entered the sound, and had the low connecting land been then visible, a tedious and unnecessary circumnavigation of the sound itself would have been saved. The coast exhibited the same appearance as far as Point Turnagain, the most eastern point attained by the overland expeditions.

On a general view, it appears that the new red sandstone formation prevails along those portions of the North American Arctic shores. All the islands visited," says Dr. Richardson, "were formed of trap or porphyry belonging to that formation; and, judging from similarity of form, the rocks of the other islands belong to the same class. The gneiss formation is next in extent; and, indeed, it appears to run nearly parallel to the coast within the red sandstone from Cape Barrow, across Hood's River above Wilberforce Falls, to the bottom of Bathurst's Inlet, and from thence to Hope's Bay, on the western side of Melville Sound. The only foreign beds we observed in the gneiss were granite, perhaps quartz-rock and hornblendic gneiss or syenite. We saw no clay or mica-slate, nor did we observe any formations intermediate between the gneiss and new red sandstone; nor, except at Cape Barrow, where granite predominates, any other formation than the two just mentioned. Our opportunities for observation, however, were not extensive; the necessity of proceeding without delay limiting our botanical and geognostical excursions to the short period that was required to prepare breakfast or supper."*

From Point Turnagain the party proceeded to Hood's River, which they traced to some distance. Near its mouth that river is from 100 to 300 yards in width, and is bounded by steep high banks of clay, reposing on flotz rocks. At Wilberforce Falls, which are six or seven miles above the second rapid, the river makes a striking descent of about 250 feet into a chasm, the walls of which consist of lightred felspathose sandstone, belonging, as Dr. Richardson supposes, to the old red sandstone formation, or that which lies under coal, and occasionally alternates with transition rocks.† A short distance above these falls the gneiss formation appears, and produces hills precisely similar to those about Fort Enterprise. On quitting Hood's River our ex

Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 533.

† Ibid. p. 534.

ploring party ascended from the valley through which it flows, and entered upon an even, clayey, and very barren district, partially covered by shallow lakes. This plain country continued nearly as far as Cracroft's River, where the gneiss reappeared, and presented those bleak hills and precipices so characteristic of the Barren Grounds. The gneiss formation was observed to continue without essential change to Obstruction Rapid, between Providence and Point Lakes, where it united with the Fort Enterprise district formerly alluded to.

The preceding geognostical details, and others into the consideration of which we cannot here enter, render it apparent that the general distribution and connexion of the hills and mountain-masses of these northern regions are nearly the same as geologists have observed to characterize similar materials in other portions of the earth. The primitive rocks occur in their usual relations; and gneiss, attended by an extremely scanty vegetation, appears to be the most extensively distributed. Granite was the next in frequency; after which may be placed mica-slate. Clayslate and protogine were the least abundant. The granite of Cape Barrow was intersected by veins of augite greenstone of the same description as those which occur in the granite districts of Great Britain, and the primitive rocks in general were found to be traversed by veins of felspar, quartz, and granite.

The transition rocks, consisting principally of clay-slate and graywacke, bore a strong resemblance to those in Dumfries-shire, a fact which did not fail to attract the attention of Dr. Richardson, himself a native of that district.

In regard to the secondary formations, the facts observed by Dr. Richardson show the existence-First, Of the old red sandstone, or that which lies under coal, and occasionally alternates with transition rocks: Second, Of the coal formation, which was ascertained to occur in certain districts of Mackenzie River, and towards the Rocky Mountains: Third, Of the new red or variegated sandstone, an important formation of considerable extent, which contained, as it is known to do in the Old World, gypsum and beds of salt, or of muriatiferous clay, affording saline materials for the im

pregnations of the salt springs which issue from it: Fourth, Of the secondary limestone belonging to that vast deposite which lies above the new red sandstone, and beneath chalk, and which occupies extensive tracts in Britain and other parts of Europe: Fifth, Of the secondary trap and porphyry rocks, in the composition and character of which one of the most interesting features is undoubtedly the frequent occurrence of native copper, both among the Copper Mountains themselves, and along the Arctic shore.

