A. P. Low

With the exception of the area of iron-bearing rocks on the islands along the east coast of Hudson bay, no systematic prospecting has been done for minerals in the wide region covered by this report. Active mining at the present is confined to a mine of mica, situated at Lake harbour, on the north side of Hudson strait, a few miles east of Big island. Earlier mining consisted of the extraction of small quantities of coal from the outcrops of that mineral on Melville and Ellesmere islands by expeditions wintering there. Our knowledge of the minerals extends only to the chance observations of the earlier explorers, and to the hurried examinations made by members of the staff of the Geological Survey in the southern parts of the region under consideration.

The occurrence of Laurentian and Huronian rocks over large portions of the area, both on the islands and mainland, leads to the belief that important mineral deposits exist there in the same manner as in more southern regions of similar rocks; in fact, specimens of the more important minerals are reported from the north.

Gold.—The occurrence of gold is reported only from the head of Wager inlet, where specimens of free gold were found in the dark rocks of that locality by Dr. Rae.

The presence of large areas of undisturbed Tertiary sands and clays in the northern part of Baffin island and elsewhere are favourable to the accumulation of placer gold deposits, if the precious metal occurs in the underlying Laurentian and Huronian rocks. It would be well to test the beds of the streams flowing through these deposits when they are again visited.

Silver.—A small quantity of silver is found in the galena, which occurs in pockets in the limestone along the Whale river coast on the east side of Hudson bay. The amount of galena is small, and so widely scattered that it would probably be unprofitable to mine even in favourable circumstances.

Copper.—Tyrrell discovered large masses of Huronian rocks along the western shores of Hudson bay, to the south of Marble island. In these were many bands and masses of dark schists, all carrying quantities of iron and copper sulphides. Of these deposits he reports as follows:

‘At a point northeast of Rabbit island the character of the shore changes, and dark-green Huronian schists crop out from beneath the boulders.’

‘North of Rabbit island is a high point, on which the Eskimos are accustomed to camp while waiting for the traders from Churchill. The point is composed of green calcareous, chloritic schist, striking S. 55° W., and dipping N. 35° W. at an angle of 60°. The schist is cut by a dike seventy-five feet wide, of massive green, highly altered diabase, containing a large amount of mispickel. This diabase also outcrops along the shore, where it incloses many bands of schists.’

‘The rock at the point south of Corbett inlet is a massive green, fine or medium-grained diabase, which is now almost entirely altered into a mass of chlorite, epidote, zoisite and calcite.————This diabase is cut by many small veins of quartz and calcite, which contain large quantities of pyrite, arseno-pyrite and chalcopyrite.’

‘From Term point westward the shore is rocky, and the steep rocky cliffs descend into rather deep water. The rock is a dark-green diabase almost entirely altered to sausserite, and is cut by many veins of quartz and calcite, holding copper-pyrites.’

‘On the northern shore of Mistake bay, nine miles west of Term point, is a long point of similar diabase. Seven miles further southwest, about the middle of the west shore of Mistake bay, is a high point of similar dark-green diabase, containing in many places a large amount of copper-pyrites, and cut by small veins of quartz studded with iron pyrites.’

‘Two miles south of Sir Biddy island is a prominent rocky point, with a high rocky island lying a short distance off it. From this prominent point the shore turns westward, and is bold and rocky, being composed of dark-green fine-grained diabase, studded with copper-pyrites.’

The above extracts from Tyrrell’s report show that on his hurried journey southward from Chesterfield inlet he found Huronian rocks occupying the shores of the bay for a distance of nearly a hundred miles. At haphazard landings along this shore traces of copper deposits were found in a number of places, and these would point to important discoveries as likely to follow systematic search on this area.

A considerable amount of magnetic pyrites was found in the squeezed diabase rocks along the east coast of Hudson bay, but careful analyses failed to show any contained gold, nickel or copper in a number of specimens from various localities on that coast, and it is highly probable that no important deposits will be found in the basic rocks of that side of the bay.

Small quantities of copper-pyrites were observed in the diabase schists of the south side of Hudson strait, but never in sufficient amounts to constitute mines of that mineral.

I was informed by Captain Adams, of the whaler Diana, that he had picked up specimens of copper ore lying loose on the surface a few miles in rear of Clyde river on the east coast of Baffin island.

Among the specimens brought home by Hall from Frobisher and Cyrus Field bays, in the southeast part of Baffin island, were bornite and pyrite, showing that copper ores also occur in that portion of the island.

Iron.—Mention has been made of the iron ores on the west shores of Ungava bay, on the north side of Payne river. The rocks in which these ores are found have been altered by the intrusion of granites. They now consist of quartzites, mica-hornblende schist and crystalline limestone, and are the metamorphic representatives of the unaltered iron-bearing rocks of the interior of Labrador peninsula and the east coast of Hudson bay. In localities where the rocks are unaltered the iron ores occur either as carbonates in a cherty rock, or as a mixture of magnetite and hematite intimately associated with chert and jasper. At Payne river the iron-bearing beds have a thickness of 420 feet. The upper 70 feet is a light-yellow, fine granular quartzite containing patches of ankerite and lime. Towards the top the rock shades to a dark bluish-gray, from the presence of large quantities of magnetite in small flattened grains, together with small scales of specular iron. These are usually mixed with quartz with evidence of foliation, and at other places are in large masses of nearly pure ore. Underlying these beds is 350 feet of dark-bluish slaty quartzite holding considerable magnetite and hematite, and shading upwards into a barren quartzite. Most of the ore of this locality would probably require separation and concentration from the admixed quartz before being of a grade sufficiently high for smelting. The position of the deposits on the west side of Ungava bay, where the tide rises and falls forty feet or more, is not very promising for shipping.

More attention has been given to the iron deposits of the east side of Hudson bay than to any other of the mineral deposits of the north. In 1877, Dr. Bell explored the east shore of Hudson bay as far north as Cape Dufferin, and in his report on this exploration called attention to the deposits of iron ore found in a bedded series of rocks, chiefly sandstones, cherts and dolomites. These rocks he found forming the islands along that coast from Cape Jones, at the mouth of James bay, to Cape Dufferin, some 300 miles farther north. A strip of the same rocks occupies the mainland from the vicinity of Great Whale river to beyond the head of Richmond gulf, a distance of 120 miles.

