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 I 
 
iaBiiifcM^.1 -ii — -11111 
 
♦i 
 
 H^ 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS 
 AND LIFE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC 
 
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 Scene on the shore of Greenland. Native carrying his kayak. 
 
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 OTTAWA I 
 
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 NATIONS 
 
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 Norl 
 

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 (iREHNLANI) ICHFIHLDS 
 
 AND 
 
 LIFE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC 
 
 HTI'H A 1\EW DISCUSSION OF 
 THE CAUSES OF THE ICE AGE 
 
 BY 
 (,. FRHDHRICK WRKiHT. D.U., LL.l)., F.Ci.S.A. 
 
 AIIHOII Ol IHK ICK A(1K IN NUliTll AMKUIIA, KTC. 
 
 AND 
 
 WARKHN UPHAM, A.M., H.r^.S.A. 
 
 \.y\V. OK THh; liKOI.OdlCAI. SIKVKV (IK NKW HAMl'SHIIlK, MINNKSDTA, 
 AMI rilK I'NITKII SIAIKS 
 
 WITH Nl'.MKROUS MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NORTHERN AFFAIRS 
 
 Patkrnosikk II 
 
 NOV 21 1955 
 
 Northern Research Library 
 OTTAWA 
 
 l.ON'DOX 
 
 tjNCH, TRUBNHK & CO. LTD. 
 
 isK, Charinc; Cross Road 
 1896 
 

 ^ ^omrm affairs 
 
 MAR 1959 
 
 Wo-ti.ern Aff^-'rs Library 
 OTTnWA 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The immediate impulse to the' preparation of this 
 volume arose in connection with a trip to Greenland 
 taken on the steamer Miranda with an excursion party 
 organized by Dr. F. A. Cook in the summer of 1894. 
 While preparing to make the most of this excursion, 
 much difficulty was encountered in collecting the facts 
 which one would most like to know concerning this 
 mysterious land. The varied and exciting fortunes of 
 the Miranda, while not sufficient to form the frame- 
 work of a volume, were still of no small value in giving 
 vividness to one's conceptions of the unique conditions 
 of the country, enabling one who shared them to enter 
 with better understanding into the descriptions given 
 by others, and to combine them into a more satisfac- 
 tory general view. Upon some points, also, our obser- 
 vations furnished a positive enlargement to our knowl- 
 edge of the country. Since, therefore, numerous refer- 
 ences will be made to incidents in our voyage, it will 
 be profitable here to give a brief sketch of the fortunes 
 of the expedition. 
 
 I 
 
vi 
 
 PREPACK. 
 
 On the 7tli of July, 1894, the party, consisting of 
 fifty-ono, besides the otticers und crew, set sail from 
 New York in tlie Miranda, an iron 8toanis)ii|) two hun- 
 dred and twenty feet long and of eleven hundred tons 
 burden. After atopj)ing at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and 
 St. John's, Newfoundland, wo steamed out of the latter 
 place on the evening of July loth, aiming to touch upon 
 the coast of Labrador, to leave a portion of our party, 
 and a few native Eskimos who had been at the Colum- 
 bian Exposition. 
 
 Everything went well up to the morning of the 17th, 
 when, during a dense fog, the steamer ran directly into 
 an iceberg ; but the injury proving to be entirely above 
 the water line, we made our way to Capo Charles Har- 
 bour, on the coast of Labrador, about fifteen miles dis- 
 tant, where our engineer and carpenter were able to 
 make such temporary repairs that we could return to St. 
 John's and readjust our plans. Here new iron plates 
 were substituted for those which had been injured, and 
 everything was put in good condition, so that on the 
 28th of July we decided to sail directly for southern 
 Greenland. On the 3d of August the mountains in the 
 vicinity of Frederikshaab came in view, but ice pro- 
 vented our reaching land. Steaming lowly west and 
 north as the fog permitted us until the morning of Au- 
 gust 7th, we found a clear passage open to a broad bay, 
 which proved to be the harbour of Sukkortopnen, the 
 largest- and in many respects the most interesting, of 
 the Eskimo settlements upon the coast. 
 
 ! i 
 I I 
 
PUKKACK 
 
 Vil 
 
 r•^ 
 
 iho captain doci'led to remain liere two days, which 
 afforded me, with a small ])arty, opportunity to make an 
 excursion in snudl boats a considerable distance up one 
 of t»'o fiords which set back from this i)oint toward the 
 iidand ice. On the morning of the <Jth we started for 
 the north, hoping to reach Disco and to visit the Ja- 
 kobshavn glacier; but it was now too late in the season 
 to think of carrying out our original plan of going still 
 farther north, and reaching Peary's headquarcers in In- 
 glelield (Julf. And, now, even these more modtst hopes 
 were rudely dashed, by our steamer's running ipon a 
 reef about seven miles out, compelling us to retuvn to 
 8ukkertoppen in a disabled condition. In certain con- 
 ditions of the water we should have passed safelv over 
 but heavy swells caused the steamer to strike the rocks 
 several times, and injured the bottom under the ballast 
 tank near the middle of the vessel. 
 
 Hearing that some fishing schooners had been seen 
 somewhere in the vicinity of Ilolsteinborg, small boats 
 were despatched in that direction for assistance. As ten 
 days must elapse before their return would be possible, 
 opportunity was given me for a longer liud more satis- 
 factory expedition into the interior. The time was im- 
 proved by an excursion to Tkamiut, a miserable Eskimo 
 settlement a few miles from the head of a fiord into 
 which there enters a great glacier projecting from the 
 inland ice. 
 
 Upon returning to Sukkertoppen, the schooner Rigel, 
 under command of Captain (Jeorge W. Dixon, of Glou- 
 
vm 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 cester, Massachusetts, came to our relief. As the exact 
 amount of damage to the Miranda was difficult to de- 
 termine, the captain entertained the hope that she might 
 be able to steam back to Labrador, but the hazard was 
 too great to venture without a convoy. The members 
 of ib'^- party were therefore all transferred to the Rigel, 
 which was only a hundred feet long and of a hundred 
 tons burden. Everythirg but the bare necessities was 
 left upon the Miranda. We were, of course, very much 
 crowded upon the schooner, but the captdn and crew 
 were so cordial in their ser ioes, and the relief was so 
 grateful, that every one was contented and happy. The 
 prospect of having to winter in Greenland was the less 
 endurable from the fact that our provisions would be 
 sufficient for only about two months; and the stock 
 of civilized food in the place was so small, that before 
 the middle of winter we should all be reduced to the 
 native diet of uncooked fish, raw meat, and blubber. 
 
 On the 31st of August we set out for home, with the 
 Miranda taking the Rigel in tow, but at the end of 
 thirty-six hours, at midnight, when we were 300 miles 
 from land and the sea was rolling heavily, the leak in 
 the Miranda started anew, and she sounded the signal 
 of distress, informing us that it was necessary to aban- 
 don her, and that we should lie to with the cable with 
 which we were towed still attached until the officers 
 and the crew could be transferred to the schooner. 
 
 The scenes of the next few hours were the experience 
 of a lifetime. With a man standing ready to cut the 
 
 1 
 
1 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 cable in case the Miranda should suddenly go down, we 
 tossed about upon the waves for three hours, awaiting 
 the approach of the first boat load from the steamer. 
 At length it arrived, and, after the exercise of an in- 
 finite amount of labor and skill, was safely brought 
 alongside, and the men upon it transferred to the deck 
 of our stanch schooner. Others followed, until after 
 another hour and a half we heaved a sigh of relief 
 when the last man was on board and not a life had 
 been lost. On leaving the Miranda, Captain Farrell 
 had shipped the cable, so that she could drift away from 
 us, and we took our last look at the unfortunate vessel. 
 The liglits were still burning, the smoke was issuing 
 from her chimneys, the pumps were still vigorously at 
 work, and the wheel was still turning. Thus, with 
 nearly all our personal effects and treasures on board 
 she steamed off to her lonely fate in the mist and dark- 
 ness of that boisterous sea, while we directed our course 
 for the southern coast of Labrador. 
 
 There were now ninety-one of us on board the little 
 schooner, which was calculated for the accommodation 
 of only twenty. After twelve days of various vicissi- 
 tudes we reached Sydney in safety, and the perils and 
 discomforts of our journey were over. So far as our 
 experiences enabled us to add to the knowledge of the 
 regions visited, and seemed to be of general interest, 
 they have in their appropriate place been worked into 
 the various chapters of the book. 
 
 In the preparation of the volume I have been happy 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 in having the aid of Mr. Warren Upham, 'r ith whom 
 I liave been closely associated in glacial investigations 
 ever since we worked together on the New Hampshire 
 Geological Survey in 1870. His continuous labours in 
 ■ investigating the glacial phenomena of New England 
 and the Northwest, his minute knowledge of natural 
 history, and his wide study of the literature of the sub- 
 ject, give great weight to the conclusions to which he 
 has arrived upon the theoretical questions connected with 
 the (Jlacial period and its relation to existing ice-fields. 
 Mr. Upham has drafted the series of maps here used 
 and has prepared chapters viii to xiv, but in every part 
 of the volume we have co-operated with each other, and 
 availed ourselves of each other's knowledge. 
 
 In conclusion, I must express my obligations to Pro- 
 fessor William H. Brewer, and Messrs. George W. Gard-. 
 iier, Walter S. Hoot, A. 1{. Thompson, James D. Dewell, 
 R. Kcrsting, J. li. Fordyce, and Drs. K. 0. Stebbins, 
 F. A. Cook, and J. F. Valle, for the use of photographs 
 taken by them during our excursion. The illustrations 
 obtained from Professor T. C. Chamberlin were first 
 published in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of 
 America for February, 1895, and are used by permis- 
 sion of that society. 
 
 Grateful acknowledgements are due, also, to Judge 
 Henry C. AVhite, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the use of 
 his large collection of books upon Arctic and Antarctic 
 explorations. G Fuedeiiick Wright. 
 
 Oberlin, Ouio, November, 1895. 
 
•»»>,■ 
 
 *ll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEn 
 
 I. — The i(;e of the LAnitADOR cuurent 
 ir.— The coast of Lahrauor . 
 • III. — Spitzbergen ice in Davis Strait 
 IV. — Excursions on the coast of Greenland 
 v.— The coast vj detail . 
 VI. — The Eskimos of the North Atlantic 
 VII. — Europeans in Greenland . 
 VIII.— The plants of Greenland 
 IX.— The animals of Greenland 
 X.— Explorations of the inland ice of Greenland 
 XL— Comparison op present and Pleistocene ice 
 sheets ....... 
 
 XII.— Pleistocene changes of level around the 
 
 BASIN OK THE XoPTH ATLANTIC . 
 
 Xllt— The causes of the Ice Age . . 
 XIV.— Stages of the Ice Age in North America 
 AND Europe . 
 
 • • • t 
 
 XV.— Summary and conclusion . 
 Index . 
 
 XI 
 
 PAGKS 
 
 1-23 
 
 23-53 
 
 53-G5 
 
 66-98 
 
 iuS-128 
 
 127-108 
 
 169-187 
 
 188-213 
 
 214-244 
 
 245-296 
 
 297-309 
 
 310-333 
 334-347 
 
 348-361 
 362-391 
 393-407 
 
t '< 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 T.YSET MAPS. 
 Map of Labrador . ''^''""* ''*°'' 
 
 iMap of the Greenland coast in the vicnity of Sukker- 
 
 toppen .... 
 Map of Greenland ..'.''*''' ?® 
 Map of the regions about the North pole ' * ' '04? 
 Map of glaciated areas in Europe and North America .* 097 
 
 FIQURK 
 
 ILLUSTRATIOXS l.V THE TEXT. 
 
 ^'kT 2 ^''' '^°'' ''^ Greenland. Native carrying his 
 
 1. ^-]'-^;J--J^^^^ enlranc'e of St. j;hnt Harbou" 
 
 2. The most majestic iceberg "seen off the co^st of Labrndo^ 
 
 3. A more distant view of the same 
 
 4. An iceberg which has shifted its plane of "equilibrium ' 
 
 ' ' s;z:^ '-'-- ---^>- - ^-n-^; ana- 
 
 6. Flowing outline of the Labrador coa^^t, wilh an unusuali; 
 
 ITffet?^'^" '""^ '^^^^'•""-^' about one'hu^ 
 dred feet high and two miles from shore 
 
 T rr/' ^'P' ^^^'^'' "^^b""--' ^'ith a sealskin 
 stretched out to dry. Chapel on the hill 
 «. Winter quarters in Labrador 
 
 10. Battle Harbour, the capital of Labrador 
 
 12 T^.T-v n ' ^""'^^ ^"^'^' ^^'"^ the chapel o^ the hill ' 
 
 3 It T " ^^T^ ^'^'''^' "^"^^-^ "'^r'^--. Labrador 
 13. A Labrador Eskimo lady in full winter dress . . .' 
 
 xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 20 
 27 
 28 
 32 
 36 
 47 
 
XIV 
 
 LIST OF ILLUWTIIATIONS. 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 
 rinuRE 
 
 14. St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland 
 
 15. Floe ice west of Greenland 
 
 16. A landing upon the rock, showing a trap-dike 
 
 17. View from the harbour of Sukkortoppen .... 
 
 18. Scene on the way to Isortok Fiord 
 
 19. First camp on the fiord 
 
 20. Ikamiut. An ^gloo to the riglit 
 
 21. Sermersut, four 'lousand feet high, with the village in 
 
 the foreground 
 
 22. A typical igloo 
 
 23. Ikamiut Fiord, looking east. The main glaciir eight 
 
 miles distant. The isliind is two miles this side . 
 Ikamiut Fiord, looking south. Showing local glaciers . 
 The backward view from the glacier down the fiord. 
 
 Moraines in the foreground 
 
 Froiit of a Greenland glacier 
 
 27. The scenery looking west from Sukkertoppen . 
 
 28. A side view 
 
 29. A typical Eskimo couple 
 
 30. A company of Eskimo boys 
 
 A umiak, with women rowing 
 
 Greenland kayaks 
 
 Kayakers coming out to meet us 
 
 34. Kayakers throwing l)ird spears in the harbour of Suk- 
 
 kertoppen 
 
 35. The better class of Eskimo houses at Sukkertoppen 
 
 36. The Catechlst's daughter in full dress .... 
 
 37. A typical Eskimo boy 
 
 38. Onr camp at Ikamiut 
 
 39. Church at Sukkertoppen. Men carrying a umiak in the 
 
 foreground 
 
 40. A company of Eskimo women on the outlook . 
 
 41. Eskimo household servants. Married and unmarried . 
 43. Arrival of the Rigel for relief of the Miranda . 
 
 43. Eskimo family, showing Danish blood . . . . 
 
 44. The Danish ladies at Sukkertoppen 
 
 45. The governor's house at Sukkertoppen . . . . 
 40. The north side of Sermersut, showing proximity of ice- 
 fields and vegetation 
 
 PAGE 
 
 53 
 55 
 63 
 67 
 71 
 74 
 78 
 
 31. 
 
 33. 
 33. 
 
 81 
 83 
 
 88 
 93 
 
 97 
 103 
 107 
 123 
 135 
 137 
 139 
 141 
 142 
 
 145 
 147 
 150 
 151 
 159 
 
 161 
 163 
 166 
 170 
 175 
 180 
 183 
 
 190 
 
LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 53 
 55 
 03 
 
 07 
 71 
 74 
 
 78 
 
 81 
 83 
 
 88 
 03 
 
 97 
 103 
 107 
 122 
 135 
 137 
 139 
 141 
 142 
 
 145 
 147 
 150 
 151 
 159 
 
 Ifil 
 103 
 100 
 170 
 175 
 180 
 
 FIOURB 
 
 48. Won,™ drc..u,g a HngeU «, i^^ .^..^h. ,„ ,^ , 
 
 49. Exploration of tho Greoniaiul 'ico sh^^f 'i™ ,i •'■ . ' 
 
 ot 11,0 |.'a.do,.iks.,„ab ,U.i^^ C IZ'TT' 
 iierup, 1878 . . ° ^ «Jtnseti and Kor- 
 
 50. Enlarged map of Jensen's nuiiataks with ih ' ' 
 
 unglacmted profile (Cha,„berli„) snowing 
 
 53. Southeastern Carey Island. Showing charact;risti; gla^ 
 
 ciated contour (Chaniberlin) ^ 
 
 54. Gablo Glacier, Inglofield Gulf, showing i;set debrrl and 
 
 lumniation of the ice (Chan.berlin) 
 
 n?.f ' t^"''''' '''"""•' ^^"^"'S '"'i^^'^^t of layeri 
 of (/ei/7s (Chaniberlin) '^ 
 
 56. North s,-de of Gable Glacier, Inglefieid Gulf, showing an 
 
 o erthrust, w.th deM. along the plane of conLt 
 Ihe ICO is much veined (Chamberlin) 
 
 57. Stages in the recession of the North American ice ^heet.' 
 
 I'liiciated portion unshaded . 
 
 58. Stages in the recession of the European ice sheet " Gla- 
 
 ciated portion unshaded 
 
 59. Iceberg off the coast of Labrador 
 
 00. Icebergs off Labrador seen from the sho're at a distance 
 M. Mew of the inland ice, east of tho outskirts, near Suk- 
 
 kertoppen • . . . 
 62. Looking eastward from Cape Charles, Labrador, showing 
 
 the subdued character of tho sky line 
 3. Near view of the Devil's Dining Table, Labrador .* .' 
 M. ( ontented Eskimos . 
 
 66. Towing the Rigcl out'ot the Pnnch Bowl'during a 'calm 
 
 XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 223 
 226 
 
 264 
 266 
 
 290 
 292 
 
 294 
 
 308 
 
 311 
 
 314 
 
 353 
 
 356 
 363 
 
 365 
 
 368 
 
 379 
 381 
 383 
 
 385 
 389 
 
 I 
 

GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ICE OF THE LABKADOR CURRENT. 
 
 The ice of Greenland is incessantly travellino- hnih 
 
 great steamers plying between New lo k md an t 
 northern Euronp-in r.n..f. j ^*v ioiK and ail the 
 
 far south as Z Mt 1 nVu T'"""'' ''°"' '^™» ■« 
 fore bein.d „w f °' ««sh.ngton and Lisbon be- 
 
 a straggling ieeberg::::"^,: fe'eUn'-Iiit'^l' 
 
 one hundred and seventy in h.. ui ^^^* '"^"^ 
 
 tude 38° 40', whichTs I pf '' ^"' ^"""'^ "^ ^^^i" 
 
 Spain. As ;:e vateTno:;h r ''^^^' ^°"^»^^- 
 increase both in nun hlr i ' ''" '"^•'^'^^^ objects 
 -s. Strancled if ^ ^"^^"'^^^ ^^^'« P-^" 
 
 Ne.^found]and 'ivoTt " ^^ ^.^'"^^^ ^^ «*. John's, 
 tourists who enter thP'T 't'' "' "^^^^^«^ *« ^he 
 
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 TIIM ICK OK THE LAMIlADOlt CirilRFCNT. 3 
 
 NcwfoundliiMd Htood out sharply iipo,, the horizon from 
 morni.ig till ni-ht; but nioHt inspiring.' of all wuh the 
 constant procosHion of icebergs whi(;h the steanLship 
 Miranda and her jJasson^r^rH were meeting' the ontire 
 day. The size of many of these bergs was enormous, 
 and their shapes were often fantastic and beautiful in 
 the extreme. One, which we attempted to measure, was 
 estimated by the best judges to have j.inna.des which 
 rose more than seven hundred feet above the water. 
 The area of its base must have been as much as ten or 
 twelve acres, or as large as that of the largest of the 
 pyramids of Egypt. For more than thirty miles this 
 huge object continued to tower upon our vision in lonely 
 solitude far up above the watery horizon. If the shape 
 of It had been regular, this would liave implied an 
 enormous de],th below the water, since the specific 
 gravity of glacial ice is such that about seven cubic feet 
 are below water to one above; but in this case the visi- 
 ble part of the berg was much wasted by the joint action 
 of rain, sun, wiiul, and waves, while the submerged base 
 was greatly extended as compared with the portion 
 which was above the water. What at first seemed to be 
 one gigantic pyramid, proved, as we shifted our position, 
 to be two or three towers, separated by long spaces,' 
 yet rising from a common broad ])ase of blue ice below 
 the water. Over this submerged portion the waves were 
 dashing as on a sunken reef of rocks. The general ap- 
 pearance i-emindod one of the ruined cathedral at 
 Utrecht, whose tower stands on one side of the street 
 «ind the choir upon the other, the vast nave having dis- 
 appeared, as the result of some accident, centuries ago. 
 In the course of the day bergs of every imaginable form 
 passed by ns, or rather we passed by them, for their 
 motion was inconsiderable. Their beauty of color was 
 
GREENLAND ICKFI KLDs. 
 
 ll 
 
 i! 
 
 also Hulescnbably diversilied. Tho surface was tho pure 
 white of newly fallen snow; the perpendicular Jace, 
 where fresh, was the deepest azure, and where not fresh 
 
 -y • ■ "#*KC.'^'^4^^;^ 
 
 ■^■^'■jj:': 
 
 Fm. 2.-The most majestic iceberg seen off the coast of Labrador. 
 
 was intersected by numerous seams of blue ; while the 
 base, where partly obscured by water, shaded into a deli- 
 Gate green. 
 
 Sixty bergs of large size were sometimes in view 
 from the deck of our stea,mer at once. They were spe- 
 cially numerous near the Strait of Belle Isle, toward 
 which the Labrador current is attracted by the opening 
 into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In this vicinity they 
 are always a serious obstacle to navigation ; while the 
 
 I 
 
TIIK ICH OF TIIK LAUKADOII (IIMIKNT. 
 
 I 
 
 (laii^^T is iiicmiscd diii-iiiij t'>t' curly part of the summer 
 by the jtreseneo of extensive masses of lloe iee, wliieh, 
 tiioiigh less coiispiciioiis, are more (ian<,aM"oiis than their 
 gi^'antie cotnpaiiions. On the ishiml of Jielle isle the 
 Canadian fJovernment has built a li-,dithouso— the most 
 northei-n on the eastern coast of America— jind has es- 
 tablished life-saving stations and stored sui)i)liesof food, 
 
 Fio. 3.— A more distant view of the same. 
 
 both to encourao:o commerce to take the most direct 
 route from the St. Lawrence to Liverpool, and to afford 
 relief to the many hapless navioators that are sure to 
 ixH.l with disaster in those treacherous waters. 
 
 A friend who was sailinn: from Quebec to Liverpool in 
 the early part of July, lSf:4, informs mo that his steam- 
 er was detained in the ice for two or three davs near the 
 entrance to the strait; while another, who had taken 
 passage from Glasgow to .St. John's, Newfoundland, on 
 
6 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 one of the Allan line of steamers, was caught amid 
 the icebergs in a fog about one hundred miles east 
 of the latter place, and detained in that hazardous con- 
 dition from Monday until Thursday before the weathei 
 cleared sufficiently to render it safe to complete the 
 passage. These experiences were by no means ex- 
 traordinary. 
 
 On the morning of the 17th we were destined to wit- 
 ness a dififerent phase of arctic navigation from that 
 previously enjoyed. We were in the mouth of the Strait 
 of Belle Isle, and had just passed its lighthouse. Ice- 
 bergs as vast and beautiful and numerous as ever 
 were around us; but their beauty, and in most cnaes 
 their presence, was obscured by a fitful but dense fog. 
 Still the chances o/ encountering one seemed so slight, 
 that we continued on our course, though at slackened 
 speed. Suddenly a large spot in the mist ahead of the 
 ship lighted up as if we .vere coming to a clear space. 
 But to the experienced eyes of the mate and of the ice- 
 pilot it was an ominous spectre, for it was the "ice 
 blink" of a huge berg, which almost at that very instant 
 emerged from the mist, towering hundreds of feet above 
 us, and stretching out many hundred feet on either side. 
 It being too late to avoid it, safety, if it could be secured 
 at all, lay in taking the collision straight ahead, and the 
 rudder was turned accordingly at the same instant that 
 the wheel was reversed. The collision came all too soon. 
 Great masses of ice fell upon the deck. The steamer 
 reele.l like a drunken man. But the passengers scarcely 
 had time to secure an upright position again before all 
 was quiet as death, while we anxiously watched the car- 
 penter as he sounded the wells to see if there was a leak. 
 Meantime the huge berg gleamed down upon us from 
 its serene height in the mist, and revealed clearly the 
 
 ,» 
 
 • 1 
 
 'I 
 

 \j 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE ICE OF THE LABRADOR CURRENT. 7 
 
 painted sides of the f reat gash which had been made in 
 it by the bow of our ;ron ship. 
 
 After a few minutes of breathless anxiety it was 
 ascertained that, beyond the breaking of three or four 
 iron plates of the ship high above the water line and 
 the disabling of one anchor, there was no damage done. 
 Fortunately, we had hit this particular iceberg where 
 there was no projecting foot below the water ; other- 
 wise it would most surely have been a fatal collision to 
 us. It was certainly thrilling for us to reflect that we 
 had sailed, or steamed, by a most circuitous route for 
 more than one thousand miles to encounter in the mist 
 this particular berg, and had hit it at almost the only 
 safe point which it presented for attack. 
 
 After tlie collision, the comparative safety of iron 
 and wooden vessels in encountering icebergs was a sub- 
 ject of much animated discussion on board. Our own 
 actual immunity from absolute disaster was an argument 
 in favor of iron, while the pilot assured us that a wooden 
 vessel in such a collision would have had her bowsprit 
 driven in so as completely to disable the ship and send 
 her to the bottom. The worst disaster of the season 
 along this coast had occurred a few weeks before to a 
 wooden ship which encountered the ice not far from the 
 locality of our own accident, but with the most serious 
 consequences. The ship sank almost immediately, and 
 the crew and passengers, consisting of men, women, and 
 children on their way from Newfoundland to the sum- 
 mer fishing stations in Labrador, were many of them 
 drowned, while the others were rescued with great diffi- 
 culty from cakes of ice on which they had taken refuge. 
 
 One pretty constant feature in the appearance of the 
 largest icebergs could not fail to attract our attention. 
 The most of them seemed to be partly turned over, so 
 
GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 i 
 
 1^ H 
 
 "i i 
 
 i 
 
 i! 
 ii 
 
 1 1 'if. 
 
 that tlie strata of ice wliich were originally horizontal 
 were <li],i,in- at a considerable angle with the horizon. 
 I he natural explanation seems to be, that in the long 
 jonrney which these icebergs have taken they have pre- 
 sented, through almost the entire course, the same side 
 to the sun, so that the southern exposure has constantly 
 melted more rai)idly than the northern side, thus dis- 
 turbing the equilibrium and allowing the centre of 
 gravity to migrate toward the northern edge, which con- 
 
 Fro. 4. -An iceberg which has shifted its plane of equilibrium 
 
 stantly settles deeper into the water at the same time 
 that the southern is elevated. Eventually the berg 
 turns upon end ; thus producing a sudden transforma- 
 tion in appearance. 
 
 The history of these ol^jects, the distance through 
 which they have drifted, a.ul the rate of their motion 
 aro questions of much speculative interest. From all 
 accounts it appears that the large bergs are formed by 
 
THE ICE OF THE LABRADOR CURRENT. 9 
 
 the breaking off of masses of ice from glaciers whose 
 ends project into the deep water of tlie sea, and so are 
 composed of innumerable strata of consolidated snow 
 which has accumulated upon some continental area. So 
 far as we know, also, few icebergs of large size are de- 
 rived from glaciers upon the American side of Davis 
 Strait. Those of the J.abrador current represent for 
 the most part, therefore, the wastage from the Green- 
 land glaciers, and are thus impressive witnesses to the 
 extent of the glacial accumulations upon that desolate 
 land. 
 
 For the most part, also, the icebergs of the North 
 Atlantic enter Baffin Bay north of Disco Island. A 
 due quota comes from the glaciers at the head of 
 Umanak Fiord and from the comparatively unknown 
 region about Melville Bay, while others move in from 
 Smith Sound, and from points still further north. The 
 journey, therefore, which most of those seen off the 
 coast of southern Labrador have made covers a distance 
 of eighteen Imndred miles, while tiiose which reach the 
 latitude of Washington are no less than twenty-five 
 hundred miles from their starting-place. The length of 
 this journey is a witness at once to the vast mass of ice 
 in the bergs and to the initial low temperature of the 
 water which floats them southward. The ice, however, 
 does its part in per])etuating the coolness of the Lab- 
 rador current, the modifying influence of whose tem- 
 perature is felt upon the coast as far south as Cape Cod. 
 The continuance of such a procession of icebergs as 
 floats southward with the Labrador current is duo to a 
 combination of causes. The snowfall over the vast con- 
 tinent of Greenland is not exce,- ive, representing prob- 
 ably no more than from ten to fifteen inches annually 
 when reduced to the standard of water, but even this 
 
 I 
 
Ii 
 
 10 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ^f 
 
 small amount exceeds the melting capacity of the sun's 
 rays in that latitndo; so that there is an annual addition 
 to the thickness of the ice-sheet. This excess of frozen 
 water is enabled, through the plastic character of ice, to 
 work off slowly toward the sea level in lines of least 're- 
 sistance, which are determined largely by the character 
 of the Greenland coast. Nearly everywhere this is 
 mountainous, with occasional openings to the sea con- 
 stitr.ting the natural lines of drainage which have doubt- 
 less been occupied by water courses from time imme- 
 morial. In general, these openings are narrow and deep 
 corresponding to the fiords of Norway. The movement 
 of the inhind ice is toward the head of these fiords, 
 where the frozen current becomes concentrated, and 
 pushes out into the deep water, presenting everywhere a 
 perpendicular face of from one liundred to two or three 
 hundred feet in height, and extending from cliff to cliff 
 across the fiord. 
 
 The masses of ice from the front of these glaciers 
 are broken off in two ways. Much falls olf directly into 
 the water from the upper edge of the precipitous face ; 
 for the movement of the ice at the top is faster than 
 that at the bottom, and so tends constantlv to project it 
 forward until it overhangs the lower poi'tion and falls 
 by the mere weight of gravity. But such fragments are 
 comparatnely small. The larger bergs are formed when 
 the glacier has been pushed so far out into the water as to 
 be lifted by its floating power, and so separated from the 
 parent mass. It is thought by Rink that the end of a 
 glacier may sometimes be pusiied forward for several 
 miles after its bottom has become separated from the 
 bottom of the fiord, and before the buovant power of 
 the water is sufficient to cast it off as an iceberg. 
 
