296 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 
period extending over two centuries and a half furnished 
cargoes for two or more ships belonging to the Hudson's Bay 
Company. At the present time two ships are engaged in this 
trade for the Company, while Revillon Bros, employ two more. 
The whale fishery now supports two ships. These four ships 
represent the developed trade of the bay and strait at the 
present time. 
The undeveloped natural resources of the regions surround- 
ing these waters appertain to mining and fisheries, and to the 
forestry of the territory surrounding the rivers flowing into 
the southern parts of the bay. Iron ores have been found 
on the islands and shores of the eastern side of Hudson bay, 
where they cover large areas and where valuable deposits 
corresponding to those of the hard ores of Lake Superior will 
be discovered when sought for. On the western shores of the 
bay between Chesterfield inlet and Churchill, extensive deposits 
of copper-bearing rocks have been located, and there is every 
prospect of valuable mines being discovered in that region when 
the ground has been properly prospected. A valuable mica 
mine is being worked at a profit on the north shore of Hudson 
strait, and the condition and character of the rocks there point 
to the discovery of similar deposits on that side of the strait. 
Iron ores are known to occur along the west side of Ungava bay, 
and the rocks of the southern side of the strait in many places 
are favourable to the occurrence of valuable minerals. The 
greater part of the coastal region has only been geologically 
examined in a hurried manner, while large stretches are prac- 
tically unknown inland. 
Nothing is at present known of the fisheries of the deeper 
waters of the strait and bay, and the knowledge of the fisheries 
of these waters is confined to the coasts and rivers. In the 
southern part of the bay, large quantities of sea-run trout and 
Whitefish are taken by the natives. The Arctic salmon, a fish 