The iron ores of value were found to be confined to the Nastapoka chain of islands, which extend northward from Little Whale river for a distance of 100 miles.

A further examination of these iron-bearing rocks was made by the writer during the summers of 1898 and 1899, and more closely during the summers of 1901 and 1902 when engaged in this work for a private company.

These iron-bearing rocks of the east side of Hudson bay have a close resemblance to those of Lake Superior, so famous for the amount and quality of their associated ores of iron. They consist of bedded sandstones, cherts, shales, graywackes and dolomites, associated with great outflows and sills of trap. The following general section of the rocks of the Nastapoka islands will give a good idea of the rocks there, while on the mainland other strata, free from or poor in iron, are found.

Descending order:—

		feet.
1.	Rusty weathering, dark gray, siliceous rock containing ankerite (carbonate of iron and magnesia) and magnetite	20 to 100
2.	Dark gray siliceous rock, containing magnetite with small quantities of ankerite	50 to 250
3.	Red jaspilite rich in hematite ore	10 to 100
4.	Red jaspilite poor in hematite ore	5 to 20
5.	Purple or greenish weathering, dark-green graywacke shales	10 to 70
6.	Red jaspilite poor in hematite ore	0 to 5
7.	Light greenish-gray sandstone and shale	10 to 300
8.	Fine grained dolomite	0 to 50

The iron ores have a greater thickness and are richer on the islands in the middle of the chain than elsewhere.

The rusty weathering, dark-gray siliceous rocks of division I. are found on all the islands from Flint to McTavish, being wanting only on Cotter island. The typical rock is a dark-gray chert made up of finely divided silica showing under the microscope small grains of quartz filled in by later accessions of that material in a finely divided state. It contains minute crystals of magnetite scattered through the mass, and also patches of crystalline carbonates. At the southern end of the chain it is cherty and sometimes light-green in colour. These rocks are usually in thin beds, the parting between the beds filled with brownish ankerite, which also occurs in flat lenticular masses inclosed in the cherts; many of these masses are several inches in thickness and several square feet in area, so that the rock usually contains from twenty to fifty per cent of ankerite. These ores are too much broken and too intimately mixed with the cherts for profitable mining. The rusty character of the rock is due to surface decomposition of ankerite to limonite. The beds increase in thickness as the islands are followed northward, and reach their maximum development on Davieau island and northward to McTavish island, where they have a thickness of fifty feet. These measures can be traced southward from the Nastapoka chain in the outer islands lying along the coast for upward of 150 miles, being last seen on Long island just north of Cape Jones, where they are overlaid by a considerable thickness of trap.

The second division of the section is an arbitrary one, and was made to embrace all the beds containing important deposits of magnetite. The upper beds of the division grade into those of division I, while the lower pass gradually into division III.

The typical rock of these measures is a dark-gray, fine-grained variety of quartzite chert, containing considerable magnetite scattered through it in minute crystals; it also contains small quantities of carbonates of iron, magnesia and lime. The beds are usually thin (from one to twelve inches) and the partings between them are filled with a mixture of silica and magnetite with small quantities of ankerite. These partings vary in thickness, but are generally thin between the upper beds of the division, and quite thick (six inches to forty-eight inches) towards the bottom, where they form important ores of iron; as the beds of chert are often quite thin between two or more thick partings of ore, they might easily be neglected in mining. The mixture of silica and magnetite in the ore is an intimate one, with the silica usually in a finely divided state.

The proportion of these substances is not constant, so that the ores vary from a lean ferruginous chert to a rich ore containing upwards of sixty per cent of iron. Large quantities of the better ores occur in the lower beds of the division. The occurrence of these ores between the beds of gray siliceous rock, and their intimate association with finely divided silica, point to their deposition and enrichment from the infiltrations of waters carrying solutions of iron and silica which were deposited in the waters in cracks and between the bedding of the already-formed siliceous rocks. This mode of formation has been described by Van Hise for similar ores in the Lake Superior region.

On the three southern islands of the chain there is a gradual change in the nature of these measures. They pass into a brownish-black siliceous shale, rich in iron and containing considerable carbon as small scales of graphite. This is the form in which they are found to the southward on the islands as far as Long island. The thickness of the division is very constant on the islands northward to McTavish, but it does not occur on Cotter island.

The rocks belonging to the third division, as before stated, grade into the division above them, and the line between them cannot be drawn sharply.

The typical rock of the division is fine-grained and very siliceous, with minute particles of silica coated with red oxide of iron, forming a coarse impure red jasper.

These jasper rocks usually occur in thin broken bands, the partings between them being filled with a finely-divided mixture of hematite, magnetite and jasper. The hematite is greatly in excess of the magnetite. The association of the iron ores and the jasper is intimate, and they must have been deposited simultaneously from aqueous solutions probably leached from the cherty carbonate measures above. Microscopic sections from these rocks are almost identical with those of jaspilite figured by Van Hise in his monograph on the iron-bearing rocks of the Lake Superior region; and they must have had the same origin that he has assigned to these rocks, namely, enrichments deposited by water subsequent to the formation of the bedded rocks in which they are found as partings, and filling the most minute cavities.

The amount of ore in this admixture of hematite and jasper varies greatly. Where the ore is poor, the jaspery rock predominates and incloses lenses of hematite, while where the hematite is most plentiful it incloses similar lenses of jasper. The detailed description of these rocks shows that the measures of this division contain an immense amount of hematite. The rocks of the division do not occur on all the islands, being wanting on Flint, Belanger and Ross. On Anderson they are represented by a few thin beds not rich in ore, while on Clarke they form the summit of the section with a thickness of eighty feet. They reach their maximum development on Gillies and Taylor, where their ores are richest and most concentrated. Farther northward they become thinner and poorer in ore, being twenty feet thick on Davieau and only eight feet thick on McTavish, where they die out. No trace of these measures is found underlying the upper rocks on the islands south of the Nastapoka group.

The fourth division, consisting of red jaspilites, is an arbitrary one, of use only as a subdivision of the iron-bearing rocks. Wherever the jaspilites are well developed the richer beds are underlain with leaner measures, unfit for working, and these poorer ores constitute this division. On Clarke island these beds are twenty feet thick; on Gillies they vary from ten to twenty feet in thickness, on Taylor they are ten feet, while to the northward they merge into the overlying division, all poor in iron ores.