 One of the glaciers coming into Disco Bay,'^observed 
 
THE ICE OF TEE LABRADOR CURRENT. H 
 
 by Ilelland, was estimated to have a thickness of 920 
 feet and a breadth of 18,400 feet, and was found to be 
 moving forty-seven feet per day. At this rate, 300,- 
 000,000,000 cubic feet of ice would be sent off by this 
 ghicier in a single year. Another glacier surveyed by 
 
 Fm. 5.— A symmetrical iceberg, probably two hundred and fifty feet high. 
 
 the same authority sends off 79,000,000,000 cubic feet 
 annually. Kink estimates that on the Danish part of 
 the west coast of Greenland up to 74° N. latitude there 
 are twenty ice-fiords from which bergs issue, and that 
 120,000 square miles of territory contribute to furnish 
 the supply. To provide the amount of ice carried away 
 by these floating bergs, an excess of only two inches and 
 a half of snow over the contributing area would be 
 requisite, so vast is the cumulative effect of apparently 
 insignificant causes when sufficient time is at command. 
 As already remarked, the Labrador current bears 
 also an immense amount of floe ice. This, too, has 
 been formed along the shores of Baffin Bay, and is from 
 
 ii.>'«i- ;.•«!■.■ 
 
12 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 time to time separated from thpm ir. 
 procession of icebergs south wa dp ° """"'^^'''' '^^ 
 few feet above the surface off ! ''' ''''' ^"^ « 
 Pl-s where the cJ^klwe be^r^Ij^r; '™^' ^'^ ^^"^^ 
 er in the collisions which occasi^l Iv "^'' r'"" 
 storms. occasionally occur during 
 
 from the ,,ortl, to L Z 'rV,™™"'' "'™'' «<»' 
 the revolution of the e. -H '™'" *° "'" "'^«' by 
 
 eriy motio,, of h" ear i , ?T "' "''' ^'™» "'^ <>»^' 
 Parellel of lower atih do r'"'" "^"'■'^^"^ «ith eaeh 
 ice, together Tt , „ ' " t K " "°"^""-«e, tlm floe 
 the coL of C ad' rr TV' ■'" """""^ ^'g--^' 
 gatiou to .ts ports Oft.r'' '" t"'"^"' "'* ■'""- 
 d'"iug whicl i 'aim! "'' 'j'""^ S"mmer passes 
 "orthfrn po t t ot oThTs *" "^'" ™^ "' *^ 
 i3 diffleult to get in auv If th '"f "'"^ ""^""'"^ « 
 
 ice is the s^r But"';;"* "' ."" "^""^^ ""-i "- floe 
 bergs sinVZs 'ItdT h ^ trol^ftl: '" T 
 currents and makes them "..iepende" f I L .d'^fd^ 
 It -s no unusual, therefore, especially i„ e fa 1 f,!' 
 
 floe ice .hieh enoumh^r the ^Xo 'ZIZ''V' 
 Kane reeords that at times he availed hin.sd f th s 
 mode of locomotion, anehoriuff his shin in " /'"^ 
 
 iceo;'\i:e\ThtJt;;,t^:::;-:;;:T^^^^^^^ 
 
 commeroe of the region, it hring;Z:r:rroT[; 
 
THE ICE OP THE LABRADOR CURRENT. 13 
 
 booty which secures the conntry any commerce at all. 
 In the early spring the saddleback seals {Phoca Grceii 
 landica)* of the far north move southward in vast 
 numbers with this ice to propagate their young in the 
 latitude of southern Labrador. Naturally, also, the 
 polar bear avails himself of the same means of locomo- 
 tion to keep company with the seals, which constitute 
 his favourite food. During April and the early part of 
 May numero s steamers, fitted for the purpose, set out 
 from St. John's, Newfoundland, and venture boldly into 
 this ice of the Labrador coast to secure the game thus 
 brought within their reach. 
 
 One of the first objects which attracted our attention 
 upon entering Cape Charles Harbour for repairs was the 
 magnificent skin of a polar bear which had been killed 
 the previous season on the land near by. Thinking he 
 had moved far enough south, the brute had deserted the 
 floe, and, having reached the land, immediately turned 
 his steps northward. The spring was already well 
 advanced and the snow was soft, so that at every step 
 Brum went in the full length of his logs. It was an 
 easy matter, therefore, for the hunters, inexperienced 
 hough they were in dealing with such large game, to 
 follow him upon snowshoes and secure his capture. 
 
 Ihree remarkable experiences in the floe ice of 
 Baffin Bay give us much definite information concern- 
 ing the motion of the current which bears it southward. 
 On the 8th of May, 1854, Sir Edward Belcher, when 
 in search of Sir John Franklin, abandoned one of his 
 s^iips the Resolute, on Beechy Island, in Barrow's 
 Straits, about latitude 75° N. and longitude 95° W from 
 
 .^Z^^f B^h^^r"'""'^'"^^' ^'^ fur seal (CA.//.-A.... 
 
14 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ll 
 
 I Si 
 
 if 
 
 1 
 
 Greeuwich. Upon leaving the ship everything was nut 
 m order, the rudder was taken on boar'd, an^d" every 
 movable packed away below or securely lashed on deck " 
 
 IsirZl ^T"""'^'" ^''''''" '^'' '''^' ^f September, 
 1855, the Resolute was sighted by Captain Buddington 
 
 in he jce pack off Cape Mercy, near the month of Cum- 
 berland Sound, ni latitude Cr° N., having drifted through 
 Lancaster Sound and down Baffin Bay, a distance of 
 eleven hundred miles, in che sixteen months w Ich had 
 elapsed since its abandonment. The ship was still in 
 seaworthy condition, so that a crew was^.ut up^ ^ 
 which brought it safely to New London, Conn. Appro- 
 priately, Congress rewarded the captain and bis crew 
 with a grant of forty thousand dollars, and had the sh'p 
 repaired and sept to the English Government as a token 
 of national good feeling. 
 
 Tiie second experience in the Labrador ice current 
 upon which we pause is a chaj.ter from McClintock's 
 narrative of the discovery of the fate of Sir John 
 
 Jr "';«.f f ""''r!^ '"' '''' ^'^'y '^'^ «-I^d on 
 July 1, 1857, from Aberdeen, Scotland, in the Fox a 
 
 screw yacht of one hundred and seventv-seven tons bur- 
 den. On the 17th of August the vessel became encum- 
 be ed jn the ice pack of Melville Bay, and, being un- 
 !wlfl. '''"'''' themselves, the party was obliged to 
 await the rigours of an arctic winter amid such unpro- 
 pitioiis surroundings. At first the drift was westward, 
 and they were so near the land that they could see it all 
 around Melville Bay from Cape Walker to Cape York! 
 In fourteen days they had drifted forty miles. On the 
 16th of September they were within twenty-five miles 
 Of Cape York, and within twelve or fifteen miles of open 
 water in that direction; but it was too late to move, 
 ^ew ice was forming about them, and they were com- 
 
ig was put 
 nd '* every 
 on deck." 
 ieptember, 
 Liddington 
 h of Cum- 
 d through 
 istance of 
 v^hich had 
 IS still in 
 t upon it 
 Appro- 
 Ins crew 
 ! the ship 
 8 a token 
 
 B current 
 'lintock's 
 5ir John 
 ailed on 
 e Fox, a 
 ;ons bur- 
 ! encum- 
 nng un- 
 iliged to 
 1 unpro- 
 estward, 
 lee it all 
 e York. 
 On the 
 e miles 
 of open 
 ) move, 
 'e com- 
 
 THE ICE OP THE LABRADOR CURRENT. 15 
 
 pelled to prepare to winter^ in the ice pack. On the 
 2Gth of September, " Snowy Peak, to the north of Mel- 
 ville Bay and ninety miles distant, was still in view." 
 The winter passed with little to break the dull monoto- 
 ny except an occasional storm or the appearance, now 
 and then, of a polar bear on the floe. During December 
 they drifted sixty-seven miles directly down Baffin Bay 
 and were in latitude 74°. On January 17th they were 
 within one hundred and fifteen miles of Upernivik, 
 having drifted sixty miles during the first half of the 
 month. 
 
 On the 7th of March they were so far south and east 
 that the highlands of Disco were visible ninety miles 
 away. On the 3Gth and 27th of March they drifted 
 thirty-nine miles. On the 20th of April the ice of 
 the pack had become so much loosened that the Fox was 
 able to free herself from her long imprisonment. The log 
 reads : " During our two hundred and forty-two days in 
 the pack ice of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait we were 
 drifted 1,194 miles geographical, or 1,385 statute miles. 
 It is ^^^he longest drift I know of, and our winter, as a 
 whole, may be considered as having been mild but very 
 wtndy " (p. 99). 
 
 Instead of going home after this experience, McOlin- 
 tock and his crew sailed to Holsteinborg, on the coast of 
 Greenland, and, having repaired their vessel, set out 
 anew upon their errand and were successful both in 
 finding the last relics of Sir John Franklin and in defi- 
 nitely determining the fate of his expedition. The Fox 
 is still (1894) doing good service in Greenland waters, 
 being employed at Ivigtut in towing barges for the Cryo- 
 lite Mining Company. 
 
 The third adventure surpasses all others in dramatic 
 interest. Captain Hall, with a well-equipped party upon 
 
 I 
 
16 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 P' 
 
 4 
 
 the Polnr,s, had s,ulod from Ne«. London, Conn., July 
 
 „ V ,i'.,"';"" "" '"'"'" »"!''«"%' oxpedition. On Au- 
 gust .<Oth he reael,,,,! 82° 211', i.i, mo^t northern poh.t 
 whc™ 1^ began to drift «outh. ,Stoan,i„,- out o7the 
 pack and .inding a harbour on Sopte.uber :id, UM 2ol 
 
 retuined o,d,v to dio on the 2l8t of October, when the 
 command fell upon Captain Buddingtou, wl',oao nal 
 lias already been n.ontioued in coniiectiou with tlie 
 »>ght,„g 0, the Kesoluto. The winter and the fol wbg 
 ummer wore spent by the erew in these high latitude! 
 
 L t^e !1 •''''*","'°'-' 1«^^' '1"^ «1"P became fastened 
 m the ice pack, in latitude 79» m: On the 15th of 
 ober the ship was so badly damaged and in such im 
 
 upon iriol > '"■°""'""' """ ^'"^ -- «>™™ <»■' 
 
 ZT'^ " P'"' "'"^ '» ">« evening the ice 
 
 cracked so as to liberate the ship and loosen ita ice 
 anchors, and ,n the darkness of a stormy night the wo 
 parties were sepanted. 'igut tne two 
 
 On the floe were nineteen persons-" Captain Tyson 
 Mr. Meyer, the meteorologist, the steward, the cookTx' 
 seamen, and the Eskimos Joe and Ilai, with H, 
 wives and children, including a baby Zn to 7 
 Aue-nsf-, l'?th „,, 1 4.U , * -^ "^ ^^ Huns 
 
 first nriit In T ■' '^'"""^ *" ''"'•'= ''""■■^ of tl'o 
 
 br lent f™ tT™ "T' "' '"» "■'■''"' •"«' ^een 
 oroKen on tiom the mam floe, but they were all hro„,rl,f 
 
 rm:d"!.rthe: 'Tz' '"'■ ''^'" ■■■""-^"° 
 the s":: ion Tif^st:: oT"' "'r"' •■"'^''™'^ "> 
 
 AT ,• ^u J^'io sejiciiiition occurred n atiturlo rfi° 
 
THE ICE OP THE LABRADOR CURRENT. 17 
 
 The experiences of the party are told in various 
 diaries icept by different members, and in answer to 
 questions of the Congressional Committee which inves- 
 tigated the conduct of the expedition, all of which will 
 be found in full in the reports of the Secretary of the 
 Navy and Postmaster-General, First Session, Forty-third 
 Congress, 1873-'7-i. It is necessary to give only the brief- 
 est summary of the events, but even that is stranger and 
 more interesting than fiction. 
 
 After gathering together upon one floe, the party 
 took stock of their possessions and found themselves 
 with " two boats, some clothes-bags and muskox skins, 
 fourteen cans of pemmican, fourteen hams, some canned 
 meat, a small bag of chocolate, the tent built on the floe 
 previously, and twelve bags of hard bread therein ; be- 
 sides an 'A' tent, instruments, chronometer, etc." The 
 ice was so broken and unsteady that a continual removal 
 of stores was necessary. All worked hard until about 
 twelve o'clock at night, and then, exhausted, lay down 
 to rest amid drifting snow and a fearful tempest. All 
 the papers and records were lost. 
 
 Next morning, October 16th, they found themselves 
 wedged in between an iceberg and land which they 
 could not reach. During the day the ship was seen ' 
 under full steam, but they were unable to communicate 
 with her, and were compelled to resign themselves to 
 their fate upon the ice. Through the following day the 
 gale continued, and the ice kept breaking off upon 
 the edges, so that only a small piece was left them. 
 The provisions wore estimated to be sufficient to last 
 four months, at the rate of three quarters of a pound per 
 day to a man. They had no fuel for fire, except as the 
 two Eskimos might be fortunate enough to kill seals to 
 furnish them with blubber for a lamp. On October 3;2d 
 
18 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 I 
 
 '' I f 
 
 ■ 
 
 throo snow Imts were hiiilf .,n/Wi , , 
 
 onablin, t.,o„, to Z^:t:;t^:Z^"'t"7 "'"'' 
 a missing bet, and ,, i,l,,„i,- i,? , ' ' ^'" ""■ «*l, 
 
 boen«e,Ltea.,tV:tt/ri:::;::;r\;^^^^^^^ 
 
 foiv days wero oucupie.1 i„ securing,,!!, ' , ' ''" '""" 
 house and tl,o provisions tl.aTw ^in Tt A '"" "'" 
 aJditions to tlioir party at thi.Tf ^'"""^ "'« 
 
 J .. . "y "^'^ "^tiii more flonrlv fi.n*. j.i 
 
 dnft.„g south and west. On tint Lh \°{""''' 
 caught a seal ni)nn „i,„ , ■'^ *''" -Eskimos 
 
 fuirmeal. t lu 1 Tl '""""''""! """" "'"^ --lo a 
 passed the c" ;; si tt ZM"'"'' ';""''"-^-' """ 
 suecess in huniiL 0,'iv ^'^'™™ ''"'' bad no 
 
 caught, and pel^Sne" s^oT h, tt vl '"" Tf ?™ 
 vember m was ealm and cl a „ d h u^M t," ''°- 
 *al. The floe then ,™ surrounded w tl f T" 
 
 water. On the 21d ,„„ti, ,' "'*'' "">re or less 
 
 ,•„„ n J another seal was shot. Thanl«i,riv 
 
 ng Daj, November iisth, witnessed no cuZZl 
 ^ .arder, but was celebrated by a slight „h:;:;'e in 
 
 ouy,Xt thT:ri,tT;rorthr t/" '•™'' "■-°"°'- 
 
 down the Lie be teen ife" dtr;'"""'"'-"!' """ 
 
 ttr^n^irTrrr^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 On n u ? "'" ''""'"™y of the auroral displays 
 
 to oS ■;;:"' "" "«'" ^"°"-"" '» -o r't ' 
 
 had a CI H«l > ^™'"^- °" ^""""^^ ««"' "'oy ■ 
 of 1,1 T ''"'"" "^ '«•» hisonits, half a pound 
 
 I'rd^^^rCntr^""--''- ^^"■»^-^- 
 
 I 
 
THE ice: Ot^ THE LABRADOR CtrRRENT. 19 
 
 Jiimuiry passed also with little variation in experi- 
 ences, except that the thermometer ranged from 10° to 
 15° lower tlian in the previous months, reacliing by the 
 13th —40°. (iales and snowdrifts were also increasing 
 incidents of their life, while the Eskimos shot only an 
 occasional seal, which barely helped them to eke out 
 their scanty supply of fuel aiul keep from freezing. On 
 the 20th they wore in latitude 70° N. 
 
 February passed with slightly higher temperature 
 but an increased amount of stormy and cloudy weather. 
 On February 2(ith the allowance of food was reduced to 
 seven ounces per day. 
 
 March was inaugurated by a temperature of —34° 
 and the shooting of sixty-five dovekies. These little 
 birds formed an important part of their additions to thf 
 larder during the month. From March 9th to the 13th 
 the floe cracked badly, and they held themselves in 
 readiness to take to their boats in case of disaster; but 
 though the floe was completely broken up, the piece of 
 ice they were on was left intact. On the 27th a bear 
 was killed, and on the 31st four seals. They had then 
 reached latitude 59° 41'. 
 
 On April 1st they left their snow encampment and 
 proceeded to the southwest in their boat. Seals were 
 plenty, and they were well supplied with provisions, but 
 the inconvenience of hauling the boat upon the ice floe 
 was great, and hazards of every sort increased. On 
 April 5th a great gale set in from the northeast, break- 
 ing off pieces of the ice upon which they had taken 
 refuge. This gale continued until the 9th, when a 
 heavy sea was breaking over them, and they were com- 
 pelled to stand by the boat until twelve o'clock to keep 
 it from washing off, the children being in the boat. 
 With varying experiences between life and death, they 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 ft V 
 
 m i 
 
 20 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 pressed onward until thp iQfi. «* a -i , 
 obliged to remain by their boat n^''"'' "'''™ *'=^ '»■•<' 
 , ing tl>e entire niglit Ihle th! ' '^!'? "' '"' ""'- 
 
 a piece of ice, tliev lioi,tprf M , I-andmg upon 
 
 place, fired tLir rife l„V/,°'™" ''■"■" "» «'^™*od 
 supposed were "et t shotsC't: ^''"' "'"" "'^^ 
 the afternoon tlie steame , . """"*"■• J*"' '" 
 -en,s tl>at the tigntrof t et TV""" "'^">- " 
 reached the steamef The fi u^"^ ""'•'^ '>'«' "ot 
 
 "as from the sTaTh 1 J /"^ "'"°'' "'"^ '"«' hoard 
 
 0'o.oet on Zllt ' TZ^ t^r.^''' '''''' 
 cleared a«y, it di,cln=.f .^'^ ^*"''' '''"'" '^e fog 
 
 Thisproved^irheTrTtr'-r^^^ 
 
 mand of Captain Bartletf I •^''''" '' ""''<"• "om- 
 
 53° 36' N. ' '''"' '''''™^<' *om in latitude 
 
 After remaining five dnvo f„ « ■ t ,, . 
 soal, the Tigress tnrn.d f„ f^ "'' *"■• ""toh of 
 
 the harbour o St Johnt """..^""^west, and reached 
 party had been one h"^,^d"edTnd- T °' ""''■ '^^''^ 
 
 tbe ice, and had ^<^':iz:rz::;^^:;i>:!^ 
 
 tude, a direct distance of about i -nn , L '"''" 
 the rate of nearly nine miles " day " ^'"' '' ^' 
 
 who rlardTpl't'p ,''' ';"" "^"^^ *™ '— 
 
 earl, enough in"';^ Zj^r;;::tZ:T1 '""''. 
 Start a relief mrfvfn fi * f^ ^ disaster and 
 
 The Tigrfs'l': rt^d"?:* tV """" "^ *"" ^'"'P' 
 around all summer in nil 1 '. '""'P™<'' <""i Ijoat 
 
 to find that the PoariXl "t T" """'' °"'^ 
 
 Had been abandoned, and that 
 
THE ICE OP THE LABRADOR CURRENT. 21 
 
 the crew had escaped and been taken on board the 
 liavenscraig, a Dundee whaler which had ventured to 
 tlie vicinity of Cape York. From this, after a few days, 
 they were transferred to the companion vessels Arctic 
 and Intrepid, which were ready to return to Scotland. 
 The company reached New York by the steamer City of 
 Antwerp on the 4th of October, about five months later 
 than the other party. Charles Polaris, the Eskimo baby 
 on the ice floe, is still an honored resident of Greenland ; 
 and one of the sailors of the party offered himself for 
 service on the Miranda last summer as she was about to 
 sail from St. John's for the far north. 
 
 Few things in all the world are more impressive 
 than this majestic belt of ice moving down the Labrador 
 current. We may safely estimate that at the beginning 
 of summer it is one hundred miles wide and one thou- 
 sand miles long. Upon it, as already said, hundreds of 
 thousands of seals take refuge to rear their young, 
 while in their train follow the arctic bear and fox and 
 innumerable flocks of birds, all dependent ultimately 
 upon the food which the instincts of the seal enable him 
 to secure from the sea. 
 
 Large as is the supply, however, the number of hunt- 
 ers has so multiplied, and their weapons have so in- 
 creased in destructiveness, that they are fast killing the 
 goose that lays the golden egg. At the best, the seal 
 would be waging, against such odds, a losing warfare 
 for life. But especially is this the case when the time 
 of capture involves the killing of the mother with her 
 young. Already the dependence of these hardy flsher- 
 men is rapidly failing, and the late financial collapse of 
 Newfoundland is partially due to the poor success of her 
 sealers in recent years. 
 
22 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 tlieygive both to the rovinA, T"/' "'^ ''^"^S'' 
 to the hunters engag d ,7 feiJ """t °' ""^ "°"''' »'' 
 of their qnestionfbrel^t „;:!;';"• "■!<'^'l"''''^- 
 course of European trave »„ '""'"Senng the free 
 
 thus also it come' abo ? lit Jhn t • ^"'""'"- ^"d 
 to go to Greenland, a ar^rl? k ." " ""' '""y '<"■ "« 
 natural product of Leeffand !„f ''n°" '™'" "'^ »-■' 
 distributes far down the New L^ 1^ '"*"'"'' "'' ""'^ 
 influences of its limit es3 tort ^ofll.r' *'\"''"'"'^ 
 spreads over a broad trJtf\> T '" *'"'"""'' and 
 
 terrors of its floJ^^Vortains one!"'-"' ^''""^ *'"' 
 
 ■ 
 
 i^ 
 
3 move on 
 le benefits 
 ^orth, and 
 equally so 
 : the free 
 ic. And 
 isj for us 
 iihe main 
 ' us, and 
 ' chilling 
 her, and 
 ntio the 
 
 ' i 
 
 Hi 
 
 I 
 
1. f 
 
/ec. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 '^ 
 
 Wabeck 
 ron Bay 
 
 ay 
 
 <V/. 
 
 ''H 
 
 
 jiotnino Hvi 
 
 iSptat ft. 
 
 ■i*< 
 
 53 
 
 .',''*W 
 
 S*^ 
 
 .(;.8»><] 
 
 iP' 
 
 .*" 
 
 THE COAST OF LABRADOR. 
 
 After our collision with the iceberg in the Strait of 
 Belle Isle it was deemed prudent to put into the nearest 
 port for temporary repairs. We accordingly turned 
 northwestward to Cape Charles Harbour, on the ex- 
 treme southeastern coast of Labrador, about fifteen miles 
 distant. Our detention here, together with visits later 
 to Henley Harbour, in the Strait of Belle Isle, and to 
 the Punch Bowl, near Hamilton Inlet, and several days 
 of lazy sailing in sight of the shore, gave us opportunity 
 to see enough of the country to appreciate the broader 
 facts which have been collected and placed on record 
 by others. 
 
 Territorially, Labrador is a part of Canada; but so 
 many of the inhabitants are from Newfoundland, and 
 are in Labrador for temporary purposes, that the gov- 
 ernment of the eastern shore is turned over to the 
 doughty little island province, which so far has refused 
 to join the Dominion. In Labrador, as in Newfound- 
 land, the white population is limited to the seashore, 
 and is wholly devoted to fishing. Only about five thou- 
 sand can be reckoned as permanent residents. These, 
 in little hamlets, are scattered along the coast for sev- 
 eral hundred miles, in conditions of life which seem to 
 the outsider forbidding enough, but which are accept- 
 
 23 
 
i' 
 
 u 
 
 GKEENLiVND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 .isjTOct of the coast is barren in the 
 
 - t'.e river va e, ' .a "t:, t"' ""'^ '""'-^ "^ 
 Snow lingers tl.rongho t th en ire ""''. ™'"'- 
 
 teeted places, even down to T fT™"' "' I"-"" 
 a long, even 'line f ."ta- was d ™'''«/'3«^- -hile 
 ing testimony to the greu S 'f ' ^''"" """• 
 waves ivhich roll in ffom t e a ", """ °* ""* 
 
 weather. "" '^"»"">= ''"""« stormy 
 
 <ior'is"::;,f:,.?:r:r'"' "t""''°" »' ^''^'-■■' i-»- 
 
 tl.ousa„d „ Wrt 'ti:s :fd '^ "'"™" "^ '-"'^-«™ 
 
 land. For the 11 ,"'""'" '™"' Newfound- 
 
 JUher (an!, Z^^Jt mlcT.^rthril^^^ ^ .'T 
 dren, both bovs -nirl o-;..]. "'''^'^'>' '"i^* tbe older chil- 
 
 y 
 
THE COAST OP LABRADOR. 
 
 25 
 
 one finds at many of the " Chautauqua assemblies " in 
 the United States. Still, everything shows that the 
 main purpose is business, and not pleasure. The girls 
 do the cooking and keep the house, being ready, how- 
 ever, to devote several hours of the day to assist in 
 cleaning the fish which the male members of the family 
 bring ashore. 
 
 The Government of Newfoundland and the religious 
 and charitable organizations, both of the province and 
 of the mother country, look as well as they can after the 
 interests of this temporary population. A line of mail 
 steamers is maintained, running once in two or three 
 
 Fig. r.- Storehouse at Cape Charles Harbour, witli a seal skin stretched 
 out to d.y. Chapel on the hill. 
 
 weeks from St. John's as far up the coast as the ice will 
 permit. Temporary post-offices are established at every 
 landing place, but one will not always find them sup- 
 plied with postage stamps. Usually he will pay his 
 
 i. 
 
26 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 
 Fm. 8.-Wi„l,r qwrtera l„ Labrador, 
 
 over and the population has shrunk to if. ■ • 
 number, the mail is ca.Tied at f ! J """imum 
 dog sledgos, and, stra„"e .s ft '"^^^l""'". '"temls on 
 from honse to house Tl, ' , ' *.""'• '^ ''istribnted 
 "s might be s„pp"sed sin „ ' 7'''' '' "°' '" '"''«-'" 
 along the sh , ™o, a Z ■ Tl' """^'^'^^ ''^'''^ '^i*" 
 houses made in tl" Umbo; ""'" """'' "> t™'l'°™-T 
 
 to 'o?cVt s;m;IS-:re,?eT '"""'^^ " ^"'^"'"'^^ 
 not nnusual to n eet l,ow,, """"' ''''*'"■■ I' '« 
 
 never been ten m fes auT '' ^i^""," '^™l"'' "''o '"'^ 
 
 Which theyare aS„. 7o:7,e I ::'" T"^"™"" 
 
 " tiiese barren shores. Yet 
 
THE COAST OP LABRADOR, 
 
 27 
 
 upon investigation the seclusion is not so great as it 
 seems. Trading vesi^els frequently call during the sum- 
 mer swison, not only from the provinces but from all 
 parts of Europe. From five hundred to six hundred 
 vessels annually reach the port of Hopedale. In 1879 
 eight hundred vessels visited it, seventy-two lying in the 
 harbour at one time. Packard reports that at Blanc 
 Sablon, in Domino Harbour, there were, on the 20th of 
 July, 1864, forty vessels awaiting the opportunity to fish 
 as soon as the ice should clear away. As many as 
 twelve hundred vessels sometimes visit the coast during 
 a single season, and the exports of fish amount to two 
 or three million dollars' worth annually. 
 
 Fia. 9.— Little chapel between the seas, Cape Charles Harbour. 
 
 On conspicuous points are built little chapels, where 
 religious services are held regularly by laymen, and 
 occasionally by a clergyman, who is provided with a 
 special boat to make his long tours. Adjoining the 
 
 .# 
 
28 
 
 * I' 
 If 
 
 I 
 
 
 GKiSENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 chapel is usually a fla"staff „„ i ■ , 
 
 -eloomo „issi„„„;' iTtt ,''n ,"'° """"" <" ""« 
 
 of various Icinds npZfdoZtT"' F"^"''' "' ™^^'« 
 snre, „o telegraphic com!! ™"''- ""'"' «. to be 
 
 be hmd date; yet interest i„ eontl ' '""« ^^^ 
 well maintained, and the „nm T^'"''"^ "^"''■8 '^ 
 
 -f::'re:^t^rd'is:-^-'>of Angus, 
 
 mists and darkness of Davir<sr Y"'""''''' """-S the 
 ">e coast of Ubrado ^us s« ih'fl^ '''"'' ^''S''« 
 "bout latitude 54° The , °' Hamilton Inlet, 
 
 ™tera„d the appearance „::'""! '' T "'""^ "^ 
 "^ to put into tl/flrst eoLlCt C::'.'"^ ^"'™ '''<' 
 
THE COAST OP LABRADOR. 
 
 29 
 
 J 
 
 Here, as everywhere iu the southeastern part of 
 Labrador, the outlines upon the horizon were of tlie 
 gently flowing and graceful order, which we have 
 already remarked in Newfoundlai'.d, and which, as we 
 shall see later, is in such striking contrast to the sky 
 lines of the west Greenland coast. There were nowhere 
 any sharp mountain peaks in sight, and even the nu- 
 merous islands bordering the coast presented the same 
 subdued aspect, indicating, as some would contend, re- 
 cent subjection to the horizontal erosive agencies con- 
 nected with a vast ice movement as distinguished from 
 the vertical action of water erosion. This became the 
 more evident upon reaching the shore and comparing 
 the rocks with those in Greenland, for the geological 
 formations are nearly identical upon the two sides of 
 Davis Strait, showing that the diversity in contour must 
 be attributable to the difference in the agencies which 
 have sculptured the mountains into shape. But more 
 of this hereafter. 
 
