NORTH POLE OF THE WINDS 



York, since the northern route more nearly ap- 

 proaches to a great circle of the earth. 



The northern flying route calls for an am- 

 phibian type of plane, because the terrains flown 

 over in Canada, Greenland, and Northern Europe 

 were all once covered by glaciers and in conse- 

 quence they are now occupied by such myriads of 

 lakes^ that a forced landing would be possible for 

 a seaplane almost throughout. Difficulties to be 

 met with upon this route are especially the fogs, 

 particularly those near the shores of Labrador, 

 Greenland, and Iceland; high ranges of the tide 

 upon the sea, and floating ice. Fogs are however, 

 probably no worse on these sea stretches than they 

 are along the steamship routes, where the Labra- 

 dor current and the Gulf Stream are in contact 

 for long distances. 



The hop-off from America to Greenland should 

 be made from the Hudson Bay post of Northwest 

 River at the western end of the long Labrador 

 fjord, the inner portion of which bears the name 

 of Lake Melville and the exterior portion Hamil- 

 ton Inlet. Lake Melville has a narrow entrance 

 from the sea which prevents the ingress of sea- 

 ice and it has moreover a tide range of only about 

 four feet. Moreover, the inner end of this lake 



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