﻿1851.] 



BIGSBY ON CANADIAN ERRATICS. 



227 



The labradorite is often met with on the eastern coast of this lake, 

 as well as in Lake Simcoe ; in a southerly direction from whence it is 

 noticed in decreasing quantities for thirty miles, as far as Lake On- 

 tario ; and even at the outlet of this latter lake, nearly 300 miles to 

 the south-east, a few blocks of this well-marked rock may be seen ; 

 to this last-named locality, however, it may come from Bathurst on 

 the N.E. 



The water-margin of the cairn-like island called the Giant's Tomb, 

 four and a half miles from the Christian Isles, struck me as being re- 

 markable. Its north shore is scraped clean to the rocks by the 

 waves, which wash the very roots of the bushes ; the east beach has 

 a thick coating of fine sand, while the south and west sides of the 

 island are covered with vast numbers of transported blocks only, 

 which are of great size. They consist of labradorite, syenite, gneiss, 

 hornblende- rock, and flat pieces of fossiliferous limestone. 



If we cross northwards from the Giant's Tomb to some islets, 

 scarcely half a mile distant, we entirely lose the limestone. 



The Military Station of Penetanguishene, hard by in Gloucester 

 Bay, takes its name from the high sand-hills, with blocks of granite 

 and trap, with which it is surrounded. 



I am but little acquainted with the south-east coast of Lake Huron ; 

 which is, however, extremely well worth examination. 



Of the great curvature, called Notawasaga Bay, sixty miles round, 

 I know only the north wing, from the Christian Isles to the river 

 Notawasaga, not quite one-half. 



The adjacent land here, which is well-timbered, rises rapidly to the 

 height of 300 feet or more, presenting two or three distinct ledges of 

 horizontal rock, faced with a thin covering of sandy soil. In various 

 places between Penetanguishene and Lake Simcoe, there are mounds 

 of sand ; some of which have been recently opened, and each has 

 been found to be the receptacle of hundreds of Indian skeletons, with 

 many kettles, wampum, &c, — perhaps the result of savage warfare 

 200-300 years ago*. 



Whilst the ordinary line of coast on the north side of this bay ex- 

 hibits only low round sand-hills, and not many primitive boulders, 

 these latter beset the little points and angles in great numbers ; the 

 boulders are sometimes of several tons weight, and similar in kind to 

 those met with on the Isle of the Giant's Tomb, — from the N. and 

 N.W. 



The river Notawasaga, in its course from the east, affords many 

 beautiful sections of the country for twenty miles from its mouth. 



In the right bank of this river, about twelve miles from its mouth, 

 and three miles below the commencement of its rapids, there are two 

 horizontal layers (each 4 or 6 inches thick) of large shells, closely 

 packed, of the genus Unio ; this genus is common in Lake Huron at 

 the present day, but the recent specimens have not such thick shells 

 as the fossil species. The beds are one or two feet apart, and are 

 buried under a sand-hill, which is from 80 to 150 feet high, and 

 through which the river forces its way. The shells are in various 

 *" Assistant-Surgeon Bawtree, in Jamieson's Journal, vol. xliv. p. 87. 



