Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-09-09
THE WORLDS BIG ISLANDS.
BSf6n Land Now Placed Second In
Point of Area.

hStup Land NOW Placed Second In
Point of Area.
AS recently as 1897 the ''Taschen AT.
las" of Justice Perthes makes no men
ton of Baffin Land in it's enumeration
of the large islands of the world. Batfin
Land, near the east coast of this CONT
nent, north of Hudson strait has long
been represented on many maps as
composed of q number of islands. 1t is
still shown in this way on a number
Of maps now in use. One by one these
supposed islands-Cumberlan island,
Fox Land, Meta Incognita, Sussex is
land and others-have been found to be
part Of the main island. Thus Baffin
Land has been gradually increasing in
size On the maps until today it is
known to be 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
Baffin Land by wide channel, though
a number Of foreign maps show that it
is a part of Bafin Land.
DR.. Robert Bell, the new director of
the geological survey of Canada, who
mapped a long stretch Of the west coast
in 1897, has just published in The Geo.
graphical Journal a report Of his ex.
plorations. He says that it is ''the
third largest island in the world, being
only exceeded by Australia and Green
land" AS Australia is now ranked by
nearly all geographers as the smallest
of the continents, Baffin Land will IN
doubtedly take its place among the is
lands as the second in area.
All tie best maps of Baffin Land now
show a great lake region in the central
part Of tie southern portion of the
island. These lakes lie between noun
tain ranges. Dr.. Bell says that the two
greatest bodies Of water are larger
than any of the lakes in the whole
peninsula OF Labrador, and that they
may almost be compared to Lake On
tario in extent. He visited the south
ernmost, Lake Amadjuak, which may
be 120 miles in length by 40 in breadth
in the middle. According to Eskimo
accounts, Lake Amadjuak discharges
northward into Lake Mettilling by a
short river without rapids, the natives
passing from one lake to another in
their kayaks. Lake Mettilling is per-
haps 40 miles long and 60 miles wide,
and its waters reach the sea through
q large and rapid river so or GO miles
long that has q descent Of about five
feet to the mile.
The conspicuous honor Of being the
largest island in the world has been
held by quite a number Of islands at
various stages of geographical knowl-
edge. School children were taught for
many years that Australia was the
largest island. Then Australia came
properly to be regarded as one of the
continental masses, and Borneo took
its place as the largest island. Less
than 90 years ago it was discovered
that New Guinea was larger than
Dorneo. and 50 the latter island took
second place. When Perry practically
outlined the northern coast Of Green
land early IL the last decade, geOgTa-
piers began to think that they had
overlooked 81 Important section Of the
eartL5 surface. and so they placed
Greenland at the head Of the list OF
Islands. st last Bafin Land looms up
as an island 1905 statute miles in
length, with q breadth varying from
200 to 800 miles, the average being
300 miles. It's area is, therefore,
about 100000 square miles. In other
words. the island is larger than the
state Of Texas by about 10000 square
miles. G. about ten times as large as
either Scotland or Ireland. Though it
takes its place as second in the list Of
islands, Baffin Land appears to be Of
no great va,ue s:Gce it is composed, as
far as we know, Of barren rocks partly
covered with ice.
The Il largest islands in the world
in order of size are: Greenland, Baf-
fin Land. New Guinea, Borneo, NADIA
gascar Sumatra, Nippon Ghe largest
island of Japan, Great Britain, Cele-
bes, New Zealand (South island, Java
and Cuba.-K2nsas City Journal.