tow] JAKES' BAT. 15 J 



Prom the mouth of the Albany Eiver the direction of the shore line 

 changes to E.S.E. for a distance of forty miles to Cockespenny when it 

 turns S.E. to the head of Hannah Bay. Hannah Bay is thirty miles 

 deep, counting from a line drawn between Gull Point on the east side 

 and the mouth of Moose Eiver, and has an average breadth of 

 fifteen miles. 



This bay is separated fr?>m Rupert Bay by along low point terminat- 

 ing in a peninsula, at one time an island, the isthmus is covered with 

 willows and is lower than the land adjoining, the latter, on both sides, 

 supports a thick growth of spruce and tamarac. Rupert Bay is thirty- 

 five miles deep, with an average width of twelve miles. 



The east coast of James Bay has a roughly north and south direc- 

 tion from the head of Rupert Bay to the mouth of Big River, one 

 hundred and seventy-five miles. Prom this river the coast takes a 

 gradual curve to the westward, the land at Cape Jones lying about east 

 and west. 



According to Capts. Taylor and Bishop, of the Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany's ships, the position of Cape Jones, as laid down on the Admiralty 

 chart, is fully forty miles to the eastward of its true position ; this being 

 the case, the mouth of James Bay is that much narrower than is repre- 

 sented on the maps. 



The Admiralty chart, from which all modern maps of Hudson Bay 

 are constructed, was compiled in 1853 from information supplied by the 

 Hudson Bay Company, gathered from notes and observations of the 

 various captains of their ships; now as these observations were but 

 approximately correct, the chart must be so also, especially in those 

 parts unfrequented in the navigation of the bay, and such being the 

 case, it is highly important that an accurate survey should be under- ^accurate ° f 

 taken to correct these errors in the coast line, and enable ship captains ™^l y hemg 

 unacquainted with the navigation of these parts, to enter James Bay 

 with a certain degree of safety, a thing impossible with the present 

 charts. 



The general coast line of the west and south sides of James Bay is 

 low and flat, with shallow water, deepening very slowly outwards all 

 along, except where the rivers have cut out channels in the mud. 



Although the average rise and fall of the tide does not exceed five Tides, 

 feet, at the time of low water, only mud flats, strewn with large 

 boulders, can be seen to seaward from high water mark. The shore is, 

 in most places, marshy, covered with grasses and willows, with number- 

 less small brackish ponds and lakes for a considerable distance behind 

 high-water mark, while beyond, on slightly higher ground, is a dense 

 growth of dwarfed black spruce and tamarac ; it is often several 

 miles from low- water mark to where the first really dry ground may 

 be found. 



