ds of
fresh-water shells, apparently formed since the deluge, but when the
waters were still of a vast depth and extent, are found in the east of
Lake Huron.

Little or nothing is known of the dreary solitudes beyond Lake Superior;
enormous muddy ponds and marshes are succeeded by open, dry, sandy
plains; then forests of hemlock and spruce arise, again swamp, bog,
windfalls, and stagnant water succeed; in the course of many miles there
may not be one dry spot found for a resting-place. The cold is intense
in this desolate region; in winter spirits freeze into a consistency
like honey; and even in the height of summer the thermometer only shows
thirty-six degrees at sunrise. Part of the north and east shore of this
greatest of the lakes present old formations--sienite, stratified
greenstone, more or less chloritic, and alternating five times with vast
beds of granite--the general direction east, with a north or
perpendicular dip. Great quantities of the older shell limestone are
found strewn in rolled masses on the beach. Amygdaloid occupies also a
very large tract to the north, mingled with porphyries, conglomerates,
and various other substances. From Thunder Mountain westward, trappose
greenstone is the prevailing rock: it gives rise to some strange
pilastered precipices near Fort William. Copper[155] abounds in this
region to an extent, perhaps, unsurpassed any where in the world. At the
Coppermine River, three hundred miles from the Sault de St. Marie, this
metal, in a pure state, nearly covers the face of a serpentine rock, and
is also found within the stone in solid masses. Iron is abundant in many
parts of Upper Canada; at Charlotteville, eight miles from Lake Erie,
the metal produced is of a very fine quality. The Marmora Iron Works,
about thirty-two miles north of the Bay of Quinte, on the River Trent,
are situated on an extensive white rocky flat, apparently the bed of
some dried-up river; the ore is found on the surface, and is very rich,
yielding ninety-two per cent.: the necessary assistants, lime and fuel,
abound close at hand. Various other minerals have also been found there;
among the rest, small specimens of a metal like silver.

There are many strong mineral springs in different parts of Canada; the
most remarkable of these is the Burning Spring above Niagara; its waters
are black, hot and bubbling, and emit, during the summer, a gas that
burns with a pure bright flame; this sulphureted hydrogen is us