£. B. Delabarre, Ph. D. 209 



the glacial erratics which are plentifully strewn along the 

 coast in the vicinity of Nain. The opportunity of collecting 

 from the rock in place at Mr. Taber's quarry was highly 

 prized. The microscopical and chemical diagnosis of this 

 and other rocks in our summer's collection is not yet com- 

 pleted. 



The Kaumajet mountain group not only affords some 

 wonderfully beautiful scenic effects, but is to the geologist 

 instructive as well. Ogua'lik, Cape Mugford, the Bishop's 

 Mitre, are all part of an extensive area of slates, sandstones, 

 conglomerates, limestones, and, much surpassing these in 

 thickness, lava flows, volcanic tufts and breccias, — a series 

 of well-bedded rocks which rest directly on the truncated 

 edges of the gneisses of the crystalline complex. This "un- 

 conformity" between the gently dipping younger formation 

 of sombre hue and the light gray gneissic basement is truly 

 spectacular. The slightly sinuous line of contact between 

 the two formations may be followed for miles on the bold 

 clifTs in and about Mugford Tickle. It represents an ancient 

 land-surface, buried now under twenty-five hundred feet of 

 marine and volcanic strata of unknown but certainly great 

 age. From this thick rock-blanket, atmospheric and glacial 

 erosion have carved the picturesque Kaumajets as we see 

 them to-day, while the same agencies have fashioned even 

 more fantastic peaks and valleys in the gneissic basement 

 at the Nanuktuks, where the rock-cover has been com- 

 pletely swept away. 



During our two-weeks' stay at Nachvak Bay, I was able 

 to construct a sketch-contour map of the inlet, and by a 

 series of soundings to demonstrate that it is a true fiord and 

 one of the best types in eastern America. With a maximum 