 Upon reaching the vicinity of the bordering islands 
 we came in sight of numerous small boats wh^ch were 
 out for their daily catch of fish. A schooner also hove 
 in sight, and bore down near enough to exchange greet- 
 ings and to tell us where we were. The surprise of the 
 captain and crew of the trading vessel at the s})ectacle 
 presented when our company of ninety-one persons 
 lined up on the deck of the Eigel, filling her from stem 
 to stern, is easier imagined than expressed. Indeed, the 
 attempts at expression upon the part of the captain were 
 of a character which it would hardly be permissible to 
 put on record in a printed volume. But we learned 
 from him that we were in latitude 53° 30', in the vi- 
 cinity of the Punch Bowl, one of the snuggest of all the 
 island harbours on the coast. When the small fishing 
 
80 
 
 GREENLAND ICEKIKLDS. 
 
 V fi 
 
 
 boats saw that wo wiahpd » nil^f n r i 
 
 sto.. and t„ .,„„,„„ „tr d « 1::^*, s'rj 
 :::/;:: r:::T;.etr 1st'' 4--^^ 
 
 One poor follow l,a,l bec„„:e „ J 'w ,7 :,"'"" ""P^'^ 
 no medical .distance withi,, 3? loll f ?' 
 
 whom we l,ad „n board AnotI,„, pl'ysicians 
 
 for a friend who w'spt d h ra^rrf """^'^ 
 »..oh need of some aleohi, .i^^JZ^^^^^^, "l^,- 
 ing compassion on ]iim, I divide.] uJO. i 
 
 7,;.yofPondw.nra;;ttm' '^^rfoTtt 
 
 alcol,ol,a„d w,. so disappointed in not obtStu that 
 
 ZT ?° ,"'""""' '"• ^''"'* he did receive 
 At ength, after winding aron.d tlirough a tortuous 
 channel among « e islands, we came to tlfe e." a, ee o, 
 
 - "I r^h '"' """' 'J '"" ■'"- <" Victoria 5^0 
 
 - tickle being a pecnlmr term applied in Ubrador 
 
 to many narrow and rather shallow p,.sages between 
 the broader areas of water. "i^i-vveen 
 
 The Punch Bowl is well named, being a circular 
 body of water about a mile in diameter, with denth 
 enough to float the largest vessels nnd Jn./ , ? 
 ffronnd Th. i ^7 , vessels, and good anchoring 
 
 ground The ow graceful hills surrounding ft rise in 
 places to a height of three hundred or foifr JndZ 
 feet, and are entirely without forests or trees. Ab 2l nt 
 
 apple 01 cloud-berry, was ripe, and was very enticing 
 both ^u Its colour and its flavour. Aside 'from he 
 
 ^^ii 
 
TUE COAST OF LABUADOU. 
 
 81 
 
 whortleberries, this is almost the only edible fruit that 
 grows ill Liibnidor. It is of a purplish colour, in shape 
 something like a small blackberry, and tastes more like 
 a iudf-decayed than like a well-buked apple. 
 
 Tlie day was spent by the crew in re]»lenishing our 
 stores of fresh water, which had been so short that for a 
 week wo had been compelled to forego t'le pleasure of a 
 fresh-water bath even for our faces. By the passengers 
 the day was spent in relaxing their limbs on shore, in 
 recovering from seasickness, and in wanderii g over the 
 lowlands and bogs in search of botanical specimens, and 
 over the hills to learn the geology of the region. To the 
 glacialist there was the same occasion for surprise here 
 which had impressed us in the vicinity of 8t. Charles 
 Harbour, in the fact that there were no boulders upon 
 the hills, but that they had everywhere been swept bare 
 and clean. Up to a height of about one hundred and 
 eighty feet, however, there were irregularly formed ter- 
 races containing many sub-angular boulders a foot or 
 two in diameter, witnessing to so much depression at 
 least of the land below sea level in postglacial times. 
 The outlook, in the liglit of the setting sun, from the 
 highest hill back of the harbour was most beautiful and 
 instructive. The island is separated by numerous silver 
 threads of water from other islands between it and the 
 shore — all together presenting the same flowing outline 
 upon the horizon as that upon which we have already 
 remarked, and merging into the scenery of the coast so 
 gradually that it all seems to be one. 
 
 There is no permanent settlement at the Punch Bowl, 
 but during the summer it is a favourable centre for 
 the meeting of the fishermen and the vessel owners who 
 are in quest of cargoes. Codfish were everywhere. The 
 smooth granite rocks were covered far and wide with 
 ■1 
 
 J 
 
32 
 
 GREExVLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 them spread out to drv All tv,o oi; ui i 
 capped with circuia7pi,.f o/tf ^f t'l'"™ "''^^ 
 awaiting shipment, wh' „„g ^ts of "hlf'f "'" 
 full of the fermenting livers from „|!|i^''i''^^' ''"'^ 
 Wit.; an its medical viftuesT'e'reted ™'-'"'" °" 
 
 l*vo vessels were lying; at fViP ri.^7 
 cargoes while we were Lefe'i^ti/wt E^f ^^ 
 
 F.O. 1,.-A house at the Punch B„„,, „„h the ch.pel on the hi,l 
 
 th orders to sa,I with their freight to diSerent ports of 
 the Med,terranean-the one to Spain and the other to 
 southern Italy-thus illustrating how the niou, „h 
 ... ancos of oue class „, people ma/fut^irof . ^ t oX" 
 , a.,other,,who are as far separated from them i tl,!, 
 . rpr,g.ou., briefs as they are in space. In th" se the 
 sturdy Protest*,* of Xewfoundlaud is glad e„o:gh of 
 
 IS 
 
 W- 
 
THE COAST OF LABRADOR. 
 
 33 
 
 their 
 
 1. 
 
 the market provided for his wares by the fasts enjoined 
 in distant places by the much-berated Catholic Church. 
 Tlie trader at the Punch Bowl was a citizen of 
 Kewfoundland who for many years had spent his sum- 
 mers here. The storehouse, one or two log houses, and 
 a small chapel constituted the settlement, but, to our 
 surprise, everything had a holiday aspect as we sailed to 
 our place of anchorage. Flags were flying and national 
 colours were displayed as if it were the Queen's birtliday. 
 Coming as we did out of the darkness of Greenland, we 
 should have been disturbed at these signs in the harbour 
 of an English colony if there had been any impending 
 trouble between our own and the mother country when 
 we left home. But as the Chicago insurrection was at 
 its height at that time, we could think of no news that 
 should be good to them that should not also be good to 
 us. So we took courage and hastened to inquire the 
 cause of the rejoicing, when we learr/^.d that there was a 
 wedding in progress. The storekeeper's dauirhter was 
 married that day. The wedding, however, was not at 
 the Punch Bowl, but in St. John's, six hundred miles 
 away; upon which we concluded that the people in 
 whom sentiment is so keenly alive are able to take care 
 of themselves, and that they well may command our re- 
 spect rather than elicit our sympathies. With our bless- 
 ings on the far-off bride and groom, we sailed out again 
 through the " tickle " (or rather were towed out by our 
 dories, for there was no wind) on tlie following moi.v 
 ing, and for the next three days, amid recurring calms, 
 leisurely surveyed the coast that stretched to the south 
 of us as far as the Strait of Belle Isle. 
 
 The geology of Labrador is compari 
 The prevalent rock is Laurentian gneiss, 
 southern part rises to a height of about 
 
 IN AFFAIRS 
 i RESOURCE:^ 
 
 NOV 211955 
 
 Northern Research Library 
 OTTAWA 
 
34 
 
 GIIKENLAND ICP]FIELDS. 
 
 ■H 'I 
 
 t voen hvo lu.nd ed and six Imudred miles. Scarcely ,.„v 
 dZu of"""'" """"i "'^ ""<"■■"'•• - i' i^ —"X" 
 
 e-iittireijri^tio::""-" ""'^'' '"^'-'-^ --- 
 
 Prof. A. S. Packard cites * observations bv Mr T J. 
 
 origin ,vl>icl> l,ave been b ol " off T *■; "f'^' "' ''"="' 
 and moved onlv a lie,! ! ''■'' "'" '"''"" »'"' "cb 
 
 Kvidc„t,/t,:LV::ti:L';rr::f;b""'':,'"''*^"^- 
 
 fHce of this nortion nf fi '^^""^'^ *^'o sur- 
 
 Glacial PC „S o e vi ".r""r'f " '" ^''"■' "' '"« 
 have been inevi^ 1 IvT ' '"""' '''""''^ '"'"M 
 
THE COAST OF LABRADOR. 
 
 35 
 
 were nimataks * during the maximum stage of glacia- 
 tion, all the Labrador plateau aud coast appear to have 
 been then enveloped in ice. 
 
 Near the mouth of Hamilton Inlet there is an exten- 
 sive outcrop of light-coloured gneiss of later age than 
 that which constitutes the main portion of the interior. 
 According to Packard, this occupies " a depression of the 
 Laurentian rocks about one hundred and twenty-live 
 miles long and probably twenty-five miles broad, stretch- 
 ing along the coast between Domino Harbour and Cape 
 Webuc." t This rock is light coloured, only slightly 
 schistose, and consists largely of white, granular, vitreous 
 quartz, mingled with a small amount of hornblende and 
 mica, but without feldspar. 
 
 This so-called Domino gneiss is accompanied with 
 a considerable amount of coarse-grained trap which has 
 overflowed upon it in numerous dikes. The trap rock, 
 being of harder texture than the gneiss, presents many 
 prominences of peculiar shape, of which Tub Island 
 is one, its name being descriptive of its appearance. 
 Cape North is a lofty headland of this trap with Domino 
 gneiss underlying it. An island called Black and White, 
 on the north side of Hamilton Inlet, consists of trap and 
 gneiss in about equal proportions, whose colours give 
 good warrant for the name. 
 
 One of the most .-emarkable remnants of these trap 
 overflows is at Henley Harbour, in Chateau Bay, near 
 the southeast corner of Labrador ; but the ejected mat- 
 ter there is of a finer texture than that farther north. 
 The most conspicuous remnant at this place is known as 
 
 *Th(' Grccnlniul tmme for mouutnin peaks wh'ch project 
 above the siirfaee of a glacier, 
 t T!ic Labrador Coast, p. 886. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 i- I 
 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 the Devils D.ning Table, and consists of a nearly cir- 
 cular n.uss of basalt, having a distinct col„n,nar s'tn . 
 turehke that of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland ts 
 
 rests upon the upturned edges of the older Laurentian 
 
 firoVtriif ':V^ ^^ ^^ '^'''' '^^^' 'J^^- table c'n- 
 
 V ntv file ." • \7-7 '' '^'"-^^^^ ^'-^^'-^^t' ^^«h about 
 twenty-five feet m thickness. The five-sided columns 
 
 Fig. ]a.-The Devil's Dining Table, Heoley Harbour, Labrador. 
 
 The fl /f l\^'"'^'^ ""'' ^'''''' *"'^ ^«^t "^ ^i'-^^eter. 
 The flat top of the table is about five hundred feet across, 
 
 betv T ' \] ""V^ '''''^' '^' ^"«^^^« «^ the curlew 
 
 remindorV f h' nT ^7^' ^'"'''''' ^^"^^^^'^ ^^"^ ^^s sole 
 reminders of the Glacial period. 
 
 velopraent of Cambnan rocks consisting of red and gray 
 
 .'»»( 
 
THE COAST OP LABRADOR. 
 
 37 
 
 sandstones. These are nearly horizontal, and are very 
 distinctly terraced. 
 
 The glacial phenomena of Labrador all indicate that 
 it has been a centre from which the ice has moved out- 
 ward in all directions. So far as the glacial stria) have 
 been observed upon the eastern shore they point toward 
 the Atlantic Ocean and Davis Strait. Hamilton Inlet 
 was filled with an enormous glacier forty miles wide at 
 its mouth, and extending an unknown distance into the 
 area now occupied by water. The glacial striae are dis- 
 tinct upon each side of the mouth of the inlet. On the 
 southern coast of Labrador the eminences show that the 
 ice movement was from the north, since their sloping or 
 " stoss " side is in that direction ; but upon the eastern 
 coast the slopii^g sides are to the west and the abrupt 
 sides to the east. In the northwestern part of Labrador 
 the ice moved westward into Hudson Bay, from which, 
 by a circuitous route, i*" flowed outward in a majestic 
 glacier which filled Hudson Strait from side to side, be- 
 ing nearly one hundred miles in width. 
 
 The fullest information concerning the interior of 
 Labrador is furnished by the report of an expedition of 
 the Canadian Geological Survey, conducted by Mr. A. 
 P. Low, in the years 1893 and 1894. This party en- 
 tered the peninsula from the west by way of the Sague- 
 nay River, travelling in a nearly straight line to Ungava 
 Bay, a distance of eleven hundred miles. Then, coming 
 around by boat to Hamilton Inlet, they ascended Ham- 
 ilton River to Grand Falls, and from that point explored 
 the watershed, from which streams flow in every direc- 
 tion. The party came out by a southerly route, reach- 
 ing the St. Lawrence opposite Anticcsti Island. The 
 valley of Hamilton River is described by them as " well 
 wooded with white, black, and balsam spruce, larch, 
 
38 
 
 u 
 
 1.5 !" 
 
 II? -I 
 
 
 OBRKNLANI) I('|.:|.'I|.;r,|)s. 
 
 balsa,,, poplar, „„d n-hit,. bhvl,, n,„el, „f I i„,|K.r 1,,.. 
 
 '"«;"'"■■;".">•'"'■*■"' """" '"'■ -""""•■■«■'' i..n-p,:..v- 
 
 ^.x y "„I,.H l„.l,„v tl,„ ,„.a,„l |..||», u i, f„,,t, ,„ Ji^ ; 
 
 ..ro ci«,, tc. tho bHso of tlH, hisi, ,.ooky c.|iir« tl„. C 
 
 ga c o,„- 1„„„|,.«1 ,.,„, ,i,,,„„ f^,„^^ , 
 
 e.,d tho s«„d b,-„„sl,t ,|ow„ by the ,.iv„,. l,u, ,- e V 
 
 sboals obstl-llot liavisalioii." f 
 
 in tiioiippc- ,,a,-t of lla„,ilt„„ liivo,- valloy " oxton- 
 
 ni.ooof tho t„„bi„- ,„ the valley a.Hl o„ the s,„To„„d. 
 
 ng ta le. a,.,l. . The ,s,„all patehe., ,.„„,ai„i„« ZL 
 
 It bo t,;ee. ,„ the valley we,.e of f„i,. »i„, ^.btk tbe 
 
 tablo-land ,. cove,-e,l o„Iy with small black «,„.„„o a„d 
 
 The (Jraiul Falls, whose existence was ba,-elv known 
 
 vWt"'^VT t P''™""""'l.v to notiee in ,8,2 by a 
 vwt of Jless,-s. Jtrvant an.i K,.„nston, and two years 
 ater by th,s Canadian ex-plo,.in,. pa,,,v. Mr Low's I 
 c,->I.t.o« ,s as follows: Leaving "a sn.all lake « „t 
 ^.oband narnnv.ns to less than two hnnd.-e.l va,-, Is , 
 v.;lth, the r,ver falls two h„„d,.e,, fe.t in |„ss tl an fo, 
 nies, rnsh.ng al.nig i„ a continnons heavy rapid. 
 
 hn.nl.ed ya.'ds, as ,t sweeps downwa,-d with heavv 
 waves over a n„,„ber of roeky le.lges, p,.epa,-atory to ul 
 l>l»"ge of three hnnd,-ed feet, as the (i and I.'alls,'into a 
 
 vol. ,;^";";! ""l""-' "' "'» Cana.li,u, Oo„l„,.i<.„, Sarv,,v. Part A, 
 t Iljid. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 If. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE COAST OF LAlJilADOR, 
 
 39 
 
 ciroiiliir basin about two hundred yards wide at the head 
 of the oafioii below. From this basin it passes out by a 
 chani\el k^ss than fifty feet wide, at right anghss to the 
 falls, and tiuis pent up in this narrow (diannel it rushes 
 on in a zigzag eoursu from live hundred to seven hun- 
 dred feet below the general level, until it issues into the 
 main valley below. Tiie distance in a straight lino from 
 the falls to the mouth of the eaflon is not much over 
 live miles ; but, owing to the crooked nature of the 
 cafion, the river, with a fall of over three hundred feet, 
 })r()babiy llowa more than twice that distance before it 
 reaches the main valley."* 
 
 "Above the Urand Falls the character of the river 
 changes completely, and instead of ilowing steadily in a 
 deep, well-detined valley, it here runs almost on a level 
 with the surrouiuling country without any valley proper, 
 but spread out into lake exjjansions and numerous chan- 
 nels separated by large islands, so as to occupy all the 
 lower lands o/ a wide tract of country through which it 
 flows. . . . The country surrounding the river is rolling, 
 with rounded hills seldom rising more than three hun- 
 dred feet above the general surface. Between the hills 
 are wide valleys occupied by lakes or swampy land. 
 The trees are small, and black spruce predominates, 
 with larch, balsam, and white spruce, and a few white 
 
 birch." t 
 
 " All the lakes and rivers of the interior were found 
 well stocked with fish, those of the eastern watershed 
 especially so. During the summer of 1894 the party 
 lived almost exclusively on fish caught in nets or with 
 
 * Annual Roport of the Canudiun Geological Survey, Part A, 
 vol. vii, p. 72. 
 f Ibid., p. 73. 
 
 ■• 
 
40 
 
 UUKENLANO ICEPIKLDS. 
 
 !l 
 
 I 
 
 h^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 ■ii 
 
 iMos Tl,e net was nightly sot at ran.lom, and never 
 fulled to giv, a supply in the n.ornir.g. Lake trout, 
 often of large si.e, brook trout up to seven pounds' 
 weight, large whitelLsh an.l pike, Jan<ll(,eke.l salmon, 
 »uul two knids of suckers, were all taken almost every- 
 where. •' 
 
 ^ " The most important geological information obtained 
 IS the discovery of a great and hitherto unknown area of 
 C umbnan rocks, exten.ling north-northwes. from north 
 i>i itude a;} to beyond the west side of Ifngava Jiay 
 I hose rocks are n.ade up of a great thickness of con- 
 glomerates sandstones, slates, shales, and limestones, to- 
 gether with intrusive igneous rocks. Tlieir chief eco- 
 nomic value is due to the immense amount of bedded 
 ii'on ore found along with them. The ores are clm-flv 
 spec, ar and red ha-matite, together with beds of siderite 
 or carbonate of iron. Thick beds of fine ore associated 
 w> h jasper were met with in many places on both the 
 Ungava and 1 amilton Rivers, and the amount seen 
 uns up into mil ions of tons. Owing to their distances 
 fom he seaboard these ores at present are of little value, 
 but the time may come when th(>y will add <r,.eatlv to 
 the wealth of the country. ^ ^ 
 
 ^ " Frequent observations on the direction of the <r]a. 
 
 floueu off in a 1 directions from a central area south of 
 Lake Kaniapiskau and between the Iieadwaters of the 
 X^^M ^^-t Main Kivers. Along the upper part 
 
 and It also flowed in that direction near Nichicun Lake. 
 Ihe striation is very indistinct, and the evidence of mo- 
 
 K upiskau. Tins portion of the country is covered by 
 immense quantities of subangular blocks and boulders of 
 
TIIK COAST OF LABRADOR. 
 
 41 
 
 local rocks, often jjcrchod on tho very anmmits of tlic 
 rocky hills, and not ututomnionly found restinjj; on other 
 blocks beneath, in su(!h a jxjsiticni that the least niovo- 
 nient would displace them. 
 
 " Erratics arc very rare, and everything points to but 
 a slight amount of movement of i(!e in this vicinity. At 
 Ijake Kaniai)is' mi the direction of the stria? shows the 
 iec How to have been toward north 00° east, while down 
 the llngava River it was more nearly north, corresp(jnd- 
 ing with the general sloi)e of the country. In the valley 
 of the Hamilton liiver only the south side is glaciated, 
 and the direction of the stria? follows that of the axis of 
 the valley. On the table-land above the (J rand Falls 
 the direction of the strii« is very jjcrsistent, being con- 
 stant over hill and valley, with a general direction of 
 southeast. 
 
 " Near liake Petitsikapau the direction quickly 
 changes to north 50° east, appiirently due to a change in 
 the general slope. About Lake Michikamau the general 
 direction is nearly due east. Passing southward to the 
 Komaine Kiver, and along it, the direction of the ice 
 movement varies from east-southeast to southeast. On 
 the St. John River the stride are irregular, and mostly 
 follow the valley. 
 
 "A marked feature of the interior is the sharp ridges 
 of drift that lie parallel to the direction of the striae. 
 These ridges are chielly composed of fine material, with 
 well-rounded small boulders, of which a large percentage 
 are far travelled. AVhere cut by the streanis, these ridges 
 sometimes show indistinct signs of stratification and may 
 be called eskers. In detail their contour is most irregu- 
 lar, forming a perfect network of sharp ridges Joining 
 one another from all directions, with the material lying 
 at very high angles impossible to obtain under water. 
 
•i i:i 
 
 42 
 
 "liKKXLAM) ICKKIKI.DS. 
 
 I ( 
 
 I 
 
 If! 
 
 if] 
 
 •-i'l™ of ti„. lulls „i,;; ■•"««,■., ,.i,,,„.v,„i „„ ti,„ 
 
 c""W onl/ b„ f„,„'| ?;""'"■" "" '''"'■'"' """ t'".T 
 
 '«"•>■, fro,,, tl„ ,.,,,, ,'r," """"""" ""'1 l'"«av,. 
 i"la"'l. The |,„st ,, ■'"''■ '"■" '"""''■'■'' '"'l™ 
 
 -,„ „„t „vo;. two ;,;;::; rr:';:;™";:;',!;:'''"; ';""'"'^' 
 
 «'■•■' 'iiy .loo,™,,, „o,.n,w,„',i """" '"'"'•""'' 
 
 »-:^tsti^:::;;-:;;X:i;;:;-:-ri''i 
 
 rii , • "* Jl'i'iiiitoii River 1im« «i-,w». i 
 
 ''"•:'' "P "ith jrla,.ial ,l,.if(;, „„t of w ,i I M " 
 
 »&m c„tti„g „ ,.|,ui„,..| ; b, t o,l,"! to I, , 7"' " 
 state of the la,„l if „.,-il """""'"S to tI,o less elevated 
 
 I't" th.it ,t |,a,I previous to the glaei.al j,„riod." * 
 ___J|;^_«»»^tl,e lee was „at,„-ally eo.icentrated. 
 
TlIK COAST OF LAMItADoll. 
 
 48 
 
 Icoborga arc conatiinily Hf,niiul(Ml upon Uk-ho sIioiiIh, form- 
 ing lon^r lino^, and largo groiiiH. Tlio shoals aro also the 
 haunts of lish, whic^h alTonl HustcMianco to tho people. 
 
 North of Hamilton Inlot the coast is honlonid by in- 
 minuM-ablo islands, large and small, while to the south 
 there aro very few. Prof. Hind has introduced an in- 
 teresting and plausible theory to account for this strik- 
 ing phenomenon. beginning a little way south of 
 Hamilton Inlet, the coast line to tho north trends rapid- 
 ly westward, while south of that point for ono hundred 
 miles the direcftion is nearly that of the meridian. J»rof. 
 Hind supposes that the liabrador current, with its con- 
 stant throng of icebergs and i(!0 floes, and its steady 
 westwar-d tendency, produced by the motion of the earth, 
 has worn away tho ishuids olf tho southeast coast, and' 
 bevelled oil tho edge of tho shore itself, while to ti.a 
 north, where the coast trends nortn westerly, tho same 
 forces have produced a sort of eddy in which the x-o is 
 stranded and compelled to unload its burdens of drift, 
 thus augn.enting the df/jris which forms tho shoals 
 characteristic of the region. If this be tho correct ex- 
 planation, it is certainly one of tho most interesting ex- 
 amples on record of the cumulative effect of a slow-work- 
 ing cause; for tho movement of the current is scarcely 
 two miles an hour, and even by the action of its floating 
 ice it produces now no per(!eptible effects. 
 
 Labrador presents most interesting evidence of the 
 oscillations of land whicdi have taken i)laco in northern 
 latitudes since the beginning of tho (llacial period. A 
 remarkable series of raised beaches extend from Henley 
 Harbour to Cape Chidley. At Henley Harbour a beach 
 occurs at tho foot of the Devil's Dining Table one hun- 
 dred and eighty feet above the sea level. Long windrows 
 of pebbles sweep around the island in beautiful curves, 
 
44 
 
 (UtICKNLANI) lfKFIKI.r)S. 
 
 rH, 
 
 filiowinnr il.o frnuhui] r.M'ossioM of till, water. In ono 
 fuvonrod locality fn.n, tvu to lift.oM s,.,-!, rm-diuK lines 
 of iml.l.lcs ran bo m-oh at (liir..vnt l.vds. Arou.ul tho 
 .oml of iM.l.an llarbo,,.-, on tlu. north si,!, of the on- 
 tranco to Ilan.ilton Jnlet, J»uekard ohserve.l a eonspieu- 
 ons raised beac-h of wave-warn shinj^le, ^n-avel, and sand, 
 a anes unated hei^d.t of two hundred feet, and a Hen.nd 
 about lifty feet above the harbour. At I[o|,edale, and in 
 ".any other places alon^^ this ooast, he also rej.orts sinular 
 beaehes Ihe.r altitude in.Mvases northward, and at 
 ^aehvak Inlet (lat. .VJ>) Dr. [{obert IVIl observed " ter- 
 races or banks ofgravel ami ancient shingle . . . on either 
 «ido of tho inlet at various heights up to an estin.ated 
 ;> ovation „f two thousand feet." Again ho states that 
 those raised bciu-hes show with great distinctness at an 
 oK'vation of about tifteen hundred feet above tho sea "* 
 I" addition to the white popuhition of Labrador, 
 which ,s mostly contined to the portion south of Jlan.il- 
 ton inlet, there are about lifteen hundred Mskiinos liv- 
 ing: upon the coast of the northern part, and the In- 
 dians in the interior are estimated to number aboi.t four 
 tlmusand. Tho Indians aro .o isolated that they are 
 im.bably the most untamed tribes njmn tho continent 
 visiting the coast only at intervals. Many things indi- 
 cate that they are a waning race, and that, owing to the 
 periodical prevalence of fires, which limit the food sui)- 
 ]>ly of animals, the game upon which their livelihood 
 depends is becoming scarcer every year. 
 
 Mr. Low relates that at Fort Cl'.imo,*,,, Ungava I?av, 
 a great famine prevailed among the Indians at the trad- 
 ing post during the winter preceding liis visit in 181)3 
 
 18bo, p. , 1)D; Bulletin, Geol. Sue. of Aiueriea. vol. i, 1890. p. 308. 
 
THK (OAST OK l.AIHtADoll. 
 
 45 
 
 " whnrcby noiirly two tliinlH of flictn, or iipwiml of ono 
 
 lnmdml iirid sixty pcrHoiiH, died of Hturvution. TIuh cn- 
 
 liunity wuH duo to tlu! failure of the rciiiidirr to follow 
 
 tlu'ir iicc!U8torMod routoHof niijrnitiou diiriii^' the i)r('(!«!d- 
 
 in/r aiitunin, when tlioy did !iot cnwa tho KokHoiik ll'iwr 
 
 in groat bands as UHual. In oonHC(|U(!nec, tho IndiatiH, 
 
 who dopond upon tho roindoor for both food and doth- 
 
 ir!g, woro soon roducu-d to starvation, and, lioing unablo 
 
 t() obtain othor Hupi)lioH, diod (.r by fainilioH duri:ig tho 
 
 wintor. About twonty-dvo Rskinio.s also perished from 
 
 tlio 8amo caiiHo. Tho survivinir IndiaiiH having been in 
 
 H state of constant starvation throughout tho j)ast year, 
 
 and (!onse(piently being unabjo to trap furs and to pay 
 
 their debts, wore at tho tinus of our visit in an abjecit 
 
 state of poverty. A (lolleotion was taken up among tho 
 
 white people iiero atid the oHicers of the steamer Kric, 
 
 and sulheii^nt wjis obtained to partly elothe the linked 
 
 ohildn^n and tlu( widows whose liusbands luid died tho 
 
 last year. On hearing of tlie distress among the Indians, 
 
 tho Iiulian Department plaeed asumof moneyat thodis- 
 
 posal of the Hudson Hay ('ompany this year, and a ro- 
 
 (Mirrence of sucli a disaster will bo impossible in the 
 
 future." * 
 
 Tho Eskimos have nearly all l)een (tonverted to ('hris- 
 tianity througli tho labours of Moravian niissioiuirios, 
 who were led in the work by John Christian Erhardt 
 and four companions in ITo^; but tlie untiip.ely death 
 of tho leader broke up the enterprise before it was fairly 
 started. In 1705 Jens Haven, another Moravian, visited 
 (Jhateau liay with three companions, where he found 
 several hundred Eskimos, and remained on good terms 
 
 * Annual Report of the Cunuditin (ieological Survey, Part A, 
 vol, vii, pp. 08, GO. 
 
46 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 If H 
 
 With them during the summer. No permanent mission, 
 however, was established at that time. The ability of 
 Haven to converse with the natives in their own lan- 
 guage, which, like Erhardt, he had learned in Green- 
 land, was an important means of securing their good 
 will and of promoting intercourse bet»veeu them and 
 the whites. But the bond of friendship was soon 
 broken, and the Eskimos relapsed into a state of suspi- 
 cion and warfare, in which twenty of the natives were 
 killed in one contest. Nothing more was done until 
 na, wiien Haven returned with a party of fifteen, and 
 successfully estab'ished the mission at Nain, in la^itc.V 
 56° 25'. In 1774 v, second station was opened at Okkak 
 about fifty miles farther north. In 1782 other Mora- 
 vians founded the station at Hopedale, about sixty miles 
 south of Nain, and stili later those at Zoar, Hebron, and 
 Kamah, thus bringing the missions within reach of all. 
 
