12 



although this term implies that it has had its origin in 

 long continued processes of sub-aerial denudation. In 

 how far these processes have contributed to the formation 

 of the plain or have been assisted by marine erosion are 

 questions which remain unanswered. 



The depressions in the surface of the country give 

 it a decidedly hilly or rolling appearance, but its character 

 as a great peneplain is at once recognized when the land- 

 scape is viewed from any of the higher points in the area, 

 when the sky-line will be seen to be flat and even around 

 the whole horizon, its uniformity being rarely interrupted 

 by low monadnocks. It is impossible on this excursion 

 for the party to visit any of the highest points in the area, 

 but the even character of the skyline to the north and 

 east will be seen from a point on lot 29, con. IV in the 

 township of Glamorgan. But, while the plain appears 

 very even, viewed from any one point of outlook, it is not 

 quite horizontal. From the south-western part of the area, 

 where this plain emerges from underneath the Palaeozoic 

 cover, it gradually rises toward the north and attains a 

 maximum elevation of 1,500 feet (457 m.) above sea level 

 near the northern limit of the Haliburton sheet, the gradient 

 in this interval being from 63^2 to 8 feet per mile (1-24 

 to 1-52 m. per km.). The depressions in the surface of 

 the plain are shallow. It is very unusual indeed, in any 

 part of the area, to find hills whose summits (representing 

 the surface of the plain) rise as much as 200 feet (61 m.) 

 above the river or lake at their base. 



One of the most characteristic landscape features of 

 this region, as of most other parts of the great Northern 

 Protaxis in Canada, is the immense number of lakes, 

 great and small, which are scattered over its surface. 

 Some 525 lakes occur in the area of 4,200 square miles 

 (10,500 sq. km.) embraced by the Haliburton and Bancroft 

 map-sheets, that is to say, there is on an average one lake to 

 every eight square miles of surface. These lakes range 

 in size from comparatively large ones, like Hollow lake, 

 which has an area of 22 square miles (55 sq. km.), to small 

 ponds which cover only a fraction of a square mile. They 

 discharge in a multitude of streams which, with the lakes, 

 form a wonderful series of waterways by means of which, 

 it is possible to traverse the area by canoe in almost any 

 direction, without making portages of any great length. 



