Birch and Oil Can Portages.

at a point where the river narrows to a chain and runs with great violence. A short distance lower is the Oil Can portage, which enables the traveller to pass a strong fall. Both these portages have a length of 300 yards. At the foot of Oil Can portage the rock is augite-syenite or gabbro. As it contains both species of felspar it is difficult to decide, but it is probably the former as the outcrop at the Lobstick is evidently that variety. This rock strikes N. 30° w. and has a gray appearance, but the fresh fracture shows a distinct syenitic structure. Fine streaks of calcite and bands of a dark fine grained material traverse it in all directions. Above the Oil Can the rock is much coarser, with a highly syenitic appearance. At a sharp bend to the west 20 chains above the portage small quantities of a much altered diorite with sphene and mellilite occur. Here also are distinct veins of a hard black schist dipping 30° west, but not persistent in strike. Above the Birch portage the rock is highly felspathic, and at the place where the river widens contains veinlets of crushed granite crossing in all directions and presenting beautiful examples of dislocation on a small scale. With small canoes and especially when ascending the river it is found advisable to follow another route in passing this series of rapids. The head of this trail leaves the river just where it turns west and the current stiffens about a mile and a half above the Lobstick portage. The first portage is one and a half miles long in a direction a little west of north; it is quite level over sandy soil and crosses two creeks. This ends in a lake which we cross nearly due north 25 chains. The next portage is only 100 yards, a little north of west to a lake of 13 chains. A 400-yard portage west of north over fine sand connects this lake with the next, a 15-chain pond. Then succeeds a 700-yard portage west of north followed by another 15-chain lake. A 100-yard trail over fine sand brings us to the last lake. From here a trail leads to the bay below the Oil Can portage. It traverses sandy soil and rises to a considerab e height, falling suddenly as it approaches the river. Aneroid readings gave the top of the hill as 120 feet above the foot

of the Oil Can portage and the last lake 104 feet above the same point.

Canon of the Abitibi and the Otters.

Rocks of the Great Gorge.

We next cross a bay of a few chains on the east side of the river to a portage of two miles, leading past the canon of the Abitibi. This gorge has a height of 100 feet with precipitous walls, while immediately inland the country rises to an elevation recorded by aneroid of 200 feet. In this chasm the river is narrowed to about a chain or less and rushes with great violence throughout, causing a deafening roar in the confined space. The upper end of the canon presents rocks of the same nature as those described at the portages above. One half mile down occur segregations of anorthosite, and at a mile the rock is a weathered gabbro with stringers of crushed granite containing pyrite. The rocks here reach the greatest height on the gorge and are much mixed, with blebs and strings of associated materials. As we near the foot of the gorge we meet with large masses of crushed granite sheared north and south. As gneiss was seen a short distance below the canon we may conclude that the contact is very near the end of the rapid. Thus we have a belt of eruptive crossing the river a little north of west. Its southern part seems to be more acid, being represented by augitesyenite at the Lobstick portage. To the north it is more basic, passing into gabbro at the canon. Throughout the belt shows evidence of having been much contorted and broken by secondary minor eruptions.

Twenty chains below the canon the river is shallow and swift, presenting a rapid a quarter of a mile in length, but easily run. Expeditions east and west were made a short distance below this ripple. That to the east showed a bank of fine sand over a hundred feet in height, clothed with scrub poplar and birch, evidently an old brulé. numerous small streams which deep valleys of denudation. descent this gives place two miles inland to the usual succession of clay flat and muskeg. At an elevation of 75 feet occurs an outcrop of gray mica gneiss to the east of the river. The soil is sand, intersected by creek valleys.

This is cut by have dug out Without much

Mr.

kind can be obtained between Fort Abitibi and Moose Factory. Mr. Jobson, the factor in charge, has a flourishing garden in which are turnips, onions, potatoes, corn, cabbage, lettuce and radishes, all doing well. Early Rose potatoes were rotting in the ground, but white late varieties do well; 300 bushels were grown last year. Corn will ripen some years, but it fails on other occasions. Jobson has several head of cattle, the winter fodder for which is gathered by the Indians, and consists of the marsh grass abundant along the river. The soil is fine sand, argillaceous in places. As an example of the vagaries of the river, Mr. Jobson informed me that in the spring of 1897 the water rose to the foundation of his house, a distance of 29 feet. The Indians attached to this post are rapidly succumbing to the attacks of consumption and scrofulous diseases, and owing to the decrease of partridge and rabbit are sometimes at sore straits for food. As the rabbit fails the lynx also disappears for want of prey, while the beaver is almost hunted out in this district.

An excur

Little

Abitibi.

Little Abitibi River.

