636 ALFRED W. G. WILSON 



the main divide is again located on the peneplain, separating the 

 Mackenzie River system from a number of river systems whose 

 main direction of flow is a little to the east of north for nearly 

 half their courses, and then eastward in broad, open valleys 

 toward Hudson Bay. 



It has already been noted that in central Labrador the main 

 divide has a highest elevation of about 2,400 feet. South of 

 James Bay the elevation of the main divide on the peneplain is 

 about 1,400 feet above sea-level, as a maximum; in places it is 

 somewhat lower. North of Schreiber it has an elevation of about 

 1,345 feet. East of Lake Winnipeg (710') the sub-divide at the 

 headwaters of the Berens River stands at about 1,400 feet above 

 the sea. In the interior, north of the Churchill River, the 

 elevation in places exceeds 1,600 feet. The divide north of 

 Lake Athabasca stands at an elevation of about 1,400 feet. 



Dr. A. E. Barlow, in his report on the Nipissing and Temis- 

 caming map sheets, thus describes the topography of a portion 

 of the central part of the peneplain to the south of James Bay: 



The general character of the country may perhaps be best described as 

 that of an uneven or undulating rocky plateau, with a gentle slope toward 

 the east and southeast. Although in detail the surface of this plateau is far 

 from uniform, consisting of a succession of more or less parallel rocky ridges, 

 with intervening valleys occupied by swamps or lakes, still the district as a 

 whole has a general elevation varying from 900 to 1,200 feet above the sea. 

 There are no very prominent hills, the highest seldom attaining a greater 

 altitude than 300 feet above the surrounding region, while throughout most 

 of the district, hills of 50 to 100 feet in height are rather conspicuous topo- 

 graphical features. The highest land in the whole area is situated near the 

 northwest corner of the Temiscaming sheet, immediately to the west of Lady 

 Evelyn (Mus-ka-na-ning) Lake, where a range of hills, of which Maple 

 Mountain is the highest peak, rises to the height of a little over 2,000 feet 

 above the sea, according to Dr. Bell. 



The influence exerted by the underlying rock on the general contour of 

 the surface, is perhaps nowhere better exemplified than in the region 

 embraced in this report. In the southern ^nd southeastern portions, where 

 the prevailing rocks are the various gneisses and granites included as Lau- 

 rentian, there are no hills of any great height, the general surface presenting, 

 as usual, a rather monotonous succession of low rounded hills, with corres- 

 ponding shallow rock)' valleys. In the northern and western portion, however,, 

 those areas in which the quartzites are present, as well as those in which the 



