No. 5.] HIND — NORTH-EASTERN LABRADOR. 265 



which is recognized at intervals as far south as Massachusetts, 

 and as far east as St. George's Bay in Newfoundland. Its pre- 

 eminently felspathic character causes it to be greatly subject to 

 joints, and susceptible of cleavage. Its wear and waste has been 

 much facilitated by these characteristics, and the removal ap- 

 pears to have been accomplished to some extent in recent 

 geological times, and through the instrumentality of snow as a 

 first or leading cause, followed by the propelling and abrading 

 power of pan ice. 



IV. — Permanent Snow Drifts. 



Sailing in a north westerly direction, near the Atlantic coast 

 of the northern part of Newfoundland, and thence on to the 

 Labrador, the permanent patches of snow which occasionally 

 show themselves in the mountains, increase in numbers and 

 dimensions, until on arriving in the latitude of the Mealy Moun- 

 tains (54° N.) thoy form a constant and marked feature in the 

 aspect of the country. 



These snow patches are drifts of great extent occupying ravines 

 or valleys in the mountain »sides, and they vary from a few 

 square yards to many hundred acres in extent, generally increas- 

 ing in area with the altitude. The mountain ranges on the 

 Labrador, between Sandwich Bay and Ukkasiksalik, trend from 

 north-east by east to south-west by west. The Mealy Moun- 

 tains, as seen on the coast near Sandwich Bay, do not exceed 

 1500 feet in altitude, according to the Admiralty chart, but on 

 the south shore of Lake Melville they attain an estimated eleva- 

 tion of between 4000 and 5000 feet, and are very imposing in 

 their peaked and serrated outline. 



On the northern side of Hamilton Inlet and Lake Melville 

 are the Kokkok Range, the Fox Mountains and the China Range, 

 which, with some detached peaks, give to the whole of that part 

 of the country a rugged and elevated character. The Kokkok 

 mountains, as seen from Lake Melville, were thought to be fully 

 as high as the Mealy Mountains, and the Salt-water Lake Rauge 

 or Toush-ia-lik Mountains, which lie north of the Fox Range, 

 may next approach them in altitude. On all of these separate 

 ranges permanent snow patches exist. These masses, which in 

 some particulars have a glacial character, diminish in size during 

 the summer, until the first snow storms in September, but they 

 always form a marked feature in the scenery, and according to 



