CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  GREAT  NORTHERN  INTERIOR  OF  CANADA. 
SUMMARY   OF  LITERATURE. 
Steinhauer,1  in  1814,  gives  localities  for  labradorite  on  the  coast 
of  Labrador. 
McCullogh,2  in  1819,  describes  as  coming  from  Baffin  Bay,  70° 
37',  granite,  gneiss,  and  graywacke  schist. 
Richardson,3  in  1823,  describes  clay  slate  as  occurring  in  the  north- 
ern arm  of  Great  Slave  Lake.  North  of  Great  Slave  Lake  the  granite 
formation  continues  for  a  considerable  distance  toward  Fort  Enter- 
prise, but  foreign  beds  increase  in  amount  northward.  In  this  region 
in  places  mica  slate  prevails  and  in  other  places  the  granite  contains 
beds  of  mica  slate.  Gneiss  appears  to  exist  throughout  the  great 
district  to  the  east  of  Coppermine  River.  About  Fort  Enterprise 
are  numerous  hills  capped  by  red  granite,  aroUnd  which,  on  the 
acclivities,  gneiss  is  wrapped  in  mantle  form.  The  rocks  of  this 
district  include  granite,  micaceous  and  hornblendic  gneiss,  greenstone, 
mica  slate,  and  clay  slate.  At  Point  Lake  are  found  graywacke  slate, 
clay  slate,  and  Transition  greenstone  slate,  as  well  as  Transition  con- 
glomerate, the  fragments  of  which  appear  to  consist  of  the  same 
material  as  the  bases.  In  the  part  of  the  region  of  Coppermine 
River  between  Point  Lake  and  the  sea  are  found  granite,  syenite, 
gneiss,  clay  slates,  and  hills  of  trap.  North  of  latitude  66°  45'  11" 
are  found  red  and  gray  sandstones,  compact  feldspar  rock,  granular 
foliated  limestone,  trap  rock,  and  greenstone  which  constitutes  the 
Copper  Mountains.  In  these  mountains  are  amygdaloids  which 
contain  amygdules  of  pistacite  and  calc  spar,  scales  of  copper  being 
generally  disseminated  through  the  rock.  In  this  region  were  also 
found  masses  of  native  copper  and  prehnite.  The  shores  of  Bathurst 
Inlet  are  partly  of  granite  and  gneiss  and  partly  of  later  rocks.  On 
the  road  from  Bathurst  Inlet  to  Point  Lake  and  Fort  Enterprise, 
beyond  Hoods  River,  the  rocks  are  entirely  gneissic  or  granitic. 
Parry,4  in  1824,  found  granitic  and  gneissic  rocks  to  occupy  the 
whole  southern  part  of  the  east  shore  of  Melville  Peninsula  and  to 
continue  northward  behind  a  tract  of  limestone  country,  forming  a 
range  of  mountains  in  the  center  of  the  peninsula  to  Hecla-and-Fury 
Strait.  They  also  form  the  south  shore  of  this  strait,  most  of  the 
islands  adjacent  to  it,  and  apparently  the  whole  eastern  shore  of  the 
adjacent  south  part  of  Cockburn  "  Island." 
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