10 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 



The resemblance of the loose blocks to those on which they rest, sug- 

 gests the belief, that they are the more durable remains of the covering 

 stratum, which has been destroyed by the long continued action of 

 the atmosphere. Extensive alluvial formations occurred on the line 

 of the first journey made by Capt. Franldin, such as lakes filled up 

 by deposits from rivers, and the gradual waste of mountains, washed 

 down by torrents, besides alluvial peninsulas formed by the action of 

 the sea. 



III. Melville Island, Port Bowen, ane the coasts of Prince 

 Regent's Inlet. 



Winter Harbor, on Melville Island, is the most western point ever 

 navigated in the polar sea from the eastern entrance. It is in N. lat. 

 74° 26' and W. long. 113° 46'. The lengtli of Melville Island is 

 one hundred and thirty five miles from E. N. E. to S. S. W. : breadth 

 forty or fifty miles. Sandstone in columnar precipices, and in some 

 instances ranges of sandstone in their horizontal strata, were the only 

 mineral substances noticed in Melville Island. 



Po7't Bowen and the coasts of Prince Regenfs Inlet. 



Secondary limestone forms both sides of Prince Regent's Inlet, 

 Its colors are ash grey and yellowish grey, more or less inclining to 

 ochre yellow and yellowish brown. The external appearances inti- 

 mate its magnesian character. It is every where distinctly stratified, 

 and the strata are horizontal. Imbedded in tliem are found masses 

 of chert and various organic remains. On the hills, and on the sur- 

 face of a brick red limestone, were found masses of fibrous brown 

 iron ore, also coal of a brown color. 



Gypsum. 



On the west side of Prince Regent's Inlet, deep beds of gypsum 

 extend thirty miles through the country, associated with a limestone 

 which, when near the gypsum, abounds in organic remains. All die 

 varieties of this gypsum are of a snow white, and of these the granu- 

 lar foliated, the fibrous, and selenite were met with, but nottlie com- 

 pact. The universal horizontality of its strata, its magnesian char- 

 acter, its brown hematite, and its fossil organic remains, indicate that 

 it belongs to the first secondary limestone.* 



* Jameson's notes on the geology of Port Bowen. 



