Melville

Melville, the name of an island, a sound, and a peninsula in the polar regions of North America. The island is crossed by 75° N. lat. and 110° W. long., and is separated on the west by Fitzwilliam Strait from Prince Patrick Island. Greatest length, 200 miles; greatest breadth, 130 miles. In 1819 Parry, who gave the island its name, passed the winter here with his crews. The sound, about 250 miles long by 200 broad, extends south-east of the island, and communicates with the Arctic Ocean on the west by Banks Strait, and with Baffin Bay on the east by Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound. The peninsula projects from the continent at its north-eastern corner, and has on the N. the Fury and Hecla Strait, and on the E. Fox Channel. It is 250 miles in length by about 100 in average breadth.—Another Melville Island lies across the entrance to Van Dienen Gulf off the shore of the northern territory of South Australia. Area, 143 sq. m. It is hilly and covered with vegetation. The earliest British settlement on this coast was made here in 1824.