416 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



nait-Padli, is situated the highland of Kingnait, with sharp peaks 

 emerging from the ice cap which covers the lower parts of the i)lateau. 

 The rest of Cumberland Peninsula is formed by the highland of 

 Saumia, which much resembles that of Kingnait. Near Cape Mercy 

 the ice covered highland slopes down to a hilly region, which falls 

 abruptly to the sea. 



The southern parts of this range of mountains are composed of 

 gneiss and granite. It may be that Silurian strata occur in some 

 places, but they have not yet been found anywhere in situ. The 

 northern parts are too imperfectly known to enable us to form an 

 idea of their geological character. 



The mountains just described slope down to a hilly region, which 

 farther to the west levels off to a plain. The hills are composed of 

 granite, the plains of Silurian limestone, which extends from Prince 

 Regent Inlet to the head of Frobisher Bay. 



The peninsula between Cumberland Sound and Frobisher Bay is 

 formed by a plateau, which slopes down gradually to the northwest. 

 It is drained by a great river flowing into Auqardneling, a fjord on 

 the western shore of Cumbn-laiid Snund. Near Lake Nettilling the 

 country is very low, the Icvd n\' thr lake beingonly forty feet above 

 that of the sea. Here the wati'rslic<l Ijelween Cumberland Sound and 

 Fox Basin closely approaches the eastern shore, coming within five 

 miles of the head of Nettilling Fjord. It is formed by a narrow neck 

 of land about a quarter of a mile wide and sixty-five feet above the 

 level of the sea. 



From Eskimo reports I conclude that the plateau of Nugumiut, as 

 we may call the peninsula between Frobisher Bay and Ciimberland 

 Sound, is comparatively level. Only a single mountain south of 

 Qasigidjen (Bear Sound) rises into the region of eternal snow. 



The peninsula between Frobisher Bay and Hiidson Strait is formed 

 by a granite highland, the Meta Incognita of Queen Elizabeth. It is 

 covered with ice and sends a few glaciers into the sea. Farther west, 

 near Lesseps Bay and White Bear Sound, the cotintry becomes lower. 

 The narrow isthmus leading from Hudson Strait to Amaqdjuaq can- 

 not be very high, as the Eskimo carry their kayaks to the lake, which 

 I believe is about two hundred feet above the level of the sea. 



Last of all I have to mention the highlands of King Cape. The 

 rest of the land is taken up by a vast plain in which two large lakes 

 are situated; the southern, Amaqdjuaq, empties by a short river into 

 Lake Nettilling, whence the long and wide Koukdjuaq runs to the 

 shallow sea. From observations made by Captain Spicer, of Groton, 

 Conn. , and information obtained from the Eskimo, we learn that the 

 whole of the eastern part of Fox Basin is extremely shallow and that 

 there are many low islands scattered aboiit in those parts of the sea. 

 The plains of Baffin Land, Fox Basin, and the eastern half of Mel- 



