Rocky Ford enterprise., 1901-11-15

Excluding Australia. Rafiin Land. sit
uated near the east coast OF the Amcri-
can continent, a short distance north OF
Hudson strait, is the second island oe
the world in point of size. and still 1T
tie IL known about II. II has long been
represented on the maps as composed
Of n. number OF islands. II u still
shown in this way on number OF
mnps now In Use. one by one these
supposed islands. Cumberland island.
Fox Land. Meta Incosnita. Sussex
island and others have been found 10 be
a part of the main island: thus Baffin
Land has been gradually incr.as.n. in
size on the maps until to-day II Is
known TO he Inferior only To Greenland
In size. The latest edition OF the best
map OF the polar regions published In
any American atlas, however. still
shows cockburn island. which is about
as large as Iceland. as separated from
Baiiin Land by n wide channel. though
n number OF foreign maps show that
IL Is a part OF Baiiin Land.
DIR. Robert BELL. the new director OF
the geological survey of Canada. who
mapped long stretch OF the west
coast In 1897. has just published In the
Geographical Journal u report Of his
explorations. He says that II Is 'thc
third largest island In I'll. world. being
only exceeded by Australia ani Green
land" As Australia Is now ranked by
nearly all .cogrnphers as the smallest
OF the continents. liafiin Land will un-
doublc,iiy take Its place among the
islands ns the second In nrcn.
All the bs~t maps Of Safiin Land now
show a great lake region In the central
part Of the southern portion OF tho
island. These lakes lie between noun
tain ranges. DIR. He'll says that the two
greatest bodies OF water nrc larger
than any OF the lakes In the whole
peninsula OF Labrador. and that they
may almost be compared TO Lake on
iario In extent. He visited the south
crnmost. Lake AmndJuak. which may
be l.O miles In length by forty In
breadth In the middle. According to
Eskimo accounts. Lake AmadJuak dis
charges nor,hwnrd into Lake Mcttil.
ling by a short river. without rapids.
the natives passing from one lake to
ling II perhaps 40 mile. long and sixty
miles wide. aud Its waters reach the
sea through large and rapid river.
fifty or sixty miles long. that has a de-
scent OF about i've feet to the mile.
The conspicuous honor Of being the
largest island In the world has been
held by quite number OF islands ut
various stages Of geographical knowi-
edge. School children wcrc taught for
many years that Australia was the
largest island. Then Australia came
properly To h. regarded as one OF the
continental masses and Bornco took Its
place MS the largest island.
Less than twenty years ago Il was
discovered that New Guinea was larger
than Bornco. and so the latter island
took second place. When Pcary prac-
tically outlined the northern coast Of
Greenland. early In the last decade.
gcogruphcrs began to think that they
had overlooked an Important section OF
the earth's surface. and SO they placed
Greenland Mt the head Of the list OF
islands. At last Bafiin Land looms up
rs an island 1905 statute miles In
length, with breadth varying from
eco to 800 miles. the average being 3O0
miles. Its area is therefore about 3OO.-
OvO square miles. In other words. the
island IL larger than the state OF Texas
by about 10000 square miles. or about
ten times rs large as either Scotland or
Ireland. Though IL takes Its place as
second In the list OF islands. .Bailin
Land appears to be OF no great value.
since 1t Is composed as far rs we
know. OF barren rocks, partly covered
with ice.
The twelve largest islands In the
world in order OF size. are: Greenland.
Baiiin Land, New Guinea. Borneo.
Madagascar. Sumatra. Nippon the
largest island of Japan, Great Britain.
Ceiebes. New Zealand (South island,
lava and Cuba.