Bruce Cassidy, age 12, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, for his question:

 Is Hudson Bay fresh or salt water?

Now that you have a fine atlas, chances are you can figure this answer out for yourself. Turn to the map on page 98. There you will see Canada with the big bite which Hudson Bay makes into its northern shoreline.

At first the mouth of the bay looks confusing, chattered up with straits and islands. But follow the bay through Hudson Strait and you come to the Atlantic Ocean. Follow it north around Baffin Island and you come to Baffin Bay. Sooner or later the channels between the islands north of Hudson Bay bring you to the chilly Arctic Ocean.

Hudson Bay, then, is linked to the salty waters of the Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans. Its water must be salty. And so it is. The bay, however, is fed by countless rivers. They pour into it torrents of fresh water. The bay water is salty, but a lot less salty than the waters of the oceans.