118 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



ISLANDS OF GROUP I. 



The islands of Hudson bay and Hudson strait are, naturally, 

 divided into two sections by their physical characters, the first 

 composed of those formed from the crystalline Archgean rocks, 

 the second of the low islands of limestone. The first division 

 includes Resolution, Big, Salisbury, Charles and Nottingham 

 islands, together with many smaller ones along the north side 

 of Hudson strait. These islands are physically alike, being 

 moderately high and having ragged shore lines. 



Resolution island lies on the north side of the eastern 

 entrance to Hudson strait. It is nearly forty miles long, and 

 averages twenty-five miles in breadth. The general elevation of 

 the interior is under five hundred feet, and the land appears to 

 rise quickly from the shores. The island is fringed by many 

 rocky islets, and a number of good harbours are said to occur 

 on all sides of it, but owing to the strong currents about the 

 coast it has been rarely visited, except by ships caught in the 

 ice. 



Big island lies close to the north shore of the strait, and about 

 one hundred and forty miles beyond its eastern entrance. The 

 island is triangular in shape; the longest side, parallel to the 

 mainland, has a length of thirty miles, the other two sides being 

 each about twenty-five miles long. In physical character and 

 elevation it is very like Resolution. 



Charles is a narrow island some twenty-five miles long, 

 situated in the southern part of the strait, being distant about 

 twenty-five miles from the south side; its west end is ninety 

 miles from Cape Wolstenholme at the western end of the strait. 

 The eastern half of the island is high and rugged, and is con- 

 nected with the lower rocky western end by a narrow sandy 

 neck. The highest part of the western end does not reach 

 an altitude of two hundred feet, and terminates in a long 



