MURCHISON, ARCTIC GEOLOGY AND DRIFT-WOOD. 537 



believe, be made acquainted with the characters of the specimens 

 collected bj the Expedition under Sir Edward Belcher, who is 

 preparing a description of the natural-history products of his 

 survey. My chief object now is to call attention to the remark- 

 able 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 phenomenon, 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 Laud, Eglinton Island, Melville Island, 

 Prince-Patrick's Island, and Banks Land, where he joined 

 Capt. M'Clure ; specimens 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 Voyages of Parry, Franklin, 

 Back, Penny, Inglefield, and the recent work of Dr. Sutherland,* 

 I am led to believe that the oldest fossiliferons rock of the Arctic 

 region is the Upper Silurian, viz., a limestone identical in com- 

 position and organic contents with the well-known rocks of 

 Wenlock, 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 observed in very many localities by various explorers, 

 and which possibly may belong to that formation. Thus, in 

 North Somerset, to the south of Barrow Strait, red sandstone is 

 associated with the older limestones. Byam-Martin Island was 

 described by Parry as essentially composed of sandstone, with 

 some granite and felspathic rocks ; and, whilst the north-eastern 

 face of Banks Land is sandstone, 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 Silurian 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 Spiriferi have been brought 

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

 Channel ; and hence we may affirm positively that the true Car- 

 boniferous rocks are also present. Here and there bituminous 

 shale 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 greenstone associated with siliceous or 

 quartzose rocks and coarse ferruginous 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. Highly crystalline 



* See above, pp. 532, &c. 



