2S B GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



snow in abundance, which doubtless lasts all summer. These appear 

 about as high as any yet seen, from which it is evident that the axial 

 range does not gradually die away northward, but is here suddenly in- 

 terrupted. North of the extremity of the inlet, some miles back from 

 the shore, rounded hills estimated at about 1000 feet are seen. 

 Entrance to Outside the mouth of Cumshewa Inlet, north of the Skedans Islands. 



Cumshewa . - • i i -n i 



Inlet. the depth is pretty uniform at about twenty fathoms, with a shelly and 



gravelly bottom. An extensive reef lies nearly a mile off the northern 

 entrance point of the inlet, in a south-easterly bearing, with a second, 

 seen only at low-water, nearly half a mile further out in the same di- 

 rection. A vessel coming from the north should, therefore, keep well 

 off the shore till the Cumshewa rocks are passed, and then stand in to 

 the entrance in a north-westerly course. Cumshewa Island, of the 

 chart, is a small barren rock. Kin-gui Island, just within the north en- 

 trance point, on the north side of the inlet, bristles with dead trees, 

 and can be recognized easily. About a mile further in is the narrow 

 channel by which the inlet must be entered. This is about half a mile 

 wide, lying between the north shore of the inlet, and northern edge of 

 a very extensive shoal which runs out from the south shore, with a 

 broadly triangular form. When the southern point of the peninsula 

 which projects from the north shore of Cumshewa Inlet, bears N. 65° 

 30' (S. 88° W. Mag.), the northern edge of the wide shoal is just cleared. 

 The least depth in the channel is, according to the Admiralty sketch 

 (No. 2168), seven to eight fathoms, but as the sketch is otherwise incor- 

 rect, too much confidence should not be placed in this measurement. 

 A few patches of the shoal dry at low tide, but the greater part of its 

 extent is indicated on\j by the kelp which grows thickly on it during 

 the summer. 



McKay's Cove. Within the narrows, on the north shore, is a cove, where a small 

 house for the purpose of trade with the natives was built some years 

 ago, but is now abandoned. The tide-flats are wide, but off them a 

 small schooner may find a pretty secure anchorage, though the tide — 

 which runs strongly in the mouth of this inlet — sweeps round the 

 cove. 



Cumshewa Cumshewa Indian village is situated on the north side of the inlet, 



village. ° ' 



the houses being arranged along the shore of a bay Avhich faces south- 

 eastward. A small rocky island which may be called Village Island, 

 lies off it, and is connected with the main shore at low-tide. 



The ruins of an abandoned village exist on the outer point near Cum- 

 shewa Island, but this one has probably never been of great im- 

 portance. 

 Anchorage. On the sketch of Cumshewa, published by the Admiralty, an an- 



chorage with eleven and twelve fathoms of water is shown behind the 



