178 Dr. BiGSBY on the Geographt/ and Geology of Lake Huron. 



from 200 to 250 feet, and inclining on either side to the water ; but often pre- 

 senting- low white precipices in broken lines on the summit or sides of the 

 slopes. The low grounds are swamps, often extensive, and filled with mosses, 

 aquatic plants and decaying timber. 



The south coast of the island is broken into small but deep bays, with shoal 

 points ; and those on the west containing many islets, one of which has an 

 immense deposit of iron pyrites. 



The north coast is distinguished by the magnitude of its bays, and by the 

 groups of islands which crowd the contiguous waters. On one of these, 

 near Drummond, and 8 miles from Collier's Harbour, is the Indian town of 

 Portogannosee, consisting of log-huts and gardens of Indian corn and pota- 

 toes. The northern coast is terminated on the East, in the strait called the 

 False Detour, by a calcareous precipice of considerable beauty 500 yards long, 

 and 200 — 250 feet high. At the top it is a terrace of rock ; below it is sepa- 

 rated from the lake by a narrow shingle beach. This island produces very 

 fine maple of the bird's-eye and curled kinds, pines, hemlock, cedar, poplar, 

 and birch. Pew trees attain great size, as well from the scantiness of the soil 

 as from the frequent conflagrations *. 



The point which forms the west end of Drummond is the northern arm of 

 the bay containing Collier's Harbour, the most distant of the British military 

 posts. This harbour is circumscribed to the diameter of half a mile by islets, 

 surrounding the front of the bay, through which islets there are three en- 

 trances. It is oval, and possesses good anchorage ; but the wind, which brings 

 a vessel to anchor, either altogether prevents her departure, or renders it very 

 difficult; and there are also many reefs in the vicinity. 



On an acclivity in front of the harbour stands a village of about 50 wooden 

 houses and huts, with the barracks of the military built of logs on the right. 

 The land around the village is cleared. It is hilly, and is absolutely buried 

 under enormous accumulations of rocky fragments, consisting principally of 

 very white limestone. They are from a few inches to several yards in dia- 

 meter, and, at this place almost exclusively, contain the nondescript madre- 

 pore represented in PI. 28. Piles of these fragments, by their fissures and 

 interstices invested with thick moss, render the woods quite impassable. 



* These fires originate in lightning, or in the carelessness of Indians, and spread from the 

 great quantity of dry timber and leaves with which the ground is strewn. They are frequently 

 so extensive and numerous in summer, as to cloud the atmosphere as with a fog. In the night I 

 have seen throe or four large tracts red with a smouldering flame, which, as the trees fall, shoots 

 up in fiery columns far into the sky. The noise of the falling of the trees, and the crackling of 

 the timber, is heard at a great distance. 



