, flowing out 

 of the Pine Lake, passing through the 

 Half Moon Marshes, and taking np seve- 

 ral tributaries before it reaches the Little 

 Lake, which discharges by the channel 

 into the lake — these tributaries rise in 

 upland marshes which discharge large 

 bodies of water after a night's rain; third- 

 ly, a small stream, Kimberiey's Creek, 

 which drains several marshes, and rises in 

 hills to the north, not far from the source 

 of the Shannon Bivulet. This creek falls 

 into the lake a mile to the westward of 

 the channel. Fourthly, Pine Creek, vrhich 

 comes down the valle}^ at the north-west 

 corner of the lake, and through which 

 the tris^ck passes to the Nineteen Lagoons. 

 The course of this stream turns north- 

 wards at some distance from the outlet, 

 to high marshes, where it rises, and at 

 its bend is joined by a tributary called 

 Kermode's Eivulet,'^ flowing irom the 

 slopes of the Stony Tier, a bold and rug- 

 ged ra.nge, dividing the lake valley from 

 the Ouse and Nineteen Lagoons district. 

 Futher south od the lake shore, about two 

 miles, there enters a fifth stream. Bran. 

 dum's Creek. This, and one or two still 

 smaller creeks to the north of Eeynold's 

 Creek, flow from the eastern face of the 

 Stony Tier. 



At first sight, this lofty range wonld ap- 

 pear to furnish an important watershed, 

 and the smallness of the creek flowing 

 from its slopes surprises one. The reason, 

 however, is plain, inasmuch as the range 

 lies out of the track of the hee.vy north- 

 west rains, and its sides, like those of the 

 Sand Bank Tier, on the east shore, are 

 mostly bare and made np of large fields of 

 talus, in comparison to which the 

 Ploughed Field of Mount Wellington is 

 a. pigmy. Consequently the water from 

 heav}'- falls of rain rushes down at once to 

 the lake, and there is no lodgment in 

 marshes and small morasses as along the 

 north side of the water. In fact, along 



this shore of the lake, as on the norths 

 numberless rills and streamlets intersect 

 the boggy slopes leading from the moun- 

 tains to the shore, and materially help to 

 augment the inflow after heavy rain. 



On the 



shore, between Breton's 



Eivulet and the large bight at the foot 

 of the Sand Bank Tier, there are no creeks 

 of any consequence until the north-east 

 corner of the bight is reached, where 

 there is a stream, bridged over by the Go- 

 vernment, v\-hich carries a good flow of 

 water after heavy rain, but normally has 

 but little water in it. It is to be regretted 

 that no opportunity was afforded us cf 

 gauging this creek. Beyond this at th& 

 southern corner of the bight, there is 

 Boggy Marsh Creek, still smaller; but 

 further south there are no creeks of any 

 consequence, e.nd the rainfall becomes 

 very n^uch reduced the more one ap- 

 proaches the extreme south of the lake. 



O'n the slopes of the Sand Bank Tier, 

 the fields of talus are more gigantic 

 than on the Stony Tier, and there 

 is no lodgment for water, with, also, less 

 rainfall than on the lacter. 



From the above outline we think it may 

 be gathered that, though there are no 

 large feeders at the north of the Great 

 Lake, the rivulets that do exist carry a 

 large body of water to the lake after 

 heavy rain, and that the clima,te is so wet 

 that the discharge from surrounding 

 mountains is of frequent occurrence 

 throughout the year, except v,^hen the lake 

 is frozen over. This happens every yea-r 

 between the latter end of May and the be- 

 ginning of July; occasionally, hovrever, a 

 thaw sets in In June or July, and the ice 

 is broken up by a gale, Avhen the discharge 

 into the lake from the melting snow, often 

 2ft. deep, is very considerable. 



During our stay of a fortnight we found 

 that the outflow by the Shannon at Swan 

 Bay was very small, and that the many 

 falls of rain at the north end had very 

 little effect on the water level at the soiith 

 end, only raising it a few inches. The 

 Shannon is dammed up half a mile from 

 the outlet, so as to keep the water in Swan 

 Bay at a convenient level for fishing pur- 

 poses. The dam has recently been broken 

 by ice floes in the spring, and at the time 

 of our visit had been repaired. The 

 water flows through the stones, there be- 

 ing no "spill," and below the structure, 

 where we could get a good section, the 

 stream was gauged. 



The effect, however, which a strong 

 wind, blowing either north or south, has 

 upon the lake level at the opposite end, is 

 remarkable. The lake being very shal- 

 low, in proportion to its great area, ana 

 the bottom being so extraordinarily levei, 

 a sea rises in a few minutes, one might ax- 

 most say, 'and the water being forced 



