Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/93

 might well be taken to be the remains of the embankments of ancient railways. Geologists, however, have another theory accounting for their origin, namely, that they were formed by fissures or splits in the ancient glaciers.

On the sheltered southerly slopes of these ridges many new varieties of plants were found, and some others which had been collected farther south were here seen for the last time on the journey. Notable among the latter was the aspen, of which several stunted, gnarled specimens were observed. When the storm had abated sufficiently the traverse of the lake shore was resumed, when other notable features appeared.

A large part of the country was now composed of frozen mossy bogs, sloping gently down towards the lake. In the higher portions of the bogs the moss was still growing, but elsewhere it was dead, and excepting a few inches, was imbedded in solid glaciers. In many instances these frozen bogs or glaciers were found to be breaking off into the lake, and in such places they presented brown mossy vertical faces, from ten to twenty feet above the water. In examining these vertical sections they were observed, as on top, to consist of frozen moss to within about a foot of the surface. The first of the moss glaciers, if I may call them such, were observed near the Height of Land, but towards the north end of Daly Lake they composed a large part of the country, and timber occurred only in scattered, isolated patches.

According to our Indian information we should now be near the outlet of the lake. During the morning of the 22nd, after a good deal of searching in many deep