The coasts of Finland are fringed by vast and labyrinthine archipelagos, in which wooded islands with small hills obstruct visibility. This is a great hind-rance to topographical survey. On the other hand, conditions for carrying out hydrographic survey are excellent, as positions can be fixed on the basis of a rectangular lattice of lines run easily and accurately along the surface of the ice. There was in the past every encouragement to adopt this method of survey, as the coastal waters and the lakes in central Finland are ice-covered for some 5 months every year (from December to April) and in the northern parts of the country for an even longer period. It is true that the work is hindered by the cold, but in early spring (March and April) surveying can generally be carried out in satisfactory conditions.

It will be remembered that Exercise “Musk-Ox” began on 15 February 1946, when a mechanized force of forty-seven men in eleven Snowmobiles left Churchill on the west coast of Hudson Bay. This force travelled northwards to the Arctic Ocean, and then westwards over the sea ice to Cambridge Bay and Coppermine; from here the route lay southwards over the mainland to Fort Nelson and along the Alcan Highway to Grande Prairie, where the exercise ended in the first week of May. The route covered by the ground force is shown in the map on p. 341. The track of about 3000 miles is roughly the shape of a horseshoe extending from Churchill to Edmonton, with a considerable part of the curve lying within the Canadian Arctic.

Family allowances for all Canadian children under 16 years of age were instituted in 1944. The amount per child varies from $5.00 to $8.00 per month, according to the age of the child and the number of children in the family. In the well-settled parts of the Dominion, the allowances are paid by cheque each month to the mother of the family. In isolated areas, such as the Arctic, the allowances are paid “in kind”; in other words, the family are allowed to purchase goods from their usual trader up to the amount to which they are entitled. In the Canadian Eastern Arctic nearly all trading posts are maintained by the Hudson's Bay Company. In order to report the number of Eskimo children in the families, registrars and sub-registrars are appointed in the various areas. In localities where detachments of Royal Canadian Mounted Police are posted, a police officer acts as the registrar. In other localities the trader or traders act as sub-registrars. The Eskimo families notify one or other of these officials as soon as possible after a new baby is born, that is, when they next visit the trading post or settlement.

The present northern border of Norway and Sweden was fixed by treaty in 1751 between the United Kingdom of Denmark-Norway and the Kingdom of Sweden, then including Finland. Previous attempts to determine the frontier had failed, largely because of intermittent warfare over a long period between Denmark and Sweden. A codicil to the 1751 treaty laid down the rights of the Lapps in the frontier region and it was expressly stated that movement over the frontier would be permitted according to old usage. The usage here referred to was the movement of Swedish Lapps with their reindeer into Norway for pasture during the summer, and a similar movement of Norwegian Lapps with their reindeer into Sweden for pasture during the winter. The majority of the Norwegian Lapps entering Swedish territory went into Finland. In addition, a few Norwegian Lapps further south, in the present Nord Trøndelag Fylke, traditionally moved into Jämtland in Sweden during the summer.

For many years, in the course of fisheries investigations, large numbers of fish have been marked by means of numbered metal tags. Other marking methods, such as dyeing, branding and clipping of fins, have all been tried but found to be either unsuitable, or difficult of application, or less satisfactory in some way. Since 1924 the Discovery Committee has marked some thousands of whales. For this purpose it has been found convenient to use stainless steel tubes which are fired into the blubber and remain firmly embedded until the whale is captured and dismembered by the whalers. Whale marking is in fact limited to this method, because these immense animals cannot be caught and later released. In the case of seals it is unlikely that marks shot into the blubber would prove successful because their skin and blubber is thinner than that of whales and, as seals haul out on land and ice at intervals, the mark would soon be torn out.

[1214] Since the discovery of these distant and desolate islands, manyaccounts have been published respecting them. But from what source soever the information has been derived, they all concur in describing them as barren, uninhabited, and in every respect dreary.

It was our good fortune to be possessed of all the leading facts which related to them long before their existence was announced to the public; but at the particular desire of our correspondent, who was in the first vessel that ever touched on these inhospitable shores, we omitted giving it publicity until several weeks had elapsed; and it was not until some reports had found their way into the world, that our embargo was taken off. This circumstance enabled the conductor of a weekly journal to announce the existence of these distant lands to the public, just before the day of publication with us arrived. Of this incident he has readily availed himself; [1215] and in a recent number, has claimed the exclusive honour of having furnished the first public notice of this discovery.