ARCTIC ISLANDS 127 
continuous ice-cap, but this is probably due to the small precipi- 
tation of moisture derived from the ice-covered northern seas. 
The first large ice-cap is situated in the interior, to the south of 
81 n. latitude, and extends southward to 79 n. latitude, 
where an area of lower lands occurs near the junction of the 
Palaeozoic rocks of the north and the Archaean of the southeast. 
The southeastern quarter of the island occupied by crystalline 
rocks has a general elevation of 3,000 feet or over, and is 
covered by a great ice-cap, with numerous glaciers discharging 
from it into the eastern bays. A great thickness of Palaeozoic 
extending upwards from the Silurian to the Carboniferous 
occupies the southwest quarter of the island, where the rocks 
rise abruptly to a tableland with an elevation of nearly 3,000 
feet. The cliffs of the southern coast are indented by many long 
narrow fiords. Along the western side of the island is a wide 
margin of softer Mesozoic rocks which form low plains extend- 
ing from the seashore several miles inland to the base of the 
high cliffs of older rocks. These plains are covered with arctic 
vegetation. Musk-oxen, barren-ground caribou and arctic hares 
are found there in large numbers, along with geese and other 
aquatic birds. 
North Devon island lies to the south of Ellesmere, being 
separated from it by Jones sound; Lancaster sound bounds it 
on the south. The island, in shape, somewhat resembles a 
swimming bird with the head to the northwest and the body 
east and west. The body is about 220 miles long and averages 
seventy-five miles across. Grinnell peninsula forms the head, 
the neck being very irregular, and nearly pierced through by 
several long bays; the length of head and neck is a hundred 
miles. The eastern third of the island is composed of crystal- 
line rocks, and rises to an irregular ice-clad tableland some 
3,000 feet in altitude. The rise to the interior is somewhat 
abrupt, and the landscape, seen from the sea, shows an interior 
ice-cap in the distance, with bare rocky hills rising irregularly 
