AKCTIC ISLANDS 125 



small glaciers in some of the larger valleys. These glaciers do 

 not discharge icebergs. 



Prince of Wales island is separated from North Somerset by 

 the narrow channel of Peel sound and Franklin strait. It is 

 irregular in shape, being broken by a number of large bays. The 

 greatest length, 175 miles, is from north to south, while the 

 broadest part is 125 miles across. The northeast corner is occu- 

 pied by crystalline rocks, the remainder being of limestone. In 

 no place does the elevation of the interior plain exceed 500 

 feet. 



King William island lies to the southward of Prince of Wales 

 island in an angle formed by the northern coast of the continent 

 and Boothia peninsula. It is described as a low barren island 

 of limestone, of triangular shape, with a base seventy miles long 

 on the northwest side, the other sides having each a length of 

 nearly one hundred miles. The island is noted for the discovery 

 on its shores of the bodies of several of the ill-fated members of 

 Franklin's expedition, together with the record of Franklin's 

 death and the crushing of the ships in the heavy ice off the 

 northwest coast of the island. 



Victoria island is the third largest of the Arctic archi- 

 pelago, its area being 74,400 square miles. Only the western 

 and southern shores of this great island have been explored, and 

 practically nothing is known of its interior. It is 450 miles 

 long from northwest to southeast, and is over 300 miles across 

 in the widest part. With the exception of a small area in the 

 northwest, it is formed of Silurian limestone. The island is 

 generally level, the greater part of it being well below an eleva- 

 tion of 500 feet. 



Banks island is the most western of this group ; it is separated 

 from Victoria by the narrow Prince of Wales strait. Its 

 greatest length from northeast to southwest is about 250 miles, 

 while the average breadth is about 120 miles. The island is 

 formed largely of the softer rocks of the Carboniferous, and is 



