116 GE0EGE MEECEE DAWSON ON THE 



quarters in length, with a width of from one to two and a half or 

 three miles. It is slightly sinuous, the opposite sides generally 

 remaining parallel, deep, and in part surrounded by steep hills, 

 especially toward the lower end. The stream discharging Francois 

 Lake runs eastward to Eraser Lake, eleven miles in length ; and this, 

 again, sends its waters by a very short stream to the Nechacco at its 

 Great Beud. There is a remarkable absence of traces of ice-action 

 in the valley of Frangois Lake ; and though both shores were care- 

 fully examined, no more certain sign of glaciation than the general 

 foim of some rock-masses was seen. The nature of the rocks may 

 to some extent explain this ; but the material of the lake-shore is 

 remarkably local in character, being composed almost invariably of 

 the immediately underlying rock. Following the valley eastward, 

 however, at the lower end of Fraser Lake, on hard dioritic rocks, 

 marks of very forcible glaciation are found. Ice has here evidently 

 been pushing up out of the lake-bed, over a rock-surface, under great 

 pressure, and has been forced in some instances through little rocky 

 valleys at a considerable angle to its mean direction, which is 

 remarkably constant at S. 88° E. to S. 93° E. On nearly vertical 

 rock-faces on the northern side of the lake parallel grooving may be 

 seen to run eastward, and slope upward at a considerable angle to 

 the water-line. On flat surfaces near the shore, many instances of 

 preglacial rock-hollows, with rough western and rounded eastern 

 margins, were found. The glaciation continues apparent for some 

 miles beyond the eastern end of the lake ; and its direction is also 

 shown by the fact that blocks of the diorites have been carried 

 eastward until they overlie the newer basalts. 



I do not think any of the hills bordering Fraser Lake reach an 

 elevation of 1000 feet above it ; and its western half is surrounded 

 by low country. It is difficult, if not impossible, to account for the 

 glaciation, unless it be supposed that a glacier stretched thus far 

 from the Coast range, nearly one hundred miles distant. The 

 absence of boulders from the mountains in the immediate vicinity of 

 Frangois Lake is singular ; but that of the ordinary erratics, so plen- 

 tifully distributed over all this region, is equally exceptional. These 

 facts may perhaps be explained by supposing that the glacier swept 

 the valley completely clear of the debris due to the earlier drift, 

 while for some reason the material moving with the glacier itself 

 was very small in amount. 



This case and that of the Upper Nechacco do not give such in- 

 dubitable proof of the action of ice from the Coast range as those 

 before described in the region further south ; yet, taking into ac- 

 count the circumstances in both instances, they scarcely seem expli- 

 cable otherwise. From many other localities, however, in which 

 moraines of greater or less importance are preserved, it would ap- 

 pear probable that at one time accumulations of ice sufficient to 

 produce moraines by their movement lay as well on the more ele- 

 vated portions of the interior plateau. 



In all the moraines observed, the normal material differs little 

 from that of the Boulder-clay ; or when a difference obtains, it is in 



