236 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



active, and is said to discharge only a few small icebergs into 

 one of the fiords on the south side of Frobisher bay. Passing 

 northward along the eastern coast of Baffin island, the snow 

 patches upon the hills become larger and more numerous, but it 

 is not until Cumberland gulf is passed that real glaciers appear 

 in the valleys leading down to the sea. These are not very 

 active, and seldom shed icebergs except on the northern part 

 of the island. Active glaciers are found along the southern 

 side of North Devon westward to the neighbourhood of Cum- 

 ing creek, west of which the ice-cap retreats, and the shores 

 and cliffs are free of ice. The valleys of the eastern and south- 

 eastern coasts of Ellesmere are filled with active glaciers that 

 discharge many large icebergs. In the southwestern part the 

 glaciers are not very active, and usually terminate at a con- 

 siderable distance from the sea. 



ECONOMIC MINERALS. 



With the exception of the area of iron-bearing rocks on the 

 islands along the east coast of Hudson bay, no systematic pros- 

 pecting has been done for minerals in the wide region covered 

 by this report. Active mining at the present is confined to a 

 mine of mica, situated at Lake harbour, on the north side of 

 Hudson strait, a few miles east of Big island. Earlier mining 

 consisted of the extraction of small quantities of coal from the 

 outcrops of that mineral on Melville and Ellesmere islands by 

 expeditions wintering there. Our knowledge of the minerals 

 extends only to the chance observations of the earlier explorers, 

 and to the hurried examinations made by members of the staff 

 of the Geological Survey in the southern parts of the region 

 under consideration. 



The occurrence of Laurentian and Huronian rocks over large 

 portions of the area, both on the islands and mainland, leads to 

 the belief that important mineral deposits exist there in the 



