lO THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF LAURADOK. 



From these facts it will be seen that along this part of 

 the northern coast, mountains as high as the Adirondacks, 

 and even the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 

 plunge directly into the sea, and are as wild and sublime 

 as the coast mountains of Norway and Greenland. 



Drainage and Rivers. — Of the water-sheds and water- 

 systems of Labrador our knowledge is mostly conjecture, 

 on account of the lack of information regarding the in- 

 terior. In none of the charts and maps are the rivers 

 and internal lakes accurately represented, and there is the 

 widest discrepancy between the different maps. 



The Labrador plateau has an aiea of about 420,000 

 square miles. It has a coast-line of about 1,100 miles, 

 stretching from the Strait of Belle Isle to Cape Wolsten- 

 holme, and its greatest breadth is said to be 600 miles. 

 It lies between the 49th and 63d parallels of latitude, 

 and the 55th and 79th meridians. Bounded on the east 

 by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the north and west by 

 Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, its southwestern limits 

 are defined by the Bersiamits, Mistassini, and Rupert 

 rivers. The broadest and in general highest portion of 

 the plateau appears to be in the southern portion of the 

 peninsula, and it is here that the larger rivers appear to 

 take their rise. 



From the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence and Strait of Belle Isle the Labrador plateau rises 

 until it reaches a vast table-land or water-shed in the in- 

 terior, the edge of which has been reached by Professor 

 Hind in his explorations of the Moisie River. 



This elevated region is thought by Professor Hind to 

 attain a height of 2,240 feet above the sea-level. Pro- 

 fessor Hind says of the table-land from which the river 



