GEOGRAPHY. 241 



contimie the exploration of the Kowak Eiver and its branches in the 

 summer of 1885. 



As stated in the Sitmrnary for 1883, a careful examination has been 

 made of Bogosloflf Island, in the Aleutian Archipelago, where an active 

 volcanic disturbance took place in 1883. From the report of Lieut. G. 

 M. Stoney, U. S. N., by whom the- examination was made, it seems that, 

 while no distinctly new island has appeared, Bogosloff Island [lonna 

 Bogoslova, St. John the Theologian) has been extended, the old volcano 

 being supplemented by another, which is still active, and that where 

 there was formerly deep water there is now land 300 feet high. On the 

 29th of May, 1884, Lieutenant Stoney, in the Coast Survey schooner 

 Ounalaska, anchored close to the still smoking volcano and devoted 

 three days to'its examination. What had been reported as a new island 

 was found to be a new formation, connected with the old island by a 

 sand spit. The whole mass of volcanic rock was found to be constantly 

 vibrating, and a thermometer inserted an inch and a half below the 

 crust showed 250° F. (its limit) in a few seconds. A compass taken on 

 shore indicated the presence of iron by marked local action. Though 

 one of the party reached the summit of the crater, no estimate of its 

 size or dei)th could be made, probably owing to the volumes of sulphur- 

 ous smoke which poured out. By repeated measurements the altitude 

 of its summit was found to be 357 feet. 



The Canadian Government is naturally desirous to find a convenient 

 outlet by way of IJiidson's Bay for the great grain products of its north- 

 western territory^ and with that end in view sent during the summer 

 of 1884 an expedition in the steamer Neptune, under command of Lieut. 

 A. E. Gordon, R. N., to establish six observation stations on the shores 

 of Hudson's Bay and Straits, from the records of which an accurate judg- 

 ment may be formed as to the length of the season during which the 

 west shore of Hudson's Bay is ai^cessible to steamers. Lieutenant Gor- 

 don, in rejwrting the establishment of the stations, argues that the 

 stations should be contiuued for two or three years. They will be vis- 

 ited and supplies furnished as soon as navigation opens in 1885. The 

 average of many years observations at Fort Churchill, a Hudson's Bay 

 Company's post, and the only known harbor on the west coast of the 

 bay, indicates that the coast cannot be aj^proached before the middle 

 of June, nor after Uie middle of November. 



Considerable interest has been excited by an intimation from Sir J. H. 

 Lefroy, in his address before the geographical section of the British 

 Association at Montreal, that a lake " rivaling Lake Ontario, if not Lake 

 Superior, in magnitude" had recently been discovered in the northeast 

 territory of the Dominion of Canada. 



In an admirable article in Science for January 2, 1885, Prof. J. D. Whit- 

 ney shows that Lake Mistassini, the so-called new lake in question, has 

 been known for more than two hundred years, although knowledge of 

 its eastern side is yet indefinite both as to form and position, and 

 S. Mis. 33 16 



