low] JAMES' BAY. 37 J 



55-5°. This would be slightly higher than an average for the entire 

 bay, as the mean temperature of Moose Factory is higher than many 

 other places. Dr. R. Bell, in report of Progress 18 H i1-^8, places the 

 average temperature of the sea along the east coast at 51°. This is 

 much higher than the temperature of the main body of water, as the 

 water of the east coast is warmed by the rivers flowing into the bay on 

 that side, and being very shallow has its temperature raised by the 

 action of the sun's rays. The difference in the vegetation growing on 

 the outer islands and in the same latitude on the main land shews that 

 the temperature of the former is much lower than that of the latter 

 and this is due to the lower temperature of the main bodj 7 of water, 

 which is so cold that an immersion of the limbs for a few minutes at 

 any time produces a numbness in the parts of the body so covered. 



Big River. 



The harbour and mouth of the Big, Kitchisipis, or Mistisipi River Bi« River, 

 has already been described as far as Fort George. At this point the 

 north channel of the river is one mile wide, and for two miles above to 

 the head of Fort George island, it is obstructed by one large and 

 several small islands. For the next four miles the river has an 

 average breadth of three-quarters of a mile, is quite deep and flows 

 with an even current, of about three miles and a half an hour with 

 falling water, the course being N. 50° E. Here a small rocky island 

 and reef stretches across the stream, forming a small rapid. From 

 this point the river bends to the eastward, and for thirty-three miles, in 

 a straight line, flows with a general course of N. 85° W. Three miles 

 above the rapid is the lower of four large islands, which lie on the 

 south side of the main channel, and extend upward six miles and a half 

 past the head of tide. 



Two miles above the upper island the river contracts in width to one 

 hundred yards, and passes over and between a rocky barrier, which 

 causes a fall often feet in the form of a low chute with heavy rapids 

 below. Immediately above the chute is a low rocky island half a mile 

 long. From here for nineteen miles the river has an average breadth 

 of eight hundred yards, and flows with an average current of three 

 miles an hour in a deep channel. Beyond this distance is a sharp bend 

 to the north-east for one and a half miles, around the base of a rocky 

 hill, when the former course is again followed for several miles. At 

 the bend, the river is only two hundred yards wide, and consequently 

 has a very swift current, up which canoes require to be tracked. Two 

 miles beyond the bend a portage route of over one hundred miles in 

 length leaves the river on the north side. The river from a few miles 



