[ ,2 9 ] 
likewife an imperfedl traditional account of the 
deluge ; only they fubftitute a beaver for the dove. 
With refpedt to the foil and its produce of the vege- 
table kind, I can add very little to what I faid on my 
firft coming on Ihore. As to corn, I am well con- 
vinced, that about Churchill it will produce none, ex- 
cept oats.: thofe, from a trial which I have feen, I be- 
lieve might be brought to fome tolerable degree of 
perfection in time, and with proper culture. Its in- 
ternal contents are, I believe, chiefly rocks ; there are, 
however, many of them marble, and fome very fine. 
I have alfo fpecimens of copper, copper ore, mundic, 
fpars, talk (different from the Mufcovite), and feveral 
pyrites ; for the greater part of which, I am indebted 
to Mr. Jacobs, chief, and Mr. Hutchins, furgeon at 
York Fort 5 from whom I received many favours. 
The air in this country is very feldom, if ever, 
clear for twenty-four hours together ; but we were 
not fo much troubled with fogs as I expeded we 
fhould be, from the accounts which I had read of 
the country* and from what we experienced in our 
voyage out : but in this point, as well as every other 
which refpedts the weather, the journal which we 
kept will, I prefume, be moft fatisfaclory. 
. I have before mentioned the haze which is con- 
tinually found near the horizon here. This, I ap- 
prehend, is the caufe why the fun’s riling is always- 
preceded by two long ftreams of red light, one on 
each fide of him, and about 20° diftant therefrom. 
Thefe rife as the fun rifes ; and as they grow longer, 
begin to be infleCted towards each other, till they 
meet direClly over the fun, juft as he rifes, forming 
there a kind of parhelion, or mock-fun. Thefe two 
Vol, LX. S ft reams 
