ISLANDS OF GROUP I.
The islands of Hudson bay and Hudson strait are, naturally, divided into two sections by their physical characters, the first composed of those formed from the crystalline Archæan rocks, the second of the low islands of limestone. The first division includes Resolution, Big, Salisbury, Charles and Nottingham islands, together with many smaller ones along the north side of Hudson strait. These islands are physically alike, being moderately high and having ragged shore lines.
Resolution island lies on the north side of the eastern entrance to Hudson strait. It is nearly forty miles long, and averages twenty-five miles in breadth. The general elevation of the interior is under five hundred feet, and the land appears to rise quickly from the shores. The island is fringed by many rocky islets, and a number of good harbours are said to occur on all sides of it, but owing to the strong currents about the coast it has been rarely visited, except by ships caught in the ice.
Big island lies close to the north shore of the strait, and about one hundred and forty miles beyond its eastern entrance. The island is triangular in shape; the longest side, parallel to the mainland, has a length of thirty miles, the other two sides being each about twenty-five miles long. In physical character and elevation it is very like Resolution.
Charles is a narrow island some twenty-five miles long, situated in the southern part of the strait, being distant about twenty-five miles from the south side; its west end is ninety miles from Cape Wolstenholme at the western end of the strait. The eastern half of the island is high and rugged, and is connected with the lower rocky western end by a narrow sandy neck. The highest part of the western end does not reach an altitude of two hundred feet, and terminates in a long low point with shallow water extending from it for several miles.
Nottingham and Salisbury islands lie in the western entrance to Hudson strait. Their longer axis lies northwest and southeast. Nottingham is the more southward, and is about thirty-five miles long and averages about ten miles across. Salisbury lies to the northeast of Nottingham, and is separated from it by a deep channel about fifteen miles wide. The northern island is the larger, being nearly forty miles long and averaging fifteen miles across. Both are high and rugged, with a number of bays affording good harbours, especially at the southeast and northwest ends. The general altitude of these islands is nearly five hundred feet.
The second division of the islands of Group I. includes the large island of Southampton, together with Coats, Mansfield and Akpatok islands.
Southampton is situated in the northern part of Hudson bay, which it divides into Fox channel on its east side and Roes Welcome on the other side, being separated from the mainland at its north end by the narrow Frozen strait. The island attains its greatest length from north to south, covering three degrees of latitude, or a distance of two hundred and ten miles. Its greatest breadth of two hundred miles is across its southern part; its eastern side trends northwest, and its western shore lies north and south, so that the shape is practically a triangle, having an area of 19,100 square miles. The greater part of the island is occupied by flat-bedded limestone, causing the southern and western shores to be generally low and flat, with a margin of shallow water extending several miles from the land. Along the eastern side a band of crystalline rocks extends from Seahorse point to the north end of the island, and this forms much higher land with bolder water adjoining than is found elsewhere.
Coats island lies directly south of Southampton, from which it is separated by Evans and Fisher straits. With the exception of a ridge of moderately high land crossing the island diagonally at its eastern end, the island is low and flat, having no elevation of over a hundred feet. Its longer axis of one hundred miles lies nearly northeast and southwest, while its greatest breadth is about twenty-five miles.
Mansfield island, being wholly composed of limestone, is everywhere low and flat, with no elevations greatly exceeding a hundred feet. The island, with a length of seventy-five miles, lies parallel to and about that distance from the east coast of Hudson bay, its north end being on a line with Cape Wolstenholme.
Akpatok island, included in this division on account of its being of limestone formation, lies in the mouth of Ungava bay of Hudson strait. It is nearly fifty miles long, and lies diagonally to the west coast of the bay, so that its southern end is about thirty miles from the mouth of Payne river, while the north end is nearly twice that distance from Cape Hopes Advance. The limestone forming the island being more solid than that of the western islands, the shore line is bolder and more broken, the island rising in low cliffs directly from the sea, and having a general elevation considerably higher than that of those just described.