236 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



McClintock asks: " "When did tlie skeletons of these whales 

 drift to their present position? When did the forest trees grow in 

 Bafing's and Prince Patrick's Land, many of which are still fit for 

 firewood? And when were the lofty table-lands of North Devon 

 and North Somerset scored by the immense ravines, broad and 

 deep, with sides almost perpendicular, and rocky beds, sometimes 

 100 yards wide, where no rivers now exist, nor even streamlets, 

 except during the few weeks of summer thaw? Will geology ever 

 solve these enigmas?" 



Naewhal — Monodon monoceros Liimseus. 



Erom Eskimo reports, as well as from tlie published 

 accounts of various exploratory expeditions, there can be 

 no doubt that this marine animal is at least sparingly present 

 in almost every section of the Alaskan and Canadian seas of 

 Arctic America. Doctor Armstrong, of the Investigator, 

 has noted them among the mammals observed by him; Sir 

 John Ross, Sir George Wares, and other explorers refer 

 thereto, -while General Greely gives latitude 81° 35' north 

 as its highest migratory range. Several skeletons and one 

 tusk weighing about 14^4 pounds and 7 feet 9^ inches in 

 length were found on Boothia Felix during the stay of 

 Admiral Sir John Koss's party there from 1829 to 1838, 

 when they abandoned their ship and retreated by boat to 

 Barrow Strait, where they were rescued by a whaler at 

 one time commanded by Ross himself. Doctor Armstrong, 

 the accomplished surgeon and naturalist of the Investigator, 

 has vsT-itten that in the large western islands (Baring and 

 Melville), "where the soil is arenaceous, animal life is more 

 abundant than elsewhere; this gradually decreased as we 

 proceeded to the eastward, where the limestone formation 

 generally prevailed. But the greater number of bears, seals, 

 walruses, and sea fowl met with, although these are more 

 difficult to procure than musk oxen or reindeer, by their 

 great size afford sufficient compensation; the carbonaceous 

 element of the food (fat), the great supporter of respiration 

 and life, being so largely supplied." 