 In Labrador, as in Greenland, the Eskimos seem, like 
 the Indians, to be a waning race, and few of them live 
 to be more than fifty years old. Puhnonarv diseases are 
 extremely prevalent, and the liardships to which the 
 men are subjected in hunting the seal make them pre- 
 maturely old by the time they are fortv. Those in o 
 rador differ little in habit and appearance from their 
 kinsmen in Greenland, though they can not have had 
 any communication with them for a long period-prob- 
 ab y not for many centuries. Bu\ as already remarked, 
 altnough tlie early missionaries t- Labrador learned the 
 Eskimo language in Greenland, they found little diffi- 
 culty in communicating their ideas to the natives on 
 the west side of Davis Strait. The Labrador kayak, 
 tbough somewhat broader and clumsier, is stiH very 
 similar to that used in Greenland. Tiie dress of the 
 people 13 also in most respects very similar both in pat- 
 
THE COAST OF LABRADOR. 
 
 47 
 
 tern and material, the principal difference being that in 
 Labrador the blouse of the women is provided with a 
 
 Fia. 13.— A Labrador Eskimo lady in full winter dress. 
 
 pointed skirt behind, making it somewhat like a gentle- 
 man's dresscoat. 
 
 While it is no doubt true that contact with civiliza- 
 5 
 
I ! 
 
 ¥• 
 
 48 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 tion has been one of the chief causes of the physical 
 de enoration of the Eskimos in Labrador, there^ i be 
 as httle doubt that the influence of the Moray an" is 
 ^nanes by :mproyi.g the moral condition of the peo- 
 ^ has done much to counteract this deteriorate". 
 
 It nufoT'tl """'": ''" """""^^^ ^he natiyes to 
 con nn.e for the most part, in their former mode of 
 
 ife; but, according to all reports, the change which 
 
 maiked. Before coming under the influence of mission- 
 anes the Eskimos of Labrador were cruel in the ex- 
 treme, so that shipwrecked sailors dreaded aboye all 
 things to fall into their hands, while cannibalism .4 by 
 no means infrequent. The change produced in their 
 character by the influence of the missionaries has L n 
 no less grateful than surprising to the sailors who haye 
 since been shipwrecked here, and thrown upon the hos- 
 pitahty of the native population. 
 
 In judging the work of the Morayians among the 
 Eskimos in Labrador, one will do well to keep in mind 
 the just remarks of Charles Darwin when speaking of 
 the missionaries in Tahiti. European critics, he truly 
 says, are apt to compare the attainments of a newly 
 conyerted savage race not with what it was before the 
 advent of the missionaries, nor even with the average of 
 society at home, but " with the high standards of gospel 
 perfection. They expect the missionaries to effect what 
 the apostles themselves failed to do. Inasmuch as the 
 condition of the people falls short of this high standard 
 blame is attached to the missionary, instead of credit for 
 that which he has effected. They forget, or will not 
 remember, that human sacrifices, and the power of an 
 Idolatrous priesthood-a system of profligacy unparal- 
 leled m any other part of the world-infanticide, a con- 
 
 I 
 
n 
 
 THE COAST OP LAURADOR. 49 
 
 sequence of that system, bloody wars, where the con- 
 querors spared neither women nor children-that all 
 these have been abolished ; and that dishonesty, intern- 
 perance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by 
 the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to forget 
 these things is a base ingratitude ; for should he chance 
 to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, 
 he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the mis- 
 sionary may have extended thus far." * 
 
 The impressions of Prof. Packard, who spent some 
 time at Hopedale in 18G4, agree so closely with my 
 own received from close contact with the Christian 
 iiskimos in Greenland, that I can do no better than 
 quote his language : 
 
 " The women's dress differs from that of the men in 
 the long tail to their jacket-like garment ; some wore an 
 old calico dress-skirt over the original Eskimo dress-a 
 thin veneer of civilization typical perhaps of the edu- 
 cation they had been receiving for the past generations, 
 which was not so thoroughgoing as not to leave external 
 traces at least of their savage antecedents. But ma^ 
 this not be said of all of us?-for, only a few centuries 
 ago our ancestors were in a state of semi-barbarism, and 
 the Anglo-Saxon race can date back to >^eolithic Celts 
 and bronze-using Aryan barbarians. However this may 
 be he Eskimos at Hopedale were a well-bred, kindly 
 intelligent scrupulously honest folk, whereas their an- 
 cestors before the establishment of the Moravians on 
 this coast were treacherous, crafty, and murderous. To 
 be shipwrecked on this inhospitable coast was esteemed 
 a lesser evil than to fall into the hands of wandering 
 bands of Labrador Eskimos. The natives have evident 
 
 * The Voyngo of the Beagle, p. 414. 
 
50 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ]y been well cared for by the missionaries, kept from 
 starvation in the winter, and their lives have been made 
 nobler and better. Even in an Eskimo tepee life has 
 proved to be worth livins'."* 
 
 The diverse points of view from which different 
 classes of people are likely to criticise each other was 
 illustrated during our own journey by sqme incidents in 
 which the Eskimo appeared to as good advantage as did 
 the Anglo-Saxon. Among tha persons on board the 
 Miranda when she started from New York were several 
 of the Eskimos from Labrador who had been brought 
 to Chicago to exhibit their arts and manner of life at 
 the Columbian Exposition of 1893 ; but owing to the dis- 
 honesty of one of their employers, they were left in 
 Chicago penniless and with no means of returning to 
 their homes. As our steamer was to touch on the coast 
 of Labrador, friends sent them on to New York and 
 they were permitted to take passage with us, their wants 
 being supplied by the generosity of Dr. Cook and vari- 
 ous members of our party. Like most of the Eskimos 
 of Labrador, these were Christians, and their faithful- 
 ness in observing the instructions given them by the 
 missionaries made them an object of considerable ridi- 
 cule on the part of some of the sailors. Especially were 
 they laughed at for the reasons which they assigned for 
 our collision with the iceberg. Unfortunately, in their 
 estimation, we had left St. John's on Sunday, and to 
 their simple faith our collision was a deserved punish- 
 ment for breaking the Sabbath. 
 
 On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon sailors, who 
 prided themselves upon their superior race, had many 
 of them been in terror during the whole of our course 
 
 f 
 
 * The Labrador Coast, p. 200. 
 
THE COAST OF LABRADOR. 5^ 
 
 on account of three ill omens, which did not even have 
 the basis of religion beneath them, but were pure super- 
 stition. First, three rats had left the ship while lying 
 m the harbour at New York ; second, we had chosen 
 Friday as the day on which to depart from one of 
 the ports into which we had put; and, third, among 
 the tourists there happened to be, in the person of the 
 writer, a clergyman (or, as they expressively describe an 
 individual of his class, a " sky pilot ") whose presence 
 on a voyage, it seems, is an omen of ill luck. The ser- 
 vices of the regular pilot and of the "ice pilot" they 
 were prepared to accept, but the possible services of the 
 "sky pilot" they dreaded beyond measure. On the 
 whole, therefore, it would seem that the scruples of 
 the Christian Eskimo are, to say the least, as worthy 
 of respect as is the superstition of the ordinary British 
 seaman. There was certainly as much reason in the 
 Eskimo woman's apprehensions of evil for breaking 
 the Sabbath as there was in the sailor's forebodings in 
 view of leaving Sydney on Friday, or on account of the 
 instincts of the rats which chose to stay in New York 
 rather than risk the hazards of a voyage to Greenland. 
 
 North of Hudson Strait there is a vast region not 
 often visited, which is occupied by Eskimos who are 
 as yet not influenced by contact with Europeans. 
 Though the region is cold and desolate in the extreme, 
 it has been generally supposed that it possesses no 
 glaciers of very great extent; but while it is true that 
 the glaciers upon the west side of Baffin Bay do not 
 compare with those in Greenland, the region should 
 have credit for furnishing a small quota of icebergs to 
 the procession which we have described as moving 
 majestically southward along the Labrador coast. Dur- 
 
62 
 
 n . 
 
 I(- 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ing Hall s residence in Frobislier's Bay he made obser- 
 vations upon an icefield in the Kingait range of moun- 
 tains, Irom which the Grinnell glacier proceeds. This 
 IS estimated to be fully one hundred miles long, dis- 
 charging itself into the sea with a perpendicular face 
 one hundred feet above the water. Over this area the 
 line of perpetual snow comes down to within one thou- 
 sand feet of the sea level, which is scarcely half the 
 height of the snow line in southern Greenland 
 
 
 I 
 
 [fl 
 
bser- 
 oua- 
 rhis 
 dis- 
 face 
 the 
 »ou- 
 the 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SPITZBEItGEN" ICE 1 _> DAVrS STRAIT. 
 
 Having temporarily mended the Miranda on the 
 coast of Labrador, it was deemed prudent to return to 
 St. John's for permanent repairs. These bein^ com- 
 pleted, we started again for Greenland upon the ^9th of 
 
 Fiu. U.— St. Jolius Hiirboiir, Newfoundland. 
 
 July, but now we directed our course to Frederikshaab, 
 in latitude G3°, the course being almost directly due 
 north. Having passed at right angles through the 
 same solemn procession of icebergs which we had viewed 
 with such admiration two weeks before, we found our- 
 
 53 
 
54 
 
 Gllh^KNI.ANI) ICEKIKLDS. 
 
 selvea stojiming r„r sovcnil luin,ln.(l niiloH in unen- 
 cumbored waters throii-rh tlio middle of Duvis Strait. 
 Tlio niountui.i.s in tin. vicinity of Frederikshaub were 
 sighted on the niondng of the fourtli (Uiy, Aiigiust ^d ; 
 but there lay between ns and tlie desired harbour a belt 
 of lloe or pan iee fifteen or twenty miles wide, and 
 with no openings apparent snlVu.ic.nt to i)ermit our 
 steamer to enter it with safety. For the most part the 
 single pieces of ice composing this lloe rose but a few 
 feet above the water, and were small in area when com- 
 piired with those which occur in the far north. Occa- 
 sionally huge icebergs, comi)arable in size to those seen 
 upon the coast of Labrador, towered in lonelv grandeur 
 above the ice i)ack which here interfered with our navi- 
 gation. North wai-d the ice extended as far as the eye. 
 could reach, while there were occasionally narrow belts 
 of loose ice jirojecting westward from the main line like 
 windrows in a haytield. These were probably distributed 
 by some tidal movement which was not otherwise ap- 
 parent. 
 
 At this time of the year the pieces of ice forming 
 the lloe were in a sonu'what advanced stage of disin- 
 tegration, especially upon the borders of the belt, and 
 presented the most fantastic apiieai-ance imaginable. 
 Frequently a cake of ice of considerable extent below 
 the water would above the surface have the ap])earance 
 of a large cluster of mushrooms, su])ported on delicate 
 pedestals of intense blue ice merging into a basement of 
 green. The temperature of the water, which stood 
 pretty uniformly at .'5:° above zero, was just warm 
 enough to permit the waves in their continual dashing 
 to facilitate the melting of the lower stratum of ice 
 above the water line. 
 
 The coldness of the water and the great extent of the 
 
 F 
 
 1 
 
 
SPITZHKIIOEN ICE IN DAVIS STRAIT. 55 
 
 floo ioo woro n.-itii rally conduoivo of fo^rgy weather, 
 which wo now had for throo days almost continuously. 
 During this tinu^ hut little progress could he made. At 
 intervals of ])artially (ilearing weather the steamer 
 would venture to move forward (cautiously, hut during 
 
 15. -Floo ic(( west of Greenland. 
 
 a greater part of the period safety consisted in lying 
 still. While surrounded hy tlie fog our ears were 
 often greeted hy the ominous, dull, low murmur of 
 the small waves which at no great distance, hut out 
 of sight, were dashing against the innumerable pieces 
 of ice composing the floe. It was like the muffled 
 roar of distant breakers upon a rockv coast, and 
 coming to us out of the mist and darkness, was 
 calculated to affect the imagination most power- 
 fully. 
 
 The mystery of this floe ice off the southern coast of 
 Greenland was increased by the occasional occurrence 
 of pieces of driftwood, some of which were from twenty 
 to twenty-five feet in length. We were not able to 
 
 I'" 
 
50 
 
 (JUKKNLANI) ICKKIKI.DS. 
 
 soouro 
 
 liny spociinons of tlioso, biif t1u>ii- Htorv could bo 
 
 j 
 
 f I 
 1 ?i 
 
 I 
 
 u}' reprivsontutives 
 
 1 a 
 
 ivudily told. :riioy wore donhtlcss st 
 of that supply „r Sihoriuu wood uud^inihcr whicl 
 kind Providt'iioo iVKiil.irly furnisluvs to tho inhabitunts 
 of southnii (Jm'nhind to ivndcr their lifo ondumblo 
 
 ogs sixty foot long are 
 
 and even possible. Sonu'tinu-s 1 
 
 drifted upon the shore. Rink reports one w!;i. !, vicMod 
 between two and three cords of wood. According to 
 him, the pieces -are frequently twelve feet long, and a 
 length of thirty feet is not rare. The annual gleanings 
 upon the whole coast may bo conjectured to bo botwoon 
 eighty and a hundred and twenty ijords, of which 
 scarcely more than a tenth part ])asses 08° north lati- 
 tudo." * Muc-h driftwood was rei)orted by Koldowey on 
 the east coast in latitude ;r)". 
 
 For the most part this driftwood is from coniferous 
 trees. Having grown upon the banks of tho rivers in 
 far-off Sibei-ia, these waifs were first washed downstream 
 in the seasons of high water, and then carried far out 
 into the Arctic Sea, where they were drawn into that 
 slow but steady (iurrent \vh\d\ tirstsets to the northward 
 from the northern coasts of Asia and from Spitzborgen, 
 and then, passing on southward, conducts the ice floes of 
 that region along the eastern coast of Greenland, as the 
 Labrador current carries southward tho ice from Baffin 
 Hay. It is to the tender mercies of this current that 
 Hansen has committed liiniself and his companions. 
 Trusting to its constancy, as indicated by the few facts 
 at command, this heroic explorer has pushed his little 
 ship into the midst of the moving ice in that quarter of 
 the globe, and is now patiently awaiting the results, con- 
 fidently expecting to be carried past the north pole, and 
 
 Kink's Danish Greoiilaud, 1877, p. 91. 
 
S1MTZFIKU(;KN ICK JN DAVJS STllAlT. 57 
 
 to bo lihonitod ut lust on tho southern coast of eastern 
 Ureenland. 
 
 In addition to the evideneo sustuinin^r i.JH hope 
 derived fn>n, the Siberia,, driftwood, Nannen thouglu 
 he had faets of still n.ore Hpecilie .neanin^^ in son.e pieces 
 of clothing which had been lost from the unfortunate 
 Jeannette when in 18H1 it was crushed in the ice north 
 of Siberia. AfKu- three Vf-ars, what were su])i,osed to be 
 the same articles were found drifting past southeastern 
 Ureenland upon the Hoc ice of the Spitsbergen current 
 Let lis hope that his own ship will not be crush(,d 
 that his i)rovisions will prove adequate, and that his life 
 and health may be 8],ared to (complete the adventurous 
 journey. 
 
 The movement of this Spitsbergen current along the 
 east coast of (Jroenland has been frequently observed, and 
 is produced by the sam(> gt-neral class of forces that gives 
 constancy to the Labrador current. In 182!), when draah 
 was spending the winter at Frederiksdal in prei)aration 
 for his expedition along the eastern coast, he seems to 
 have known the principal facts concerning the Spitz- 
 bergen ice current, and to have speculated ui)on its move- 
 ments about as correctly as any one could do at the pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 " On the 2r)th of January, precisely the usual time 
 of Its return," he says, " the first stream of heavy drift 
 ice, of which we had seen nothing since the month of 
 September previous, made its api)earance. The cause of 
 Its periodical departure from and return to the district 
 of Juliar.a's-hope, it is not easy to determine. It is well 
 known that the heavy drift ice usually everv summer be- 
 sets the southern and western coasts of Gre'enland, from 
 Cape Farewell to latitude G2° or G3°, frequently to G4°, and 
 sometimes even as high up as G7°, the latitude of IIol- 
 
68 
 
 (lUKKNLANI) ICKFIKIiDS. 
 
 stoinborjj;, us is siiid to havo beon tlio oiiso in 1825. In 
 So{>tombor or October, or luM-biips still ourlicr, it dis- 
 Jippoiirs ii^min, ^nd tiie goiuM-ul o])iiiioii is tlmt it is swept 
 awiiy bv the current westwiird toward America. No 
 such current, however, would seem, in fact, to exist— at 
 least, to the best of my knowled^'c, there is none such to 
 bo met with in the district of .luliana's-ho[)e ; for ivhich 
 reason I am rather inclined to attribute this regular dis- 
 appearance of the ioo toward the close of summer to an- 
 other cause— its j,M-adual dissolution by the heat of the 
 summer sun, and tiie sea perpetually washing over it; 
 the more so because detached streams of it are often seen 
 the whole year through, even at those seasons when the 
 main body of it has disappeared. Hut how are we to 
 account for the rnmi)irf of the ice to these (toasts at a cer- 
 tain fixed period of the year? The following appears to 
 me the most reasonable explanation of this phenomenon : 
 The ice that in January reaches these coasts is probably 
 part of a formation that has taken place on the east coast 
 of Cireenland in a liigli lu^rthern latitude, and from which 
 it has probably detached itself as early as the winter 
 previous. It is without doubt identically the same ico 
 among which the Spitzbergen whalers have navigated 
 the summer before, liy the southwesterly current, known 
 to prevail in these seas, it is carried down between Ice- 
 land and Greenland, to past Cape Farewell, where it en- 
 counters another current that carries it up to Davis 
 Straits. But as the southwesterly current here spoken 
 of is not accidental nor periodical, but constant (it being 
 the effect of the earth's revolution on its axis), and as 
 the polar sea contains such enormous masses of drift 
 ice, might we not, then, look to find Cape Farewell 
 always beset with ice? Yet this, as well-informed per- 
 sons testify, is by no means the case, the sea around 
 
SPITZBERGKN ICE IN DAVIS STRAIT. 
 
 50 
 
 lliis promontory boiiig iiHuully f'. ■ ," "c, or n'jiirly rio, 
 from October to Jumuiry. II; v an wo to ticcoiiiit for 
 tliis? !^:itlior by supposing t'. . . -"o is brokon up 
 Jind disporHod by tho Imrd t itutlKi \ gulcH that prevail 
 here in tlu; autumn and winti •, or but the wliolo mass 
 of ice that in the spring begins i!4^ logross from between 
 Spitsbergen and (Jreenhind, and which reaches the hiti- 
 tude of Cape Farewell toward the (-lose of summer i» then 
 already near its period of dissolution. While in the mean- 
 time this process is going on with res])ect to that portion 
 of tho ice that drifts n)ward (.'ape Farewell, another 
 and considerable body of it is carried by the current in 
 toward the east coast, where, encountering the land, it 
 accumulates into a conii)act nuiss wliich only now and 
 then yields to a strong and long-continued wind from 
 off the shore; and which, there being here neither swell 
 nor current to act upon it, forms with probably but little 
 intermission a constant and impenetrable barrier along 
 the coast."* 
 
 Singularly enough, tho Spitzborgen ice current, iiko 
 that of liabrador, has been made available for transporta- 
 tion of shipwrecked sailors through long distances. In- 
 deed, a considerabk! portion of the eastern coast of Green- 
 land, for about six hundred miles southward from latitude 
 fi8° IST., was within sight of the drifting crew of the ship 
 Ilansa of the North German Exploring Expedition, who, 
 when their ship w^as crushed, had sought refuge upon 
 the same masses of ice which caused the destruction of 
 their vessel. 
 
 The TIansa belonged to the Second Germar Arctic 
 Expedition of 1809 and 1870. She was a brig of sev- 
 
 * Narrative of un Expedition to the East Coast of Greenland, 
 pp. 54, 55. 
 
 A 
 
 
 i'- 
 
60 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 m 
 
 enty-six tons, commanded by Captain Hegemann, with 
 fourteen oftcers and men. The vessel sa^JeJ from Bremen 
 on June 1.,, 1869, aiming to reach the northeastern coast 
 of Green and m time to do some exploring before winter 
 set m. Ihe Ilansa was accompanied by the Germania 
 a screw steamer of one hundred and forty tons, com- 
 manded by Captain Koldewey, who had charge of the 
 whole expedition. The ships planned to meet at Sa- 
 bine Island (uatitude 74° north) ; but early in September, 
 when near the place of rende^vous, the Hansa became 
 entangled in he ice pack and was frozen in, so that the 
 two ships failed to meet. It soon became evident that 
 the party would have to pass the winter in the ice, and 
 that safety might require them to abandon the ship A 
 small house was built of coal bricks on the ice floe, and 
 was maae as comfortable as possible, having been pro- 
 visioned for two months; but for some timp the ship 
 remained near them, secure in the ice, which was then 
 arifting without much commotion. 
 
 From the 5th to the 14th of September they drifted 
 seventy-two miles in a south-southwest direction. On 
 October 18th the ice began to "tlvust,"and more se- 
 riously endanger the vessel. On the 19th the ship was 
 dismantled, and as much as possible of her cargo Avas 
 transferred to the ice floe ui)on which the house had 
 been built. Here, buried in the accumulating snows, 
 they passed the long winter. The coldest weather ex- 
 perienced was on December 18th, when the thermometer 
 fell to 30" below zero (F.). Until januarv 1st little oc- 
 curred to break the dull monotony of the.r experience; 
 but on the 2d of January the imprisoned crew began to 
 hear the ominous sound produced by the scraping of the 
 floe upon the ground. They were nearing the shore or 
 passing over shoals, and it was evident that there was 
 
SPITZ BERGEN ICE IN DAVIS STRAIT. Ql 
 
 imminent danger that tlie unstable foundations on 
 which they had built would break :^.p. On the 4th 
 day of January the cake of ice upon which their house 
 was built was diminished in size from a diameter of two 
 miles to a diameter of one, and upon three sides of them 
 they were but two hundred steps from the very edge, 
 with a terrific stoim raging. When the sky cleared 
 they found themselves within sight of Capes Buchholz 
 and Hildebrandt, and only two miles distant from them. 
 The following extract from the captain's log gives a 
 vivid impression of their experiences during that and 
 several other nights : 
 
 " The weather in the past night was calm and clear. 
 The moon shone brilliantly ; the northern lights and 
 the stars glittered upon the dead beauty of a landscape 
 of ice and snow. Listening at night, a strong, clear 
 tone strikes the ear, then again a sound as of some 
 one drawing near with slow and measured steps. We 
 listen-what is it? All still; not a breath is stir- 
 ring. Once more it sounds like a lamentation or 
 a groan. It is the ice; and now it is still, still as the 
 grave ; and from the glance of the moon the ghostly 
 outlined coast is seen, from which the giant rocks are 
 looking over to us. Ice, rocks, and thousands of glit- 
 tering stars. thou wonderful, jhostlike night of 
 the north ! " o t, 
 
 On January llth the ice upon which they were float- 
 ing again split up, so thai it was only a hundred and 
 fifty feet in diameter, and the current was impelling 
 them madly along, threatening to dash them against an 
 iceberg anead, which they had no means of avoiding. 
 But fortunately the danger was passed without injurv. 
 On February 1st a fragment broke olf from the main 
 mass of ice, showing that its thickness was about thirty 
 
62 
 
 GREENLAND ICEPIELDS. 
 
 feet, which gave them assurance of conipar''tive safety. 
 Oil Marcii ISth observation showed them to be in 
 latitude (58° 2'. Tlience they drifted more than six 
 hundred miles southwesterly along and in sight of 
 the eastern coast of Greenland. On March 39th they 
 were in the latitude of JS'ubarlik, where the ice on 
 which they were floating was pressed into a bight, and 
 they were compelled to remain four weeks in idle- 
 ness. After three weeks more they had drifted to 
 latitude (11° 4'. 
 
 Spring was now beginning to shed its genial warmth, 
 and, though no land was in sight, linnets and snow bunt- 
 ings appeared in great numbers. On May 7tli open 
 water leading toward the land appeared in latitude Gl° 
 12', upon which, at 4 p. m., after having been upon the 
 ice floe two hundred days, they launched their boats 
 and took flnal leave of their icy foundations. On the 
 24th of May they reached Illuidlek Island (latitude 
 60° 55'), or rather the ice floe surrounding it, for it was 
 not until June 4th that they actually reached land. On 
 June 6th they set sail for Frederiksdal, camping at 
 night five miles north of Cape Dalloe. Here they were 
 greeted by the first flowers of summer— sorrel, dande- 
 lions, cinquefoil, lifting their tiny heads from every 
 sheltered fissure which faced the sun. On the 13th of 
 June they reached the most southern station of the Mo- 
 ravians, for which they had set out, where they were 
 heartily greeted both by the natives and by their own 
 missionary countrymen, and in due time were carried 
 back to Europe, to electrify the world with their mar- 
 vellous story. 
 
 Nansen, too, when attempting to reach the eastern 
 coast of Gre iiland to begin his celebrated journey across 
 the inland ice-bheet, was himself a prisoner amid the 
 
in 
 
 of 
 
 on 
 
 to 
 
 ide 
 
 at 
 
 of 
 
 ■'&.■':. 
 
mM- 
 
 if 
 
 t I, 
 
 i" 
 
 64 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 floe ice for a month. On June 28th, in latitude 66° W 
 north, land was first sighted by the ship which was to 
 leave him, but it was not until the 17th of July that 
 he made the attempt to land. Putting of! in his small 
 boats, and leaving the vessel to return to Norway, he 
 endeavoured in vain to reach the shore, finding it im- 
 possible to do so on account of the ice. After struggling 
 two days with the shifting ice-laden currents, he took 
 refuge upon an ice floe, and set up his tent upon it to 
 await the issue. Here he was compelled to remain until 
 the 29th of July, when a fortunate turn in the current 
 enabled him to effect a landing, but not at the place for 
 which he had set out. During these twelve days of 
 anxious experience upon the ice he had drifted two 
 whole degrees southward, at an average rate of ten 
 miles a day, corresponding very closely to that of the 
 Tyson party on the coast of Labrador. 
 
 When the Spitzbergen ice reaches Cape Farewell it 
 is forced, b; the general movements occasioned by the 
 Gulf Stream (a branch of which runs far up into Davis 
 Strait), to turn northwest and hug the western shore of 
 southern Greenland. It is thus that Siberian wood is 
 brought to supply the Greenland Eskimo with the ma- 
 terial needed in the construction of his houses, his boat^', 
 and his implements. Upon this ice also are brought 
 the seals, which to such an extent supply him with food, 
 and with covering for both himself and his boat. It 
 was this belt of Spitzbergen ico which our ship encoun- 
 tered off Frederikshaab on the 3d of August, and which 
 prevented our reaching the shore until the 7th. The 
 Danish vessels avoid the ice by keeping about a hundred 
 miles south of Cape Farewell, and going northward near 
 the middle of Davis Strait to the latitude of Godthaab or 
 
SPITZBEBQEN ICB IN DAVIS STRAIT. gS 
 
 f,'^''^/m°T°' ".^'° *'^ "'"' "'"""y '•""•"^ *<>■•« 'Vith- 
 
 some o/ 1 f 'r, """""""" '^ ">'» "'"' "' '- 'hat 
 some of the southern settlements are rarely reached 
 
 by the direct route, but vessels are compelled first to 
 
 go round the northern end of the ice pack, and foil 
 
 down^ the shore through the clear spafe usually ett 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 IV. 
 
 EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 
 
 The "outskirts" of Greenland, as they are called, 
 consist of a fringe of islands, mountains, and promon- 
 tories surroujiding the vast ice-covered central portion, 
 and varying in Avidth from a mere border up to eighty 
 miles. Upon tlie east side this fringe is everywhere ex^- 
 ceedingly narrow, and affords but scanty opportunity 
 for the maintenance of life of any kind. Upon the west 
 side, below the seventy-third parallel, it has an average 
 of about fifty miles in width, and extends with little 
 interruption from Cape Farewell to Melville Bay, a dis- 
 tance of something over one thousand miles. Every- 
 where this mountainous belt is penetrated by deep fiords 
 which reach to the inland ice, and are terminated by 
 the perpendicular fronts of huge glaciers ; while in the 
 vicinity of Ivigtut (latitude Gl°) and Frederikshaab 
 (latitude 02° 45') the ice comes down in broad projec- 
 tions close to the sea margin. 
 
 The seaward aspect of the west Greenland coast is 
 stern and forbidding in the extreme. The serrate edge 
 of the long mountain chain does not, however, rise to 
 any great height, being rarely over two thousand or 
 three thousand feet above the level of the sea, with occa- 
 sional peaks running up to four thousand feet. It is 
 only in a limited area north of Disco Island that the 
 mountains rise to a height of seven thousand feet. 
 
 G6 
 
 M- 
 
 ii~ 
 
 > 
 
 
i??i 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Ri 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
I 
 
 EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 67 
 
 As first seen from a distance of forty or fifty miles, 
 Greenland seems anything but a justification of its 
 
 name, for even tlie " outskirts," wiiicli are supposed to 
 be free from ice, are so only in part. Local ^rlaciers, 
 which would be objects of great attraction in Switzer- 
 
08 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 t :' 
 
 f jg 
 
 land or Norway, mark the suinmita of many of the 
 l)roniontories, and from a distance form a conspicuous 
 element of the scenery. As one approaciies nearer, 
 these lingering ice masses upon the summits become 
 hidden from view behind the projecting precipices and 
 steep slopes of the partially submerged mountain range. 
 But still there is little to justify the name of Greenland. 
 No forests or shrubs and no running vines relieve the 
 sternness of the rocky surfaces. Even the lichens and 
 mosses, by their sombre hue, intensify the barrenness of 
 the scene. Upon penetrating the fioixis, however, a par- 
 tial change takes place. A few miles back from the 
 border in southern Greenland there are numerous small 
 expanses of pasture laud and a few limited areas covered 
 with stunted shrubs and dwarf trees. 
 
 According to Rink, "the largest and tallest birch 
 tree" in Greenland is fourteen feet high, but this height 
 has been attained only through the protection of two 
 huge boulders between which it is so fortunate as to be 
 sheltered on either side. Willows and alders frequently 
 grow in the south to a height of from five to eight feet, 
 while juniper bushes sometimes attain a thickness of 
 five or six inches, but these are merely creeping shrubs 
 spreading out over the tops of the stones and rocks and 
 attaining to no height. In the sheltered places nu- 
 merous brilliantly coloured flowering plants abound, of 
 which rhododendron, epilobium, the bluebell, tlie ar- 
 nica, and the buttercup are prominent. But these are 
 not conspicuous in the general survey of the country. 
 
