ARCTIC ISLAXDS 127 



continuous ice-cap, but this is probably due to the small precipi- 

 tation of moisture derived from the ice-covered northern seas. 

 The first large ice-cap is situated in the interior, to the south of 

 81 N". latitude, and extends southward to 79 N. latitude, 

 where an area of lower lands occurs near the junction of the 

 Palaeozoic rocks of the north and the Archaaan of the southeast. 

 The southeastern quarter of the island occupied by crystalline 

 rocks has a general elevation of 3,000 feet or over, and is 

 covered by a great ice-cap, with numerous glaciers discharging 

 from it into the eastern bays. A great thickness of Palaeozoic 

 extending upwards from the Silurian to the Carboniferous 

 occupies the southwest quarter of the island, where the rocks 

 rise abruptly to a tableland with an elevation of nearly 3,000 

 feet. The cliffs of the southern coast are indented by many long 

 narrow fiords. Along the western side of the island is a wide 

 margin of softer Mesozoic rocks which form low plains extend- 

 ing from the seashore several miles inland to the base of the 

 high cliffs of older rocks. These plains are covered with arctic 

 vegetation. Musk-oxen, barren-ground caribou and arctic hares 

 are found there in large numbers, along with geese and other 

 aquatic birds. 



North Devon island lies to the south of Ellesmere, being 

 separated from it by Jones sound; Lancaster sound bounds it 

 on the south. The island, in shape, somewhat resembles a 

 swimming bird with the head to the northwest and the body 

 east and west. The body is about 220 miles long and averages 

 seventy-five miles across. Grinnell peninsula forms the head, 

 the neck being very irregular, and nearly pierced through by 

 several long bays; the length of head and neck is a hundred 

 miles. The eastern third of the island is composed of crystal- 

 line rocks, and rises to an irregular ice-clad tableland some 

 3,000 feet ,in altitude. The rise to the interior is somewhat 

 abrupt, and the landscape, seen from the sea, shows an interior 

 ice-cap in the distance, with bare rocky hills rising irregularly 



