Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/22

low table-bluffs. On the north-east this silurian stretch reaches up to high primitive rock land, which seems to have a fault line scarf towards the south and, besides, rises to considerable heights and falls steeply towards Eclipse Sound and Baffin Bay. At Ponds Inlet it has heights of about 1000 m, only interrupted by a small section of low country on the south side, where tertiary sandstone and local layers appear. The primitive rock country reaches its culmination on Bylot Island, where there are pointed peaks of heights up to 2000 m and big glaciers. The coast towards Baffin Bay is a steep fjord coast, at several places with large ice caps, whereas the coast towards Prince Regents Inlet forms an inaccessible rock wall in which erosion has eaten out the shapes like castle ruins which are known from the illustrations of many of the books of the Franklin Expeditions. The deep fjords greatly facilitate entrance into the interior of Cockburn Land, while several low passes lead across it, such as Gifford Fjord — Admiralty Inlet, Steensby Fjord — Milne Inlet and Isortoq — Anaularealing.

The whole region has been covered with ice in the glacial period; this is borne out by the moraine material, numerous glacial striae and many forms of terrain such as the big fjords, which must be assumed to have been eroded by ice; it is only in the mountains of Cockburn Land that the ice has been able to hold its own.

There are not many minerals that can be utilized. Soapstone is found at Wager Inlet (Eskimo: Ukusikssalik), a little way from the mouth on the north coast and by the river Eqalugarssuk near Ingnertoq; a poor variety is found in Repulse Bay. From the northern part of Admiralty Inlet comes a marl slate which is in great demand for lamp trimmers. Parry^[1] mentions that asbestos for lamp trimmers is found in Repulse Bay. The limestone regions are rich in flint (which, however, is only found in small lumps except on Southampton Island), and pyrites; the latter is used for fire-making. Slate, which was formerly used for blades of weapons and knives, is found scattered over the most of the whole area, carried by the ice from the places where it occurs in Cockburn Land; nowadays it is only used for whetting stones.

Climate. Series of observations covering a long connected period are still lacking, so that exact figures regarding the climate cannot be given.

The whole region seems to have a fairly uniform climate, an Arctic continental climate very much influenced by the great North American continent. Only in the far south is there a rather higher summer temperature, and farthest to the northeast the mitigating in-