The richest ores are found in division III, where extensive beds several feet in thickness are found containing ore practically free from jasper, and ranging in iron values from thirty per cent to sixty per cent. Most of these ores, however, would require separation from the bands and lenses of jasper before becoming sufficiently rich to be economically treated in the furnace. The position of the ores on the islands separated from the mainland by a sound varying from a mile to four miles in width, with excellent, almost tideless, harbours, constitute ideal conditions for shipment. The mining of the ores would also be easy and cheap, if advantage were taken of the great waterpower of the Nastapoka river, which falls 160 feet into the sea within a few miles of the best ore deposits, and from which electrical power might be generated easily and cheaply. Owing to the distance of these ores from the nearest furnaces, and the want of experience in the navigation of Hudson strait, the shipment of them is at present out of the question. No coal is found in Hudson bay, so that economical smelting near the mines cannot be attempted, until electrical smelting becomes practicable some time in the future.

In all the fields where extensive areas of iron-bearing rocks occur in the Lake Superior region, the search by drilling has disclosed large deposits of concentrated ore, and there is little doubt that such a search in the Hudson bay region would lead to similar discoveries, as the manner in which the ores occur is favourable for such concentrations.

Mica.—Active mining operations for mica are being carried on at Lake harbour, on the north side of Hudson strait. This mine is being worked in connection with the whaling steamer Active. A number of white men are brought to the place from Scotland in the early summer, who, with the assistance of the Eskimos, work the mine, and then return home in the fall. Last summer thirteen tons of excellent mica were taken out in this manner. Other deposits of this mineral will probably be found on that coast to the westward in association with the crystalline limestones so largely developed there. A mica mine was opened some years ago on the west side of Cumberland gulf, but for some reason was shortly after abandoned.

Graphite.—Extensive bands, or veins, of this mineral were discovered by Mr. Caldwell to the south of Port Burwell along the east shore of Ungava bay. Graphite has also been found in the neighbourhood of Cape Wolstenholme, and along the east side of Baffin island, but no attempt has been made to develop any of the outcrops.

Molybdenite.—Flattened crystals of molybdenite have been found in many localities in the pegmatite veins penetrating the Laurentian rocks, but in no place has the quantity been sufficient for mining.

There is no doubt that the combined areas of Carboniferous and Tertiary coals are very extensive, and that they would form a valuable addition to the mineral wealth of the Dominion if they were located in a more accessible region. Situated as they are in the northern Arctic islands, where navigation is at all times uncertain and unusually perilous, it is very doubtful if they will ever prove of economic value.

Lignite.—Attention has been drawn to the occurrence of lignite of an excellent quality in the sand and clay deposits of Tertiary age along the northern and eastern shores of Baffin island and on the east side of Bylot island.

Little is known of these deposits, as the only information concerning them is derived from small float specimens picked from the beds of the streams that flow over these sands and clays. These lignites probably correspond to the bituminous coal found in the folded Tertiary rocks of the far north, and may prove to be quite extensive and of economic value, as the localities at which they have been found, although within the Arctic circle, are by no means so dangerous of access as the coal beds of the north.

Coal.—The presence of extensive deposits of coal on the island north of Lancaster sound has already been mentioned in the discussion of the Carboniferous and Tertiary formations of the northern islands. The Carboniferous rocks cover all the western islands of the Parry group, and extend northwesterly into the northwest part of Ellesmere. Parry first discovered coal in the cliffs at Winter harbour on Melville island, and used it for fuel on his ships. The Franklin search parties later found outcrops of coal in other places along the southern and eastern shores of that island and in the cliffs of Bathurst island.

These outcrops of coal indicate that the seams seen in the southern cliffs will be found extending inland over the greater portion of the islands, where they are covered by several hundred feet of newer rocks. No coal has been found in the Carboniferous rocks of Ellesmere island.

The mineral occurs in thin beds along with sandstones and shales, and is a good quality of bituminous coal.

In the folded Tertiary rocks found in the vicinity of Lady Franklin sound on the west side of Kennedy channel several outcrops of excellent bituminous coal have been discovered. The beds in the neighbourhood of Fort Conger have been mined along the outcrop and used for fuel by the Nares expedition and by Greely and Peary.

---

Scottish Whaler ‘Eclipse.’

The pursuit of the Right whale in the Arctic seas calls into play all the instincts and resources of the hunter; the dangers of ice and climate add zest to the chase, while the value of the quarry is the incentive which has brought forth all the daring and ingenuity of the whaler in his efforts to capture this most valuable and wary animal, and has caused him to assume risks unequalled in any other calling. The capture of a single whale repays the expenditure incurred in outfitting a steam whaling ship, and if more than one is killed on the voyage, it means large dividends to the owners and small ones to the officers and crew of the ship.

Several species of whales are found in the waters of the northern ice-laden seas, but there is only one prize, known amongst other common names as the Greenland whale, Right whale and Bowhead whale, and scientifically called the Balaena mysticetus, L. From its mouth is obtained the precious whalebone. An average whale carries nearly a ton of this material, which at present is worth about $15,000 a ton, with the price rising from year to year. The principal uses of the whalebone are to stiffen the bodices of the better-made gowns, and to weave into expensive silk fabrics. The wealth of the world is increasing and the supply of whales is decreasing; no idea, therefore, can be formed of the value of whalebone in the future, as no good substitute has been discovered. An adult female whale will furnish blubber sufficient for nearly thirty tons of oil, while a male will supply about twenty tons; the value of oil also is on the increase, and may be taken at about $100 per ton. Thus, the total value of a large whale varies from $15,000 to $20,000, but even at that the chase is becoming unprofitable, owing to the few whales remaining, and to the frequent ‘empty’ voyages made of late years.

The whaling ‘grounds’ of the eastern side of America are situated in Davis strait and Baffin bay and in the northern parts of Hudson bay.

The memorable voyage of Baffin, in 1616, first showed the value of the whale fishery of Davis strait, and as early as 1619 the first Dutch whaler was fishing in those waters. A few years later they were joined by British whaling vessels, but their operations were confined to the waters off the south coast of Greenland for nearly two hundred years, until the voyages of Ross and Parry disclosed the more valuable waters of Baffin bay and of the western side of Davis strait.

These discoveries led to a rapid increase of the British whaling fleet, and vessels were fitted out from the ports of Hull, Dundee, Kirkcaldy, Peterhead, Fraserburg and Aberdeen.