Half a mile below New Post a stream enters from the east. About two miles up this creek brings us to a very beausion to the tiful fall where the water drops 90 feet, almost vertically over gneiss. A portage from New Post 50 chains in length connects with this stream above the falls. In high water only can this river be ascended, as it is very swift and shallow. By dint of great exertion it was ascended 20 miles in a southeast direction. From here a portage of one and a half miles, broken by a little lake, leads into the Little Abitibi river. This latter stream was found to be a succession of rapids, but was descended 10 miles and a trail made from there

to the line, a distance of 12 miles. The usual poplar and birch were encountered on the shore of the little river, sinking into wet muskeg with scrub tamarac and spruce, which continues unaltered to the line. Three creeks and several small swampy lakes were met with, and the line intersected at 232 miles and 40 chains.

From New Post to the Otters the current is fairly heavy, but smooth. The banks are sandy and high, with gravel beaches and terraces, a feature never seen on the upper parts of the river where the vegetation reaches to the water line. The timber on this stretch (14 miles) is small poplar and spruce, with a little pitchpine.

The rapids at the Otters are extremely rough and picturesque, the river being forced beRapids at tween narrow banks and having the Otters. considerable descent. The rock is red gneiss and bands of dark schist with pyrite. The portage is on the east side and is a wide open trail, with corduroy, evidently constructed by the H. B. Co. for the transport of large boats. The soil is sandy clay with gravel. The trail is crossed by two creek valleys, and there are two sharp descents at the north end. The portage is two miles long, but it may be shortened a halfmile by taking the river for that distance in the middle. The trail does not show that this is often done however.

Sandstone

ate and Shale.

A Region of Devonian Rocks. Below the portage is a barrier of boulders requiring care to pass. A mile farther are two small islands and swifter water Conglomer passing into rapids. There is a portage of 20 chains on the east side which does not appear to be much used. I found it necessary with the small canoe to portage part of the load. At this point outcrops the lowest member of the stratified deposits, being represented by a coarse red sandstone conglomerate. Twenty chains lower on the west side is 20 feet of the same deposit, interstatified above and capped with a dark shale dipping west and about ten feet thick. This is succeeded by ten feet of soft felspathic sandstone, with a highly calcareous matrix and with crystals of calcite in the cavities. The whole is covered by a strong stony clay. Many landslips expose

the face of the cliff, and blocks of other rocks not seen in situ are revealed at the foot of these slips. A little higher up the river, opposite the last described rapid, the sandstone is covered by 15 feet of hard gray clay, with boulders roughly stratified at the bottom, but not so apparent above. This is covered with sand and gravel. Almost immediately inland we pass into muskeg.

The next rapid, the Sextant, is almost a continuation of the last; it is broad and shallow, a character shown by almost any

Dolomitic Limestone.

rapid from here to the sea. This is of course on account of the difference between the stratified deposits and the harder Laurentian rocks. On the west shore at the Sextant a peculiar band of dark shale runs from the water's edge up to a height of 20 feet. It contains the remains of several species of algae. The Sextant portage is one-quarter mile long ɔn the east side. At its foot the red ferruginous sandstone occurs covered by shaly dolomitic limestone to a height of 50 feet; these limestones are arenaceous in places, and contain fossils of Ambonychia, Orthis and Modiolopsis. As nearly as I could determine there is a dip northwest of 23 feet in 60 chains.

One and a-half miles down is another rapid of the same character as the Sextant, with a half mile portage on the east side. The river drops six or seven feet, but the portage rises to a considerable height over clay soil. The rock here is a thick bedded limestone with numerous fossils, for example:

for large canoes lies along the east shore, but I proceeded down the west side, running part and wading through others. A mile or two of this brings us to a large island, showing thin-bedded limestones, and at its northern end a dark soft shale with fucoids apparently dipping north. Beyond this island is two miles of swift but easily canoeable water, filled with islands. The lower part much resembles the upper, and has a large island in much the same relative position. This island is bent into sharp anticlines and synclines, rendering it impossible to ascertain the strike or dip. Below the island the swift water continues, and the river is finally thrown with some violence against the west shore by a point from the east side. This is a well marked spot and constitutes the end of the Pudding; the water is not too rough for large canoes. With small boats it is safer to track on the east around the point.

Plum-pudding island lies a mile below the rapids; it presents clay shores much torn by river ice. Three miles more of somewhat shallow water with stiff current

Little Abitibi River.

brings us to the Little Abitibi river on the east side. At its mouth this stream is 100 yards in width and a foot deep. Its water is brown, and its shores low, with young poplar. A description of the succession of rapids on this stream would be tedious; with the exception of a few short stretches it is all rapids as far as it was ascended, a distance of 30 miles. The more important of these are marked on the map. This distance cost nearly three days hard work to ascend, but, thanks to some heavy rains, we were enabled to run the whole way down in six hours. Limestone exposures occur on the lower reaches, a very fine one three miles up. This rock strikes N. 10° E. and rises into an anticline at the rapids. Fossils :

Fossils of the Limestone

Rhynchonella sp.

Pentamerus sp.

Renslaeria ovata; very numerous. Dentalium sp.

Zaphrentis prolifica.

Alveolites sp.

Monticulipora sp.

Michelinea convexa.

Holopea?

Orthoceras sp. Gomphoceras sp.