182 SAND-FLATS — NORTH END OF THE LAKE. 



to the northward, probably to the more favoured region of the Pan- 

 nack and the Port Neuf. 



The shore party did not reach camp until nearly ten o'clock 

 to-night, having been obliged to cross the extensive flat, some six 

 or eight miles wide, after the termination of a day's work of seven 

 miles of chain-line. They describe the country over which they 

 have passed to-day as a mud-flat, studded with slight elevations, 

 like islands, six or eight feet high, and covered with grease-wood 

 and artemisia. One single stream was passed, four feet wide and 

 one in depth, with gravelly bottom, the water of which was drink- 

 able. The rest was one barren, dreary waste, over which the 

 water of the lake had at one time flowed, and its gradual reces- 

 sion had left behind it nothing but solitude and desolation. 



Tuesday, May 14. — Engaged all this day in erecting two tri- 

 angulation stations ; one upon a projecting peak west of Turret 

 Rock, and another upon a high rocky clifi", about a mile north of 

 the camp. As no timber could be obtained within twenty miles, 

 both of these stations were constructed wholly of stone, laid up in 

 a conical form, upon the highest point of their respective peaks, 

 and covered with white cotton. This was a work of great labour, 

 as the stone was difficult to be obtained, and had to be laid with 

 great care to enable the station to resist the force of the violent 

 winds to which it would be exposed. I added to-day the accom- 

 plishment of laying stone-wall to my numerous other avocations, 

 and returned to camp thoroughly wearied, and with the skin of 

 my hands nearly worn through. 



The rock upon which the higher station was erected is part of a 

 ridge coming from the north, and terminating at this point in a 

 bold, rugged escarpment, commanding an extensive view to the 

 southward and westward. It consisted of a light-gray limestone, 

 very friable, and rapidly disintegrating. The rocks in the vicinity 

 are completely covered over with a casing of tufa, whigh has formed 

 upon them, adapting itself to all their irregularities. It is very 

 hard, and as the limestone underneath is constantly crumbling 

 away from it, numerous caves are forming, the roof and sides of 

 which consist of the tufa alone. The covering is from four to six 

 inches thick. In one spot I found the rock for a small space 

 thinly veneered with jade. Some broken specimens of Indian 

 pottery were found at this camp, and also some pieces of obsidian. 

 The latter, probably, had been procured elsewhere by the savages, 

 for making arrow-heads. 