 A favoured spot, which Kink has' called the " Green- 
 land Eden," occurs between Lichtcnau and Frederiksdal 
 (latitude G0°). The place is about twenty miles back 
 from the sea, a little to the east of the middle portion of 
 Tasermiut Fiord. Here, on passing out of the fiord, up 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 69 
 
 the rapids of a small stream, one fin.ls himself in an 
 amphitheatre surrounded by sheltering mountains three 
 thousand feet high, where vegetation flourishes as no- 
 where else in the outskirts, and where the largest tree, 
 already spoken of, had found opportunity for growth. 
 The enterprise and sagacity of the early Norse settlers 
 IS shown in the fact that they had discovered this nook 
 and occupied it, as is made known by the extensive 
 ruins of several stone buildings. Nearly all of the early 
 Norse settlements were in such sheltered places back 
 some distance from the sea margin and south of the 
 sixty-fifth parallel. 
 
 The greenness of these sequestered nooks furnishes 
 some justification for the name of the land ; for, after 
 beating about amid the floes of Spitzbergen ice which 
 encircle the southern portion of the country, and after 
 having penetrated the various fiords intersecting the 
 frowning seaward wall, the little green patches which 
 at length greeted the adventurers well may have deeply 
 impressed their minds. It is more probable, however, 
 that the name had a difl'erent origin, being chosen to 
 promote a land speculation, as is recorded in the history 
 of Eric the Red. " Let us call the name of the land 
 Greenland," he is reported to have said, " because peo- 
 ple will sooner be induced to go thither in case it has a 
 good name." So successful is this scheme of the crafty 
 adventurer said to have been that twenty-five shiploads 
 of fortune-seekers followed him from Iceland, their less 
 attractively named but far more hospitable native 
 country. 
 
 Twenty or twenty-five miles back from the shore, in 
 southern Greenland, there is everywhere a marked amel- 
 ioration of climatic conditions, and much less preva- 
 lence of foggy weather than on the coast. The favourite 
 
<^ 
 
 "- ^' :(>' 
 
 .W.^. 
 
 > ^.^' "^^ 
 
 o.. \t 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
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 JU 111.6 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 # 
 
 <C-^ 
 
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 <s 
 
 ^\^ 
 
 m^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 'VEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 

 r^:w 
 
 
 
 is 
 
 ■ 
 
10 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 reindeer haunts are in this comparatively sheltered belt 
 lying adjacent to the edge of the inland ice. In some 
 years as many as fifty thousand reindeer have been killed 
 by the natives in these hunting grounds. The problem 
 of how this useful animal came to be dispersed through 
 so many degrees of latitude and along a shore that is 
 frequently interrupted by impassable fiords and icefields 
 will be considered in a later chapter. 
 
 The division between northern and southern Green- 
 land on the west coast is fixed at Nagsutok Fiord (lati- 
 tude 67° 40'). South of this the bays and inlets do not 
 freeze over in winter sufficiently to admit of being trav- 
 ersed with dogs and sledges, so that the colonies there 
 are much more isolated than in north Greenland, 
 where natural highways over the frozen water invite 
 much travel in the winter season, and where the bril- 
 hant moon and the flaming aurora vie with each other 
 in dispelling the gloom of the long arctic night. 
 
 The geological features of the western coast are re- 
 markably uniform, except in the vicinity of Disco Bay. 
 The rocks, like those of Labrador, consist largely of 
 gneiss and granite, intersected with numerous dikes of 
 eruptive material ; but, so far as observed, there are no 
 extensive areas of volcanic rock in southern Greenland. 
 ^or have any mines of the precious metals been found. 
 At Ivigtut (latitude 61° 10'), cryolite (a fluoride of 
 sodium and aluminium) has been discovered in such ex- 
 tent and purity that it has been profitable to mine it for 
 the manufacture of soda and alumina, the latter bein<r 
 of a quality much desired in the art of dyeing. There 
 IS no other place in the world where this mineral is 
 found in large quantities. The vein here occurs latween 
 walls of gneiss and is three hundred feet wide. 
 
 First and last our view of the Greenland coast ex- 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 71 
 
 tended from Frederikshaab to the vicinity of llolstein- 
 borg, a distance of about three hundrpd miles; while 
 from Siikkertoppen (latitude G5° 25') we were able to 
 make extensive tours into the interior through the fiords 
 and along the channels. A brief account of two excur- 
 sions will assist in bringing the general features of the 
 country more vividly to view. 
 
 Having arrived at Sukkertoppen on the morning of 
 
 Fig. 18.— Scene on the way to Isortok Fiord. 
 
 the 7th of August, it was soon ascertained t' it we were 
 to remain two days before setting out for the regions 
 farther north. A party of ten or twelve was therefore 
 organized to visit the glaciers and reindeer pastures 
 about twenty-five miles up South Isortok Fiord, which 
 lay directly to the east of our anchoring place. Isortok 
 means " having muddy water," and hence is descriptive 
 of those fiords which are discoloured by subglacial 
 streams of considerable size. On this account the name 
 
f 
 
 72 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 I' 
 
 IS found applied to more than one fiord along the west- 
 ern coast. Ihis one reaches the sea in latitude 65° 25' 
 and penetrates the border to a distance of about fifty' 
 miles, where it meets the inland ice; but branches from 
 the ice come down to it from a projection on the north, 
 about twenty-fi>e miles from Sukkertoppen 
 
 The scenes connected with our setting out upon the 
 excursion were novel and exciting in the extreme. We 
 were loaded into three of the ship's boats (one large 
 boat and two dories) with a trusty Eskimo guide in each, 
 and were provided with camping outfit and a limited 
 supply ot provisions. It was past the middle of the 
 afternoon before we were well under way; but the sky 
 was clear and as evening twilight lingered until the 
 break of the following dawn we had no fear of being 
 benighted. ° 
 
 In response to the lusty stroke of our oarsmen we 
 were suon out into the middle of the shallow bay, where 
 the mountains rose in picturesque forms both before 
 us and behind. Behind us they continued to rise 
 higher and higher above the lower but nearer promi- 
 nences, until the serrate edge of the central axis came 
 full in view on the glowing western horizon, where 
 the contour of jagged edges was so striking that it 
 would be difficult to find anything anywhere in the 
 world to matcli it. It reminded me of nothing else so 
 much as of the sky line of the Teton Mountains as I 
 saw It a few years ago from Jackson's Lake at their 
 eastern foot, looking toward the setting sun; but here 
 the beauty was enhanced by the extensive and varie- 
 gated expanse of water which was spread everywhere 
 around us, extending its arms into countless recesses of 
 the islands, or stretching out through illimitable vistas 
 into the retreating fiords. Before us the mountains of 
 
 11 ; 
 

 EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 73 
 
 the mainland gradually sank behind' the innumerable 
 islands which we approached and among which we 
 slowly threaded our way. But now and again they 
 would burst forth in new glory as some special island 
 point was rounded and we came out for a little while 
 into an open stretch of water. In lee of the islands the 
 waters were as peaceful as on a landlocked lake, but 
 when the broader passages were reached the swells of 
 the neighbouring ocean tossed our boat in a manner 
 well calculated to arouse the fear of a landsman, while 
 all were inclined to give wide berth to the breakers 
 which dashed against the windward shores or marked 
 the shallow reefs whose backs were almost bare at cer- 
 tain stages of the tide. Here and there a piece of drift- 
 wood had been -ifely hauled ashore by some native and 
 placed above tue reach of the waves, to await the con- 
 venience of the finder. So sacred is the right to this 
 kind of property that no one thinks of appropriating 
 y.hat another has discovered. Scarcely anything else is 
 invested with such well-recognised property rights. 
 
 The sun went down long before we reached our ob- 
 jective point; but we rowed on in the brilliant twilight 
 until about eleven o'clock, when it was decided to pull 
 in to shore and encamp for the night. We were now 
 fairly within the fiord. In rounding the point at the 
 entrance several deserted igloos indicated the attractive- 
 ness of the neighbourhood for temporary residence, but 
 only the Eskimo knew where to find safety and comfort 
 for the night. Passing one or two places which looked 
 attractive enough to inexperienced eyes in the twilight, 
 we at length rounded a low projecting rock, and entered 
 a sheltered cove, where we could draw our boats far out 
 upon a sandy beach beyond the reach of the rising tide. 
 A few steps away there was a level plat of moss and 
 
^i 
 
 74 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 matted running vines which made the softest ima<^inable 
 bed on whicli to spread our blankets and stretch our 
 weary hmbs, for each of us had had his turn at the 
 oars. The tent could shelter but half the company, but 
 the sky was so clear and the weather so moderate that 
 the rest could sleep in their bags in the open air without 
 
 Fig. 10.— First catiip on t''^ fiord. 
 
 discomfort. It was so light that we could read the time 
 on our watch dials in the tent all night lono- 
 
 Although daylight appeared behind th" mouTitains 
 of the eastern side of tlie fiord long before it had dis- 
 appeared in the west, the sun did not surmount the line 
 ot peaks until the forenoon was well begun. Folding 
 our tent and eating a hasty breakfast, we set out at an 
 early hour to complete what seemed to be the short pull 
 to the mountain (J^ukagpiak) which had so long en- 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 75 
 
 tranced our vision, its snowy sides rising like a fairy 
 object above the nearer but lower peaks, full in view all 
 the way from Hukkertoppen. It was now high tide, and 
 the water was almost without a ripple. Everything, 
 therefore, promised a speedy completion of our journey.' 
 The walls of the fiord rose in increasing grandeur on 
 either side, and the local glaciers and snowfields took 
 on ever-changing and fantastic forms upon the flanks 
 of the mountains as we shifted our position in the 
 channel. The width of the fiord was apparently a little 
 over a mile, widening out into broader expanses at in- 
 frequent intervals. Numerous flocks of gulls flew over 
 our heads, and the reports of the shots fired at them 
 from our guns reverberated from side to side in a most 
 impressive manner, revealing, by the length of time 
 which separated the echoes, both the width of the 
 channel and our relative distance from each mountain 
 side. 
 
 As at one place we rounded a promontory we came 
 suddenly in sight of a party of natives in a boat, who 
 were somewhat alarmed at our approach and at the reck- 
 less firing of our guns ; but their fears were soon allayed, 
 and we approached near enough to them to find that 
 they were a family from Sukkertoppen who had been 
 spending the summer at a neighbouring camping place, 
 where game and fish were plenty, and now were return- 
 ing home to make preparations for the winter. The 
 women were at the oars. As the water was smooth the 
 kayak was resting on the rear of the boat, and every- 
 thing betokened the pleasure which they derived from 
 the beauty of the scene and the leisurely rate at which 
 they were permitted to proceed. From them we pur- 
 chased a supply of freshly caught salmon trout, and then 
 pulled away with all our might to reach the foot of the 
 
ip 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
 76 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 mountain peak whose vision had been so long tantalizing 
 us. But the tide had turned, and though the ourface 
 was smooth a swift current was setting outward, to dis- 
 charge the vast amount of water which the rising tide 
 had pushed into the upper twenty-five miles of the fiord. 
 On this account progress was slow, and at times we were 
 scarcely able to make any at all. The mountain, how- 
 ever, did gradually grow nearer to us, and the hanging 
 glaciers from the projecting plateau which buttressed its 
 southwestern side smiled down upon us, as though they 
 were the most innocent objects in the world ; whereas 
 they were in reality the most terrible, being liable to' 
 break off at any moment and rush down the steep sides 
 in swift avalanches to the water. 
 
 At length, but not until the forenoon was nearly 
 passed, we attained the cove for which we had been aim- 
 ing, and, pulling our boats above the reach of tide, we 
 hastened to explore the strange scenes of the vicinity. 
 A rich growth of grass covered the rocks in the narrow 
 inclosure and partially disguised their ruggeduess. The 
 milky current of a brook which issued from the foot of 
 a great glacier a few hundred yards away rushed madly 
 over the boulders wliicli lay in the bed of the stream. 
 To the south of us the northern face of a portion of the 
 mountain range frowned upon us with its jagged peaks, 
 its numerous hanging glaciers, and its bare perpendicu- 
 lar walls. North of us was the sloping sunward flank of 
 Nnkagpiak, covered with verdure and brilliant flowers, 
 where reindeer might bask in the sunshine and feed to 
 their hearts' content during the long summer days. 
 
 For two or three hours we wandered over this Elysiau 
 field, plucking its flowers, dancing in delight on its 
 thickly carpeted, quaking bogs, and clambering to its 
 various points of lookout, from which the eye could at 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 77 
 
 one sweep take in the whole view from the island -dotted 
 coast to the smooth white outline of the vast inland ice- 
 fields. The glacier whose subglacial stream entered the 
 fiord at our landing place came down to within about 
 three hundred feet of the sea level. It did not present 
 a perpendicular face, but ended in a very steep slope- 
 too steep to permit a direct ascent of its surface. To get 
 upon the ice it was necessary to clamber along the lateral 
 moraine to a height of about one thousand feet before 
 the slope became sufficiently gentle to render it safe to 
 venture upon it. Here it was not far from a mile in 
 width, growing wider higher up, until it merged into 
 a large snowfield which covered the extensive plateau of 
 which Nukagpiak is the culminating peak. This glacier 
 is isolated from the main ice-sheet, but upon the north 
 side of the fiord vast snowfields continuous with those 
 of the interior are visible. East of Nukagpiak, upon 
 both sides of the fiord, there are large areas from which 
 the snov melts off in summer, and which furnish pas- 
 turage for a considerable number of reindeer. 
 
 We had heard much about the Greenland mosquito, 
 but here we met tl o creatures themselves and both 
 saw and felt them in all their glory. They came out in 
 swarms from every tuft of grass and bunch of flowers, 
 and although less voracious than those in temperate 
 climates, they made up in power to produce discomfort 
 by the infinitude of their number, which rendered it 
 almost impossible for us to rest a moment. The various 
 members of our party, as they were scattered over the 
 mountain side, looked like moving windmills, so vigorous 
 and constant were the motions necessary to get even 
 partial deliverance from these pests. The sight of one of 
 our number who attempted to bathe is never to be for- 
 gotten. Before he could reach the water's edge the 
 
I 
 
J3 
 
 g 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 be 
 •S 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 EXCUItSlONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 79 
 
 mosquitoes had gathered upon his naked skin, until at a 
 distance he looked like a hairy ape ; and when he phmged 
 for rehef into the cold water they hovered around, as if 
 well knowing that it was too chilly for him to endure it 
 long, ready to light in clouds upon him as he rose from 
 Its depths. It is fair to say, however, that this was the 
 only occasion upon which we were t"oubled with the 
 pests. In the much longer excursion taken at a later 
 time the mosquito netting with which we provided our- 
 selves was a useless article. Either it was too late in the 
 season or the weather was too cold and stormy, or for 
 some other reason, they did not visit Ikamiut, where we 
 were in camp during the next two weeks. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when we set out upon 
 our return from Nukagpiak, and we were doubtful 
 whether we should reach Sukkertoppeu that night. But 
 our provisions were nearly exhausted, though we had 
 supplemented them by a hearty meal upon the fish pur- 
 chased in the morning. These we had boiled until they 
 were tender and had eaten without seasoning. Bv £ren 
 era! consent, however, it was agreed that, even so, we 
 had never had a more luxurious repast 
 
 ^oT^'n'^'^ """' '"''" ^'^'' ""^ ''' ^^"^^^ ^l^^^t o»r boats 
 wee left a long way from the margin of the fiord and 
 with anything but a smooth channel leading to it. The 
 bou dery bed of the mountain torrent rendered it ex! 
 ccedingly difficult to haul the larger boat down to the 
 water without injuring it; but having accomplished 
 this t^sk, we made all haste to get well on our way before 
 the tide sliould rise and delay us by its incoming, as it 
 had done in the morning by its outgoing current The 
 mosquitoes prove I faithful in their friendship and did 
 not forsake us until v^e were some miles on our way. 
 Such progress was made in the early part of the evening 
 
80 
 
 OKEEWLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 > 
 
 that it WHS thought host to make no stop, and so wo had 
 the pk-asure of again wonding our coiirso througii the 
 ishuuls of tho hay in the middle of the night, when the 
 picturescjue outline of the mountuin peaks arou.id the 
 northern iiorizon was again all aglow with the twilight of 
 the midnight sun. The Miranda vas readied ahout two 
 o'clock in the morning, to find that the captain had 
 determined to start northward as soon as possible. 
 
 After running u])on the reef outside the harbour 
 and returning again to our anchoring place, it was de- 
 cided that it would he necessary to renuiin ten days, at 
 least, at Sukkertoppen, while the kiiyaker. ,vent uj) the 
 coast to llolsteinborg in search of assistance. To relieve 
 our friends in case we were compelled to spend the win- 
 ter in Greenland, all wrote home letters and des[)atched 
 them by kayaks to Ivigtut, about three hundred miles to 
 the south, hoping that they would reach that point be- 
 fore the last ship left for Denmark. The faitlifulness 
 of the messengers is witnessed to by the fact tliat in due 
 time the letters all reached our friends, altliough two 
 months later than our own arrival home. 
 
 As there was no time to be lost, {mother camping 
 party was immediately organized, to be absent from the 
 ship ten days to do what it could in exploring the edge 
 of the inland ice, whi(th comes down into the fiord set- 
 ting back from Ikamiut, twenty miles north of >5ukker- 
 tc^jpen. 
 
 Again the expedition started in the middle of the 
 afternoon. One large boat and two dories were required 
 to carry us and our equipment, while three kayakcrs ac- 
 companied us for our protection and assistance. The 
 swells which came in from tlie southwest were long and 
 high until we reached the lee of a line of islands, in which 
 our guides were careful to keep us as much as possible. 
 
 i 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
82 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 
 We were now passing ^roiigli one of those long chan- 
 nels between tlie pi'^turesque mountains whose vista had 
 so deliglited us on previous days. In due time great 
 glaciers began to look down upon us from the moun- 
 tain heights to the east ; but they paused in their 
 course long before reaching the water level. Near here 
 abroad opening to the ocean displayed itself between 
 the ishinds of 8ukkertoppcn and Sermersut, and permit- 
 ted the swells from two directions to toss us upon their 
 capricious crests. A hard pull now across the mouth of 
 Ikamait Fiord brouglit us late at night, but still amid 
 the splendour of the arctic twilight, to the settle- 
 ment on the point of the promontory at the northern 
 side of the fiord, where it joins the open channel east 
 of the large island of Sermersut. To our unpractised 
 eyes there were no signs of human habitation near, but 
 on rounding a low projection of rocks our ears were 
 greeted with tlie indescribable jargon of a strange dia- 
 lect proceeding from the throats of twenty-five or thirty 
 Eskimos, young and old, who had crawled out from the 
 most miserable-looking human habitations that it is pos- 
 ^ble to miagine But they were friendly voices, and'we 
 
 boats and hauling them to a place of safety, noi- the 
 advice given us as to the most suitable campi ,fg place. 
 
 In the mormng we took more careful note of our 
 ituation, and of the condition of the people who were 
 
 of about three miles, rcse the picturesque eastern face 
 of Sermersut Island to a height of something over four 
 
 strata, and concealing the vast icefields winch cover 
 
 and "J""^^^f -'^ «'°P^ -^ the island. Amid the fogs 
 and rains and snows of the next two weeks this moun- 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 83 
 
 tain outline was destined to fix itself in our memories 
 in innumerable aspects which could never be forgotten. 
 The interest of the scene was enhanced by the squalor 
 of the igloos of the Eskimo in the foreground. Of 
 these there were only three, occupied by twenty-five 
 people. They consisted simply of walls of stone and 
 turf about twenty feet square and three and a half feet 
 
 
 ^- ^/./ /*ip^- 
 
 ■m -^'^ ^ 
 
 ''P^'^msM 
 
 Fio. aa.— A typical igloo. 
 
 high, covered over with ii sliglitly conical turf roof, 
 through whicli, in one or two of the cases, a stovepipe 
 protruded, for use on the occasions when a fire was built 
 in the sheet-iron cylinder which served for a stove in- 
 side; but the turf is usually so wet that most of the 
 time a fire is entirely out of the question. 
 
 The squalid condition of the igloos was partly due 
 to a flood which had swept over the village in tiie spring. 
 How a flood could have risen in such a situation it was 
 
84 
 
 aREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 m ■' 
 
 
 difhcult for us to see, but the fact had to be accented, 
 tor the rums of an igloo in which two or three of the in- 
 mates were drowned was a mute but constant witness to 
 the sad event, and the vivid memories of the poor sur- 
 vivors enabled them to make us understand the story 
 even when told in an unknown language, so expressive 
 were their gestures and pantomimes. In August a small 
 stream of pure water from the melting masses of snow 
 which still lingered in the low, rocky mountain rising 
 above the settlement on the east rushed merrily down 
 past the place, furnishing an unfailing supply fJr sum- 
 mer use. But it seems that when the deep snows were 
 rapidly melting in the spring this channel became so 
 clogged with masses of snow and ice that the water de- 
 serted Its natural bed, and in n manner which seemed 
 incredible rushed directly across the neck of the low 
 peninsula to the opposite side from that of the natural 
 depression. The possibility of such a destructive flood 
 in such a situation gave us an idea of the accumulation 
 of snow in the winter which we could not otherwise have 
 obtained. It would seem that during most of the win- 
 ter the snow is so deep that the igloos entirely disap- 
 pear beneath it. The entrances to them must then have 
 looked still more like burrows than in the summer. 
 
 Notwithstanding this forbidding exterior of the vil- 
 lage, we found the inhabitants the best of neighbours, 
 faithfully practising both the outward observances and 
 the moralities of the Christian religion which had been 
 taugltt them by their Danish protectors. One of their 
 number acted as catechist, and conducted regular Sun- 
 day services in the largest of the igloos, and all the 
 adults could read and write, though their outward garb 
 was the traditional one which had characterized the peo- 
 ple from the earliest times. In another chapter will be 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 85 
 
 found a description both of them and of the Sunday 
 service which it was our privilege here to attend. 
 
 The fiord which we planned to explore extends eight 
 miles inland from the point on which we were encamped, 
 and is from two to three miles wide, though from the 
 clearness of the atmosphere it was difficult to make 
 either of these distances seem half so great. The sol- 
 emn grandeur of the scenery exceeded anything which 
 it had been our privilege elsewhere to behold. The 
 mountains rose on either side to a height of something 
 more than four thousand feet, which, indeed, is not so 
 high as may be found in many other parts of the world ; 
 but the interest is not exhausted in the consideration 
 of any single feature of the scenc>. Opposite to the en- 
 trance of the fiord was the picturesque outline of the 
 peaks capping the island of Sermersut, which alone sepa- 
 rated us from the waters of the cjean, while at the head 
 of the fiord a broad projection from the inland ice-sheet 
 came down on both sides of a high mountain peak to 
 the water's level and broke off into icebergs, which were 
 slowly floating outward toward the sea. 
 
 Nothing could be more striking than the contrast 
 between the opposite sides of the fiord. The flanks of 
 the mountains on the south side, facing the north, were 
 deeply covered with snowfields and furrowed with gla- 
 ciers. Above the snowfields a series of sharp needle-like 
 peaks projected just enough to give savage variety to 
 the scene. On this Hank the local glaciers presented 
 an object lesson most perfect of its kind. A series of 
 glaciers approached the water level at the base of the 
 mountain to distances approxir itely proportionate to 
 that separating them from the ice front at the head 
 of the fiord. Near the entrance was one coming down 
 to within about one thousand feet of the water level. 
 
$6 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ir 
 
 iJ 
 
 r 
 li i 
 
 Farther east was one reaching to within about five hun- 
 dred eet of the level. Farther east, still another came 
 to within about three hundred feet; while still nearer 
 and within about half a mile of the main projection 
 of the ice front was one extending to the water's edge 
 and sending off miniature icebergs to aid in cumbering 
 the waters of the fiord. ^ 
 
 A singular feature of all these glaciers on the slope of 
 the mountain on the south side is that when viewed from 
 the head of the fiord they seem to be much thicker near 
 the bottom of the mountain than they are at the higher 
 part of their levels. This appears in the photograph 
 taken from a point two or three miles back from the 
 front of the glacier which comes in at the head of the 
 fiord 1 rom all these glaciers fragments were occasion- 
 ally breaking off and falling into the water with their 
 customary loud reports, which echoed from cliff to cliff 
 
 Ike the bombardment of a stronghold by modern artil-' 
 Jery. 
 
 The mountains rising from the north side of the 
 fiord and facing the south i)resented a most striking con- 
 trast to those on the south side. Thev were of as great 
 heig^it, and were equally picturesque in their outline, 
 but from them the direct rays of the summer's sun had 
 caused the glaciers to melt and green verdure to spring 
 up wherever any soil was preserved. There were no 
 trees, or shrubs even, but at frequent intervals the rug- 
 ged ribs of rock which form the larger part of the 
 mountain side were interrupted by the richest ima^i- 
 nable masses of green moss and matted blaeberry vines 
 clinging to the sides where to the eye it would seem 
 that everything living must have been swept downward 
 by Its own weight. On nearer approach everv nook and 
 corner was found to be full of most brilliant and beauti- 
 

 EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP GREENLAND. 87 
 
 fill flowers, which had been waiting through countless 
 generations for some visitor to appreciate their signifi- 
 cance and beauty. 
 
 About two thirds of the distance up the fiord there 
 was a favourite haunt of various kinds of birds. At the 
 time of our visit kittiwakes were there in countless 
 numbers. The perpendicular precipices, for a mile or 
 more in length and more than a thousand feet in height 
 were completely covered with their nests wherever there' 
 was a crag upon which they could be built. Indeed the 
 face of the cliffs was white with these birds as they 
 struggled with each other to secure places for temporary 
 rest, while the neighbouring waters were covered with 
 those who were seeking for food or were enjoying the 
 luxury of a cold bath. The firing of our guns would be 
 the signal for the whole colony to rise into the air, when 
 It would seem as if a cloud had suddenly cut us off from 
 the sunlight, while ihe sound of their strange voices, 
 whose note is imitated in their name, filled the air and 
 completed a scene that can not be equalled in interest 
 outside of Greenland. 
 
 With all the apparent unpropitiousness of Nature in 
 this place, there is much to attract the natives, M'ho 
 know how to utilize its advantages. The three requi- 
 sites for the existence and comfort of the native Green- 
 lander are here easily obtained. Fish of various kinds 
 come in their season, and literally wait to be caught in 
 the vicinity of convenient projecting rocks. When we 
 were there it was the season of cod, which could at any 
 time be obtained almost without effort. Native boys, 
 with the most primitive hooks and lines and almost no 
 bait at all, would stand on a rocky projection and draw 
 out from the water enough for a meal in an incredibly 
 short time. Numerous piles of fish which had been 
 
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 KXCUIISIONS ON TIIK COAST OK GliKKNLANI). 89 
 
 dried and .stored uji for lutor mho boloknnod the liberal 
 precautions wiiicli I'lovidoncu has taken to secure suste- 
 nance for the people. 
 
 The birds of which vvc; have spoken, with two or 
 three other kinds (the i)tarnii;ran, tiie auk, and the eider 
 duck), arc easily (!an;,dit and arc; most servic(!able in 
 various ways. A kayak(*r can ^ro out at any tir,ie during 
 the nesting .season aiul load his boat without the aid of 
 lirearnLs. With his noiseless kayak he can ap])roach 
 near enough to the Hocks as they are resting on the 
 water to secure any number with his i)riiuitivc spear 
 pointed 'with sharpened bone. Indeed, he is rather 
 more sure of his game with his sj)ear than ho would be 
 with a gun, for tiie noise of firearms frightens the 
 whole ilock, whereas with his s])ear and kayak he can 
 steal upon them ahnost un])erceived. Large numbers, 
 also, can be obtained from the rocks within reach of the 
 kayaker from his boat. The eggs likewise form no in- 
 signilicant addition to the natives' larder, while the 
 skins furnish them with the warmest of clothing. 'JMiese 
 are tanned with the down and feathers on and sewed 
 together into undergarments or made into quilts with 
 which to defy the rigour of even an arctic winter. 
 
 In due season, also, the various kinds of seal visit 
 these waters, and sui)j)ly the native hunter Avith mate- 
 rial for covering his kayak and umiak, and for making 
 his waterproof boots and trousers, and with abundant 
 fat for his lamp and for his own stomach, made vora- 
 cious by his exposure to the keen storms of winter. Al- 
 together it is not surj)rising that the natives look upon 
 themselves as the special favourites of Providence. At 
 any rate, they seem to receive their gifts more directly 
 from Nature than do the inhabitants of the temperate 
 zones. But this very circumstance leads them to limit 
 
90 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 their etforts to a narrow range of occupations, and 
 
 Two excursions to the liead of the fiord were snecial 
 y notable, both for their results and for the ol „ 
 they furnished to exhibit the characteristics of he 
 Eskimo On the f^rst clear day which oifered we s 
 
 Zu.7 T T''^^' ^'''' "^ ^^' ^''^ ^^ f"» tide and 
 pulled with all our might to reach the island which lies 
 about two miles below the ice front of the main glac / 
 Five were in our dory, two of whom were natives one 
 being the catechist. Another boat similarly ^^ 
 accompanied us, while two or three kayaks wenl Zg 
 
 nTo^t I '"" T' '' P^^^^- '^^^'' ^«^^"^d ^«« reached 
 
 in due time, though it was a longer pull than we sup- 
 posed it ^,,,,, ,, f,^^ ,,^^ ^^^^J^^^^ .^ ^^^ -P 
 
 the full beauty and impressiveness of the scene could be 
 aken in as from no other place. The entire face of the 
 front of the great glacier, two and a half miles wide 
 was exposed from this point, while all the hanging sh- 
 eiers to the south were within near range of our vision 
 and were from time to time favouring us with a display 
 of their power by sending avalanches of ice down the 
 mountain side. After photographing the scenes from 
 every point of view which this enchanting spot pre- 
 sented, we entered our boat to proceed to the vicinity of 
 the ice front. -^ 
 
 But as soon as our Eskimos perceived that we were 
 to go farther in that direction they both struck, and 
 not only declined to use the oars themselves, but refused 
 to allow ns to use them to go in that direction. Their 
 faces vividly showed the real terror they were in, which 
 
 h- 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 91 
 
 was so great that for a time we thought our plan would 
 be completely frustrated. But one of the party, with 
 the little native language at his command, succeeded in 
 persuading the catechist that I was a very great and 
 good man, when suddenly all fears were dispelled and 
 both the natives set to work with right good will, and 
 we were soon landed between the subglacial stream issu- 
 ing from the south side of the great glacier and the 
 upper one of the hanging glaciers which come down 
 from the mountain to the water's edge. It was prob- 
 ably the first time that any of the natives had ventured 
 so far toward the ice front, for they have a deadly ter- 
 ror of it. And, indeed, why should they not have? 
 for there is nothing to induce them to venture so far, 
 since they seem to have absolutely no scientific curiosity,' 
 and there is no game to be pursued upon the surface of 
 the ice. It is little wonder, therefore, that the numer- 
 ous ice falls and the resounding detonations accom- 
 panymg both them and the formation of crevasses fill 
 their minds with dread of the mysterious powers here at 
 work with such mighty effect. 
 
