RISING OF THE LAND AROUND HUDSON BAY. 361 



as the land was rising above tlie sea, and we are forced to adopt this 

 obvious view of the case. 



In support of the paroxysmal tide theory, it is related that once dur- 

 ing a northern gale the tide was forced as high as the front gate in the 

 palisaded inclosure at Eupert House, near the head of James Bay, and 

 it is added that this would be equivalent to a height of about 30 feet. 

 When at Eupert House last summer, I could hear no authentic account 

 of such an extraordinary rise in the water, and, besides, the gate referred 

 to did not appear to be more than 15 feet above the sea level. But 

 even if such a great rise in the water had once occurred at this place, 

 it would prove nothing in regard to the raised beaches on the long 

 straight shore out on the open sea. Hudson Bay is about 1,000 miles 

 long and its outline is funnel-shaped, with James Bay representing the 

 contracted extremity. Eupert House is situated near the end of this 

 narrow continuation, so that just here we should expect very high 

 water with a spring tide and northern gales driving the sea in from the 

 broad expanse outside and heaping it up at the extremity of the con- 

 stantly narrowing termination. 



The gravel terraces seen at various elevations around the coves and 

 upon the thousands of small islands along the east coast of James Bay 

 are remarkably sharp and well preserved and almost as fresh-looking 

 as if they had been formed but yesterday. They are generally bare of 

 trees or bushes and the yet smooth surface pebbles are only partially 

 covered by lichens. Similar terraces may be seen farther north on this 

 coast and in Hudson Strait, wherever material exists out of which they 

 may be formed. On Marble Island the raised beaches are very plainly 

 visible on account of the whiteness of their smooth quartzite shingle. 



On the west side of Hudson Bay the land is generally too low to 

 admit of the relatively higher sea levels of former times having been 

 recorded in the shape of terraces near the present shore line, but if we 

 go back into the woods we shall find unmistakable evidence of the 

 existence of such higher levels at comparatively recent periods. These 

 consist of long, low ridges of drifted materials, such as we see in a 

 fresher state at the present high-tide mark. They are made up of 

 driftwood and other vegetable debris in a comijletely decayed condi- 

 tion, covered by moss and having trees and shrubs growing upon them. 

 In some places we may still trace the forms of the larger trunks which 

 had been cast ashore by the waves at high tide. Between these ridges 

 and the present shore there is a thick growth of the coniferous forest 

 and the ground is carpeted with moss, over which the tide has never 

 passed. Examj)les of these low ridges may be seen near the head of 

 tide water at the mouth of Nelson Eiver, at Attawapishkat Eiver, and 

 in places between the latter and Albany Eiver. 



To the west and southwest of James Bay the till, covering the nearly 

 flat Silurian and Devonian rocks, is generally overspread by stratified 

 clays. Marine shells are found in these up to an elevation ot 400 to 



