COAST LINE OF ARCTIC SLOPE PROVINCE. 49 



gradually deepening sea floor. The greatest height of the bluffs is about 30 feet. 

 The drainage ways are consequently broad and very shallow. 



The coast line is comparatively regular, though not nearly so uniform as repre- 

 sented by the early explorers Dease and Simpson. It is more or less broadly sinuous 

 or wavy. -its first striking uniformity being broken by occasional lagoons, shallow 

 embayments, and inlets; but in comparison with the coast of southern Alaska, for 

 example, in can not be called indented. Some of the emba3'ments mark the mouths 

 of rivers, but most of the larger ones seem to occur independent of inland drainage. 

 The deepest, and perhaps the only one to which the term indentation will strictly 

 apply, is Dease Inlet, at the head of which is situated Admiralty Bay, which receives 

 the Chipp (Ikpikpuk) River. The principal streams entering the sea between 

 the Colville and Point Barrow are Garry, Smith, Sinclair, Chipp (Ikpikpuk), and 

 Meade rivers. These rivers, however, could not all be visited by the party in its 

 rapid progress along the coast. So far as known, they in general have wide mud-flat 

 deltas, much the same as the Colville, which pass seaward into shallows, merging 

 with the shallow coastal shelf of the sea. 



It is judged that the coastal shelf extends far offshore, with a slope probably 

 even less than that of the nearl} 7 level subaerial coastal plain. Captain McClure 

 found the soundings so exceedingly regular that during the foggiest weather the 

 vessel could stand inshore with the most perfect confidence in 3$ fathoms of water, 

 and the Investigator is reported to have passed the mouth of the Colville 40 miles out 

 to sea in 2>\ fathoms. The range of tides on this portion of the Arctic coast is very 

 small, being only 2 or 3 feet. 



Point Barrow, the northern extremity of this low coast and of the American 

 continent, is a low spit of gravel and sand, projecting to the northeast, in latitude 

 71° 23', longitude 156° -10'. It is 4 miles in length and about one-fourth mile in width, 

 but expands at the end, where it rises to a height of 16 feet and sends out a long, 

 narrow ridge, which extends east-southeastward for a distance of more than 2 miles. 

 This ridge finally gives way to a line of sandy islets, inclosing a shallow body of 

 water of considerable extent, named Elson Bay, after the discoverer of Point Barrow. 



From Point Barrow to Cape Lisburne and beyond. — The trend of the coast line 

 changes from northwest to southwest at Point Barrow and thence extends about 300 

 miles southwestward to Cape Lisburne. It continues comparatively straight and 

 regular, but it is not so low as on the north. It soon loses the almost featureless 

 edge which is characteristic of the flat coastal plain on the north, and gradually comes 

 to exhibit low, but seldom rock-faced, bluffs, rising 30 or 40, rarely 70, feet above 

 tide. Back from the shore a very gently rolling surface rises very gradually toward 

 the interior, but no highlands or mountains can be seen. Seaward the bluffs over- 

 look immense stretches of brackish lagoons, from one to several miles in width, which 



189— No. 20—04 4 