The alluvial deposites consist, as usual, of sand, gravel, rolled blocks, boulder-stones, and the debris of various rocks. We may conclude by observing, in the words of Dr. Richardson, to whom we are deeply indebted for the information presented in this volume, that the foregoing details make it manifest "that in the regions we traversed the rocks of the primitive, transition, secondary, and alluvial classes have the same general composition, structure, position, and distribution as in other parts of America which have been examined; and as these agree in all respects with the rock formations in Europe and Asia, they may with propriety be considered as universal formations-parts of a grand and harmonious whole-the production of Infinite Wisdom."

"STAND STILL AND BEHOLD THE WONDROUS WORKS OF GOD, THE WONDROUS WORKS OF HIM WHICH IS PERFECT

IN KNOWLEDGE. 99

"REMEMBER THAT THOU MAGNIFY HIS WORK WHICH MEN BEHOLD. EVERY MAN MAY SEE IT; MEN MAY BEHOLD IT AFAR OFF."

"O LORD, HOW MANIFOLD ARE THY WORKS! IN WISDOM HAST THOU MADE THEM ALL! THE EARTH IS FULL OF THY RICHES.

"

"BEFORE THE MOUNTAINS WERE BROUGHT FORTH, EVER THOU OR HADST FORMED THE EARTH AND THE WORLD, EVEN FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, THOU ART GOD,"

APPENDIX.

REMARKS

ON

A LATE MEMOIR OF SEBASTIAN CABOT,

WITH A

VINDICATION OF RICHARD HAKLUYT.

"Floreat Historia Britannica, recordis authenticisque expromatur: Scribatur lente, mature, ordinate, sincere, dilucide, sine partium studio, sine pravo consilio, sine omni vili affectu viris literatis indigno."-MADOX, Disceptatio Epistolaris De Magno Rotulo Scaccarii.

THE reader is already aware, that in the present volume the discovery of North America, in the reign of Henry VII., has been exclusively ascribed to John Cabot, a Venetian, who had settled as a merchant at Bristol. The author of a late work* has attributed this noted extension of geographical knowledge solely to the subject of his biography, Sebastian Cabot, the son of John. According to him, it was Sebastian who projected the expedition in which the discovery was made, it was Sebastian who conducted the expedition, -it is doubtful whether John Cabot accompanied the voyage at all, and it is certain, if he did, it was simply as a merchant who traded on his capital. The biographer has brought forward his arguments in support of this theory, in the fifth chapter of his work, entitled Comparative Agency of John

* Memoir of Sebastian Cabot.

and Sebastian Cabot; and it is in the course of these argu ments that he has made an attack upon the integrity and honesty of Richard Hakluyt, a writer to whom the history of maritime discovery is under the deepest obligations. These two points, therefore, the discovery of North America, and the credit due to the evidence of Hakluyt,―must necessarily be considered in conjunction; and we trust we shall convince every impartial reader of the accuracy of our assertion, that John Cabot was the discoverer, and that the attack upon Hakluyt is perfectly unfounded.

Before, however, proceeding to the more immediate subject of inquiry, we may be permitted to say, that although it becomes our duty to point out repeated and material errors, and in some instances considerable injustice committed by the biographer of Cabot, we are anxious to avoid that peculiar asperity which he has unnecessarily mingled with a subject so remote that it may surely be approached in a spirit of great calmness and impartiality. We wish to employ no expression which may give a moment's unnecessary pain to the biographer. His Memoir of Cabot, as may be seen from the references to it in the course of this volume, has been frequently of use to us. Although rather a piece of biographical and historical criticism than a pure biográphy, it is a meritorious work; it points out to the reader some recondite sources of information,-its deductions and arguments are often acute and ingenious,—and, confused and deficient as it is in its arrangement, it contains occasional passages which are eloquently written. But it is impossible not to regret that there is infused into the whole book a more than ordinary proportion of that bitter and querulous spirit which, in a greater or less degree, seems inseparable from the lucubrations of the antiquary,—that the author has poured abuse, contempt, and ridicule upon those who have fallen into errors which he sometimes has, and at other times imagines he has, detected, and that he is unscrupulous in imputing unfair and ungenerous motives to those who little deserve such an accusation. Robertson, Forster, Henry, Campbell, Southey, Barrow, and other able writers, are attacked in unmeasured terms, as the arch propagators of all that is erroneous and superficial on the subject of maritime discovery; and our excellent friend Richard Hakluyt, who has slept in an honoured grave for upwards