 At a later time we proceeded directly to the same 
 landing place below the southwestern corner of the gla- 
 cier, and had no difficulty in prevailing upon our native 
 helpers to venture to the spot; but upon our deciding 
 to land above the subglacial stream, a little nearer the 
 glacier, there was the same display of terror as before. 
 I had to jump out in my high rubber boots almost to 
 my waist in the ice-cold water, seize the rope, and pull 
 the boat ashore against their most vigorous efforts to 
 push It off with the oars. But when they saw that I 
 had landed without any convulsion of Nature following 
 their fear was allayed, and all hands took hold to draw 
 the boat into a place of safety. 
 
02 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS, 
 
 ^ Ihis, however, wus no easy tnsk, for it was evident 
 :;-om the pieces of ice stranded on the beach that the 
 tide rose very liigh. Tliis being the case, we did net 
 object to having two or three of tlie natives remain by 
 the boats Willie we spent Mie day upon the glacier. And 
 It was well that^they did stay by the stntf, for when we 
 returned at the close of the day the water had risen so 
 as to cover the vast sand bar over which we had hauled 
 our boats and had invaded a considerable portion of the 
 moraine to which we had taken iheni for security; but 
 our dusky conii)anions had been faithful to their trust 
 and had patiently awaited our return and kept the' 
 boats m a place of safety. They had also learned that 
 their ears of the ice when properly approached were 
 groundless. 
 
 For half a mile along the southwest corner of the 
 glacier lie approach to the interior ice is up a gentle 
 slope, which IS deeply covered with morainic material. 
 
 Hvp! ''"\'^^;\1?P'-«'^^^'«<^ ^t '^".y time; but, like the na- 
 t ves, we felt like giving a wide berth to the han.inc. 
 glaciers on the south side of the fiord, and to the twS 
 miles and a half of perpendicular ice froLt which ookd 
 down upon the calm water at its head 
 
 The day upon the glacier was exhilarating in the 
 "r:; /'^^*^;-f "Bering over the crevasses Ld j-n! 
 na es of ice which obstructed our course for the first 
 hal mile, ,ve saw a clear way before us between two 
 medial moraines which came down from a lii^h nuna- 
 tak in the distance. While crossing one of tlitrm:. 
 . ines, picking our way between its vast piles of stones, 
 
 b lu T ! r "'^ '''"'' — i--ed i,s thus fa; 
 
 began to ose heir courage, and in the true native style 
 attempted .0 disguise tlieir real state of mind by calli il 
 attention to their boots, saying that they were "J 
 
fl:i 
 
 94 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ffood, every once in a wliilo utteri.ig this ejuculution 
 and pointing to their iiptnrne.l soles witli u despondent 
 look. Of course wo iuunoured them, and permitted 
 them to sit down witii some of o„r superfluous luggage 
 to guar.]. Hero they remained all day long, apparently 
 not having stirred from their tracks until we hailed 
 them on our return. 
 
 We followed up the vast glacier to the nunniak, which 
 proved to be fully seven miles back from the fiont and 
 to about equally divide the vast ice streams which poured 
 down on either side of it. The total width of the gla- 
 cier we estimated to be here six or seven miles, and at 
 the base of the nunatak we were not far from two thou, 
 sand feet above sea level. Eastward there was nothing 
 but the horizon to obstruct our view. We were looking 
 out ui)on the same snowfields which had greeted our 
 vision from Nukagpiak two weeks before, only now we 
 were on the field itself. Then we had viewed it from 
 the side, at right angles to our present vision. The 
 imagination now came in, with its subtle power, to in- 
 tensify the interest of the occasion. With the mind's 
 eye there was nothing to hinder our looking across the 
 whole vast waste of perpetual snow stretching to the 
 east coast of Greenland. This was verily a part of the 
 inland ice. 
 
 Nor was the interest of the backward glance much 
 less impressive. The glacier a^ the head of Ikamiut 
 I^iord was only half of what was wiMiin our visior The 
 mountain upon the south sid., whose ianging glaciers 
 had so enchanted our vision from our camping place, 
 divided the glacier we were exploring into two nearly 
 equal portions. One half was pouring into the fiord on 
 the south, through whose long vista we could distinctly 
 see the distant islands in the bay of Sukkertoppen. At 
 
 m 
 
EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST OP OREKNLAND. 
 
 95 
 
 various distances along this lionl icol)crg8 glittered in 
 the light of the declining sun, showing that the ice front 
 at the head of that liord was similar to that in the one 
 which we had more particularly investigated. 
 
 As before remarked, these glacic s on the south side 
 were all of them tliicker near the base of the mountain 
 than in their higher levels. Indeed, they seemed to run 
 down like cold tar and to thicken at the base as a stiff 
 semi-fluid would under the action of gravity. Usually 
 the more rapid nujlting at lower levels causes the glacier 
 to thin out near the foot, but here the temperature in the 
 shade is so near the freezing point that the ice melts 
 about as fast near the upper portions of the glaciers as 
 it docs at the base. 
 
 Another phenomenon illustrating the nature of the 
 movement going on in great glaciers was seen here to 
 special advantage. Where the great ice-sheet abutted 
 against the mountain which divided its front into two 
 portions it was pushed up by the momentum of the 
 movement so as to bo two or three hundred feet higher 
 at the base of the mountain than it was a mile back. 
 Indeed, a half mile or so back there was a distinct de- 
 pression in the glacier w"th tho ice higher all around it. 
 It was just such a dei)ression as is made where a current 
 of water is obstructed by some obstacle; the current 
 pushes some distance up the obstruction, and then 
 breaks over the sides to go around it ; but ice, being 
 much less fluid than witci', moves off in larger swells and 
 more gradual curves. 
 
 But even an arctic afternoon has its close. With re- 
 gret we sought our boats and set out on the return, to go 
 again through the magnificent panorama of the morn- 
 ing. The day had been one never to be forgotten. 
 With its pure air making everything clear within the 
 8 
 
11 ^ 
 
 96 
 
 GRE75NLAN0 ICEFJELDS. 
 
 range of vision ; with the eonseiousness that you are 
 
 -^st binp fn 1 / hastening in channels of deep- 
 
 9st Dlue to plunge at lasf wifh .i,,.* • . ^ 
 
 n3: :;:r7''- '^"--'- =;■::: :^,^ 
 
 nutenal for the imagmation to seize upon and work un 
 
 dem «n f^ ? ™ ""'"'' ™'« 0' beautv and gran- 
 
 den, so far beyond the reach of ordinary momls? ' 
 
 . "<> ^^"'*''' "rt'St A. Eiis Cartensen enioved th, 
 Pnv. ege o joining Captain Jensen's snrvej",g party 
 which spent the snmmor of 1884 in the region f„ft be 
 
 a flord ' T"'r'r ."' "• ^ ^'"^'« extracrdeii^ing 
 a fio.d a short distance north of Ik-amint, furnishes a 
 fitting supplement to the descriptions which w^hay: 
 
 " The 23d, at noon, we rested on an island in the en 
 
 Its .drther end. Tliough tlie wliolo length of the fiord 
 was only some twenty-two miles, it surpassed ™ ,hing 
 we had yet seen in bold mountain scenery ^ 
 
 oro,',r "•■" T ','"'"'' *' '"°""' "' "" ™'"''»sc earniy. 
 orons nimal, whose teeth were mountains some four 
 to five thousand feet high. As the boat proceeded the 
 
 pctM e to another seeming to surpass it; but it was 
 after hay,„g landed on the farthermost shore that Z 
 landscape became altogether imposing. The air was 
 
I I 
 
 98 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 f:i 
 
 transparent and calm. In the west the waters merged 
 
 mils, eos, or ishmcls were refloctod as distinctlv hnth 
 m outhno and colour, as the objects they we tt^-r^,^ 
 picture of, forming floating n,„Les whosV tane" 
 the eye .t was impossible to define, looking nea and a^ 
 the same time very far. * "' 
 
 "A green birch forest was in the shadow on the ninin 
 whore onr tent was erected, and beyond that no ,to^ 
 of flic thousand feet rose abrnntly. Their snmn!!? 
 
 uci.|j u.ue Sky, and, as tlioiiffh to remind ii« nf 
 the northern latitude of the snnf fhl ■ . ^""'"^ "^ ^^ 
 
 «wit,,aforcethattn;!;:il^;rel^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 our. A mysterious sound floated in the air It came 
 rom some waterfalls, with clouds of spray flyig ove 
 
 beherZ"""™"' '" *"™- ''•"' ^^™^ havel 
 beheld a place coming nearer to the idea which I im 
 
 agme that onr forefathers entertained at Valhalla iZ 
 «™ the very eternal day of ^^dhaIla, beign dike the 
 fleeting one of earth in that the subdued ifght of mid 
 ngbt heightened the mysterionsness of the ph e I „a 
 
 son. It would have .seemed nothing less th.,., „.t„,.„i 
 
 rt\erzu:fd;'i r"*-™^ -::;irordid 
 
 1 occu, that I suddenly fancied I heard the clash and 
 cades and I had to console myself with the persuasion 
 
 A. Riis Carsteiisen, Two Summers 
 
 in Greenland, ])p. 53, 54. 
 
/^ 
 
 ,.-•*" 
 
 TUK (.'OAST JN DETAIL. 
 
 BKamNiNf, at tl.o soutl.en.n.OHt point of (Jreenland 
 abou iHt.tu.h. 00°, which corresponds to that of C' 
 Chidloy ,n Labrador, and to that of tho Shetland Is- 
 lands (i.nst.an.a, and St. reters),ur^. in Europe, Danish 
 G eenand npon th,. west coast is divided into twelve 
 districts, which we will briefly describe in order • * 
 
 1. JULIANSHAAH extends in a west-n„rthwost direc- 
 ion through five degrees of longitude and one of lati- 
 tude and has about eighteen hundred square miles of 
 territory uncovered by ice. The most of this, however, 
 consists of inaccessible and barren mountains (some 
 of which are fron, four to five thousand feet high), 
 capped with ocal glaciers. Eight or ten fiords extend 
 to the inland ice and receive a few icebergs of small- 
 size, while the glacier to the east of the most northern 
 sound, Ikersuak, is set down by Kink among those of the 
 third class, which sends off a considerable number of 
 bergs. In general, however, the edge of the inland ice 
 IS at a less distance from the sea in this district than in 
 any other for a thousand miles northward. But this 
 does not prevent the vegetation from being more abun- 
 dant and the general conditions from being more favour- 
 
 of Rink ""' ""' '"" "'' '"'"'^^ ^"""^^'"^ ^^'^'^^ "-^^ descriptions 
 
 99 
 
100 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 able to civilized life than thoBc found anywhere else in 
 Greenland. . 
 
 The district of Julianshaab constitutes what was 
 known in the earliest history of Greenland as the Oster- 
 bygd, or Eastern .Settlement, which was so long thought 
 by some to be situated on the east coast. Much useless 
 effort was therefore spent in endeavouring to discover 
 an « eastern settlement," which did not exist. But it is 
 now generally acknowledged that the early Norse settle- 
 ments were here, and that they are now marked by va- 
 rious ruins in the vicinity of the ice front extending 
 through nearly the whole length of the district. Among 
 the most important of the ruins are those along the fiord 
 east of Julianshaab leading to Igaliko, a distance of 
 about twenty-five miles. At Igaliko the ruins are well 
 preserved, and traces of a bridge remain. This is sup- 
 posed to have been a bishop's farm during the flourish- 
 ing condition of the N"orse settlement. A few miles to 
 the north the border is penetrated by Eric's Fiord, 
 along which remains are numerous, eight settlements 
 having been traced, in one of which there are the ruins 
 of a church. Indeed, this locality seems to have been 
 • the most flourishing of all the Norse settlements, and is 
 still capable of supporting a few cattle, there being in 
 all from thirty to forty horned cattle, one hundred goats 
 and twenty sheep here at the present time, but during 
 the Norse settlements there is the record of a consider- 
 able dependence upon cows and sheep for the means of 
 sustenance. 
 
 This district contained in 1870 a population of 
 twenty-five hundred and seventv, distributed into be- 
 tween fifty and sixty settlements, the largest of which 
 contained two hundred and twentv-three, but nearly all 
 of them less than one hundred. About one thousand 
 
 I 
 
 *:y 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 101 
 
 in 
 
 *:^ 
 
 of the natives belong to Moravian communities, whose 
 central station is Lichtenau. This district is reported 
 by Eink to yield about three hundred tons of oil and 
 four thousand seal skins annually, and to furnish one 
 third of the fox skins exported from Greenland. The 
 most southern Moravian settlement is at Frederiksdal, 
 which was established in 1824 for the sake of reaching 
 the few heathen Eskimos from the eastern coast which 
 annually come as far as this for trade. It was here that 
 the crew of the Hansa ejided their memorable journey 
 along the east coast in the year 1870.* Frederiksdal is 
 within two hours' walk of the most southern point of 
 Greenland, Cape Farewell being on an island about 
 thirty miles off the coast. 
 
 2. The Feederikshaab district extends from about 
 latitude (51° to G2° 30', the border running a little west 
 of north. Tiie average width of the land uncovered by 
 ice is about thirty miles, and the highest mountains run 
 up to four thousand feet, these being the ones sighted 
 by us on August 3d. At both the southern and the 
 northern end of this district the interior ice comes down 
 almost to the open sea. In the southern part there are 
 enormous precipices facing the sea, which, with the ab- 
 sence of interior channels, makes it difficult for small 
 boats to pass from the south. According to Rink, there 
 are seven fiords in this district through which the inland 
 ice reaches the water, one of the glaciers being of the 
 second magnitude, and another of the third. 
 
 The population numbers about eight hundred, dis- 
 tributed in fifteen settlements, only one of which, Fred- 
 erikshaab, has more than one hundred. Ivigtut is noted 
 for its cryolite mines, which are chiefly worked by Eu- 
 
 * See page G2. 
 
Ii ^ 
 
I 
 
 THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 103 
 
 •a 
 
 V 
 
 t 
 
 J3 
 
 n 
 
 a 
 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 ropeans, and the larger part of the products exported to 
 Philadelphia. Between Ivigtiit and Fi MJerikshaab trav- 
 eling by small boats is pre-eminently dangerous, both on 
 account of the unsheltered coTulition of the shore and 
 of the great number of icebergs which come out of Nar- 
 salik Fiord. The Frederikshaab ice blink forms the 
 northern boundary of this district. The inland ice 
 here projects in a tongue several miles wide over a low 
 strip of land almost to the open sea, being separated 
 from it only by its own terminal moraine, which is in- 
 tersected by numerous streams of water which issue 
 from beneath the glacier, and find their way to the sea 
 by whatever course they can. This also is a difficult 
 place to pass in a small open boat. It was up this por- 
 tion of the inland ice that Lars Dalager set out upon 
 his expedition toward the east Greenland coast in 1751, 
 but only succeeded in reaching some nunataks about 
 twenty miles from the shore. On the horizon were still 
 other mountains, which he was unable to reach, and 
 which he supposed might be on the eastern shore. It 
 was not until 18T8 that this illusion was dispelled. In 
 that year Jensen and Kornerup visited them, and found 
 them to be simply isolated mountain peaks rising from 
 a boundless waste of glacial ice. ^'any interesting facts 
 concerning these nunataks will appear in a later chap- 
 ter, giving a more detailed account of the exploration 
 of the inland ice. 
 
 But while upon the subject, a few words may here 
 well be added concerning Hoist's observations along the 
 border of the Fredcrikshaab ice blink. Dr. Hoist, of 
 Stockholm, in the summer of 1880 skirted the whole 
 coast from Siikkertoppen to Ivigtut in a small boat, 
 making many important observations which had escaped 
 the eyes of other explorers. Among the most significant 
 
104 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 \ 
 
 ! 
 
 of theso was the d,,covcry ot « moraine abo„t twelve 
 m.les long and from half a mile to mo.-e than a mUe 
 m w.dh extending along the southern side of le 
 great g ae.er where it apjn-oaehes the sea. This Lea 
 muss of morainic material still rest, „,,on ice w Lf hi 
 not yet thawed away, but which has „> lte,l so no at 
 hat .t presents a ren.arkable series of hills a,^ v le I 
 My or n,ore feet high, while the moraine covering 1 
 not average more than one or two feet in thieknesf.' 
 
 fhe ,co bhnk ,„ this region, can be seen far out 
 o sea, and presents a more imposing appearance than 
 
 tne far north. Ihe slope is here so gradual and fl,» 
 monnta,n chain along the border so fntuptod t a 
 here >s nothmg to interfere with the vision^ so tha 
 the eye .s permitted to wander over the ic -cove "d 
 slope to the very limit of the horizon 
 
 the il?, ■ "'" '""*'''"' P'"-' "«> distance to 
 
 the mland ice is not great, but gradnallv increases to 
 about seventy miles in the extreme north. The coast 
 .s everywhere bordered by numerous islands, wWe 
 afford protection to small boats as thev naviJate he 
 waters Several large fiords penetrate the b rd rland 
 to the mland ice. The one known as Baal's Ser at 
 whose mouth the town of Godthaab is situated tea 
 length of seventy-five miles, and branches off „ o ev! 
 eral mmor fiords, each of which ends in a glacier o con- 
 siderable s,.e, and furnishes its quota of small iceber." 
 The current which eharaeteri.es the river, ho vever^^ 
 not so much due to the supply of water frim he sub 
 glacial streams as to the effect of the tide. 
 
 * See American Xaturalist, vol. xxii, |,. 707. 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 106 
 
 To the north of tliis inlet the land is much lower 
 than upon the south, and affords much good pasturing 
 ground for reindeer. 8outh of the fiord the islands risp 
 to a height of four tliousand feet in the near vicinity, 
 but gradually diminish in prominence at greater dis- 
 tances. Nansen, in his famous journey across southern 
 Greenland, came out at the head of Ameralik Fiord, 
 which reaches the ocean a little south of Baal's Kiver! 
 Sadlen Mountain, or the Saddleback, near Godthaab, is 
 one of the most conspicuous landmarks along the coast, 
 being distinctly visible on a clear day from Sukkertop-' 
 pen, sixty-five or seventy miles away. 
 
 The population of the Godthaab district is about one 
 thousand, distributed in fourteen settlements, no one of 
 which has one hundred and fifty inhabitants, though 
 Godthaab is the capital of southern Greenland, where, 
 besides the ofncials, there are both Danish and Moravian 
 missionaries, and a seminary for the instruction of na- 
 tive catechists and teachers. Here, also, is the residence 
 of the royal inspector and the physician of southern 
 Greenland. Along the inner portion of Baal's River, 
 thirty or forty miles back from the sea, there are numer- 
 ous ruins of the early Norse settlements ; this, in fact, 
 being the Westerbygd, or the Western Settlement of the 
 early historians. Here there were reported to have been 
 ninety farms and two churches ; but from the small size 
 of the ruins of the houses— none of them being larger 
 than sixteen by forty feet— it is probable that the inhab- 
 itants could only have been a few hundred. Here, also, 
 as in tlie Eastern Settlement and elsewhere on the west- 
 ern coast, the climate is much milder in the vicinity of 
 the ice border than on the coast itself. The islands 
 along the coast for forty miles north of Godthaab are 
 favourite resorts of the eider duck, and they are so situ- 
 
Km 
 
 i 
 
 (iUKENLAND ICKFlELDS. 
 
 atod us to oolloct an unn.,utlly large amot.nt of drift- 
 
 •"'•'"i^"";^- -»> tlu, prosi,erity of the native popula 
 tion so niiu'h dopondh I'oi'uia. 
 
 t ow CO 00 lt>, lu-OHcntmn: tiroiiHiont ifo 
 wLolo length u lino of precipitous and lofty 1 1 ll 
 «on.e of then, rising to a height of fonr th on d f ' ' 
 
 Z:ZliV'7 !'' J ''''''''' ^' ^^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 o... hold, penetrate the border to the inland ice 
 -".eiy Isortok, Ikan.int, K.ngerdlngsuatsil ml' 
 Kangerdngsnak, each extending a distance of f om 
 forty to hlty n.iles back from the sea * 
 
 The i)op,dation of the district is about ei^ht hnn- 
 dm , distributed in six settlements, of which t^Lrg't 
 -hukKertoppen, containing about fonr hundredlis 
 also the largest in (Jreenland. This district is ol o 
 the most favoure.1 for the capture of codfish and the 
 CO loetion o eider down. The reindeer pastures, a" 
 He former V among the most important in Oreenland 
 Ihe South Stromhord, which forms the northern bound- 
 ary of the district of Sukkertoppen, is chanu-terized by 
 tidal cun-ents of great violence, rendering it almost im- 
 possible for boats to cross except at the turn of the 
 tide. I seeins also to be a barrier to the migration of 
 he sa.ldleback seals, which are much more numerous 
 to the south of it than to the north. 
 
 ..o'V^^'T"' •"'"''"' '•'^'"'^' i'^'O"' I'ttitude CGMO'to 
 07 40 , and comprises a portion of the outskirts which 
 
 * Like Hll Eskimo names, these are si-niflcant. Is<^o7n.eaii8 
 f -fo'- ••--.•K-0,1, .. havin. uuuUy water " : Fka.niut, " an un 
 heltered hay. An.lher na.ne tor tl.is second inlet is ^panuut 
 nS^'^:'^;'""f ''""'^^^"""* "^ ^'^ loomerieflure:;;^ 
 
 bou de hv " ""'"'^^ '""^ ^'''''^^ ^«^-^l« f^r florals 
 
 Dounded by stcej) promontories. 
 
from 
 
 O 
 t 
 
 M 
 
 a 
 
 Li 
 f 
 
 a 
 
 J3 
 
 s 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 
 a 
 
 4 
 
108 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 fll 
 
 Tnv 'tr K '"' ""' ™"'' """^ ""= '"'"«' ice than 
 any other be,„g about eighty ™iles upon the average 
 
 tanre I' ''"'^f^' '"^^'^ i"l-»d «« a considerable to- 
 tanee, but not far enough to reacli the ice ean. The 
 .urface of the country is much lower than that farther 
 outh, and ,u orn,er times furnished the best of all Z. 
 tures m Greenland for the reindeer. North StrOmflord 
 which bounds .t upon the north, extends through to the' 
 
 „„/«» ^T!"^!"" »' 'I'" 'lisfiet is about five hundred 
 and fifty, distributed in nine settlements. The village 
 of Holstetnborg ,s just within the arctic circle, and fts 
 harbot,r,s one of the best upon the Greenland coa 
 there bemg hcve a beach upon which ships ean runin 
 h'gh tide and undergo repairs when the tide is out 
 Holstemborg IS the most southern point where the con' 
 
 profitable, is now alm.,,.t wholly abandoned. 
 
 north rTT'?''\ " "" ■""^' ^°""'^"' "'•''"''' of 
 north G.eenland, and extends from latitude 67° 40' to 
 
 JJiseo Bay, a distance of about sixty miles. In character 
 
 the country is much like that of Holsteinborg, b 
 
 m re c„t up by fiords, which are separated from .c 
 
 other by portages so short that umiaks ean easilv he 
 
 transported by inlan.l passages from north tr J,th 
 
 Aulatsiv-ik Fiord reaches the inland ice at the noin 
 
 ssJ^ihZ'Tr- "'. "'" ^'"'"'' '^ "'"'"' ""^ thou. 
 
 sand, d tribnted m twenty-two settlements. [„ the 
 winter there is good dog-sledging along the edge o 
 D.SCO Bay, which greatly facilitates communication. 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 109 
 
 Eider ducks are here specially abundant, and codfish 
 and halibut are caught in large quantities, while the 
 walrus is by no means infrequent. 
 
 7. Christianshaab occupies the narrow strip of 
 coast around the southeast angle of Disco Bay, extend- 
 ing as far north as Jakobshavn. 
 
 The width of the land in this district is only be- 
 tween twenty and thirty miles, while the highest moun- 
 tains here are not over fourteen hundred feet, making 
 it the easiest point from which to reach the inland ice. 
 Vegetation is peculiarly luxuriant throughout this dis- 
 trict, notwithstanding the proximity both of the coast 
 and the inland ice. But Disco Bay is so narrow that it 
 may almost be reckoned as a fiord, giving to this region 
 the climatic conditions of the inner portion of the " out- 
 skirts" farther south. 
 
 The population of the district is about five hundred, 
 distributed in eight settlements, of which Claushavn,' 
 the largest, has one hundred and twenty-seven. The 
 catch of seal is here obtained almost wholly amid the 
 large icebergs which come out from the Jakobshavn 
 Crlacier. The settlement at Christianshaab was made 
 by a son of Hans Egede in 1734. The house built by 
 him IS still inhabitable, and is situated at the foot of a 
 hill which is said "in July to be beautifully covered 
 with blue and yellow flowers," while crowberries and 
 blaeben-ies are abundant even up to a height of over a 
 thousand feet above the sea. 
 
 8. Jakobshavn extends from the fiord of that 
 name to the fiord of Torsukatak, latitude 70°, and lies 
 wholly in the rear of Disco Island. The population num- 
 bers a little over four hundred, distributed in ten settle- 
 ments. Seal are especially abundant in Jakobshavn 
 *iord, through which there is a constant procession of 
 
no 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 great icebergs from the magnificent glacier at its head. 
 Ihis IS the glacier which was studied so carefully by 
 Helland lu the summer of 1875, and whose motion in 
 the central part he found to be about sixty-five feet per 
 day. One iceberg observed by Helland in Jakobshavn 
 Fiord rose three hundred and ninety-six feet above the 
 vvater. The annual amount of ice carried awav in the 
 
 2,900,000,000 and 5,800,000,000 cubic metres. The 
 calving of these bergs is one of the most impressive 
 scenes which it is possible to imagine. We quote a con- 
 densed account by Helland : 
 
 " Without any previous indication, a tremendous 
 roaring noise was heard, while at the same time a white 
 dust was seen to rise and a large piece of the glacier 
 was detached from its outer edge, which, after hav- 
 mg rolled for some moments in the water, reared its 
 edge in the air, but almost instantly the pinnacle top of 
 tins edge burst asunder and crumbled while falling, 
 .he calving having thus commenced, it was instantly 
 followed by a much larger piece being detached and 
 issuing from the middle part of the glacier at the rate 
 of one metre per second. Bnt the extensive bonleverse- 
 menfs which now ensued made it impossible to discern 
 the number and size of the larger bergs which were 
 formed out of this portion of the glacier, because clouds 
 of dust now arose in different places, and the floating 
 bergs in the vicinity were also put in motion, rolling 
 and calving. It was more than half an hour before the 
 whole scene again was calm and the thundering noise 
 whicli had accompanied the disturbances had sub- 
 sided. * 
 
 * See Rink's Danish Greenland, p. 364, 
 
• 
 
 THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 Ill 
 
 9. GouiuvN comprises the soutliern and western 
 slK.res of Diseo Isl.uul, and its principal trading station 
 olhcal ly known also as Godhavn, bnt called by the eZ 
 l.sh sailors L.evely, is the point most freqncntly visited 
 
 Ihe island of Disco contains an area of about two then- 
 and square miles, the most of which is a tableland tZ 
 two housa.,d to four thousand feet above the sea and 
 enveloped n, perpetual snow and ice. This area s Lie! 
 ly covered with beds of basalt and san.Istone, great lyl 
 contras with the rocks of southern Greeni;,^, which 
 a e who, y g,,„„i,i„ i„ y,^;,. ^^^^^^^^^ E.vtensi e 
 o± coal also occur. 
 
 mJ\' r.^f'f '"^ """'^'"^ ''^''''^ *^^« ^^"nJred and 
 fifty distributed in seven settlements. There are but 
 few harbours on the island, and in winter the bay is not 
 frozen over with suificient permanence to render sledd- 
 ing at all safe, making the isolation extreme during 
 that portion of the year. ^ 
 
 10. RiTENBEXK occupies both sides of Waigat 
 Strait, which separates Disco Island from Kugsifak 
 Peninsula on the north. The land upon this penin- 
 sula rises to a height of seven thousand feet, and the 
 Uaigat IS bordered upon both sides by precipitous walls 
 trom three thousand to four thousand feet high The 
 population numbers about four hundred and fifty dis 
 tributed in eight settlements. At the extreme end of 
 Migsuak Peninsula there is situated the only ancient 
 Aorse ruin in north Greenland. It is of stone, about 
 ten feet long and six feet broad, and is built with a skill 
 tar greater than any ever attained by the Eskimos. 
 
