NOVEMBER 12, 1897.] 
of traverse, and it is illustrated by a number of 
views showing the character of the country, 
among them one of the Grand Falls of the 
Hamilton River, concerning which there was 
‘so much discussion a few years since. 
The peninsula may be described as a high 
rolling plateau having a general elevation of 
from 1,600 to 1,800 feet, the surface sloping rap- 
idly down towards the Atlantic and Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, but much more gently toward 
James Bay. To the north of Nain the high 
land of the coast rises in sharp unglaciated 
mountains to the height of from 2,500 to proba- 
bly 6,000 feet. 
One of the most remarkable physical features 
of the country are the deep caions or fjords 
followed by all the rivers draining the interior 
where they cut through the margin of the pe- 
ninsula and run out to sea. These have rock 
walls from 1,000 to 4,000 feet in height, while 
the river channels are from 10 to 100 fathoms 
deep. They appear to be valleys of deunda- 
tion and are of very ancient origin, antedating 
the Cambrian, undisturbed horizontal beds of 
this age being found deposited upon their 
lower levels. The gorges of the Hamilton, 
Sandwich and Kaipokok might be cited as ex- 
amples, as well as those of the Moisir and Sag- 
uenay, discharging into the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. 
About nine-tenths of Labrador is underlain 
by rocks of Laurentian age, and, like all the 
rest of the glaciated Laurentian country, the 
plateau is studded with myriads of lakes, great 
and small, which are estimated to occupy at 
least one-fourth of the total surface, and which 
are drained by a network of streams discharg- 
ing into the deep fjords above referred to. The 
peninsula is underlain exclusively by the oldest 
rock systems of the earth’s crust, the Lauren- 
tian, Huronian and Cambrian, besides certain 
rocks of intrusive origin. The Laurentian 
rocks differ in no essential particular from those 
found elsewhere in Canada. Both the Funda- 
mental Gneiss and the Grenville Series are 
largely represented, the latter running in wide 
and persistent bands across the country and con- 
sisting of micaceous gneisses and schists, quartz- 
ites, crystalline limestone, etc., often holding 
graphite. Great anorthosite intrusions cut 
SCIENCE. 
741 
these rocks, and from certain of these intru- 
sions is derived the precious labradorite. 
The Huronian is represented by several 
widely separated areas of clastic and volcanic 
rocks, together with many basic eruptives. 
They consist of schists of various kinds, with 
conglomerates, breccias, diorites and other rocks. 
The Laurentian and Huronian are intensely 
folded, the folding having taken place at a time 
long prior to the deposition of the sedimentary 
beds of Cambrian Age, and a sufficiently long 
time had elapsed, as has been mentioned, be- 
tween the period of folding and the Cambrian 
submergence to permit of enormous denuda- 
tion and erosion. 
The Cambrian strata, which rest uncomform- 
ably upon the Laurentian and Huronian, con- 
sist of bedded sandstones, argillites, shales and 
limestones, along with bedded traps and other 
voleanic rocks and enormous deposits of excel- 
lent iron ore, whose mode of occurrence is 
closely analogous to that of the iron ores of 
Michigan and Wisconsin. 
The surface of the country is mantled with 
drift, and there is distinct evidence that the 
whole Labrador peninsula, except a narrow 
strip of very high land along the North At- 
lantic coast, was completely buried in ice dur- 
ing a portion at least of the glacial period. 
The movement of the ice was outward in all 
directions from a central gathering ground. 
The position of this névé field was about mid- 
way between the east and west coast of the 
peninsula and between latitudes 53° and 55°, 
and the area is now characterized by the pres- 
ence of partially rounded boulders and angular 
blocks of rock scattered over hill and hollow. 
Most of these repose on rocks of the same 
petrographical character as themselves and 
have evidently been transported but very short 
distances from their original positions. They 
probably represent boulders of decomposition 
but slightly modified by subsequent ice action. 
The various sorts of drift and the forms as- 
sumed by the drift are described, although a” 
detailed study of these was impossible, owing 
to the dense forest growth which covers the 
greater part of the area. There is distinct evi- 
dence of a past glacial uplift, which, however, 
it is believed was not equal all around the coast, 
