'=^v. 



The Labrador Peninsula 



Labrador may be considered as a plateau, 

 which, except in a fev»r places, rises abruptly 

 from the coast to a general elevation of 1,500 

 feet above sea level, while the central area has 

 a general elevation of nearly 2,000 feet. This 

 plateau has an undulating surface, broken by 

 ranges of rocky hills that rise from 400 feet to 

 800 feet above the general level, while minor 

 ridges of glacial drift, from 50 feet to 200 feet 

 high, also break the general contour. The 

 wide, irregular valleys between these ridges 

 are covered with innumerable lakes that vary 

 in size from great bodies of water 100 miles 

 long to mere ponds. The lakes are connected 

 by networks of streams, so that with a knowl- 

 edge of the country a journey in almost any 

 direction may be made with canoes without 

 portages exceeding two or three miles in length, 

 and, as a rule, less than half a mile longo There 

 are four principal watersheds ; the western, 

 with its rivers flowing into Hudson Bay, is 

 the greatest ; next in area is the northern, 

 followed by the southern, and the last is the 

 eastern, where, with the exception of the 

 large rivers emptying into Hamilton Inlet, no 

 streams of importance occur, owing to a high 

 coastal range which throws most of the drairi- 



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