The introduction of steamships in the early sixties, and the combination of the whale fishery with the sealing industry of Newfoundland and eastern Greenland, led to further increases in the fleet, which, in 1868, totalled thirty steam and sailing vessels as follows: Dundee, 13 steam and 1 sailing ship; Peterhead, 4 steam and 8 sailing ships; Fraserburg, 2 sailing ships; Aberdeen, 1 sailing ship; Hull, 1 steamship. This was the last year in which ships sailed from Hull; since then the British whaling fleet has been from Scotch ports only. Steam soon altogether replaced sails, so that in 1877 only the former was employed. The fleet at that time had been reduced to thirteen vessels, all sailing from the port of Dundee. No new ships have been built during the past twenty-five years, and the construction of these strong oak vessels, sheathed with greenheart or ironbark, is fast becoming a lost art in these days of steel and iron ships. The Dundee fleet is now reduced to five, without much prospect of their being replaced by British-built ships. The future ships of the whaling fleet will probably be Norwegian-built. Four of the above vessels were, in 1904, whaling in Baffin bay, the fifth was in Hudson bay.

The American whalers did not attempt Arctic whaling until 1846, and have since confined their operations to the waters on the west side of Davis strait (Cumberland gulf and southward) and to those of Hudson strait and Hudson bay.

The American ships have always been sailing vessels, and the American methods differ considerably from those of the Scotch whalers, the chief difference being that their ships are provisioned for two years, and remain one or two winters in the north on each voyage. Americans were the first to erect permanent stations in the eastern Arctics.

The attention of the Hudson’s Bay Company was early directed to the whale fishery of Hudson bay. In 1719 a frigate and sloop, under the command of Knight, were despatched from Churchill, to explore the western shores of the bay to the northward and to prosecute the whale fishery in those waters. The disastrous ending of this venture, the entire crews dying of scurvy and starvation on Marble island, put a stop to all projects of the Company as regards whale fishing, until one was undertaken in recent years, but so little success attended the venture that it was abandoned after three years’ trial.

Public attention was first called to the whale fishery of Hudson bay by Dr. Rae, in the publications on his voyages in 1846 and 1854 along the northwestern coast of the bay in search of traces of the Franklin expedition.

In 1860 the first American ships visited the northwestern part of Hudson bay, wintered there, and returned with full cargoes. Their success led other whalers to the same waters, so that in 1864 there were fourteen American ships in Hudson bay and Cumberland strait.

Whaling in Hudson bay has since been almost wholly in the hands of the Americans, and an idea of the value taken by them from those waters may be obtained from the tabulated statement at the end of this article.

The first British vessel of modern times to visit Hudson bay for whales was the Newfoundland steamer Nimrod, which, according to Hall, was at Repulse bay in 1867. The Scotch steamer Arctic made two or three voyages to the bay, the last being in 1897, when she struck a rock in Hudson strait, and was damaged to such an extent that she subsequently sunk in Cumberland gulf. The Hudson’s Bay Company’s ship Perseverance, already alluded to, was in Hudson bay from 1894 to 1896, and only took five small whales. Changing hands, a couple of years later, this ship was at Cumberland gulf, and sailing from there for Scotland must have struck an iceberg, as no tidings have since been had of her. This, or being crushed in the ice or being wrecked by striking sunken rocks upon these uncharted coasts, is the usual fate of the whaling vessels, and some such loss, entailing excessive hardships and often death upon the crews, is almost an annual occurrence in these Arctic waters, so that a high rate of remuneration is necessary to compensate for the risks.

Since 1898 the Scotch steamer Active has made annual voyages to Hudson bay, and has established two stations, one on the north side of Hudson strait and the other first at Southampton island, but later removed to Repulse bay. Walrus hunting was the first object of this undertaking, with whaling as a secondary consideration. Success appears to have crowned this enterprise, as in addition to a few whales, a goodly number of walrus are taken annually, and the profits of these are enhanced by the furs obtained from the natives, and by mica from a mine worked on the north shore of Hudson strait.

Whaling in Hudson bay appears to have reached its height about 1870, after which the disappearance of the whales from the more accessible waters led to a diminution of the catch, and many of the American whaling vessels were transferred to the Arctic whaling waters reached from the Pacific, which were also discovered and made known by the British ships in search of the ill-fated Franklin. At present only one of the American whalers is in Hudson bay, and none of them have visited Cumberland gulf for some years past; the only connection with the industry now on that coast is the small and unprofitable station at Cape Haven, on Cyrus Field bay, owned by a firm in Boston.

The movements of the whales appear to depend largely upon the ice of these northern waters, and that in turn is modified by the currents and configuration of the seas, so that a short geographical description is necessary to a proper understanding of the movements and habits of these animals.

Davis strait and Baffin bay separate Greenland from the great Arctic islands of Baffin, Bylot, North Devon and Ellesmere. Their combined length stretches from the mouth of Hudson strait to the entrance of Smith sound, or from latitude 60° N. to latitude 78° N., a distance of 1,200 miles. In shape they may be compared to a sack loosely drawn in about a third of the distance from its mouth, which opens widely to the southward, where it has a breadth of nearly 500 miles between the southern part of Greenland and the island of Resolution on the north side of Hudson strait. Both shores then gradually approach, until in the neighbourhood of latitude 66° N. the distance across is 200 miles. To the northward of this the Greenland coast runs nearly due north, while the western coast trends towards the northwest, and in consequence when latitude 75° N. is reached Baffin bay is nearly 400 miles wide from the Greenland coast to the shores of North Devon. Beyond this the Greenland coast sweeps to the westward, around Melville bay, and after Cape York is passed turns northwest until Cape Alexander, at the entrance to Smith sound, is reached. The western coast, in the meanwhile, first runs north and then northeast to Cape Isabella, which is only twenty-five miles distant from Cape Alexander on the Greenland coast.

Like all the great northern bays, Baffin bay has a current flowing northward along the eastern or Greenland coast, and a cold Arctic current setting southward along the western shores. These currents have a considerable influence upon the climate of the adjoining land, and the mean annual temperature at points of corresponding latitude is several degrees higher on the Greenland side. This difference of climate is marked along the middle and northern coasts, that of Greenland being practically free from ice and snow, except where glaciers from the great central ice-cap flow down into the sea. The fiords and bays are open early in summer, while the current sweeps northward all the ice accumulated along the coast during the winter, leaving an open sea, usually early in July, as far as Melville bay.

