﻿1861.] 



HECTOR ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 



445 



while the river has gradually carried down the fragments so as to 

 form the long rapid. The river was thus dammed back all the way 

 to the Dalles, and submerged the forests along its banks, the stumps 

 of which are still to be seen sticking out of the water at a distance of 

 several hundred yards from the shore. The stumps of the submerged 

 trees are of a species that never grows near water ; and as the other 

 conditions of the story agree remarkably well, I am inclined to think 

 there may be some truth in it. It was told me, as we were passing 

 the spot, by a fellow-passenger who had been a long time among 

 the natives as an American Indian agent ; and I have since heard 

 it from gentlemen who have been twenty-five years in that country 

 in the Hudson Bay service. 



In descending from the Cascades to Vancouver, stratified rocks 

 are seen perched on the flanks of the mountains, among which 

 is a group of strata of a bright vermilion colour. Along the valley 

 of the river there are also strata of tufaceous sandstone and clay 

 which are only slightly disturbed. At the Cascades the beds attain 

 a considerable thickness and contain large fragments of silicified 

 wood. The scenery of the Lower Columbia before reaching the flat 

 district around Fort Vancouver is exceedingly fine, the river pass- 

 ing, successively, bold promontories more than 1000 feet in height, 

 and sometimes under lines of cliff over which rivulets pour as cas- 

 cades from a height of 600 feet. Between the Olympic or Coast 

 Range, which stretches to Cape Flattery, and the Cascade Range, the 

 great valley of Puget Sound is continued south as far as latitude 44°, 

 first as far as the Columbia River by the Cowlitz Valley, and then by 

 the valley of the Willamette, and presents a long strip of valuable 

 country, which forms the only good part of Oregon and Washington 

 territories. The River Columbia crosses this strip of country, only 

 conforming to its direction for a short way from Vancouver to the 

 Cowlitz. 



Of the Olympic Range I believe nothing is known ; but, as viewed 

 from Puget Sound, the outline of these mountains reminded me in a 

 striking manner of that of the exterior ranges of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, where they are composed of plications of stratified rocks. 



I have previously mentioned the metamorphic rocks, with beds of 

 crystalline limestone, that form the mass of Vancouver Island ; and 

 for further interesting details respecting the south end of the island, 

 reference may be made to Mr. Bauerman's paper, published in the 

 Society's Journal, Nov. 1859. 



April 24, 1861. 



Daniel Mackintosh, Esq., Chichester, and Richard Payne Cotton, 

 M.D., F.R.C.P. Lond., 46 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, were elected 

 Fellows. 



The following communications were read : — 



VOL. XVII. PART I. 2 H 



