NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



137 



Winter sets in soon after the 1st of 

 September and persists until May, 

 with only a short season of spring. 

 During the short summer the progress 

 of vegetation is very rapid, but the 

 seeds and berries are scarcely ripened 

 before winter again asserts its sway. 



Owing to the great thickness of their 

 icy covering, some of the lakes of the 

 Barren Grounds are not clear of ice in 

 l)ackward seasons until July, or even 

 August, when new ice has usually begun 

 to form in still water. They generally 

 l)reak up in late June or early July. 

 The rivers, having the advantage of a 

 current, open earlier than the lakes. 



During a residence of about five years 

 at Fort Anderson, on Anderson River, 

 MacFarlane observed the river to set 

 fast on two occasions as early as Sep- 

 tember 10, though once it remained open 

 until October 10. In 1857 the Anderson 

 broke up at the mouth of the Lockhart 

 on June 12. At Fort Anderson the 

 dates of the opening of the river were 

 as follows: 1861, about May 15; 1862, 

 May 19; 1863, May 30; 1864, May 31; 

 1865, June 2. During the last days of 

 June, 1864, MacFarlane found nearly all 

 the lakes on the Barren Grounds still 

 covered with ice, though the rivers 

 were open. 



In 1821, when Franklin's party started 

 to descend the Coppermine on July 1, 

 the lakes on its upper course were still 

 covered with ice. Apparently the river 

 had opened only a short time before. 

 In 1849 Doctor Rae noted the breaking 

 up of the same river near its mouth on 

 June 28. At this time the leaves of the 

 dwarf birches were out, and the leaf 

 buds of the willows had begun to de- 

 velop. The lower part of the river 

 remained blocked with ice until July 13. 



Preserved areas: Backs River Pre- 

 serve : This great area containing up- 

 wards of 65,000 sq. mi., includes most of 

 the valley of Backs River and north to 

 the Arctic Coast, from Bathurst Inlet 

 east to Backs Inlet. Its natives, chiefly 

 Eskimo, retain the sole right to hunt. 

 This area is the breeding ground of great 

 numbers of the Barren Ground caribou. 



some of which remain in winter, though 

 many migrate southward at that sea- 

 son. Many musk o.xen also are found 

 here, this being the only one of the 

 several preserves recently established 

 which harbors this notable species in 

 any numbers. 



3. The region norUnca^l of Hudson Batj 



This section of country has already 

 been described, in effect, in the account 

 of the Barren Grounds of the Mackenzie 

 region. Its rivers excepting those emp- 

 tying into Chesterfield Inlet, are not 

 readily navigable. Those parts border- 

 ing on Hudson Bay can be reached, of 

 course, most readily by means of that 

 great inland sea, which is itself reached 

 either by way of Hudson Strait, or by 

 means of the several rivers, navigable by 

 canoes only, which enter it from the 

 south and southwest. Railroads, 

 branches of the Canadian National, now 

 take the traveler several hundred miles 

 nearer Hudson Bay than formerly, and 

 as projected will ultimateh' reach its 

 shores, but at present the journej^ must 

 be completed by canoe or dog-sled. The 

 waters of Hudson Bay, furthermore, are 

 scarcely nagivable by means of the frail 

 canoes by which the passage of these 

 rapid and shallow streams must be 

 effected, so that access to the region is 

 very difficult. Parts of the country 

 draining into northwestern Hudson Bay, 

 however, can be reached by canoe from 

 Great Slave Lake, though the shortness 

 of the season of open water makes such 

 a journey a very hurried one. 



4. The Arctic Islands [Arctic Zone) 



The Arctic Islands, lying to the north- 

 ward of the continent of North America, 

 are closely related faunally and florally 

 to the neighboring mainland. Being 

 more northerly and surrouutled i)y an 

 ocean which is frozen over from 6 to 9 

 months of the year, it follows that both 

 animal and vegetable life include fewer 

 species. They are of course treeless, 

 and their shrubs comprise only a few 

 creeping species, some indeed, the same 

 that inhabit more favorable habitats to 