A portion of this southern current evidently comes from the North Atlantic, and the remainder sweeps around the southern end of Greenland, bringing with it a stream of Arctic ice brought south on the Arctic current of east Greenland. This stream of ice is soon deflected from the west coast, and appears to melt in the southeastern part of Davis strait, as there is a lane of open water separating the southern ice from that of the west coast.

The distance from Wilcox head to Cape York, across Melville bay, is 180 miles; that from the centre of this line to the head of the bay is upwards of 100 miles. Much of the shore-line of the bay is still unexplored, but sufficient is known to state that it is an almost unbroken line of glaciers, which constantly discharge large icebergs into the waters of the bay. A large number of rocky islands break its surface, and the bottom appears to be very uneven, with much shallow water; in consequence, many of the icebergs are grounded in the shallower parts of the bay. The islands and grounded bergs break the winds and waves, and so allow of the formation of heavy sheets of ice between them during the winter months, while in the summer they act as anchors for this sheet, or floe ice. As before stated, the southerly current carries a great part of the shore ice of central Greenland north to Melville bay, where it acts as an aggravation to the congestion of ice there, so that it is always late in the season before the bay is even partly clear of ice, which must pass westward, until being influenced by the northern current from Smith sound, it is deflected south and goes to increase the great mass of ice known as the ‘middle pack,’ which all summer fills the southwestern part of Baffin bay. In the days of sailing ships the whalers made their way across the bay by tracking, or sailing along the edge of the solid land-ice, and many a vessel was lost there. Even with steam-power this is a place of terror to the whalers, and they never feel safe until they have reached the ‘north water’ at Cape York. As an illustration of the dangers and difficulties of this crossing, the Vega was crushed and sunk in the summer of 1903, and the Balaena was at the same time eighty days tightly jammed in the ice. In 1904 the Eclipse took thirty days to cross the bay, and the Diana was thirty-five days in crossing. The Neptune, on the 8th of August, crossed in twenty hours, when little ice was seen until within a few miles of Cape York; and from there to Cape Alexander, at the entrance to Smith sound, only ‘pan’ or sheet ice was observed at the heads of the larger bays, all the eastern side of the northern part of Baffin bay being free of ice. This open ‘north water’ is caused as follows: The ice to the southward of Cape Alexander breaks up towards the end of June or early in July, and is soon carried southward on the southerly current of the west side. Smith sound and its continuation northward remain tightly frozen until August, when it sends its heavy ice southward; in consequence there is always a wide interval of open water between these two streams of ice from the north. The Smith sound ice continues to pour out in heavy floes, often square miles in area, until the end of the year, and this stream finally joins the earlier ice in the western part of Baffin bay, where other streams of Arctic ice gather from Jones, Lancaster and Ponds inlet sounds. All these form the great mass of the ‘middle pack,’ which slowly empties on the northern current, flowing southward along the west side of Davis strait, blocking the mouths of Cumberland gulf and Frobisher bay in the late summer, later appearing on the coast of Labrador, and finally forming the heavy pack upon which the seals are found in March and April off the shores of Newfoundland.

The whaling grounds of Hudson bay have been confined to the north side of Hudson strait and to the northwestern part of the bay. The great island of Southampton lies in the north part of the bay and divides it into two unequal portions. The eastern or Fox channel is by far the larger, extending northward from latitude 64° to latitude 70°, and exceeds 200 miles in width. The western, or Roes Welcome, is much smaller; its length from Cape Fullerton to the head of Repulse bay is 150 miles, while it rarely exceeds 40 miles across.

In the early days of the Hudson bay fishery, whales were plentiful as far south as Marble island, and from there northward to Repulse bay. Of late years few whales have been taken in these southern waters, and the whalers now confine themselves to the southern shores of Southampton and the waters of Roes Welcome.

The northern and eastern parts of Fox channel are still unexplored, and owing to the large masses of ice found there continuously, and to the numerous shoals and reefs in the known parts, it has never been a favourite place for whalers, its waters being the only portion of the bay where the whales have been left undisturbed.

The favourite resort for whales both in Baffin and Hudson bays is along the edge of the ice still fast to the shore, with an abundance of loose ice outside. When the shore ice is all melted or loosened they prefer to remain about the edge of the large masses of floating ice. This habit of remaining close to the ice-masses appears to be due to two causes—food and protection. The whale is a very timid animal, and is easily frightened by anything out of the ordinary; it then either takes to the protection of the tightly packed ice, or leaves for distant parts. The food of the whale consists of small crustaceans (called sealice by the whalers), and swimming pterepods known as ‘whale-food’ and ‘blackberries.’ These creatures in turn feed upon minute animal organisms, known as diatoms, which are found in countless numbers in these northern waters, where they are so numerous as to discolour large areas of the sea, giving it a light-green, or a brownish hue. The diatoms are known to be propagated in the fresh-water pools upon the large pans of ice, and it would appear that they thrive best in the comparatively fresh surface-water in the vicinity of melting ice; this may be the chief reason for the whales frequenting such localities.

The whales are known to enter Hudson strait early in the spring; they have been captured around Big island in April and May, and at the western end of the strait in the latter part of May. They then cross to the west side of the bay along the edge of the open water, being found in June and early July along the land-floe on both sides of the southern part of Roes Welcome. As the Welcome clears of ice they proceed north to Repulse bay, and, still later, pass through Frozen strait into Fox channel. Late in the autumn they again pass through Hudson strait going eastward. By far the greater number of whales taken in Hudson bay have been killed in the vicinity of Whale point near the southern entrance to the Welcome.

Some whales are supposed to remain during the winter in the waters of Hudson bay, as they have been reported by the Eskimos as being seen in the depth of winter off Mansfield and some of the more southern islands of the east side of the bay.

