Ti'RNKK.] AROUND FOET CHIMO. 171 



feet 3 inches. The usual rise and fall is from 8 to 12 feet less, depeud- 

 iug on the stage of the river. At Fort Cliimo the tide rises as much 

 as 31 feet. The backwater is held in check as far as the upper rapids 

 in a common stage of water, and during a high rise in the month of 

 June the water is "backed" some 3 miles beyond the upper rapids. 



The branches of the Koksoak river are few and unimportant. The 

 larger tributary is the Larch river. It is a rapid and almost uunavi- 

 gable stream of variable depth, mostly shallow, and 100 to nearly 400 

 yards wide. 



At about 40 miles from its mouth the Larch forks, the lower or 

 southwest fork draining the eastern sides of the same mountains whose 

 western slopes are drained by the Little Whale river. This southwest 

 fork of the Larch river is quite small and scarely capable of being 

 ascended, although it may, with great caution, be descended. This 

 is the course followed by the Little Whale river Indians when they 

 traverse the country to join the Naskopies of tlie Koksoak valley. 

 The northwest branch of the Larch is still smaller and is reported to 

 issue from the swampy tract of land in about latitude 58° 30'. 



The next large river is the Leaf. Its mouth is about 34 miles north- 

 west of Fort Chimo, and it flows into a peculiarly shaped bay named 

 Tass'iyak, or "like a lake." The length of the river proper is estimated 

 to be but 40 miles, flowing from a very long aud narrow lake, having its 

 longer axis extending southwestward and draining the greater part of 

 the swampy tract lying in latitude 58° 30'. The southwestern portion 

 of this tract is merely an area covered with innumerable small lakes so 

 intimately connected by short water courses that it is diflicult to 

 determine whether water or land constitutes the greater part of the 

 area. The rivers to the west are of less importance and drain the 

 rugged area forming the northwestern portion of the district, or that 

 part lying under the western third of Hudson strait. 



The pi-incipal portion of Hudson strait that came under my observa- 

 tion is Ungava bay. This bay is a pocket-shaped body of water lying- 

 south of the strait and toward its eastern end. Soundings in various 

 portions of this bay indicate a depth of 28 to 70 fathoms for the central 

 area. The bottom appears to be uniformly the washings from the fresh- 

 water sti'eams. The extreme tides of Hudson strait tend to produce 

 the most violent cm-rents in this bay. Opposite the entrance of Leaf 

 river bay is a whirlpool of considerable size, which causes much trouble 

 to navigation. It is safe enough at high water but very dangerous at 

 half-tide. 



The large island known as Akpatok lies in such a position as to 

 break much of the current along the south side of the middle of the 

 strait, but to give additional force to the currents at either eud. This 

 island is about 100 miles long and has aii average width of 18 miles. 

 It is the largest island in the strait proper. 



The coast line of the northwest portion of the mainland is imperfectlj- 



