through cycles of alternate ■ l«-n u<I;i t-i> hi and shifting, alter- 

 nated with periods of stability and vegetation. 



The Peat Beds.— These are interesting, chiefly because 

 of their wide extent and their depth. They are formed 

 chieflly in and close to the sand dune country, but may be 

 met with in almost any part of the island, being a product 

 of the general stagnation of water circulation. They con- 

 tain a small percentage of drift sand, and for a depth of at 

 least eight feet are quite soft and unconsolidated. The 

 bracken fern which is very abundant on the island seems 

 to have provided most of the material for the peat, but 

 numerous marsh weeds and rushes grow luxuriantly upon 

 them and help to retard what little surface drainage there 



The Monazite Sand of Fraser River.— On the east coast 

 at the mouth of the Fraser River there is a peculiar deposit 

 of black sand, containing monazite and tin. From a hurried 

 survey the deposit seems to be about a mile in length, and 

 from 50 - 100 yards in width. It is adjacent to and parallel 

 with the beach. There seems no evidence to show that it 

 is a fluviatile deposit, and the sand at present brought 

 down by the Fraser River is quite distinct. The fact that 

 it is in a narrow belt parallel to the present coast line and 

 but thinly covered with sand leads one to suppose that it is 

 a littoral deposit, the material being provided by a pegmatite 

 vein close inshore, and finally sharing in the supposed 

 recent elevation. The sand is black and heavy and would 

 easily be concentrated by wave action, it contains a few 

 pebbles chieily of quartz, much waterworn. The monazite 

 i3 present as very line sand and an attempt has been made 

 to recover it on a commercial scale, but without marked 

 success. Its content of thorium is sufficient to make the 

 concentrates appreciably radioactive, but no other meas- 

 urements have been make by the writer. 



