122 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



point on the east coast of the Grand Traverse, a section 

 showed one feature of interest, which is common to all 

 the great lakes of the St. Lawrence basin. The summit 

 of the cliff, clothed with an inch or two of sandy loam, 

 exhibits an ancient lake beach, composed of water-worn 

 boulders, pebbles, and stratified sand, two feet thick. 

 This is underlaid by sixteen feet of stratified sand, contain- 

 ing limestone fragments, and boulders of the unfossiliferous 

 rocks ; it is Hanked by a talus of shingle, slabs and boul- 

 ders, among which, bright yellow, cream-coloured, and 

 beautifully variegated limestones are numerous. This 

 talus is the present shore of the lake, and the shingle, slabs, 

 and boulders have probably been washed out of the un- 

 stable cliff. Its breadth may reach sixty feet, with an 

 inclination of three to five feet from the level of the lake, 

 giving to the ancient beach at the summit an elevation of 

 twenty-one feet above the present level of Lake Winnipeg. 



About five miles further south, I ascended a cliff fifty 

 feet high, consisting of stratified sand and marl, in which 

 were embedded primitive boulders of most gigantic 

 dimensions : some of them measured twelve to fifteen 

 feet in diameter ; they were all water-worn, and distri- 

 buted throughout the cliff. On the surface, walking was 

 exceedingly difficult on account of their numbers and 

 size. Many of them were covered with the Virginian 

 creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia). The base of the cliff 

 was well protected by an immense accumulation of these 

 erratics, which had fallen from the loose sand of the cliff. 

 The temperature of the lake, six miles beyond this point, 

 was 64° 5V A heavy squall from the north-west com- 

 pelled us to approach the shore when within three miles 

 of the mouth of the Eed Eiver ; the waves rose with 

 great rapidity, as is usual in large, open, and shallow sheets 

 of water, compelling a hasty retreat among the willows 



