476 Scientific Intelligence. 



II. GrEOLOGY AND NATURAL HlSTORY. 



1. Observations on Baffinland. — Dr. Robert Bell, F.R.S., of 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, has recently returned from a 

 five months trip into the northern regions. Having proceeded by 

 the Dominion Government S. S. Diana to Hudson Strait, he took 

 a yacht and small boat from there, and made a topographical and 

 geological survey of about 300 miles of the southern coast of 

 Baffinland. From an account in the " Ottawa Citizen " of Octo- 

 ber 27th we extract the following : 



" The northern side of Hudson Strait is the southern coast of 

 Baffinland, which is the third largest island in the world, being 

 1,100 miles in length. The island of Greenland and the island 

 of Australia alone exceed it in length. Hudson Strait is about 

 500 miles in length, and averages about 100 miles in width. Big 

 Island, which lies near the north side, is 30 miles long and about 

 20 miles wide. Both shores of the strait are mountainous, and 

 destitute of trees, being beyond the limits of the northern forests. 

 The land along the western half of the south shore is higher and 

 bolder than any other part of these coasts, and rises to a height 

 of between 1,000 and 2,000 feet above the sea. The eastern half 

 of the south coast is rather low, and is not broken by any moun- 

 tain range. Dr. Bell says : ' The whole north shore is rugged, 

 but it rises more gradually as we go back from the sea, and 

 attains a general elevation of 1,000 to 1,500 feet at a distance of 

 10 to 20 miles inland, although some parts are higher ; between 

 Frobisher Bay and the eastern part of Hudson Strait, Grinnell 

 glacier, an extensive sheet of ice covers this range, and may be 

 seen from a long distance on a clear day, although one may olten 

 pass through Hudson Strait without observing it. In the spring 

 a cold, ice-laden current, flowing in from Davis Strait, passes up 

 the north side of Hudson Strait, while the warmer water of Hud- 

 son Bay flows out along the south shore. The north side has 

 therefore a more Arctic character than the south.' " 



" On the 20th of July, when Dr. Bell commenced his explora- 

 tion, the south shore was comparatively free, while the north side 

 had a cold, forbidding appearance. The ' ice foot,' 20 to 30 feet 

 thick, still adhered to the rocks, all along, except in some of the 

 inlets. At the outset of his journey Dr. Bell was fortunate 

 enough to find an Eskimo w T ho knew the coast and at the same 

 time understood English pretty well, having picked it up at 

 Spicer's Trading Station, which had been maintained in this 

 vicinity for several years. 



" The greater part of the coast to be explored was so completely 

 unknown that it was not indicated on the charts even by a dotted 

 line. Passing to the northwest of Big Inland, the mainland soon 

 became fringed with many islands, and a little farther on the 

 whole coast seemed to be broken up into innumerable mountain- 

 ous islands of all sizes, from single hills of rock surrounded by 

 water, to ranges several miles in length. This border of islands 



