ut of course the
accumulations of ice completely block continuous navigation.

The huge jagged island of BAFFIN'S LAND differs from much of Arctic
America in that it has high land rising into mountains. This is so
completely covered with ice that it is of little interest under
present circumstances to the world of civilization, though the large
herds of musk oxen which it once supported were of much use to Arctic
explorers as a food supply in winter. The coasts are inhabited by a
few thousand Eskimo, and Davis Straits and Baffin's Bay possess a
certain amount of commercial importance owing to the whale fisheries
which are carried on there by the British, the Danes, the Americans,
and the Eskimo. In fact the importance of these whale fisheries have
of late made the Americans of the United States a little inclined to
challenge the British possession of these great Arctic islands. North
Devon, North Somerset, Prince of Wales' Land, Melville Island, Banks
Land, Prince Albert Land, &c. &c, are names of other great Arctic
islands completely within the grip of the ice. The nature of their
interior is almost unknown. They are at present of use to no form of
man unless it be to a few wandering Eskimo, who come to their coasts
in the summer to kill seals.

The great NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES of the Canadian Dominion extend from
the American frontier of Alaska (which is the 141 deg. of W. long.) to the
Ungava Peninsula, which abuts on Labrador. Where this vast region
slopes to the Arctic Ocean and Hudson's Bay it is rather low and flat,
except between Alaska and the Mackenzie River, and between the
Mackenzie and the watershed of Hudson's Bay. The principal river
system in the far North-West is that of the great Mackenzie River,
which flows into the Arctic Ocean (Beaufort Sea) through an immense
delta, and is one of the longest rivers in the world. The southernmost
sources of the Mackenzie (such as the Peace River and the Athabaska
River) rise in the Rocky Mountains to the east of British Columbia.
These waters are stored for a time in Lake Athabaska, and then under
the name of Slave River flow northwards into the Great Slave Lake, and
out of this, under the name of Mackenzie River, into Beaufort Sea,
through an immense delta. The Great Bear Lake is also a feeder of the
Mackenzie.

Two other Arctic rivers at one time thought to be of great importance
as means of communication with the Arctic Ocean, are the Great Fish
River, which