332 



MINERALS AND GEOLOGY 



a general south-westerly direction towards the " Height of Land." 

 Moose River on the east, and Albany River on the west, flow mainly 

 within its limits. 



The area still remains practically unexplored, but it is known to 

 be underlaid around its more southern and western portion by cal - 

 careous strata of Upper Silurian age (resting immediately on the 

 Huronian and Laurentian rocks of the great Archaean region around 

 the Height of Land) ; and northerly and easterly, by Devonian 

 formations extending to the shores of the Bay. These paleozoic 

 strata, however, are almost entirely concealed by a thick surface 

 covering of Glacial and Post-Glacial clays. Where visible on Moose 

 River, the underlying rock, according to Dr. Bell (Report of 1875) 

 consists of bituminous grey and drab limestone, holding Devonian 

 fossils* and on the banks of this river Dr. Bell observed a deposit 

 of spathic-iron-ore weathering into brown hematite, and also grey and 

 white gypsiferous deposits. In. the post-glacial clays (Report for 

 1877) the same observer discovered a considerable bed of lignite, 

 varying in thickness from eighteen inches to six feet. These post- 

 glacial deposits contain also in many places detached crystals of 

 gypsum, (see page 131), and shells of my a truncata, tellina groen- 

 landica, saxicava rugosa (figs. 214, 215, 216, page 278), so character- 

 istic of the post-glacial deposits of Eastern Canada. 



Our knowledge of the country around James' Bay is derived 

 principally from the valuable Reports on Hudson's Bay by Dr. Bell 

 of the Geological Survey of Canada, but the region referre I to in 

 these Reports lies mostly beyond the area now under consideration, 

 and, indeed, beyond the Province of Ontario.! The following ex- 

 tract, however, from the Report for 1879 applies in chief part to the 

 present district. " To the south and south-west of James' Bay, in 

 the latitude of Devonshire and Cornwall, there is a large tract in 

 which much of the land is well-wooded, but although little or no rock 

 comes to the surface over an immense area, neither the soil nor the 



* In addition to the Devonian species cited in Dr. Bell's report, the author has fonnd in col- 

 lections made by the stipendiary magistrate, Mr. E. B. Borron Zaphrentis prolifica, Z. gigan- 

 tea, Cystiphyllum Senacaense, Amplexus lax:itus, Phxagmoceras (Hector ?), and the pygidium 

 of Daltnanites limulurus or a closely allied species. 



t Useful information may also be derived from the Report presented to the Ontario Govern- 

 ment by Mr. Borron, in 1882, on the portion of the Hudson's Bay basin lying within the pro- 

 vince boundary. 



