ARCTIC ISLANDS 113 



of many of even the most northern islands have been thoroughly 

 explored. The work left undone by these parties has since been 

 practically finished by the British expedition of 1875, and by 

 the work of Greely, Peary and Sverdrup. 



The physical features of the coasts visited by the Neptune 

 have been described in detail in the narrative of the voyage, and 

 need not be repeated here. All other information concerning 

 the geography of these northern lands has been obtained from 

 the printed records of earlier Arctic travellers, and is here used 

 to give some general idea of the extent and physical condition 

 of these islands. 



The islands of the Arctic archipelago extend from the north 

 side of Hudson bay and Hudson strait, in 62 I^. latitude to 

 83 ]ST. latitude, a distance of 1,500 miles. Their greatest 

 extension westward is along the 73rd parallel, from the west 

 side of Baffin bay to 125 W. longitude, a distance of 500 miles. 



The islands have, for convenience, been divided into four 

 natural groups, as follows : 



GKOUP I. The islands situated in the northern parts of 

 Hudson bay and Hudson strait. These include the great island 

 of Southampton, together with the smaller islands of Coats, 

 Mansfield, Nottingham, Salisbury, Charles, Akpatok, Resolu- 

 tion and many other small ones still unnamed. 



GBOTJP II. Includes the islands lying between Hudson bay 

 and Hudson strait, on the south, and Lancaster sound on the 

 north, the western boundary of the group being Prince Regent 

 inlet. The largest of all the islands, Baffin, belongs to this 

 group. The only other island of considerable size is Bylot, 

 while the remainder are small and fringe these two large 

 islands. 



GKOUP III. This contains the islands lying west of Prince 

 Regent inlet and south of Lancaster sound, and its western con- 

 tinuation, Barrow strait. These islands are almost inaccessible, 



