120 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



Coats island lies directly south of Southampton, from which 

 it is separated by Evans and Fisher straits. With the exception 

 of a ridge of moderately high land crossing the island diagon- 

 ally at its eastern end, the island is low and flat, having no 

 elevation of over a hundred feet. Its longer axis of one hundred 

 miles lies nearly northeast and southwest, while its greatest 

 breadth is about twenty-five miles. 



Mansfield island, being wholly composed of limestone, is 

 everywhere low and flat, with no elevations greatly exceeding a 

 hundred feet. The island, with a length of seventy-five miles, 

 lies parallel to and about that distance from the east coast of 

 Hudson bay, its north end being on a line with Cape Wolsten- 

 holme. 



Akpatok island, included in this division on account of its 

 being of limestone formation, lies in the mouth of Ungava bay 

 of Hudson strait. It is nearly fifty miles long, and lies diagon- 

 ally to the west coast of the bay, so that its southern end is 

 about thirty miles from the mouth of Payne river, while the 

 north end is nearly twice that distance from Cape Hopes 

 Advance. The limestone forming the island being more solid 

 than that of the western islands, the shore line is bolder and 

 more broken, the island rising in low cliffs directly from the 

 sea, and having a general elevation considerably higher than 

 that of those just described. 



ISLANDS OF GROUP II. 



Baffin island, with its area of 211,000 square miles, is the 

 largest and probably the most important and valuable of the 

 Arctic islands. Its southern shores form the north side of Hud- 

 son strait; its eastern side extends from Hudson strait to 

 Lancaster sound, or from 61 1ST. latitude to 74 N". latitude, a 

 distance of over 850 miles fronting on Davis strait and Baffin 

 bay. The island is bounded on the north by Lancaster sound 



