On the Physical Geology of the United States, §c. 19 
country on the west, is scarcely any thing but one solid mass of 
rocks and stones, and in most parts is hilly.’* 
McKenzie says—‘ There is hardly one foot of soil to be seen 
from one end of French river to the other, its banks consisting 
of hills of entire rock.” ‘The coast of Turtle lake is the same, 
but lower.” ‘The country has the appearance of having been 
overrun by fire, and consists in general of huge rocky hills.”’+ 
Speaking of the country north of Lake Superior, he says— 
“The face of the country offers a wild scene of huge hills and 
rocks separated by stony valleys, lakes and ponds.’”’{ -After giv- 
ing a general view of the country northeast of the lakes, he 
says—‘ Of this great tract more than half is represented as barren 
and broken, displaying a surface of rock, and fresh-water lakes, 
with a very scanty proportion of soil. Such is the whole coast 
of Labrador, and the land called East Main, to the west of the 
heights which divide the waters running into the river and the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, from those flowing into Hudson’s Bay.’’$ 
Captain Cook, seeking a northwest passage, says—‘‘' The ap- 
pearance of the country (North America) in latitude 57° 3’ N., 
discovered little else than naked rocks.”|| Also—‘ The barren 
isles in latitude 59° N., are composed of naked rocks.’ ¥ 
The various travellers over the country within the United 
States between Lake Superior and the sources of the Mississippi, 
over a great breadth of country, give the same general characters 
of a rocky, barren, hilly region, with numerous small lakes.** 
The same general characters hold true of Norway, Sweden, 
Finland, Lapland and Iceland in the northern hemisphere ; and of 
New Zealand, Patagonia, Sandwich Land, Graham’s Land, &c., 
in the southern hemisphere. 
We perceive from these and other descriptions of travellers 
and voyagers, that in those parts of the earth where the polar 
currents would have the greatest velocity and least depth,ty the 
* Hearne’s Travels, p. 227. 
+ McKenzie’s Travels, pp. 36, 37. Vide also Hayden, Geol. Essays, pp. 72, 73. 
¢ McKenzie’s Travels, p. 49. 
§ McKenzie’s Travels, p. 426. 
|| Cook’s Voyoges, II, p. 186. 
1 Cook’s Voyages, II, p. 193. 
** Schooleraft’s Travels. Lieut. Allen's Report to Sec. of War, 1834, &c. 
tt Vide p. 17 of this article. 
