E. Petitot on the Athabasca District. 35 



The proximity of pisolites and considerable deposits of quart- 

 zose sand leads me to the belief that the bituminous matter exud- 

 ing from the black cliffs of the Athabasca is Pisasphaltum 

 areniferum, characteristic of the tertiaries. It flows in summer 

 in wide sheets from the schistose flanks of the cliff's down into the 

 river, mixing with the sands and solidifying so as to form a con- 

 glomerate, sometimes softened by the sun's rays and at others hard 

 and brittle, of which fragments detached by the waters are carried 

 down and deposited on the shores of the Athabasca-Mackenzie 

 system, where they could be mistaken for nodules of basalt. They 

 acquire an astonishing degree of hardness, and it is only by acci- 

 dent that their true origin is eventually discovered. 



The bituminous schists are replaced at intervals by a shell- 

 bearing limestone of dolomitic character, sometimes milky white. 

 From this I have extracted various fossils, including Terebratulce, 

 very small Belemnites, Atry pa reticular is , Cyrtina hamiltonesis 

 and C. umbraculosa. These limestone strata are undulating, 

 and occur both above and below the water-level. 



The shores of the Athabasca present an attractive sight. Far 

 from injuring plant-life, the presence of naphtha and the subter- 

 ranean fires seem to have imparted new vigour to it, so that the 

 lofty banks have their steep slopes covered with vigorous and 

 varied vegetation. Besides white pine, larch, aspen, and birch 

 (which gives its name to the Bark Mountain), the forest trees 

 here include, Virginian pine, cypress, Banks's pine, Weymouth 

 pine, balsam-poplar, alder, and many kinds of willow. 



Along its waters, discoloured by muddy matter and loaded 

 with deposits to such an extent as to be prejudicial to fish-life, I 

 have collected a large number of medicinal plants : Geum striatum 

 and rivale, Verbascum, Elce ig mis argentea (a very sweet-smelling 

 shrub whose berries are a great delicacy to bears), Lonicera par- 

 viflora, Cypripedium with its large golden lips, saxifrages, Poly- 

 gala, Erythronium dtns-canis, and beautiful scarlet lilies like the 

 Martagon, which would be an ornament to any garden. The 

 Indians are very fond of the bulbs of this latter plant, which the 

 Tinneys* call "Tele-nuie" (or Crane bread) and the Crees 



* Also variously written as Tinneh, 'Tinne, 'Dtinne, Dinne, Dine, Dinneh, 

 Dene,'&c. (meaning " men " or " people")— the great northern or Athabas- 

 can family of Indians. 



