Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, who have undertaken to
distribute it to them annually, in the way suited to their wants.

[17] I am happy to add, that those men who had been in His Majesty's
service before the present Expedition, have been rewarded by promotion.

[18] See page 388.

[19] See Dr. Richardson's opinion in favour of this route, p. 218.

APPENDIX.

TOPOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL NOTICES, BY JOHN RICHARDSON, M.D., F.R.S.,
&c. SURGEON AND NATURALIST TO THE EXPEDITION.

[_Read before the Geological Society._]

A very limited portion of my time could be allotted to geological
inquiries. For eight months in the year the ground in the northern parts
of America is covered with snow; and during the short summer, the
prosecution of the main object of the expedition rendered the slightest
delay in our journey unadvisable. The few hours that could be stolen
from the necessary halts, for rest and refreshment, were principally
occupied in the collection of objects for the illustration of botany
and zoology. It is evident, that an account of the rock formations,
drawn up under such circumstances, cannot be otherwise than very
imperfect; but I have been led to publish it from the belief that, in
the absence of more precise information, even the slightest notice of
the rocks of the extreme northern parts of the American continent would
be useful to those employed in developing the structure of the crust of
the earth; the more especially, as it is not probable that the same
tract of country will soon be trod by an expert geologist. The specimens
of rocks I obtained have been deposited in the Museum of the Geological
Society, and are referred to in the ensuing pages by the numbers affixed
to them. The notices are arranged nearly in the order of the route of
the expedition, commencing with Great Bear Lake, where our winter
quarters were situated.

GREAT BEAR LAKE.

Great Bear Lake is an extensive sheet of water, of a very irregular
shape, being formed by the union of five arms or bays in a common
centre. The greatest diameter of the lake, measuring about one hundred
and fifty geographical miles, runs from the bottom of Dease Bay, which
receives the principal feeding stream, to the bottom of Keith Bay, from
whence the Bear Lake River issues, and has a direction from N.E. to S.W.
The transverse diameter has a direction from N.W. by W. to S.E. by E.,
through Smith and M'Tavish Bays, and is upwards of one