14 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



and his family. The days too, from November to February, are short — a fine 

 day in mid-December offers only about five hours in which- there is light enough 

 for travelling, and in foggy or cloudy weather even this period is greatly reduced. 



The break between winter and spring seems to come about the middle of 

 April. Already the days are growing long, and the nights correspondingly short. 

 May sees the triumph of the light with the appearance of the midnight sun. 

 The snow is then rapidly melting from the land, and the creeks and rivers are 

 on the point of breaking out; but the nights are still chilly and strong winds not 

 at all infrequent. June and July are delightful months in an average season, 

 except for occasional fogs which may last two or three days. North and south 

 winds often occur, whereas at all other times of the year the prevalent winds are 

 east and west. The first half of July is perhaps the most pleasant period in the 

 year. Rivers and streams are rushing in full flood and the smaller lakeshave 

 lost their covering of ice. All the birds have come back and are joyfully building 

 their nests. The sim circles round in the sky without setting, the air is warm, 

 and in a good season a tent is hardly needed. A few insects, flies and butterflies 

 and bees, have made their appearance, but the weather is not yet hot enough to 

 bring those hosts of mosquitoes that in the height of summer plague animals and 

 men alike. The warmest month is August, when the thermometer sometimes 

 reaches 70° F. on the coast. September marks a decline again, shorter days, 

 colder weather and the departure of all the birds save a very few species. In 

 October winter is already drawing in. The sea is frozen solid in November, and it 

 is possible to travel almost anywhere by sled. December brings back both the 

 cold and the dark. 



Generally speaking the coast is low, sloping back in undulating ridges to 

 an interior plateau. The ridges run usually east and west at no great distance 

 from each other, and are connected by numerous short transverse ridges 

 that enclose a network of lakes and ponds of every size and shape. At 

 various points along the shore there are upstanding cliffs of dolomite or diabase. 

 The coast becomes more rocky east of the Coppermine river, and granite makes 

 its first appearance. Nearly all the islands with which Coronation gulf is littered 

 have high upstanding cliffs facing the east and south. Only three rivers carry 

 any great volume of water, the Coppermine (Kogluktok), the Tree {Kogluktualuk) 

 and the Hood {Kattimannik); but there are numerous smaller rivers, the Rae 

 (Pallik), the greater and lesser rivers Kugaryuak, the Anialik, the Wentzel 

 {Kogluktuaryuk), the Utkusikkalluk, and, on Victoria island, the Kimiryvak 

 flowing into Forsyth bay, and the Kugaluk which enters the sea behind Bell 

 sland.! 



Reindeer moss^ is abundant in the valleys of most of these rivers, which are 

 therefore favorite haunts for the migratory caribou. Practically the whole of 

 the country lies beyond the northern limit of trees; there are only two places, 

 in fact, where timber is found, viz. in the valleys of the Tree and of the Copper- 

 mine rivers, for which reason these two possess a peculiar economic importance.^ 

 Occasional beds of willow that grow to a height of five or six feet appear as 

 veritable forests among the prevailing heather and moss and grass and tiny 

 flowering plants a few inches high with which the greater part of the country is 

 covered. The driftwood that is found here and there on the sea-shore would be 

 far more valuable to the natives than this scanty vegetation, did not the heather 

 supply them with fuel during the summer months; and the caribou and musk- 

 oxen find sustenance in the moss and grass where man finds none. 



1 Reindeer " moss " is the name popularly applied t3 various species of lichen, Clidonid, and other 

 allied geiera. 



2A small river, the Napaktauktimlc, a few miles east of the Coppermine, is said to reach back to timber. 

 The Dease river, though it flows into Great Bear lake, may be considered for our purposes to lie in the 

 basin of the Coppermine, since it is only accessible to the Eskimos by way of the latter. 



