274 REPOET— 1886. 



and Muskegs of the North-West Territory of Canada) the winter is 

 warmer than in the valleys of the Forest-zone. Probably because the 

 stronger currents of the air do not permit the cold stratum to remain so 

 long stagnant. 



7a. Lat. 01° 53' 30" N , long. 6° 46' 30" E. Faleide, Nordfjord, in 

 Norway. — The following memorandum, supplied by a recent tourist in 

 Norway as the result of numerous inquiries on the Nordfjord in about 

 lat. 61° 53', shows, as we should expect, a remarkable difference in the 

 penetration of frost in a high European latitude. ' The ground at Faleide 

 (on the Nordfjord) is frozen from one to two and a half feet deep about 

 the Fjord in winter, but this depends upon how soon the snow falls. 

 Higher up the mountains the ground is scarcely frozen at all, owing to 

 the snow falling sooner, and, in fact, if the snow falls very early lower 

 down it is scarcely frozen to any depth.' 



8. Lat. 61° 51', long. 125° 25', Fort Simpson, on Mackenzie's River. — 

 The summer's heat was found in October 1837 to have thawed the soil to 

 a depth of 11 feet, below which was 6 feet of ground ice (Richardson), 

 making the depth of descent of the frost 17 feet. The result is anomalous ; 

 at other posts in the same region the summer thaw is much more super- 

 ficial. Thus, it will be observed above that in the month of October, at 

 Fort Rae, the soil was at a nearly nniform temperature, but slightly 

 above the freezing point, from the depth of 1 foot to 4 feet. Franklin 

 found a summer thaw of only 22 inches at Great Bear Lake, and the 

 writer was informed that it was only 14 inches at Fort Norman (lat. 

 64° 41'). Fort Simpson is situated on an island of deep alluvial soil, 

 bearing timber of large size, and possessing an exceptional climate. 



9. Lat. 57°, long. 92° 26', York Factory, Hudson's Bay.— Sir J. 

 Richardson has stated that the soil was found frozen to a depth of 

 19 feet 10 inches in October 1835, the surface being thawed to a depth of 

 2 feet 4 inches. 



10. Lat. 55° 57', long. 107° 24'. Lake a la Crosse.— It is stated that 

 no frozen soil was found in sinking a pit to a depth of 25 feet in 1837, 

 and that the earth was only fi-ozen to a depth of 3 feet in the winter of 

 1841. Both records are anomalous, and call for verification. 



11. Lat. 53° 40', long. 113° 35'. At Prince Albert, on the Saskatche- 

 wan. — Mr. "W. E. Traill, who was in charge of this post in 1872, reports 

 that a settler in the neighboui'hood came to frozen ground at a deptb of 

 17 feet, but did not learn whether they passed through the frozen strata, 

 or, if such was the case, what was the thickness of it. The same gentle- 

 man, writing from Lesser Slave Lake (lat. 55° 33'), remarks that he has 

 never come across any indication of perpetual ice during the twenty-two 

 years he has passed in the North-west Territory. 



13. Mr. Andrew Flett, writing from Prince Albert, April 21, 1886, 

 says : — ' Hundreds of wells have been sunk in this settlement ; one I had 

 sunk myself, beginning of July 1881, 27 feet deep ; saw no frozen earth. 

 As far as I have noticed on this prairie land, when there is a good fall of 

 snow when the winter sets in, the frost does not penetrate so deep as 

 when there is no snow till late, and in some years very light snow. I had 

 a pit opened on the 9th inst. (April) ; the surface was thawed 3 inches ; we 

 got through the frozen earth at 4 feet 7 inches. On the 11th inst. I saw 

 a grave dug in the chiirchyard at Emmanuel College, one mile from my 

 place, 5 feet deep, and had not got through the frost. My place is on 

 highei ground, loam soil.' 