The migration of the whales in Davis strait and Baffin bay is fairly well known. In March they are found along the edge of the land-floe of Cumberland gulf and Frobisher bay, where they remain until the beginning of May, when they cross to the Greenland coast, and in June are found on the ‘middle ground’ to the south of Disko. From there they follow the shore ice north to Melville bay, and then cross along the southern edge of the ‘north water’ to the western shores of Baffin bay. Should there be a good land-floe in Jones and Lancaster sounds, they are found there late in July and in the beginning of August, but the greater number go south to the mouth of Ponds inlet, where the principal summer catch is made. During September and October they are found along the western edge of the ‘middle pack,’ and the whalers pass southward from Ponds inlet, making use of a number of good harbours known only to themselves on the eastern side of Baffin island, and going out only in fine weather. According to the season they remain on that coast, to the northward of Cumberland gulf, until the middle or end of October, when they leave for Scotland. In October the whales again enter Cumberland gulf, and remain along the edge of the newly-formed land ice until December, when their position is unknown until their return in the following March. They are supposed to go in the meantime, to the southward, off the mouth of Hudson strait and along the northern Atlantic coast of Labrador, but the weather then is too severe to permit of the use of open whaleboats.

The Greenland whale, commonly called a ‘fish’ by the whalers, is, as all know, a mammal, warm-blooded, reproducing and suckling its young like any of the land mammals. Its outward resemblance to a fish is merely a provision of nature, whereby its shape is adapted to the conditions in which it lives; that is, for a wholly marine life. Its swimming ‘fins’ when stripped of their covering, are found to correspond to the fore-limbs of quadrupeds, and although the whale does not possess any hind-limbs, there are rudiments of such to be found in their place, or at least the rudiments of the pelvis to which the after limbs were attached.

In colour the whale is usually black or bluish-black above, and whitish or piebald below. Sometimes white spots occur on the upper parts, and the markings frequently vary with the individual. The young are lighter-coloured, being bluish.

An adult whale varies from forty to sixty feet in length; extra large ones run to sixty-five feet, and the largest recorded reached eighty feet in length.

The whalers have different names for differently sized whales. Suckers are the young under a year old; Shortheads is also applied to the young as long as they continue to be suckled. Stunts are two years old; Scull-fish have bone less than six feet in length; Size-fish have the bone exceeding that length.

The following are the measurements given by Dr. Robert Goodsir of a large female whale killed in Ponds bay:—

Female whales are larger and fatter than the males, so that a female will have an average of about ten more tons of blubber than an ordinary male. As will be seen from the above measurements, the head equals about a third of the length of the body, and the upper jaw, which carries the baleen or whalebone, is only a few feet shorter. The baleen is in the form of thin slabs or ‘splits’ set close together in the gum at right-angles to the length of the jaw-bone. At the base the splits are from six to twelve inches wide and from a quarter to nearly an inch in thickness. They taper slowly to their free end, and terminate in long hairs which extend upwards of six inches beyond the solid bone. Similar hairs are found along the inside of the bone. There are about 360 of these splits on each side of the jaw, and they are placed so as to slope backwards. The longest or ‘size split’ is in the middle of the side of the jaw, and the others decrease in length in front and behind. It derives its name from being the split by which the length and weight of the bone is computed. The longest split recorded measured fourteen feet in length, but the ordinary length in adult whales is from nine to ten feet. Bone of that length will average nearly a ton weight to a whale. Bone six feet and under brings only half the price of longer bone. The laminÆ are usually pale-blue; in the young they are sometimes green and black; in older whales nearly black, and occasionally striped white and black.

This bone in the whale’s mouth acts as a swab or sieve to entangle and collect the small animals upon which it feeds. The lower lip is very deep, and when closed fits close to the head, the edge forming a bow as it curves backwards from the front. When feeding, this lip is let down, so that it projects nearly at right-angles, forming a sort of trough and conducting the water, as the whale moves through it, to the tangle of hairs of the exposed bone. When sufficient food has been collected the lip is closed and the food removed from the baleen by the broad tongue. A whale when feeding travels at, or near the surface, at a rate varying from two to four miles an hour. The speed at which a free whale travels through the water appears to have been greatly exaggerated. When harpooned, and dragging a whaleboat, the speed rarely exceeds six miles an hour, and as the mass of the whale greatly exceeds that of the boat the latter cannot to any great extent retard its speed, especially as the whale is then exerting its utmost power in its efforts to escape.

The body is everywhere covered with a thick skin, which varies from an inch to an inch and a half in thickness. This thick ‘blackskin’ forms a luxury in the diet of the Eskimos and whalers. It is eaten boiled, a small amount of blubber being attached to give it flavour. When cooked it has the appearance of thick black india-rubber, and is soft and glutinous, while its flavour approaches that of the clam.

The fat or blubber is found everywhere directly below the skin, and is thickest towards the tail. It bears a resemblance to very fat pork, and is from twelve to eighteen inches in thickness. The flesh of the whale is coarse and tough, and is used largely for dog-food; although often eaten by the Eskimos, it is only when seal or walrus meat cannot be obtained.

Whales are gregarious, and when plentiful travel in large bands, but they are now so rare that a band of three or four is the greatest number seen together of late years.

There are two methods employed in the chase after whales. The Scotch whalers of Baffin bay cruise about in small steamers, and depend wholly upon their own white crew to man their boats. The American whalers and the stations depend more or less upon the Eskimos to form their boats’ crews.

The Scotch steamers are small, stout vessels, from 300 to 400 tons register. Those, British-built, are of hardwood throughout, while the Norwegian ships have hardwood frames and softwood planking. The timbers and planking in all are very heavy, and the sides are further strengthened by a sheathing of greenheart or ironbark, both exceedingly hard, tough woods. This sheathing extends from above the water-line to near the keel; the planks forming it are from three to six inches thick, and are capable of resisting great pressure from the ice, as well as withstanding its cutting action which would soon wear through unprotected sides. The bows are further strengthened by being backed by several feet of solid timber, while, outside, thick plates and bands of iron protect the bow and stem. The sides are also strengthened by a layer of rock-salt, filled in between the timbers and between the skin of the ship, and by an inside sheathing fastened to the timber, so that with the outside sheathing of greenheart, the planking and the salt-filling, the sides are from eighteen to twenty-four inches thick. Notwithstanding this great strength, the usual fate of these ships is to be crushed in the ice.

The ships are three-masted and barque rigged, differing in appearance from an ordinary wooden barque by the presence of large barrels fitted to the tops of the fore and main masts, and used for observation stations when working the ship through ice or when chasing whales. The small engine and boiler are placed aft, between the main and mizzen masts, where the strong deck beams can be best spared. The engine works a two-bladed propeller, which drives the ships at rates varying from four to seven knots an hour.

