GEOLOGY AND SCENERY OF NORTHEAST COAST 93 



in Labrador. For at least fifty miles along the coast from 

 Ford Harbour northward, and for many miles inland, the 

 older formations of the range were in some manner displaced 

 by a huge body of molten rock. This enormous mass 

 crystallized into a solid rock precisely analogous to common 

 granite in having solidified under a cover of older, over- 

 lying schists or strata. The latter have since been worn 

 away, and to-day the once deeply buried " intrusive" body 

 is visible in mountain stubs covering hundreds of square 

 miles. The rock is called "gabbro"; in composition it is 

 often similar to basalt, the commonest of lavas, i.e. such rocks 

 as have been erupted at the earth's surface from volcanic 

 vents. Like basalt, the gabbro has a specially dark colour, 

 that which dominates the island-cliffs and mainland-moun- 

 tains of the region about Nain. These highlands are bare 

 of both soil and vegetation, and the black slopes impress 

 the eye with a sense of sombre, almost terrible, majesty 

 even greater than is given by their mere altitude and savage 

 sculpturing. Aulatsivik Island ("The Ruler") and Paul's 

 Island, lying in a whole archipelago of smaller, rounded, 

 hummocky islands or ragged skerries, offer numerous land- 

 ing-places where the formation can be studied. 



As in other occurrences within the Canadian Archean, 

 the gabbro is chiefly made up of a wonderfully beautiful 

 mineral, a feldspar, first recognized as a distinct species 

 during the examination of hand-specimens brought many 

 years ago to Europe from Paul's Island. The species was 

 called "labradorite" in its first description, and the name 

 is still employed to signify one of the main constituents 

 of the earth's crust. It is predominant not only in gabbro 

 and gabbro-like rocks, but as well in the bulk of the world's 