 The highest mountains of western Greenland are 
 found in the vicinity of Disco and IJmanak, and the 
 rocks are of much more recent geological formation 
 
112 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 •■I 
 
 than in the southern part, including extensive areas of 
 sandstone, shale, and basalt of Cretaceous and Tertiary 
 age. Over this area the mountain masses, reaching a 
 height of five thousand feet, are tabular in form and 
 rise to their summits by a series of terraces. Granitic 
 rocks in some instances occur ai the base, but in the 
 sandstone strata the edges of extensive coal beds appear. 
 In these, many trunks of tall trees, according to Rink, 
 " are still standing upriglit, with the remains of their 
 roots inserted in the very soil that gave growth to them. 
 . . . Perfect and complete impressions of leaves have 
 been discovered in abundance in the surrounding rocks. 
 Fruits, seeds, and even remains of insects are among 
 these striking proofs of an ancient flora and fauna 
 which to all ;appearances must have required a climate 
 like that of middle Europe at the present day. The 
 coal beds also afford a striking evidence of the igneous 
 origin of the superincumbent trap which on bursting 
 out made its way through tlie said deposits. The coal 
 IS distinctly seen to have been altered in various de- 
 grees by the heat from the melted masses. In one 
 instance a small trap eruption crosses and spreads over 
 a thin coal bed for some extent. The coal in immedi- 
 ate contact with the volcanic rock was found to be total- 
 ly deprived of its volatile bituminous ingredients and 
 changed into coke. In another place a coal bed was 
 found converted into antliracite; and, lastly, a most re- 
 markable bed of graphite has been discovered which 
 leaves no doubt of its having originated in the same 
 way, the hoatmg and metamorphosing action having 
 here reached a higher degree of intensity." * 
 
 The basalt beds in this region, occupying an area of 
 
 Danish Grceiiliuul, pp. 77, 78. 
 
 y I 
 
I 
 
 THE COAST IN DETAIL, 
 
 113 
 
 about five thousand square miles, are mostly horizontal 
 and from fifty to one liundred feet in thickness, and are 
 separated from each other by sheets of reddish clay and 
 tufa containing angular fragments of lava. It is this 
 alternation of structure which occasions the terraced 
 appearance of the mountain sides of the region. Ac- 
 cording to Rink also, these volcanic rocks » show a series 
 of varieties gradually passing from the granular or crys- 
 talline to a more compact basaltic texture, with a tend- 
 ency at the same time to become vesicular or even 
 spongy, so as to assume the appearance of true lava "* 
 
 Geologically the coal beds of Greenland are much 
 later than the Carboniferous period. The accompany, 
 ing plants indicate that some of them belong to the 
 Upper Cretaceous and others to the Middle Tertiary 
 (Miocene). " Of the first, two subdivisions have been 
 observed, of which the lower contained fifty-six species 
 of plants, among which nineteen are ferns and nine 
 cycadea3. The Tertiary group is most beautifully dis- 
 played at Atanekerdluk (mainland, 70° north latitude) 
 the number of species determined amounting to one 
 hundred and sixty nine. The sandstone beds with their 
 subordinate beds have a thickness of several hundred, ris- 
 ing even to two thousand, but not exceeding twenty-five 
 hundred feet. In following them along the shores they 
 are not always found to contain coal beds, but always 
 layers of claystone and slate. Large pieces of fossil 
 wood are scattered over the Asakak Glacier near Uma- 
 nak." f 
 
 The Tertiary beds in this region bear striking wit- 
 ness to the changes of climate which the region has ex- 
 perienced, and to the fact that there is a lineal connec- 
 
 * Oaiiish Greenland, p. JSO. 
 
 f Ibid., pp. ;}84, 3S5. 
 
■' H 
 
 114 
 
 (i'iEENLAND ICEPIEriDS. 
 
 1) ' 
 
 tion behvoon the present flora of the north temperate 
 /one am the ancient arctic Hora of Greenland. Durin<r 
 tl'0"nd(lle, portion of the Tertiary period the climate of 
 north (.roenland corresponded closely with that which 
 now exists ,n Virginia and Nortii Carolina. As enu- 
 merated by Asa dray, the familiar plants found in these 
 beds comp...o "magnolias, sassafras, hickories, gum 
 trees our xan.ical southern cypress (for all we can see 
 of diflerence), and especially sequoias-not only the two 
 winch obviously answer to the two big trees now pecul- 
 iar to California, but several others; thev equally com- 
 prise trees now peculiar to Japan and\;i,ina-three 
 kinds of gingko trees, for instance, one of them not 
 evi.lently distinguishable from tiie Japan species which 
 ulone survive^. We have evidence not merely of pines 
 and maples, birches, lindens, and whatever characterize 
 the temperate-zone forests of our era, but also of partic 
 nlar species of these so like those of our own time and 
 country that we may fairly reckon them as ancestors of 
 several of ours." * 
 
 11. Umanak is the district occupying the peninsu- 
 las and islands surroumling the broad fiord or bay of 
 that name, and which extends from about ;o° 45' to" 71" 
 45'. Into this bay two glaciers of the first magnitude 
 pour their vast volumes of ice, which is increased by 
 that of several others of smaller magnitude. The gen- 
 eral character of Nugsuak Peninsula upon the south is 
 like that of Disco Island, basalt and sandstone abound- 
 ing on the high table-lands. The bay of Umanak affords 
 the best opportunities for seal hunting anywhere along 
 the coast. The number of inhabitants is about eight 
 hundred, distributed in fifteen settlements. In winter 
 
 * Scientific Papers of Asa Gray, vol. ii, p. 237, 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 115 
 
 gum 
 
 the water is frozen over, so that travel by clog sledges is 
 safe, roiulering that season of the year by no means 
 undesirable. 
 
 Unianak Fiord furnishes a good proportion of the 
 icebergs which lind their way south with the Labrador 
 current. 
 
 1^. Ui'KKNrvrK extends from Umanak Fiord to 
 Tasiusak, latitude 73" 24', the most northern trading 
 poi'iL in Danish Greenland. The peninsula Swarte- 
 Huk, comprising the larger part of the territory, is but 
 little known. In the vicinity of the settlement of Uper- 
 nivik the inland ioe comes down to the water in a mag- 
 nificent glacier, which was found by the Swedi^V survey- 
 ors to be moving in the month of August at the rate of 
 a hundred feet per day. In winter the sun is seventy- 
 nine days below the horizon in this latitude, and there 
 is no communication with the outside world except by a 
 single ship in the summer and a single sledge post 
 wiiich comes up from Umanak Fiord in winter. 
 
 From Upernivik to Cape York in a direct line is 
 about two hundred and fifty miles, but following the 
 shores of Melville Bay, forming the two other sides of 
 the triangle, the distance is nearly twice as great. This 
 part of Greenland is almost as little explored and as 
 difficult of approach as that in the extreme north. Ev- 
 crywhere the ice seems to come down to the water's 
 edge, and the ice pack in the bay is so iridgular in move- 
 ment that it is the great terror of navigators. The 
 IJevil's Thumb is a peculiar 1 tadmark in the vicinity of 
 Tasiusak, two thousand or three thousand feet high, 
 which is usually the last land seen until the promontory 
 of Cape York comes into view, in about latitude 7G°. 
 So far as known, the shores of Melville Bay are uninhab- 
 itable both to men and to animals. 
 
116 
 
 ■' 11 
 
 nf ^k 
 
 GRKKNLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 m Smith ho and, numerous bays indent tlie coast and 
 areas of considerable extent are free from snow n sum' 
 
 o"Xe " A '''' ""' ^"'" ''''' ^'^"^^^^ -^ ^^^^ 
 existence. Accompanying these, and depending largely 
 
 whom mT; '" '1 '"' '"^'"^^ '"^^^^'^" ^«^-"-' «'o t 
 whom 1 itt e was known until Kane's contact with them 
 
 much save his party from destruction. Subsequent 
 
 Inglefield (lulf, setting back into the interior from 
 \\hale Sound, between latitude 77° and 78°, has been 
 he centre from which Peary has set out upon his expe- 
 clitions for the survey of the northern co^fst of Green. 
 Jand In general this gulf is bordered by promontories 
 orje thousand or two thousand feet in' height, f-om 
 v^hose ase the snow melts off in summer; but a^ seven 
 01 eigh points the coast line is interrupted by fiordlike 
 cepressions through which projections Lm t'he inl d 
 ice reach the water level and send off a limited numbe 
 small icebergs. The most of these glaciers, howev^^ 
 are very sluggish in their movements as compared with 
 those in southern Greenland. 
 
 irumboldt Glacier, discovered by Kane, enters Kane 
 Basin beyond Smith Sound, its perpendicular front oc- 
 cupying nearly the- whole space between latitude 79° 
 an a) In Peary s first expedition from Inglefield 
 Guf he encountered considerable difficultv from the 
 
 ritipr 1 .' /'"^' '''"''" ^'"' '' ""'^^ '^'' Humboldt 
 Glacier that his progress was obstructed by the ere 
 
 vasses occasioned by the movement of ice toward it To 
 
 "iTl T 'f'"'^-'^" ""^' '^"■^''^"•- '"^" ^'^" "^terior, 
 wliere he Jiad no more trouble. 
 
 "4. 
 
Tin-: COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 117 
 
 Ljirge glaciers come into Kennedy Channel through 
 Petermann's Fiord, in latitude 81°, and others still 
 larger into Sherard Osborne Fiord, in latitude 8•i^ 
 
 In 1883 Lockvvood and IJrainard, of (ireely's j)arty, 
 reached the highest point yet attained by any one, in 
 latitude 83° 34', but at a season of the year when little 
 could be determined concerning the nature of the coun- 
 try. Lieutenant Peary in 1803, however, after making 
 a journey of five hundred miles across the inland ice in 
 midsummer, came down upon the northeastern coast of 
 Greenland, in latitude 83°, longitude 40° west from 
 Greenwich, and surveyed the coast for a distance of 
 seventy or eighty nales. He found conditions very 
 similar to those in southern Greenland, namely, a line 
 of promontories, rising in some cases to thirty-five hun- 
 dred feet, between which there were numerous depres- 
 sions down which great glaciers were moving nortliward 
 into open water. This he called Independence Bay, 
 which was bordered upon the north by a long stretch of 
 high land free from snow upon the 4th of July. The 
 Academy Glacier, moving northward into this bay, is 
 several miles in width, and debouches into the water with 
 all the characteristics of the glaciers described in Disco 
 Bay and Umanak Fiord. On this northern border of 
 Greenland, in midsummer, Peary was greeted by the 
 sight of gj'oo 1 grass and beautiful flowers and butterflies, 
 and of herds of musk oxen revelling in the luxuriance ; 
 and while lying down upon this carpet of beauty to rest, 
 in the middle of the day, his ears were greeted with the 
 familiar buzz of the bumblebee and the less pleasant 
 hum of swarming mosquitoes, and this within five hun- 
 dred miles of tiie north pole. 
 
 As already said, the east coast of Greenland is much 
 more inaccessible and much less known than the west 
 
118 
 
 OIIKENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 
 coast. In 1833 Scoresby tonclied upon the cast coast 
 
 between latitude 74° and 75°, but it was not until 
 
 18*0 tliat any consideral)ie extent of that part of it 
 
 was explored. During that year Koldewey reached 
 
 tape Bismarck, about latitude 77°, and continued his 
 
 course as far down as Capo Brewster, latitude 70°. No 
 
 Eskimos were found along tliis portion of the coast, but 
 
 numerous remains of deserted igloos occurred in various 
 
 places, and large herds of musk oxen and reindeer were 
 
 seen. Franz Josef Fie d penetrates the interior for 
 
 nearly one liundred miles, and twenty or thirty miles 
 
 farther westward Petermann's Peak rises from the icy 
 
 waste to a height of about eleven thousand feet, being 
 
 the highest mountain yet discovered in Greenland. 
 
 From latitude 70° to G5= scarcely anything is known 
 
 of the condition of the border. The Spitzbergen ice 
 
 pack IS here so dense along the Greenland coast that 
 
 access to the shore has never been obtained. Slight 
 
 glimpses of it were obfained by the crew of the Ilansa 
 
 as they drifted past it upon the ice in the winter of 
 
 1870, but nobody has succeeded in actually explor- 
 ing it. ■^ ^-^i^iw 
 
 From Cape Dan to Cape Farewell the coast is better 
 known, having been explored in 1838 by Cai^tain W \ 
 Graah of the I)..nish Royal Navy, who was despatched 
 ilnther to search for relics of the lost colonies in the 
 East Bygd, which was then s.-nposed to have been lo- 
 cated upon that part of the coast. 
 
 _ Captain Graah, setting out from Frederiksdal earlv 
 in the spring, with native help succeeded in reachini. 
 Dannebrogs Island (latitude G5° 15) late in August^ 
 only a short distance south of Cape Dan; but the sea- 
 son was so far advanced that he was compelled to spend 
 the winter upon the coast, which he did at Nukarvik 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 119 
 
 (latitude 03° 15'). Little has since been learned in 
 mklition to (J mail's account, though in 1884 Captain 
 Holm reached Angrnagsalik, a short distance north of 
 Cape Dan, and spent the winter there with a colony of 
 heatlien Eskiinos. Still later, Nansen, when releasee! 
 from the floe ice, went over a portion of the same terri- 
 tory to find a suitable starting point for his famous 
 journey across southern Greenland in 1888. From the 
 description of these explorers it appears that the eastern 
 coast has a much narrower belt free from ice than the 
 western has, and is capable of supporting a much small- 
 er population. There are now about five hundred Eski- 
 mos along this coa^t, and it would not seem possible for 
 the number to be materially increased. All these ex- 
 plorers report an absence of re.ndeer from the region, 
 and, indeed, a total ignorance of the animal on the jiart 
 of the natives. This portion of the coast is beset with 
 floe ice the whole year round, but does not seem to be 
 much more encumbered with glaciers reaching the sea 
 than is the west coast, the most formidable of these be- 
 ing Puisortok, about latitude G3°— a glacier presenting 
 about the same appearance to Graah as it did to iMnusen 
 sixty years later. 
 
 Graah's description of the coast about the sound of 
 Ekalluniiut, where he wintered in latitude G3° 30', is 
 worthy of reproduction. 
 
 "August 30. The place we now were at was the 
 Ekallumiut so often mentioned. The cove, the length 
 of which is between one and two cable lengths, has on 
 both sides of it, but particularly on the eastern, fields of 
 considerable extent covered with dwarf willows, juniper- 
 berry, black crakeberry, and whortleberry heath, the 
 first-named growing to the height of two feet, and the 
 whole interspersed with a good many patches of a fine 
 
120 
 
 OUEKXLAND ICEFIKLDS. 
 
 of Ihl ^ /""' '^'''^'^ "^ ^^'' imrnediuto vicinity 
 
 of the brooks an,] rivulet, that in grout number an 
 own the sides of the hill and intersected the 3 land 
 m every direction. At the bottom of the cove s tr t l.es 
 an extensive valley, through which runs a s r n 
 
 tot die ;" ^"'"'« --^> d-n 
 
 to the valley fjon, the height in the background. On 
 
 It uas far from being, in many places, of a height fit for 
 
 aZZ; H '"' 'r '''' ^^'^^' ^''^'^ ^••- - mo 
 cort 1 ? '"^"^^r '^^^' J'^^'^^^^P^' ">«"g the whole 
 coast, does not seem calculated to furnisli winter fodder 
 
 for any considerable number of cattle. Various flowers 
 among which was the sweet-smelling lychnis, everyXe 
 adorned the fields. The clitfs recede to a'dista^:^ 
 
 om two liumh-ed to three hundred paces from the sea, 
 r Mng hen, however, almost perpendicularly far bevond 
 the ordinary iieight, the clouds seeming to rest upon 
 their snow-clad summits. Rock and ice^lidesIreTe" 
 events of frequent occurrence. Down a ravine on the 
 southwest side of the cove, particularly, huge masses of 
 ce were every moment precipitated, crumbling in their 
 fa I to dust and accompanied with a noise like thunder. 
 At this really beautiful spot the natives of the country 
 round assemble for a few days during their brief sum- 
 nier to feast upon the char, that are to be got here in 
 great plenty and of great size, the black crakeberry and 
 angelica, and to lay in a stock of them for winter use 
 and give themselves up to mirth and merrymaking.' 
 This evening they collected together in a body of sonte 
 two hundred or two hundred and fifty persons and be- 
 gan by torchlight their tamboureen dance, a festivity to 
 
THE COAST IN DKTAfL. 
 
 121 
 
 wliicli I was invited by frequent niossuges sent mo dur- 
 ing the niglit, but in which I was prevented by a slight 
 attack of fever from tailing part." * 
 
 Of the general clinuitic conditions in soutliwesttrn 
 Ciroenland Dr. Iletjry Rink has given us a very com- 
 I)relien8ivo account. According to him, a short distance, 
 in progressing from the extreme border to tiie irdand 
 ice, produces a great climatic change. In almost every 
 day of summer, when the weather is warm and suniiv 
 along tl e outer shore, the temperature will suddenly 
 fall to within two or three degrees of the freezing point. 
 But this change does not usually extend farther into the 
 interior, briglit suiishine continuing to characterize a 
 considerable belt of country bordering the ice cap. 
 Dense clouds encompass the headlands only to be dis- 
 solved within two or three miles of the border. To pass 
 into the interior at this time of year is to change from 
 winter to summer. In the winter, however, conditions 
 are reversed, the temperature being much lower in the 
 interior portions of the border than along its outer edge, 
 the difference being more than ten degrees in favour'of 
 the oceanic border. 
 
 The mean temperature at Julianshaab, near Cape 
 Farewell, is 33° F., while that at Upcrnivik is 13°, a dif- 
 ference of twenty degrees ; but the average summer tem- 
 perature at Upcrnivik is only ten degrees below that of 
 Juhanshaab, the former being 38° and the latter 48^ In 
 winter, however, there is an average difference of twenty- 
 seven degrees, namely, T at Upcrnivik and 20° at J 
 hanshaab. Thus it appears that the climatic conditions 
 in southern Greenland are remarkably uniform, the 
 
 (I 
 
 i 
 
 * Gniiili's Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of 
 Greenland, pp. IOC, 107. 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 123 
 
 ■a 
 
 CO 
 
 s 
 
 ce 
 
 
 8S 
 d 
 
 winters being less severe than one would have sup- 
 posed, while the summer is truly arctic. This is doubt- 
 less caused by the equalizing effect of the large areas of 
 water surrounding the southern portion. It should be 
 said, however, that the observations at Julianshaab have 
 all been made upon the extreme border, and we are 
 ignorant of the climatic conditions in the interior of the 
 southern part. But in latitude G4°, at Umanak, in 
 the interior of the Godthaab Fiord, while the mean 
 annual temperature is nearly the same as that at Godt- 
 haab, on the border, the summer is much warmer and 
 the winter much colder than at Godthaab, the mean 
 temperature of July being four degrees higher, and that 
 of December six and a half lower. Still the vegetation, 
 even in the interior, always betrays the arctic character 
 of the climate. 
 
 Tiie extremes of heat and cold, which have so de- 
 cided an effect upon vegetation, are also discussed by 
 E: >k with much fulness of detail. At Lichtenau (lati- 
 tude 00° 31'), during four years of observation, the ther- 
 mometer only once rose as high as 00°, and only four 
 times above 00° : while at TJpernivik (latitude 7^° 48') 
 the thermometei- sometimes rises to 59°. At Julianshaab 
 (latitude 60° 43') the thermometer rose to 68° in the 
 summers of both 1853 and 1854, while in Disco Bay 
 (latitude 68° 48') the thermometer rose to 64° on June 
 28, 1858. 
 
 Like the central fart of Switzerland, which has its 
 Avarm, (^ ry, foeJm wind, sometimes called the "snow 
 eater," descending from the upper Alps in the autumn 
 and winter, and like the northwestern part of the United 
 States, which has its chinook wind pouring from the 
 west into the interior over the Cascade and Eocky Moun- 
 tains, and suddenly melting off the snows and di*ying up 
 
Jft 
 
 if 
 
 124 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 the land surfaces, Greenland has its mysterious warm 
 currents flowing down from the interior to the outskirtT 
 and producing sudden and most remarkable changes in 
 the temperature. Frequently these will bring on an ex- 
 tensive thaw in January and February. Nor are they 
 limited to the southern latitudes. In the most northern 
 settlements these winds have been known in the midst 
 hlr^'Too" 'T *^'' ^^'"P^r^ture for a short time as 
 high as 42 . As an effect of these winds, we have such 
 paradoxes as the following : « During eight consecutive 
 days of the long arctic night in November and Decem- 
 oer 1870, it was warmer at Jakobshavn (latitude 69° 
 20), in western Cxreenland, than in northern Italy; ard 
 ^or pa. this time Upernivik, though in continuous 
 wintei darkness, was warmer than the south of France " * 
 1 he cause df such winds has been assigned by me- 
 teorologists to the effect of the latent heat set free by the 
 condensation of the moisture as the winds have passed 
 over high mountains, or, as in the case of Greenknd 
 over large and high snow-covered areas, with an ensuW 
 
 such a wind the barometer rose a quarter of an inch dur 
 ")g a single day. The direction of these warm land wLds" 
 vanes according to locality, but they always co^e down 
 from he ice cap, and are felt most at the head o the fitls 
 
 usually, as in Switzerland, when blowing 'for seve' 
 ^!^l^|:^3-r^-^ dry, so that they evaporl 
 
 Nature, vol. xvi, p|,. o'M, 295. (A 
 
 "gust 9, 1877.) 
 
 M 
 
THE COAST IN DETAIL. 
 
 125 
 
 '»* 
 
 nearly all the moisture produced by their melting 
 power. 
 
 The extremes of the winter cold in Danish Greenland 
 are given by Rink as -J>9° F. at Julianshaab, in 1863, 
 and -43° at Umauak, and -47° in Upernivik. At 
 Upernivik, also, the temperature sometimes falls below 
 the freezing point in July, once reaching the extreme of 
 27^°, but in south Greenland the temperature rarely 
 reaches the freezing point in July and August. Among 
 the instances of extreme changeableness f^f weather 
 mentioned by Rink are the following : 
 
 "On December 26, 1819, in 64° north latitude, a 
 heavy rain was pouring down incessantly the whole day, 
 with a calm and steady thermometer from 54° to 57°, 
 the mean of that month amounting to 26|° in the same 
 year. On May 22, 1850, the author found a saxifrage 
 blossoming very beautifully in 70° 30' north latitude. 
 On the last day of June and the first of July, 1854, 
 after a severe winter, he visited the headland of Nunar- 
 suit, about six hundred miles farther south, and tra- 
 versed it on foot. The smaller inlets, as well as the 
 lakes slightly above the level of the sea, were not only 
 covered with ice, but the latter, as well as the adjoining 
 country, was covered with snow to such a degree that 
 the border between the ice and land was levelled and 
 quite imperceptible. At Julianshaab, in February, 1855, 
 the warm land wind set in with light breezes and a tem- 
 perature of 32°, clearing the sky and lasting for about a 
 fortnight, with beautiful weather, but was in March and 
 April succeeded by heavy snowfalls, and on May 1st tlie 
 gardens were still covered with a sheet of snow five feet 
 thick. In the fir^t week of June it snowed continuously 
 for thirty-six hours, so as to make the roads between the 
 houses almost impassable. Xevertheless, the summer 
 
120 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 turned out unusually fine, and in all respects favourable 
 to vegetation. In 1803 and 1801 the winters in regard to 
 severity surpassed any of which the author has ever been 
 able to acquire information from earlier accounts, and 
 possibly we shoulu have to go back a whole century to 
 hnd their equals. In 04° north latitude not a single 
 drop of rain was noticed from September 27, 1803 to 
 the 30th of May next, on which day the snow had ob- 
 tamed a height of from eight to twenty feet between 
 the houses. At the southernmost settlement, during 
 "'^JT V:,^^^^''*^' '^'' tl^«'''"0"ieter did not rise above 
 -Irl . 1 he succeeding winter was almost identical as 
 regards the whole amount of cold, but the period of ex- 
 treme cold both commenced and abated somewhat ear- 
 lier. As regards the quantity of snow, a more recent 
 winter has nevertheless surpassed fhose here men- 
 tioned."* 
 
 * Danish Greenland, pp. 03, 03. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 
 
 In their distribution and history, no less than in 
 their habits, tlie Eskimos are a most singular people. A 
 small colony of them lives in northeastern Asia, west of 
 Behring Strait, but the largest proportion, about twenty 
 thousand, is found in northwestern Alaska. From there 
 they extend in inconsiderable numbers eastward along 
 the northern coast of British America, to Baffin Bay 
 and down the coast of Labrador to the Strait of Belle 
 Isle. Western Greenland, however, affords support to 
 the great bulk of the race in eastern America, about ten 
 thousand being at the present time found there. 
 
 _ The word Eskimo means "meat-eater," and was 
 given to the race to describe their habitual diet, which 
 IS determined for them by the necessities of their situa- 
 tion ; for even in southern Greenland there is scarcely 
 any vegetable food attainable. A few berries and the 
 stalks of angelica, a plant which somewhat resembles 
 celery, furnish the only relief which the people have 
 from a pure diet of flesh ; though, when driven by hard 
 necessity, they sometimes subsist for a while upoa a 
 species of seaweed, which is abundant. North of Mel- 
 ville Bay, however, the people live entirelv upon meat, 
 the most of which is eaten raw. The little which is 
 cooked IS so prepared for the sake of extracting the 
 blood, which, with water, forms their only drink. Thus 
 
 111 
 
 10^ 
 
I't J ,- 
 
 r • ^ /I 
 
 II. J ! 
 
 ii 
 
 J ■■•r 
 
 iF' 
 
 i.» 
 
 128 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 it would seem that the ordinary appellation of the peo- 
 ple is so descriptive that it ought to be satisfactory ; but 
 it is far from being so, and is very much disliked by 
 natives. They prefer to be called, and call themselves, 
 Lmtiit— that is, » The People." In their own estima- 
 tion, they are the people and we the barbarians. 
 
 Their origin and development are still as great mys- 
 teries as ever. Linguistically they belong to the agglu- 
 tinative family, in which the prefix, the stem, and the 
 suffix of the words retain their individuality, and refuse 
 perfectly to coalesce, as they do in the inflected lan- 
 guages. To this extent the Eskimos are affiliated with 
 the North American Indians, and at the same time to 
 the Turanian nations, of which the Hungarians, the 
 Finns, the Turks, and the Tamils are examples. A 
 marked tendency in these languages is the compression 
 into one word of what would require a whole sentence 
 in other tongues. For example, seventeen words are 
 used in English to express the idea in the following sen- 
 tence : " He says that you also will go away quickly in 
 like manner and buy a pretty knife." But in Eskimo 
 this is all expressed in a single compound word : Savig- 
 iksiniariartokasuaromaryotittogog. Analyzed, this is: 
 ^rtv/^,aknife; Z^-, pretty; smi,huy; ariartok, go away; 
 asuar, hasten ; omar, wilt ; y, in like manner ; otit, thou ; 
 %, also; og, he says.* Similarly, when the Ojibway 
 Indian wishes to refer to " those persons who came this 
 way and did him and me a favour," he needs but the 
 one compound word, Gahpemeezheshahwaynemeyungi- 
 dechig.f 
 
 * Robert Brown, in Encyclopfpdia Rritannica. 
 t Rev. Sela G. Wright, a missionary among the Ojibway 
 Indians. 
 
THE ESKIMOS OP THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 129 
 
 But beyond such general resemblance there is little 
 similarity between their language and that of the Ameri- 
 can Indians, there being no common root words. It 
 would be as difficult for an Eskimo to understand an 
 Indian as for a Chinaman to understand an Arab. On 
 the other hand, the uniformity of the Eskimo dialects is 
 at once surprising and significant. Though separated 
 by thousands of miles of inhospitable arctic wastes, 
 which must have rendered intercommunication well- 
 nigh impossible for many centuries, the Eskimos of 
 Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, and eastern Siberia speak 
 the same language with less dialectic variation than can 
 be found in different counties of England. 
 
 The investigations of Lewis H. Morgan * concerning 
 the modes of reckoning relationship, involving funda- 
 mental conceptions of social life, brought out clearly the 
 fact, otherwise rendered probable, that the Indian and 
 the Eskimo must have branched off from the racial stem 
 in early prehistoric times. The Eskimo does not, like 
 the Indian, consider his cousins as his brothers, nor call 
 his nephews and nieces sons and daughters ; but he docs 
 call the husbands and wives of nieces and nephews sons- 
 in-law and daughters-in-law, and the husbands and 
 wives of cousins are regarded as brothers-in-law and 
 sisters-in-law. The Eskimo conception of the family 
 and the tribe seems thus to be a connecting link be- 
 tween that of the Aryan and that of the Turanian race. 
 The antiquity of this conception is no doubt very great. 
 The primitive religion of the Eskimos does not differ 
 essentially from that of the American Indian. With 
 
 * Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Fam- 
 ily, in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Washington 
 1870, No. 218, pp. 267-377. ' 
 
 f!! 
 
 Hi: 
 
 liii 
 
130 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 both there is belief in the immortulity of tlie soul and 
 of a Supreme lieiiig; wliile with both the chief means 
 of inrtnencing the Supreme Hein- is the intercession of 
 the angekok, as ho is called by the Eskimos, or the 
 "medicine man," as he is denominated among the In- 
 dians. Originally their whole social organization was 
 closely dependent upon the influence of these religious 
 leaders. Nor has the substitution of Chriuianity for 
 the original religion in Oreeidand wholly eifaced the 
 primitive habits of religious thought. 
 
 The Supremo Being of the Eskimos was known as 
 Tornarsnk, under whom there were numerous subordi- 
 nate tor/i((ks, or guardian spirits, through whom only 
 supplications for aid were lawful. There was, however 
 another method of invoking supernatural aid, which 
 was unlawful, though elfective, and which corresponded 
 to witchcraft, so common among all nations. Althouo-h 
 their main dependence was upon the intercession of the 
 afigekoks, men were supposed to be aided in secuvM,cr 
 assistance from Ihniarmk by the use of prayers and 
 amulets. Health and long life, for example, were 
 thought to be conferred upon a child by preserving his 
 navel string for occasional use as an amulet. Pieces of 
 old wood, stones, bones, bills and claws of birds, and 
 other things also served as amulets. Many articles of 
 commerce are used by them secretly for thi same pur- 
 pose. Probably, however, there is no greater supersti- 
 tion in an Eskimo who carries around a kernel of coffee 
 in his pocket to secure long life than there is in the 
 Anglo-Saxon who buries a bean under a stump for the 
 purpose of removing warts from his hands. 
 
