zinc of the Dominion, while in silver, nickel and iron Ontario takes the
lead. When its vast area stretching from the international boundary to
beyond the Arctic circle is opened up, it may be expected to prove the
counterpart of the great mining region of the Cordillera in the United
States to the south.

_Climate_.--In a country like Canada ranging from lat. 42 deg. to the
Arctic regions and touching three oceans, there must be great variations
of climate. If placed upon Europe it would extend from Rome to the North
Cape, but latitude is of course only one of the factors influencing
climate, the arrangement of the ocean currents and of the areas of high
and low pressure making a very wide difference between the climates of
the two sides of the Atlantic. In reality the Pacific coast of Canada,
rather than the Atlantic coast, should be compared with western Europe,
the south-west corner of British Columbia, in lat. 48 deg. to 50 deg.,
having a climate very similar to the southern coast of England. In
Canada the isotherms by no means follow parallels of latitude,
especially in summer when in the western half of the country they run
nearly north-west and south-east; so that the average temperature of 55
deg. is found about on the Arctic circle in the Mackenzie river valley,
in lat. 50 deg. near the Lake-of-the-Woods, in lat. 55 deg. at the
northern end of James Bay, and in lat. 49 deg. on Anticosti in the Gulf
of St Lawrence. The proximity of the sea or of great lakes, the
elevation and the direction of mountain chains, the usual path of storms
and of prevalent winds, and the relative length of day and amount of
sunshine in summer and winter all have their effect on different parts
of Canada. One cannot even describe the climate of a single province,
like Ontario or British Columbia, as a unit, as it varies so greatly in
different parts. Details should therefore be sought in articles on the
separate provinces. In eastern Canada Ungava and Labrador are very chill
and inhospitable, owing largely to the iceberg-laden current sweeping
down the coast from Davis Strait, bringing fogs and long snowy winters
and a temperature for the year much below the freezing-point. South of
the Gulf of St Lawrence, however, the maritime provinces have much more
genial temperatures, averaging 40 deg. F. for the year and over 60 deg.
for the summer months. The amount of rain is naturally high so near the
sea, 40 to 56 in., but the snowfall is