The lower hold of the ship is filled with a number of iron tanks that rise to the level of the middle deck, and which are used to store the blubber. On leaving home all these tanks are filled with coal, which is also stowed in every other available space, the usual amount of coal for the voyage being from 250 to 300 tons. The between-deck space is used for stowing provisions, and for the quarters of part of the crew.

The officers and crew usually number about fifty persons, sufficient to man six whaleboats and to leave men on board to work the vessel.

The boats are narrow, and are pointed at both ends. Their length is about twenty-six feet. They are propelled by five oars, or by sail. When rowing the steersman uses a long sweep oar, and when sailing a rudder, so arranged as to be easily unshipped and hung on the side of the boat. Scotch whaleboats are built of larch, while the American are made of cedar. Another difference is that the latter are centre-board boats, while the former have fixed keels.

On the whaling grounds the boats hang ready in davits, three on a side, with all their whaling gear in place, and ready to be lowered at a moment’s notice. A man is always on the lookout in the barrel, and when a whale is sighted the captain takes his place there and directs the movements of the boats from the ship by signals made with sails and other signs. He is also in connection with the engine-room, and controls the ship from that lofty perch.

A whale is usually sighted by the column of spray which it throws up in breathing, and which often rises twenty feet in the air, accompanied by a puffing sound. A whale usually spouts or breathes five or six times when it comes to the surface for that purpose, and so remains up for several minutes. It then goes down to feed, and remains under the water for fifteen or twenty minutes, during that time travelling perhaps at most a mile. If possible, advantage is taken of the wind to approach the whale, to avoid the noise made in rowing. For that purpose ordinary metal row-locks are not used, their place being taken by stout pins, to which the oar is attached by a ‘grummet’ or loop of rope. Both ear and eye of the whale are very small, but in the water they are very acute, and any strange noise instantly arouses suspicion. The eye is so placed that the animal can only see ahead, and care is therefore taken to approach it from behind.

The Scotch whalers use guns, both for the harpoon and for the bomb, with which the whale is killed after the harpoon is fast. The harpoon has but one barb, and is so attached to the shank that when it has entered the skin and the line begins to pull, it swings at right-angles to the wound, and cannot be removed without cutting a large hole. The shank is about two feet long, and is split from the head to butt. In this split runs a ring to which the line is attached. The butt is a circular disc the diameter of the bore of the harpoon gun. This gun is mounted on a stanchion in the bow of the boat, and, working on a swivel, may be pointed in any direction. It is a muzzle-loader, and its discharge is insured by a double primer. When the gun is loaded, only the head of the harpoon and a short length of the stock protrude, sufficient for the ring with attached line. When it is fired the ring slips back to the butt and the head is buried deep into the side of the whale.

The harpoon line is generally made of manilla, and has a circumference of about three inches. It is carefully coiled in tubs between the seats, each tub holding a line 120 fathoms long. After the whale has been struck, the line is passed aft and a turn taken around a post in the stern, from which the line is payed out as required. The bomb gun has a bore about an inch in diameter, and fires an explosive shell, so arranged as to explode shortly after coming in contact with the body of the whale, and thus well inside. This gun is rarely used before the whale makes its first plunge, and frequently several dives are made before the boat can get close enough to give this coup de grÂce.

As soon as life is extinct, the boats form in line and tow the whale, tail first, to the ship, where its tail is made fast to the quarter, and an effort is made to reach a harbour, where the carcass may be stripped with safety. When this is impossible, the body is brought alongside the ship and secured by the head and tail. Work is then commenced with long-handled blubber spades, about six inches wide and very sharp. The blubber is removed in long strips cut around the body, and when one side is finished the whale is turned over. The great lips are cut away, and then, with cheers, the prize in the upper jaw is hoisted on board. The blubber, as it is taken from the whale, is stored in the empty tanks and is taken home in this condition. It is not reduced to oil immediately, as is the practice with the Americans.

The Scotch whalers of Hudson bay differ in their methods from those of Baffin bay only in the employment of Eskimos to man a part of their boats, and consequently they do not carry so large a white crew. The natives employed by the Active belong to the north side of Hudson strait and come from the vicinity of Big island. Several families of these Eskimos are taken on board the ship when she arrives in the early summer, and remain on board until she leaves for home in October. These natives are employed partly in whaling and walrus hunting, and are very useful in skinning and preparing the hides of the walrus.

At present there is only one American vessel engaged in whaling on the eastern side of America, the topsail schooner Era of New Bedford. This ship entered Hudson bay during the summer of 1903, wintered in the harbour of Fullerton, and intended to pass the winter of 1904 in the same harbour, returning home in the following September. As the Neptune wintered alongside at Fullerton, and as the writer made a trip lasting two weeks to Southampton island, in June, 1904, in company with four of the whaleboats belonging to the Era, he is personally better acquainted with the life and methods of the American than with those of the Scotch whalers.

The Era is over fifty years old, and was originally built for a coasting packet. When her usefulness in that trade was passed, some thirty years ago, she was sheathed with about three inches of hardwood, and further reinforced with iron plate in the bow. Little expenditure seems to have since been made by the owners. The ship is now very leaky, and in such a condition that she could not get a British rating. During the winter, when tightly frozen in, the pumps were going daily, and when at sea they are almost constantly going to keep the vessel afloat, while the forecastle, the home of a crew of twelve men, has several inches of water on the floor, and every bunk is soaking wet. This forecastle is very small, and when the small stove and table are set up, the men have to crawl over one another to get to their small double-decked bunks. The air is exceedingly bad, and these quarters probably account, in part, for the scurvy prevalent amongst the crew. The food is as antiquated as the accommodation, and is confined to the staples, barrelled pork and beef with biscuit left over from the Spanish-American war, and returned from Cuba more or less alive; to these are added coffee and molasses of the cheapest kind, and a small quantity of tinned meats, preserved potatoes and dried apples, none in quantities sufficient for anything approaching a daily ration; no antiscorbutics, such as lime-juice, are carried. These antiquated rations are supplemented by fresh meat of the deer, seal and walrus obtained from the natives, but during the winter this supply is often very inadequate.

The officers and crew numbered twenty on leaving New Bedford. They consist of the captain, two mates, three boat-steerers, cook, steward and twelve seamen. None of the officers hold certificates, and as far as their qualifications to navigate the ship are concerned, have passed no official test.

