140 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix. 



country round the bay. It is well timbered, and some of 

 the trees are of large size ; intermixed with the spruce is 

 a considerable quantity of white bu-ch, and a few poplars 

 are also to be seen ; a light loamy soil is also frequently to 

 be found on the points of the river. There is a difference of 

 twenty days in favour of this valley in the spring and fall 

 of the year ; this difference of climate is to be attributed, 

 in a great degree, to its favourable aspect to the south 

 and west, and also in some measure to the warmth of the 

 water comino- from the westward.* The head of Hamilton 

 Inlet may be termed the garden of the Atlantic coast of 

 Labrador. At the Hudson's Bay Company's post Eigolette 

 there are about seven acres ' under crop ; ' and the farm 

 boasts of twelve cows, a buU, some sheep, pigs, and hens. 

 We are not without information respecting the north- 

 western portion of the great peninsula. Five years' 

 residence at Foi't Chimo (abandoned in 1842), on South 

 Eiver, Ungava Bay,f and several explorations in the 

 interior of the peninsula, gave Mr. McLean, the officer in 

 charge of the post, very favourable opportunities for 

 acquiring information respecting the geographical features 

 of a great part of the north-eastern portion of the penin- 

 sula. In 1842, Mr. W. H. A. Davies read a paper before 

 the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, entitled 



* Notes on Esquimaux Bay (Hamilton Inlet) and tlie Surrounding 

 Country, by W. H. A. Davies, Esq. Eead before the Lit. and Hist. Soc. 

 of Quebec, 1842. 



t Cape Chudleigb, in lat. 60° 14', long. 65° 26' W., forms tlie north- 

 eastern point of Ungava Bay. The Cape of Hope's Advance, lat. 61° 17', 

 long. 70° 20', is its western limit. The shores of this bay measure about 

 400 miles in circuit. The bay is free from islands, but at its entrance the 

 large island Akpatok occupies the western part. The shores of this bay 

 were laid down by the Moravian missionaries in 1811. 



