ARCTIC ISLANDS 123 



a fiord on the south side of Frobisher bay, but the ice from it 

 rarely breaks off as icebergs. 



The northern land between Admiralty and Navy Board 

 inlets is ice-covered, with glaciers filling its seaward valleys, 

 and with the separating rocky ridges rising dark and forbidding 

 from the general field of white. A thin ice-cap covers the 

 northern p^rt of the limestone plateau on the east side of Prince 

 Regent inlet. 



The western interior of the northern half of Baffin island is 

 described by the Eskimos as a rough plain, probably less than 

 1,000 feet in elevation, diversified by rolling hills with 

 numerous lakes in the valleys between. This country is well 

 covered with an Arctic vegetation which provides food for large 

 bands of barren-ground caribou. 



There are two large lakes in the lower country of the south- 

 western part of the island called Nettilling and Amadjuak; 

 both are upwards of a hundred miles long, and the low lands 

 surrounding them are the favourite feeding grounds for large 

 bands of barren-ground caribou. The natives from Cumberland 

 gulf, Frobisher bay and the north shores of Hudson strait resort 

 to the shores of these lakes annually to slaughter large numbers 

 of these animals for food and for their skins, which are used 

 for winter clothing and bedding. 



Bylot island lies to the northeast of Baffin, being separated 

 from the latter by the Ponds and Navy Board inlets. It is 

 roughly circular in outline, with a diameter of nearly ninety 

 miles. In physical character it closely resembles the north- 

 eastern part of Baffin, already described, being formed from 

 crystalline rocks. The general elevation of the interior ranges 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and the coastal highlands are covered 

 with an ice-cap which extends ten or fifteen miles inland, the 

 interior, according to the Eskimos, being free of snow during 

 the summer. The ice-rim feeds numerous glaciers, some of 



which discharge bergs. 

 12 



