VOYAGE TO THE BAY 19 



The 16th was thick and foggy, so that when the distance to 

 Cape Fullerton had been run down in the evening, and the 

 water had shoaled to twenty-five fathoms, the ship lay-to for the 

 night. In the morning, standing to the westward, breakers 

 were seen at nine o'clock ; shortly after, several low islands were 

 passed, and at noon the launch was sent ahead to sound the way 

 into a long bay, which subsequently proved to be Winchester 

 inlet. A good harbour, sheltered by islands, was found on the 

 east side of the bay, and about three miles from its mouth, 

 where the anchor was dropped at six o'clock in the evening. 



The country surrounding Winchester inlet is very similar 

 to that bounding the whole of the northwestern part of Hudson 

 bay. The country is underlain by Archaean crystalline rocks, 

 and has all the physical characteristics common to similar areas 

 in the south. Long, gently rounded hills, of slight elevation, 

 form the higher grounds, with wide, shallow valleys between 

 them. The whole has been intensely glaciated, and the abra- 

 sion of the great ice-cap has reduced the general surface to as 

 near a level surface as is possible, considering the varying 

 resisting properties of the different rocks found here. 



There is no soil upon the rocky hills, while that of the valleys 

 is largely boulder clay, in which the coarser material pre- 

 dominates, leaving little room for the growth of Arctic 

 vegetation upon the finer materials of the soil. Boulders scat- 

 tered in profusion over the rocky hills give to the latter a 

 peculiar ragged appearance. Lakes and ponds dot the valleys, 

 and much of the land surrounding these is low and swampy. 



The shores of the bay are low, and are masked, in most 

 places, by a wide fringe of low rocky islands, while beyond the 

 islands the danger zone is continued several miles seaward by a 

 labyrinth of sunken reefs. The bottom of the bay, beyond these 

 reefs, continues very uneven, so that in the portion between 

 Winchester and Chesterfield inlets there is danger of a ship 



