1855.] MURCHISON ARCTIC REGIONS. 537 



My chief object now is to call attention to the remarkable fact of 

 the occurrence of considerable quantities of wood, capable of being 

 used for fuel or other purposes, which exist in the interior, and on 

 the high grounds of large islands in latitudes where the dwarf willow 

 is now the only living shrub. 



Before I allude to this phsenomenon, as brought to my notice by 

 Capt. M'Clure and Lieut. Pirn, I would, however, briefly advert to 

 a few rock-specimens collected by the latter officer in Beechey Island*, 

 Bathurst Land, Eglinton Island, Melville Island, Prince Patrick's 

 Island, and Banks's Land, where he joined Capt. M'Clure, — speci- 

 mens which we ought to value highly, seeing that they were saved 

 from loss under very trying circumstances. 



From this collection, as well as from other sources to which I have 

 had access, as derived from the voyages of Parry, Franklin, Back, 

 Penny, Inglefield, and the recent work of Dr. P. Sutherland, I am 

 led to believe that the oldest fossiliferous rock of the Arctic region is 

 the Upper Silurian, viz. a limestone identical in composition and 

 organic contents with the well-known rocks of Weniock, Dudley, 

 and Gothland. 



No clear evidence has been afforded as to the existence of Devonian 

 rocks, though we have heard of red and brownish sandstone, as ob- 

 served in very many locaUties by various explorers, and which pos- 

 sibly may belong to that formation. Thus, in North Somerset, to 

 the south of Barrow Straits, red sandstone is associated with the 

 older limestones. Byam Martin Island was described by Parry as 

 essentially composed of sandstone, with some granitic and felspathic 

 rocks ; and, whilst the north-eastern face of Banks's Land is sand- 

 stone, its north-western cliffs consist (as made known by Capt. 

 M'Clure) of limestone. But whilst in the fossils we have keys to 

 the age of the Sdurian rocks, we have as yet no adequate grounds 

 whereon to form a rational conjecture as to the presence of the Old 

 Red Sandstone, or Devonian group. 



True Carboniferous Producti and Sjnriferi have been brought 

 home by Sir E. Belcher from Albert Land, north of Wellington 

 ('hannel ; and hence we may affirm positively, that the true Car- 

 boniferous rocks are also present. Here and there bituminous schist 

 and coal are met with ; the existence of the latter being marked at 

 several points on the general chart published by the Admiralty. 

 With the palseozoic rocks are associated others of igneous origin and 

 of crystalline and metamorphosed character. Thus, from Eglinton 

 Island to the south of Prince Patrick's Island, first defined by the 

 survey of Capt. Kellett and his officers, we see concretions of green- 

 stone, associated with siliceous or quartzose rocks and coarse ferru- 

 ginous grits ; and in Princess Royal Island, besides the characteristic 

 Silurian limestones, there are black basalts and red jaspers, as well as 

 red rocks, less altered by heat, but showing a passage into jasper. 



* The reader is referred to the Geological Sketch-Map, PI. XIV. {vide supra, 

 p. 497), illustrating Mr. Isbister's paper on the Geology of the Northernmost 

 parts of America, for a general view of the distribution of the crystalline rocks, 

 Silurian limestones, and coal-bearing deposits of the Arctic lands. 



