E. Bell — Rising of the Land around Hudson Bay. 223 



tion of their beds above the sea. Only one narrow passage 

 now remains open or low enough to admit the water, but two 

 others are as yet only slightly raised above the tides. 



Some of the aboriginal geographical names around the head 

 of James Bay are significant of considerable changes in the 

 topography since these shores became inhabited by the natives 

 who still occupy them. The large peninsula between Hannah 

 and Rupert bays is called Ministik-oo-watum, which means 

 wooded island with a cove or hole in it, ministik being the 

 Cree for a wooded island and watum for a cove or hole. The 

 heads of the channels, which now run in behind the present 

 peninsula from the opposite sides, are separated by a strip of 

 low ground some ten miles long covered by bushes. Midway 

 across this strip, the elevation is estimated to be about fifteen 

 feet above high tide. The most prominent point on the coast 

 between Moose Factory and Fort Albany is now called " Cock- 

 ispenny" by the whites, but the Cree name is Ka-ka-ki-sip- 

 pin-a-wayo Minis, or Island where the Crow-duck (Cormorant) 

 lays eggs. Since this island became connected with the main- 

 land, bushes have taken the place of the grasses and sedges 

 which first grew upon the low ground between them, and 

 the former are constantly acquiring a stronger growth. Many 

 years ago the winter trail of the coast passed over the neck of 

 this peninsula, but now it has become necessary to go outside 

 of it, because the bushes have grown so large that they catch 

 the snow which, in such situations, remains too soft for dog 

 teams and snow-shoers. 



The salt marshes along the west coast of James Bay and 

 also in the vicinity of York Factory, which used to attract 

 vast numbers of wild geese and ducks, have been gradually 

 drying up, much to the inconvenience of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company's people, who depended largely upon them for food. 



The character of the lower portions of such rivers as the 

 Moose, Albany and Attawapishkat shows a recession of the 

 sea. This is particularly observable in the lower thirty miles 

 of the Moose, where very long and narrow or ribbon-like 

 islands run parallel to one another for many miles. The 

 process of their formation appears to have been a constant 

 drawing out of their lower extremities as the sea receded from 

 them, just as the lowest islands of the present day are growing. 



On the east-main coast, where the land is comparatively 

 high, the grade of the rivers is rapid as they approach the 

 bay, and in some of them, as the Eastapoka and the Langlands, 

 there are perpendicular falls of about 100 feet almost directly 

 into the sea. This condition indicates recent elevation. 



One of the best evidences of the modern rising of the land 

 is to be found in the beach- dwellings of the Eskimos, which 