The officers and boat-steerers are ‘old hands,’ having made previous voyages, either to Hudson bay or to the western whaling. The crew are all landsmen without any knowledge of the sea, and are obtained for the voyage through the agency of crimps. Some were signed on under false statements and others put on board while drunk. In some cases the ship’s articles were signed after the vessel was at sea, and the majority of the men when they signed had not had the articles read to them. Advances made by the crimps at extravagant rates are paid by the owners without the knowledge or consent of the crew as soon as the vessel leaves port. No wages are paid, all being on shares; and the share of the crew is so small and the advance account and articles supplied from the ‘slop-chest’ so great that it is the usual thing for each man to find himself in debt to the owners on his return from no matter how successful a voyage. None of these practices are allowed on board the British vessel, and the crew are not only paid monthly wages, but participate in the profits of the voyage.

The Era’s crew was composed of a gunsmith, a clerk in a wholesale drug business, an iron moulder, a mechanic, an ex-soldier, a railway brakesman, an Armenian and several nondescripts ‘about town.’ Of the entire lot only one had ever been to sea before.

The treatment of the crew by the officers was as good as circumstances permitted, and was in strong contrast to their general treatment by the owners.

The methods of the American whalers differ considerably from those already described. When the ship arrives in the northwestern part of the bay, the Aivillik Eskimos are looked for somewhere in the vicinity of Whale point, and enough men, practically half of the tribe, are engaged for the time the ship remains in the bay. The ship’s crew are sufficient to man three whaleboats, and three others are manned by the natives. Four boats are brought on the ship every voyage, and only two are taken home, the other two, equipped for whaling, being left with the natives, and any whales caught during the ship’s absence are supposed to belong to the ship furnishing the boats.

The natives and their families and dogs are taken on board the schooner and conveyed to the harbour where it is proposed to spend the winter. About seventy persons of this tribe were at Fullerton during the winter of 1903-04, and twice a day received a meal of biscuit and coffee on the ship. These people were fed in the cabin after the officers, and two or three extra tables were required to accommodate all, so that the meal continued for nearly two hours, and the atmosphere of the cabin was anything but sweet. No regular wages are paid to the natives either during the winter when hunting, or when in the boats in the summer, but they are given such articles as the captain thinks they should have or deserve, everything being left to his judgment or caprice. On the whole they are fairly well treated, and although they only get a very small percentage of their catch, still the presence of the whaler ensures them from starvation, and provides them with boats, guns and ammunition, all of which would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain.

While with the ship the entire hunt of the natives is supposed to belong to the ship, and no definite payment is made for whales or fur taken during that period.

During past years a goodly number of boats have been left to the natives by the American whalers, and at the present time the Eskimos scattered from Chesterfield inlet to Repulse bay must have upwards of twenty serviceable boats. The Aivilliks have for so long become possessed of boats in this manner, that they have lost the art of building kyaks, and none of the younger men know anything about handling these craft.

Very little use is made of the ship in the catching of whales, and it usually only serves as a convenient base of supply, or as a means of transport from one locality to another.

As the crews live during the greater part of the open season in the boats, these are fitted with cotton covers supported on hoops, and are thus completely roofed in, affording very comfortable if somewhat cramped quarters. Cooking is done with oil stoves, and sleeping is arranged for by placing wide boards across the intervals between seats. The boats leave the ship early in May, long before the ice along the coast begins to break up, and they cruise up and down along the edge of the solid land-floe looking for whales. During stormy weather, and at night, the boats are drawn out on the smooth ice, props are placed on each side to keep them upright, and the cover being drawn on and snugly secured, afford secure and comfortable quarters, provided that the temperature does not drop too low; in that case, resort is made to the deerskin sleeping bags for greater warmth.

The west coast of the bay is patrolled in this manner until about the middle of June, the cruise extending from Chesterfield inlet to Whale point, supplies being renewed every week or so. Each of the ship’s boats is in charge of an officer, who always attends to the steering. The ‘boat-steerers’ are in reality the harpooners, and have nothing to do with the steering of the boat.

Towards the end of June the boats cross through the floating ice to Southampton island, where they remain until compelled to return for fresh supplies, usually about three weeks. A second trip to that island is sometimes made, and in August the ship, now free from the ice, is taken to Repulse bay or the Frozen strait connecting it with Fox channel. The ship is again left in harbour under the charge of the cook and steward, and the boats cruise about until the beginning of September, when the ship is taken to winter quarters or sails for home. If the intention is to remain all winter, the harbour is reached before the middle of the month.

This is the routine, and it is only varied by the capture of a whale. As will be seen from the above description, the boats cruise nearly all the time in the in-shore waters, and the greater number of whales are taken within the three-mile limit, and not on the high seas as is the rule in Baffin bay. If the whale is killed within reasonable distance of the ship, it is either towed alongside by the boats, or the ship comes for it, and an endeavour is made to get the body into a safe harbour in order to save the blubber. A number of whales are killed in inconvenient places, and only the bone is then taken, all the blubber going to waste. When the blubber is taken, it is immediately cut up and ‘tried out’ into oil on board the ship, a large boiler being carried for that purpose. The hold of the schooner is filled with large casks, made in different sizes to fit the shape of the hold. On the outward voyage these are partly filled with the provisions; returning, they carry the oil and furs collected on the voyage.

During the long winter a part of the natives remain at the ship, and are employed hunting seals, walrus, and deer to help feed the women and children and the crew of the ship. The remainder are sent away after musk-ox, and remain away several months, having to go a long distance before reaching the country where those animals are found. A successful party will return with at least twenty musk-ox skins, and these add to the profits of the voyage. Stranger Eskimos also visit the ship to trade, and in this manner a considerable number of musk-ox, fox, wolf, bear and wolverine skins are added.

Unlike the Scotch whalers, where the captain remains on board ship to direct the movements of the boats from the barrel, the American captain goes in charge of one of the boats. This works well in open water, but when the whale is among loose ice very little can be seen from the boats.

The Americans make use of a hand harpoon, and as it is very heavy and has a gun attached to it, the boat must approach within a few feet of the whale before it can be thrown with any certainty of success; otherwise the manner of capture is similar to that already described.

Scottish Whaling Station at Blacklead Island.