SUPERFICIAL GEOLOGY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 99 



probably been united at one time to these smaller islands and the 

 mainland by a floor of deposits at about this level, though there 

 is nothing to show that it has ever formed an actual land con- 

 nexion. 



c. Observations northward in the Strait of Georgia and at Bute Inlet. 



One hundred miles northward in the Strait, deposits similar to 

 those last described form scarped banks along the shores of Savory, 

 Hernando, Mary, the southern portion of Valdez Island and the 

 low eastern shore of Vancouver. Fragments of a terrace, estimated 

 from a distance to be from sixty to eighty feet in height, are seen 

 on the inner side of Stuart Island in the entrance of Bute Inlet, and 

 at one other place some miles up the inlet on the west side. No 

 higher terraces or accumulations of detrital matter were seen on 

 this part of the coast ; but Mr. Richardson mentions terrace-deposits 

 at heights between 100 and 200 feet in Kitemat Inlet, further north. 

 The remarkable rarity of terraces, however, and absence of drift- 

 material on the western slope of the coast-range, are among its 

 most striking features, contrasting strongly with the condition of 

 its inland margin. 



My opportunities for examining the remarkable fjords by which 

 the coast of the mainland is indented have been limited, the 

 only one ascended to the head being Bute Inlet. This chasm, 

 forty miles in length, and running into the centre of the coast- 

 range, is surrounded by mountains which, in some places, rise from 

 its borders in cliffs and rocky slopes to a height of from 6000 to 8000 

 feet. It must have been one of the many tributaries of the 

 great glacier of the Strait of Georgia, and accordingly shows 

 evidence of powerful ice-action. The islands about its mouth are 

 roches moutonnees, polished and ground wherever the original sur- 

 face has been preserved. In Sutil Passage, near its entrance, 

 grooving appears to run about S. 30° W. A precipitous mountain 

 on Yaldez Island, opposite Stuart Island, and directly blocking the 

 mouth of the inlet, though 3013 feet high, has been smoothed to 

 its summit on the north side, while rough towards the south. 

 The mountain-side above Arran Passage, shows smooth and glisten- 

 ing surfaces at least 2000 feet up its face ; and in general all the 

 mountains surrounding the fjord present the appearance of having 

 been heavily glaciated, with the exception of from 1000 to 2000 feet 

 of the highest peaks. The high summits are rugged and pointed, 

 and may either never have been covered by glacier-ice, or owe their 

 different appearance to more prolonged weathering since its dis- 

 appearance. In some places parallel flutings high up the mountain- 

 sides evidence the action of the glacier ; while in others it is only 

 attested by the general form of the slopes, or detected under certain 

 effects of light and shade. The mountain-sides are wonderfully 

 bare, and even wheD wooded have a very scanty covering of soil ; 

 so that after the natural forest has been destroyed by fire the 

 naked rock everywhere appears. At the mouth of the Howathco 

 river discharging into the head of Bute Inlet, striation shows a 



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