Hudson's Strait and Bay. 



271 



it has been sounded, varies from 100 to 340 fathoms. In the Bay 

 there is an almost uniform depth of 70 fathoms. 



* " It will be seen by an inspection of the chart, that Fox's Channel, 

 in respect to width, general direction, etc., is a continuation of Hud- 

 son's Strait, and that the outlet of Hudson's Bay joins this great 

 channel at right angles. It is much deeper than Hudson's Bay, the 

 comparative shallowness and the uniformity of the bottom of which 

 are remarkable features. If the sea in these latitudes were only about 

 one hundred fathoms lower than it is at the present time, James' and 

 Hudson's Bays would become dry land, while the Strait would remain 

 as a long bay, but with a slightly diminished breadth. The bottom of 

 the Bay would have become a plain, more level in proportion to its ex- 

 tent than any other on the continent. The numerous rivers which 

 now flow into it would traverse this plain, converging toward the 

 north-east and falling into the Strait near Cape Wolstenholme, after 

 having, perhaps, formed one immense river, flowing northward clown 

 the center of the Bay. <>r probably nearer t he east-main side. 



During the " great ice age "the basin of Hudson's Bay may have 

 formed a sort of glacial reservoir, receiving streams of ice from the 

 east, north and north-west, and giving forth the accumulated result as 

 broad glaciers, mainly toward the south and south-west. The direc- 

 tion of the glaciation, on both sides of Hudson's Strait, was eastward. 

 That an extensive glacier passed down the Strait may be inferred from 

 the smoothed and striated character of the rocks of the lower levels, 

 the outline of the glaciated surfaces pointing to an eastward move- 

 ment, the composition of the drift, and also from the fact that the 

 long depression of Fox's Channel and the Strait runs from the 

 north-westward toward the south-east, and that this great channel or 

 submerged valley deepens as it goes, terminating in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 Glaciers are said to exist on the shores of Fox's Channel and they may 

 send down the flat-topped icebergs which float eastward through the 

 lower part of Hudson's Strait into the Atlantic. During the drift 

 period, the gtecier of the bed of Hudson's Strait was probably joined 

 by a contribution from the ice which appears to have occupied the site 

 of Hudson's Bay, and by another also from the southward, coming 

 down the valley of the Koksok River, and its continuation in the 

 bottom of Ungava Bay. The united glacier still moved eastward 

 round Cape Chudleigh into the Atlantic. 



Throughout the drift period, the top of the coast range of the Lab- 

 rador stood above the ice and was not glaciate.], especially the high 



* Report of Dr. Robert Bell, F.R.S., 1S84. 



