this form, and are composed of trap rocks.
[Sidenote: 220] One of Cowper's islands on which we landed consists of
beds of greenstone cropping out like the steps of a stair.

A low ridge of greenstone exists at the mouth of the Coppermine river,
and from thence to Bloody-fall, a distance of ten miles, the country is
nearly level, with the exception of some low ridges of trap which run
through it. The channel of the river is sunk about one hundred and fifty
feet below the surrounding country, and is bounded by cliffs of
yellowish white sand, and sometimes of clay, from beneath which, beds of
greenstone occasionally crop out.

At Bloody-fall, a round-backed ridge of land, seven or eight hundred
feet high, crosses the country. It has a gentle ascent on the north, but
is steep towards the south. The river at the fall makes its way through
a narrow gap, whose nearly precipitous sides consist of tenacious clay,
the bed and immediate borders of the stream being formed of
greenstone.[45] From thence to the Copper Mountains, gently undulated
plains occur, intersected in various parts by precipitous ridges of trap
rocks, and the river flows in a narrow chasm, sunk about one hundred
feet below their level. A few miles above Bloody-fall, strata of light
gray clay-slate, dipping to the north-east, at an angle of 20 degrees,
support some greenstone cliffs on the banks of the river. [Sidenotes:
222, 223, 224] From this place to the Copper Mountains the rocks
observed in the ravines were a dark reddish-brown, felspathose
sandstone, and gray slate-clay, in horizontal strata, with greenstone
rising in ridges. The soil is sandy, and in many places clayey, with a
pretty close grassy sward. Straggling spruce trees begin to skirt the
banks of the river about eighteen or twenty miles from the sea.

COPPER MOUNTAINS.

The Copper Mountains rise perhaps eight or nine hundred feet above the
bed of the river, and at a distance, present a somewhat soft outline,
but on a nearer view they appear to be composed of ridges which have a
direction from W.N.W. to E.S.E. Many of the ridges have precipitous
sides, and their summits, which are uneven and stony, do not rise more
than two hundred, or two hundred and fifty feet above the vallies, which
are generally swampy and full of small lakes. The only rocks noticed
when we crossed these hills on the late journey, were clay-slate,
greenstone, and dark red sandstone, sometimes containing white
calcareou