Navigation of Hudson's Bay and Strait. 257 



The highest temperature at York Factory in 1876 was 99° Fah. 

 above zero, and in 1878, 106° Fah. above zero, while in the same 

 years the highest temperature in Manitoba did not exceed 97° Fah. 

 Of course the mean average temperature during the year is con- 

 siderably higher in Manitoba than on the shores of Hudson's Bay, 

 but the difference is not so great as one might suppose. We are not 

 yet in a position to make comparisons as to the temperature in 

 Hudson Strait. Beyond the observations taken by the Hudson's 

 Bay Expedition, but few records exist, and the approximate estimates 

 given above will either be sustained or corrected by the observations 

 now being recorded at the Government observing stations located 

 there. In any event, the lack of agreement between the two will 

 not be very great. 



The reader has already observed that, so far as Churchill and 

 York Factory represent Hudson's Bay, there is a wide difference 

 between the climate of the Bay and. Strait. This arises from the 

 fact that the Strait is situated in a higher latitude than that portion 

 of the Bay upon which trading posts are located, and to which 

 reference is usually made, and also because there is a vast arctic 

 outlet through Fox Channel into the Strait, which has a decided 

 effect upon the temperature of its waters, and the air as well. The 

 climate on the shores of the Bay north of Churchill is pretty much 

 the same as that on the shores of the Strait, with such exceptions as 

 are produced in the immediate locality of the Fox Channel stream 

 and the Labrador or Davis Strait polar current. 



There is even a greater contrast between the temperatures of the 

 water of the Bay and Strait than of the air. Take, for instance, the 

 temperature tables already submitted. On September 6th, 1884, 

 the temperature of the water in Churchill Harbour was 43° Fah. 

 above zero, and on the 3rd of the same month, between Marble 

 Island and Churchill, in the open Bay, it was 41° Fah., while on the 

 18th of the same month at Cape Digges, at the entrance of the Strait 

 it was 31.8° Fah., or, on the 12th of August, at North Bluff, it was 

 33.6° Fah. The temperatures of the water of the Bay are sustained 

 by Dr. Bell, in his geological report for 1877. He says : — " I took 

 the temperature of the sea upwards of twenty times during our 



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