18 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN" EXPEDITION. 



distinguished from one another, Modiolopis parviuscula 

 (N.S.) *, is very numerous. 



On the north-east side of Punk Island, above the purple 

 sandstone mentioned as occurring at Big Grindstone 

 Point, a thin stratum of buff coloured limestone occurs, 

 possessing some peculiarities. On raising slabs there is 

 seen between each stratum a soft and very pure ochre 

 of a beautiful yellow colour ; it is found filling small 

 depressions in the limestone, and in layers, from one- 

 eighth to half an inch in thickness. The ochre, when 

 moist and fresh, is easily worked by the fingers, quite 

 destitute of gritty or hard particles, of an uniform pale 

 yellow colour, and when burned, of a beautiful cin- 

 nabar red. It is used by the Indians in both states as a 

 pigment ; the limestone in which it occurs is extremely 

 porous and often honey-combed. 



Sept. 2ith. - — At half-past 2 a.m., the wind being fair, 

 and the sky clear, we prepared to start. There was a 

 sharp frost during the night, and the thermometer regis- 

 tered 28°. We made the traverse of Great Washow Bay, 

 thirteen miles across, and breakfasted at a point half-way 

 between Bull's Head and Dog's Head. The limestone 

 cliffs here were about thirty feet high, and occupy the 

 coast from Bull's Head to Whiteway's Post, opposite the 

 Dog's Head. Where seen at breakfast, the coast is 

 fringed with broken masses, which lie piled one on the 

 other in picturesque confusion. Ascending the cliff, I 

 found large portions detached from the main body, form- 

 ing deep clefts or cracks. Some of these fissures were 

 twelve feet wide and twenty feet deep, others three feet 

 wide and of greater depth. Sometimes the fissures were 

 roofed with masses which had slipped forward, forming 



* See Chap, on the Silurian Series. 



