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PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Apr. 10, 



stood that these silent unclulatory movements of the land are con- 

 fined to the coasts and estuaries : they are manifest on the horders 

 of the rivers and the great lakes of Canada, and also on the tributaries 

 of the Mississippi. Slight shocks of earthquakes are common in 

 Canada and the United States ; but it does not appear, in the history 

 of those countries, that any material change in the relative levels of 

 certain tracts has been effected thereby. Admitting, however, 

 that earthquakes have been the cause of sudden sinkings and elevations 

 of the land, and which would produce anomalous results, there is a 

 slow and constant undulatory movement of the earth's surface, 

 which no doubt acts as much on the ocean's bed as upon the dry 

 land. 



2. On the Geology of the Country between Lake Superior and the 

 Pacipic Ocean (between the 48th and 54th parallels of latitude), 

 visited by the Government Exploring Expedition under the com- 

 mand of Captain J. Palliser (1857-60). By James Hector, M.D. 



(Communicated by Sir R. I. Murchison, V.P.Gr.S.) 



[Plate XIII.] 



Contents. 



Introduction. 



General Physical Features. 

 Superficial deposits. 



Terraces of the Lake Superior 

 Basin. 



Superficial deposits of the Central 

 Plateau. 



Terrace-deposits of the Mountains. 



Terraces in California. 



Age of the Terrace-deposits. 



Drift of the Pacific Coast. 

 Tertiaries. 

 Cretaceous System. 



Group F. 



Group E. 



Group D. 

 Group C. 

 Group B. 



Relation of the Cretaceous Series 



on the West. 

 Cretaceous Strata of Vancouver 

 Island and the Gulf of Georgia. 

 Details of the Strata at Na- 

 naimo. 



Paleozoic Rocks of the Eastern Axis. 



Silurian rocks. 

 Structure of the Rocky Mountains. 



Physical Character. 



Geological Structure. 

 The Cascade Range. 



Introduction. — In the spring of 1S57 Her Majesty's Government, 

 at the suggestion of the Royal Geographical Society, constituted an 

 expedition to explore the British Territories in North America lying 

 in the neighbourhood of the boundary-line of the United States, and 

 stretching westward from Lake Superior. Public attention was at 

 that time directed to the nature and resources of the vast territory 

 which had been ceded to the keeping of the Hudson's Bay Fur Com- 

 pany, as there was a prospect of its being to some extent thrown 

 open to colonization by the lapse of part of that Company's rights. 



Principally through the efforts of Sir Roderick Murchison (at that 

 time President of the Royal Geographical Society), General Sabine 

 (acting for the Royal Society), Sir W. Hooker and Dr. Hooker, and 

 of Mr. Ball (then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies), the Ex- 

 pedition was organized and committed to the charge of Captain 



