ARCTIC ISLANDS 129 
lead to the fiords of the east side of the island a short dis- 
tance to the north of Cape Sabine, a place frequently' visited by 
the north Greenland natives. 
The Parry islands cornwallis, Bathurst, Melville, Eglinton 
and Prince patrick-all lie immediately north of the western 
extension of Lancaster sound-known in parts as Barrow strait, 
melville sound and McClure strait. These islands were first 
discovered by Parry in 1819, but it was the diligent search 
parties for Franklin that minutely investigated their shores, 
making them the best known of all the Arctic islands. With the 
exception of the southern part of Cornwallis, which is formed 
from Silurian limestone, these islands are composed of softer 
bedded rocks of the Devonian and Carboniferous. They possess 
the same physical characteristics, and a general description 
answers for all. The shore-lines are very broken, being deeply 
cut by long irregular shaped bays. The land rises in cliffs from 
400 feet to 700 feet high, to a plateau broken by many cross 
ravines, which render travel in the interior difficult. The 
general level of the interior is under 1,000 feet, and only rarely 
does it rise above that altitude. In many places coal has been 
found outcropping in the face of the cliffs of all the islands west 
of Cornwallis. The practical impossibility of reaching these 
coal fields precludes them from being counted among the eco- 
nomic resources of Canada. 
The Sverdrup islands include Axel Heiberg, Amund ringes, 
Ellef ringes, King Christian and north Cornwall. with the 
exception of the last named, these islands were discovered by 
the Norwegian expedition on the Fram in 1899-1902. They 
form a group lying to the west of Ellesmere and to the north of 
the Parry islands. The largest, Axel Heiberg, lies close to the 
west side of Ellesmere, and has the same physical characters 
as those of the western side of the great island; these are high 
lands in the interior, composed of bedded rocks, and eruptives 
with low, wide foreshore, where game is plentiful. 