 According to Egedo, the " science of the nNr/rkoks " 
 consisted of three things: First, "that he mutters cer- 
 tain spells over sick people, in order to make them 
 
 ^i 
 
THE ESKIMOS OP TflE NORTH ATLANTIC. 131 
 
 recover their former health " ; second, " that lie com- 
 mimes with nrnarsnk, and from him receives instruc- 
 tions to advise people what course they are to take in 
 affairs, that they may have success and prosper tiierein " ; 
 third, " that he is by the same informed of the time and 
 cause of anybody's death, or for what reason anybody 
 comes to an untimely and uncommon end, and if any 
 fatality shall befall a man." * 
 
 It is difficult to tell how much of the influence of 
 the anaekoks was due to rank imposture, and how much 
 to real mental and moral superiority. On the one hand, 
 the early missionaries believed the auyekoks to be im- 
 postors pure and simi)]o. According to Egedo, the 
 (UKjekoLs sup])orted their claim to the power of visiting 
 the unseen world by transparent tricks. Assembling 
 the spectators in one of the houses after dark, when 
 every one is seated i\\e '' amjekok causes himself to be 
 tied, his head between his legs and his hands behind 
 his back, and a drum is laid at his side; thereupon, 
 after the windows are shut and the light is put out, the 
 assembly sings a ditty, which, they say, is the composi- 
 tion of their ancestors. When thoy have done singing 
 the amipkok l)pgins with conjuring, muttering, and 
 brawling; invokes Toniarsuk, who instantly presents 
 himself, and converses with him. ... In the mean- 
 while he works himself loose, and, as they believe, 
 mounts up into heaven through the roof of the house, 
 and passes through the air till he arrives into the high- 
 est of the heavens, where the souls of " the chief of the 
 (iNf/ckoks reside, by whom he gets information of all he 
 wants to know. In the course of his career the success- 
 ful angekok passes through various other analogous ex- 
 
 * Hans Egede's Description of Greenland (London, 1818), p. 188. 
 
VA2 
 
 OKKKNLANI) ICEKIKLDS. 
 
 '■ i 
 
 I* ' 
 
 porioncos before he arrivoH at a point of supreme influ- 
 ence among his fellows. This, as wo have said, is sot 
 down by Kged(i as pun* imposture. 
 
 Hut it nuiy well be nuiintaiiied that these experi- 
 encos are often genuine delusions, sueh as occur in hyj). 
 notic ex])eriments of modern times. At any rate, it is 
 the opinion of nuiny who have boon intimate witli the 
 Eskimos that the <nH/d;,Ls are usually jH-rsons of more 
 than ordinary intelligence and respeJtabilitv, and hold 
 their position by reason of real ])(>rsonal merit. Dalager 
 describes one who lived near him as a ])erson who seemed 
 sincerely to seek information about (Jod and his work, 
 and to lead, on the whole, an exemplary life; and Uink 
 also grants that the misuse of authority to promote self- 
 ish aims by the atKjvk-ols exhibits nothing which pecul- 
 iarly distinguishes them from the priestly class in other 
 nations. 
 
 In the Christian transformation wliich has taken 
 l)lace in Greenland, the Supreme Being of the Eskimoj 
 has been changed into his Satanic Afajostv, and all the 
 work of the an,ick-ok has been degraded, in the estima- 
 tion of the people, to the level of witcdicraft. This 
 leaves no room in later times for the original conception 
 of the devil, which was that of an old woman by the 
 name of Arnarknaifmk, who "resided in the depths of 
 the ocean, ruling over all the inhabitants of the sea, and 
 was made the grandmother of the devil." 
 
 In their conceptions of the spiritual world, it was 
 divided into two abodes— an under world and an upper 
 world ; but it is not altogether strange that their pic- 
 tures of these abodes differ radically from those drawn 
 by the inhabitants of more sunny climes. According to 
 the Eskimos, the under world is much the pleasaiiter, 
 being a delicious country, " where the sun shines cou- 
 
THK KSIvlMOS OF TMR NOUTfl ATfiANTlC. 133 
 
 timuilly with un inoxlmuHtiblo Htock of ull Horts of 
 choioo provisions " ; whomis '' oold mid luin^ror uro en- 
 coimtorcd in the upper world." Still, neither of the 
 worlds is tliou<rht to he wholly unendnruhh!. 
 
 The RskitnoH, too, Imd their legends concerning the 
 origin of things. Of these we luive room for only two 
 or three specimens. At the heginning, 11 Oreenliinder 
 sprang out of the ground, iind dug u wife out of a little 
 hillock. From this couple the Eskimos wore descended. 
 The origin of foreigners was less nohlo. A Greenhuid 
 woman gave birth to both children and whelps; "these 
 last she put into an old shoe and committed them to 
 the mercy of the waves, with these words, '(Jet ye gone 
 from hence, and grow up to be Kablunaets.' This, they 
 say, is the reason why the Kablnmiets always live upon 
 the sea; and th ships, they say, have the very same 
 shape as their shoes, being round before and behind." * 
 The sun, moon, and stars were regarded as ancestors 
 of tlie Eskimos, who, for varions reasons, had been lifted 
 up to heaven. The moon was thought to be a young 
 man who had fallen deeply in love with his sister, tlio 
 sun, and who " was used every night to put out the light 
 that he might caress her undiscovered; but siie, not 
 liking these stolen caresses, once blackened her hands 
 with soot, that she might mark the hands, face, and 
 clothes of her unknown lover who in the dark made 
 addresses to her, and by that discover who he was; 
 hence, they say, come tlie spots that are observed in the 
 moon ; for, as he wore a coat of a fine white reindeer 
 skin, it was all over besmeared with soot; whereupon 
 Malina, or the sun, went out to light a bit of moss; 
 Anningate, or the moon, did the same, but the flame of 
 
 Description of Greenland, p. 199. 
 
134 
 
 OltKHNLANI) ICKFIELDS. 
 
 ' 'I 
 
 i i 
 
 118 moss was extinguished ; this makes the moon h,ok 
 like a fiory coul, and not shin, so bright us the sun. 
 liie moon then m„ after tiio sun roundabout the house 
 to catch her; but she, to ^et rid of him, Hew up into 
 the air, and the moon, pursuing J.er, ,lid likewise; and 
 thus they still continue to pursue one another, though 
 the sun s career is much above that of the moon '' * 
 
 Piiysioally the Eskimos have considerable resem- 
 blance to the Chinese. iXansen describes f them as hav- 
 ing round, broad faces, with small dark eyes, sometimes 
 shghtly resembling those of the Mongolian races, a flat 
 nose rather narrow between the eyes, a broad mouth 
 with heavy jaws, and as being in general short of stature 
 and, owing to their mode of life, deficient in tlio devel- 
 opment of their lower limbs. They wash so seldom 
 that . IS difficult to dotermine the natural colour of 
 their skin, which is really a brownish or a gravish vellow, 
 though much intensified by the accumulation of dirt 
 ^ An incident related to me by Dr. Dudlev P. Allen is 
 significant in its bearing upon the question ""of the .Gen- 
 eral race affiliation of the Eskimos. Dr. Allen is Pro 
 fessor of Surgery in the medical department of tlie West- 
 ern Reserve Fniversity, Cleveland, Ohio, and has charge 
 of one of the hospitals of the city. Among the patients 
 whicli came under his care last summer was an Eskimo 
 from Labrador, who had been at the Columbia.i Exposi- 
 tion ,n Chicago. While passing through Cleveland on 
 his way home he received an injury and was detained for 
 some time m the hospital. Among Dr. Allen's guests 
 during the summer was Dr. Kerr, of Canton, China, 
 who for forty years had been chief of the hospital estab- 
 
 * Description of Groonland, pp. 207, 208. 
 
 f The First Crossing of Greenland, pp. 172, 173. 
 
 

 TIFK ESKIMOS OF THE NOIITII ATLANTIC. 135 
 
 lisliud tluM-o by Prcsl)yteriun missionaries, and lionco by 
 his long residence and practice had become perfectly 
 
 Fm. 29. -A typical Eskimo couple. 
 
 familiar witli Cliinese physiognomy. As these two were 
 passing througli the wards of the hospital in Cleveland, 
 
 W" 
 
136 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 i 
 
 the face of the Eskimo attracted the attention of Dr. 
 Kerr, and his instantaneous remark was, " Why, here is 
 a Chinaman !. What's the matter with him ? " Such an 
 impression made on one so familiar with the Chinese 
 speaks more strongly of the Asiatic affiliations of the 
 Eskimos than a volume of statistics would do. ft would 
 be difficult to believe that any one would ever mistake 
 an Indian for a Chinaman, but the resemblance between 
 the Eskimos and the Chinese, while largely indefinable, 
 IS as clear as that which impresses all tourists between 
 the tribes of southeastern Alaska and the Japanese. 
 
 Dr. F. A. Cook, ethnologist of the first Peary North 
 Greenland Exped. , has made the most careful study 
 of the Eskimos north of that region. Frcn his meas- 
 urements we learn that « the average male is five feet 
 one inch and a half in height, and his average weight is 
 one hundred and thirty-five pounds, while the woman 
 is four feet eight inches in height and has an average 
 weight of one hundred and eighteen pounds." Dr. Cook 
 remarks also upon the Mongolian cast of their counte- 
 nance, and that " the muscular outlines of the body 
 are nearly obliterated from the fact that thev have 
 immediately beneat' the skin a layer of blubber or 
 areolar tissue whic. protects them against extreme 
 cold." 
 
 It is not strange that the Eskimos have been -ener- 
 ally regarded as an Asiatic race which sought to better 
 1.^ condition by emigrating to America at a somewhat 
 lecent period;* for, in addition to the resemblance, 
 both physical and linguistic, between the Eskimos and 
 
 * See especially Mr. C. R. Markha.n's paper, printed in the 
 Arctic Papers prepared by the Geographical Society of London in 
 IMTO for the Nares Expedition. 
 
THE ESKIMOS OP THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 137 
 
 the various Asiatic tribes, this view is supported by 
 the surprising uniformity already referred to in the 
 language of the Eskimos, however widely scattered; 
 by a similar uniformity in their arts, traditions, and 
 
 Fig. 30.— a company of Eskimo boys. 
 
 folk-lore ; and by the fact that a few Eskimos still 
 live in Siberia. It is cogently argued that this uni- 
 formity .could not have been maintained if the Green- 
 land Eskimos liad been separated from the Alaskan 
 stock for many centuries. The late immigration of 
 the 'Greenland Eskimos is thought to be confirmed 
 also by the historical evidence that the Europeans, 
 who settled in southern Greenland about the year 
 1000, did not come in contact with any natives for 
 two or three hundred years, and then only in northern 
 Greenland. 
 
 5 ;; 
 
u 
 
 U'i 
 
 138 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 .contact, mi, oucl. other; but it does not so ^'l U 
 count for tlie clear line of demarcation between tbcm 
 
 d ifnT'"' r"'?"™'"' "'-■■•^J-^'-^of social lif" 
 and tlieii linguist: eliaracteristics. 
 
 On tJ,e «l,oIo, therefore, it wonld seem that the 
 f^::::^''^ "™ '^'^ «- independent 
 
 J riod tin, mIm rr"'^ "' ^' ™"°'' ""- '-""»" 
 
 for n,i!,a, o! , ,'"" '"''P"''" *^"" 'I'" '^'-"'i- 
 
 teh," f St,n t '■"'™^' ''•"'^""^ "■ "'« >i">"tv of 
 
 0. of th n ■ 'l™'""™" '^ "™ ^'"""■^' "-' "''<«•' 
 
 cross anc ec ? '"« "'"'" ''' '^'"''' "<"'•■ »""""">• 
 c,o>,» and lecross f,-„,„ one side to the othe,-, while the 
 
 water ,s so shallow that an cleval.on of oni; o," h, n 
 
 dred and seventv-one feet would establish la d „,, , o 
 
 t.on botween the continents at the invsent time. Such 
 
 ,,ec ,on was p,.obabIv in existence at no vcy rem t 
 
 Also Danish 
 
 * Mod.leloser o,n (Jronla..,!, Ellovoto ircfte, 1887 
 Greenland, pp. 404. 405. 
 
 SflTr ^""'f.'"';""^^ ^" North American Etlmologv, United 
 t W. U. Dall, American Journal of Science, Feb, uary. 1881. 
 
THE ESKIMOS OP THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 139 
 
 The Eskimos never live far away from the water 
 and, with one exception, the tribes are all dependent on 
 their skill in the construction and use of boats peculiar- 
 ly htted to ride the breakers of the sea. That exception 
 IS the Highland ^Jskimo of northern Greenland, where 
 the reign of frost is so supreme that boats are almost 
 wholly discarded, and Ininting and fishing are prose- 
 cuted mainly upon the ice and upon the narrow margin 
 ot land, which continues to support small colonies of 
 musk ox and reindeer. 
 
 Fio. 31. -A umiak, with women rowinfr. 
 
 The boats of the Eskimos are most ingeniously con- 
 structed, being covered with skins of the seal, stretched 
 over a light, strong framework of wood. These are of 
 two^ patterns, the umiak and the kayak. 
 
 The umiak, or women's bout, i-equires from fifteen 
 to twenty skins for its construction, and is t.-oui twentv- 
 five to thirty-seven feet long, about five feet broad and 
 two and a half feet deep, flat-bottomed, and open at the 
 
 i I 
 
 I ■ 
 
 ii!i 
 
140 
 
 OREKNIiANI) ICKKIKLDS. 
 
 top. 1 ho largest of tliom can carry n.oro than tlirco 
 tons, or SIX thonsund pounds of freight. So ligl,t are 
 they that six or eight men can carry on(> with ease oti 
 their backs. The umiak is universally row...! l.y women 
 and IS chiefly used to transport the families in summer 
 from one hunting station to another, great care being 
 taken not to expose it to rough seas, which it is not 
 iidapted to encounter. When thoroughly wet the skins 
 of the umiak hvcoiuv^ transparent, so that the water can 
 bo seen through the bottom and sides as the boat rushes 
 through it-an experience which is somewhat startling 
 to the tourist who ventures in one for the llrst time. 
 
 Hut the boat of giratest imj)ortance and interest is 
 the kayak, which is certainly one of the most marvellous 
 adai)tations of natural forces to human use which ]i-is 
 over been made. This remarkable boat is a logical but 
 most ingenious evolution fnmi the birch-bark canoe of 
 tlie northern In.lian tribes of Ameri,-a. The various 
 Stages of development from the light and open boat of 
 the nortJiwestern tribes to the dose.l and water-tight 
 shell of the kayak of Greenland can rea<lilv be traced 
 around the shores of Alaska and British America 
 
 The framework of the kayak consists of wood or 
 bone, and is about twenty feet long, pointed at both 
 ends, and about two and a half feet wide, and of the 
 same depth in the mi.ldle. Over the frame there is 
 tigh ly stretched and closely sewe.l a covering of tanned 
 soalskm, impervious to water. The whoU/thin- is so 
 ight that a boy of twelve can carrv it with little"effort 
 in the middle of the toj. there Ys a hole just lan^e 
 |MH)ugli to permit the owner to insert liis bodv, so tlmt 
 10 can sit on the bottom and stretch his legs in front of 
 him Sealskin mittens and a sealskin coat, with a hood 
 for the head and a rim for a close-litting attaciiment to 
 
 ff "t 
 
THE KSKIMOS OF THE NoiiTII ATLANTK!. 141 
 
 a corresponding rim jiround the uporture in tlio kayuk, 
 cornpk'tf! tlio proUuition from vvator. TIiuh fastoned in, 
 and Hitiin<r bolt iipri^^ht, juid provided with a paddle 
 
 Fio. 32.- On'cnland kayaks. 
 
 flaring at both ends, the native ean defy tlie winds and 
 waves wliieii wonld swamp an ordinary boat. 
 
 The first siglit of a kayak in (jlreenhind waters is ex- 
 
 l!i 
 
 1 1 
 
142 
 
 m 
 
 if,: 
 
 -i 
 lifj 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 citing ,n tho extronio. It is Jik.ly to oc-c-.n-, us with us 
 w on y,n, off an unknown harbour waiting f " ' , ' 
 rho whKstlo has been blown K>ng and loucirtho nu 1 
 l>'^s lHH«n lirocl and th. rocket dischargci/ani " 
 
 -sponso fron. th. shoro. At h^ngth, ;iu.V 1 "/ 
 Hlniost oxhauHtod, there appear three <.r four b k pe,k 
 on the top of the distant swells of the broad U^Z^ 
 
 Fio, as.-Kayakcrs coming out to mwt lu 
 
 IIS. 
 
 distant we are little prepared to estimate beeanse of the 
 excessive e earness of the atmosphere. As thev get 
 nearer we begin to see a curious n.oti.m somewhat re- 
 s^jbhng the arms of a windmill. These are the kavaks 
 .11 their several occupants striving to outstrip each 
 other m a race for the coveted job of conducting the 
 hip into harbour. Already they are far ahead of the 
 larger boat, which comes h.gging along in the rear. 
 
THE ESKIMOS OP THE NOllTlI ATLANTIC. 143 
 
 On reaching the shi}) the nost fortunate kuyakcr 
 loosens liis rr.ut from the rim of his hoat, of whicli lie 
 seems u. form a part, with much dinicultv wriggles 
 himself free from its entanglement, and is hrought on 
 board. Those who fell behind in the race soon arrive, 
 and loiter around the ship, some of them resting (piietly 
 hke ducks upon the water, only occiasionally dipping 
 down one end of their curious paddles to resist the force 
 "*• some unusual wave, while others display both their 
 own skill and (ho capacity of their kayaks by various 
 maiueuvres which never fail to astonish spectators. 
 Now one will perform a somersault, or a series of somer- 
 saults, with his kayak, or will dart forward like light- 
 ning at right angles to another kayak and jump com- 
 pletely over the bow of it. To the natives the motions 
 necessary to preserve ecpiilibrium are almost a second 
 nature, having become instiiuitive from childhood. But 
 unfortunate indeed is the European who attempts any 
 antics in, or even ventures into, on(, of these boats. 
 T he adult who has not already learned its management 
 had better not attempt to learn. 
 
 _ At one time, while in camp at Jkamiut, when the 
 wind was blowing a gale, shutting us up all day in our 
 tent and tossing the waves of the fiord into such com- 
 motion that it would have been madness for any large 
 boat to have ventured upon the water, we were thrilled 
 by the cry that some kayakers were coming. They were 
 three that belonged to the little settlement, and had 
 come that day, as a matter of course, from Sukkertop- 
 pen, which was twenty miles distant. Upon reaching 
 the shore and pulling themselves loose from their shells, 
 the kayakers ran their hands into the apertures from' 
 which they had drawn their limbs, and brought out 
 various objects of merchandise which they had pur- 
 11 
 
144 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 chased at the store for their families. Then they sever- 
 ally took up their kayaks and carried them to a secure 
 place, and disappeared in the igloos, where their families 
 soon joined them to talk over the adventures of the 
 week. To us they seemed like inhabitants of the sea 
 who were accustomed to shed their skins on coming out 
 of the water. 
 
 The kayak is equipped with various implements of 
 the chase. First, there is a bird spear, consisting of a 
 short handle of wood pointed with bone and surrounded 
 a httle way buck from the point by a circle of barbed 
 bone lunce heads projecting forward, designed to give a 
 whirling motion to the missile, and, in case the object is 
 not squarely hit by the point, to make more sure of its 
 entanglement. Then there is the harpoon for the seal, 
 which is arranged with a loose joint, so that after the 
 spearhead has penetrated the animal it becomes de- 
 tached from the shaft and remains connected with a 
 thong in the hands of the hunter. This thong is also 
 attached to a float, consisting of the inflated skin of 
 some large animal, sewed together so as to be air-tight. 
 This is thrown into the water and prevents the escape 
 or sinking of the wounded animal. Various kinds of 
 fishing tackle are also natural jttaciiments of the kayak 
 when fully equipped. At Ikamiut, all these implements 
 were of native manufacture. 
 
 The houses of the Eskimo are as admirably adjusted 
 for their wi-fer life as they are ill-adapted for summer 
 residence. In the far north they are built of snow, but 
 in southern Greenland of stone and turf, the walls rising 
 from three to five feet above the level of the ground, 
 while the roof is nearly flat or only slightly arched, and 
 covered with sod. One might easily pass by an Eskimo 
 settlement at a little distance and be unable to distin- 
 
THE ESKIMOS OP THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 145 
 
 guish it from the clusters of natural mounds which oc 
 casionally occur. 
 
 Tlie snow liouses are, of course, always temporary 
 structures, but tliey can be erected in a very short 
 
 
146 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 I 
 
 time ; indeed, almost as quickly as a tent can be set 
 up. Sohwatka describes in a very interesting manner 
 the course of the natives upon reaching a suitable camp- 
 ing place, when their first movement is to go around 
 thrusting their spears into the snowbanks to find one 
 sufficiently deep and dense for their purposes. On find- 
 ing such a bank, they exclaim, " Plenty warm ! plenty 
 warm ! " and furuiwith proceed to carve out blocks from 
 it, which are soon built into a dome-shaped hut fully 
 justifying the exclamation, and which will defy the 
 strongest and the coldest winds which even the arctic 
 zones can furnish. These snow huts have to be aban- 
 doned for skin tents upon the approach of summer, 
 which is duly announced to the inmates by the falling 
 in of the roof. 
 
 The interior structure of the Eskimo house is ex- 
 tremely simple. The single room consists of an oblong 
 quadrangle, upon one side of wliioh is a shelf of boards 
 Hbout a foot from the floor, and wide enough for the 
 adult members of the family to stretch themselves upon 
 it at full length, with their feet to the wall. This is 
 their sleeping and lounging place, occupied both day 
 and night. A low partition in this shelf separates one 
 family from another, while a narrow passageway extends 
 along the side of the room through the entire length. 
 At the farther end of this passageway, and at the end of 
 each partition, are found the native lamps, around which 
 the women habitually gather, and where they sit and 
 jabber and sew and complete the process o/ tanning 
 bird skins and seal skins by chewing them faithfully 
 with their well-preserved teeth, adding variety to the 
 scene by pausing now and then to trim theirlam}.— a 
 process requiring considerable skill. The lamp consists 
 of a shallow basin hollowed out of a piece of soapstone, 
 
THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 147 
 
 in which there is a quantity of seal bhibber. The wick 
 IS formed from a species of moss, wliich by frequent re- 
 newals IS made to serve the purpose very well. To start 
 
 liil-iLS^SfKi.'^ 
 
 Fio. a5.-The better class of Eskimo houses at Sukkertoppen 
 
 the lamp, some oil is expressed from a piece of blubber 
 m the mouth and spurted into the hollow containing 
 the general mass ; but when once lighted, the heat of 
 the flame melts the blubber and keeps up the supply of 
 liquid fuel, very much as it does in an ordinary candle. 
 
 Light from the outside is admitted into the icrloo 
 through a single window facing the south. In primitive 
 times, and still in the more remote settlements, the win- 
 dow IS made of the translucent entrails of the seal, but 
 now in the principal settlements glass is used. The' sun 
 IS absent for so much of the year, however, that windows 
 are of little account, while during the season of almost 
 perpetual sunshine their winter habitations are deserted 
 for tents. Of necessity, therefore, artificial light is their 
 
I:i 
 
 148 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 main aependence indoors, and tlioir lamps are kept con- 
 tinually burning. 
 
 The entrance both to the ordinary igloos and to 
 those made with snow, while designed to porniit the 
 passage of the inhabitants to and fro, is also planned 
 to permit only so much circulation of air as shall pro- 
 vide ventilation and lower the temperature as little as 
 possible. This passageway is narrow and crooked, so 
 that, to enter, one has to get down upon his hands 
 and knees, or be very left in maintaining his balance in 
 a stooping position. There are current numerous stories 
 of fat men being wedged into the i)assageway to another 
 man's igloo, so that they have had to bo extricated by 
 force, or relieved by tearing down the house. It is re» 
 lated of a very toll German missionary, that upon mak- 
 ing his pastoral visits upon the native families, the only 
 way of obtaining access to their igloos was by snugly 
 incasing himself in a sleeping bag, and asking his pa- 
 rishioners to haul him in and out, as they would the 
 carcass of a seal. 
 
 During the midnight storms of the long winter the 
 enveloping snows afford additional protection to the 
 inmates Indeed, so well protected from the cold are 
 these Igloos in southern Greenland, that, without any 
 hre except what is furnished by their lamps, the tem- 
 perature is kept up to a high degree of warmth ; so that, 
 for comfort, clothing is pretty much discarded by the 
 natives when once the house is entered. This practice 
 secures both present comfort and the thorough airing 
 and drying of their clothes, which is an important sani 
 tary result. 
 
 Much is said about the filthiness of the Eskimos, 
 and, indeed, nothing can be more repulsive than the 
 surroundings of an igloo in the early summer, after 
 

 I 
 
 TIIK ESKIMOS OP TIIR NORTH ATLANTIC. I49 
 
 *he Bun has melted away the enveloi>iug snow and laid 
 'are tiifc acciimuhited refuse of the winter. Hut i* 
 hould be remembered that, 30 long m this remained 
 ' ozen and covered with aiiuw it was inoffensive and 
 unobserved, and that ordinarily the Eskimo method of 
 t'.ouse-cleaning is very effective, which is to abandon the 
 igloo upon the approach of summer, and suffer the ele- 
 ments to have free sway until the approach of winter, 
 when the building is reconstructed after its long airing] 
 and its inmates are securely buried up again. 
 
 So long as the natives were able to live in tents dur- 
 ing the summer, it can not be said that their sanitary 
 condition was unfavourable ^ but in these later days of 
 contact with European civilization, when they have been 
 tempted and enabled to kill the reindeer in excessive 
 numbers for purposes of trade, they have so diminished 
 the supply of skins that now they are unable to provide 
 themselves with tents as formerly, and are often com- 
 pelled to live in their igloos during the entire year, and 
 so are prevented irom moving from place to place as free- 
 ly as in earlier times. L nder such circumstances it must 
 be confessed that the sanitary conditions are often de- 
 plorable, and this is showing its effect in the increasing 
 prevalence of consumption and various other diseases. 
 
 The supposed bad effect on individual morality of 
 such community of residence as is found among the 
 Eskimos is by no means so great as one would at first 
 imagine ; for only the parents, the girls, and the smaller 
 children sleep closely liuddled together on the broad 
 shelf, while the unmarried men lie by themselves on 
 narrow shelves especially prepared for them, and the 
 very crowding of the room secures for the girls the con- 
 tinual protection of a chaperon without her presence 
 being obtrusive. Moreover, the difficulty, if not the im- 
 
 ! % 
 
150 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 wSf t'l'' K T'"'^ ^"P^°^^"^^ ^-rself and a child 
 mft sl4^^^ ^.'^^^^' -"^--^ illegitimacy a 
 
 Such IS the rigour of their conditions of life that the 
 
 hardships of the unfor- 
 tunate among the hea- 
 then Eskimos are to 
 us almost inconceiv- 
 able. According to 
 I^i". Cook, all superflu- 
 ons individuals in the 
 fur north are remorse- 
 lessly permitted to per- 
 ish. When a wom-^n 
 is about to give birth 
 to a child, she is put in 
 a house and given fro- 
 zen meat sufficient to 
 last for two weeks, arid 
 also some blubber and 
 oil. If she survives the 
 ordeal, and the baby is 
 heard to cry, the others 
 will come in and help 
 ber; but if the baby's 
 cries are not heard, the 
 house will not be en- 
 tered again. Mothers 
 * r, ^urse their children fnr 
 
 Mid is tl' ™"' ';" " "" """- 'J'- '"='«- ae 
 
 years old, ll,c child must be killed, or the mother will 
 
 r 
 
 Fig. 36.-The Catechisf s daughter in 
 mil dress. 
 
is 
 
 ^\ 
 
 r 
 
 THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLArTIC. 151 
 
 lose all hope of obtaining another husband f^ support 
 her. In times of famine the childless women and the 
 
 rtoZto";"' 'T' "^' '' "^"•^^' ^"^ ^--^^^-- i 
 
 resoi ted to for self-preservation. 
 
 Almost ail writers speak of the Eskimos as deterio- 
 rating in physical char- 
 acteristics, and as rap- 
 idly approaching ex- 
 tinction. Doubtless 
 there is much truth in 
 this view, for there eaji 
 be little question that 
 contact with the Eu- 
 ropeans has had an in- 
 jurious effect upon the 
 race in various ways. 
 Indeed, trade with civ- 
 ilized nations lias been 
 almost necessarily det- 
 rimental to the Eski- 
 mos ; for they have 
 little sense of the rela- 
 tive value of tiiing.«, 
 and are so inexperi- 
 enced and improvident 
 th.it in barter they are 
 sure to got the worst 
 of the bargain, and to 
 exchange articles of 
 pi'ime necessity to 
 
 Flo. .37. -A typlcfti Eskimo boy. 
 
 thomsdvos for tlloso which .re of scarcely any real value 
 bceu left to the tender n.erey of traders they would 
 
 iiS 
 
162 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 long ago have become extinct. Especially is the craving 
 of the people for stimulants such that they will part with 
 almost everything they have for coffee, tobacco, and alco- 
 hol. Through the wise precautions of the Danish Gov- 
 ernment, however, the sale of alcohol is absolutely pro- 
 hibited, so that natives are saved from its evil effects 
 while the sale of tobacco and coffee is so limited by vari- 
 ous regulations that the people are not allowed to im- 
 poverish themselves too much in obtaining them. 
 
 Even the use of firearms has been of doubtful advan- 
 tage to the Eskimo, for, while it has enabled him to 
 kill more game of certain kinds, it has led to much 
 lamentabk. waste. Through the facilities which have 
 been furnished by firearms for capturing reindeer, there 
 Jias been imminent danger of the extinction of this im- 
 portant anil, il in Greenland, and the number has actu- 
 ally been x^:y greatly reduced. From 1845 to 1849 
 t\venty-five tliuusand reindeer were annually killed in 
 Danish Greenland, and sixteen thousand skins per an- 
 num were ex])orted ; but since that time the numbers 
 have been so diminished that from 1808 to 1873 not 
 more than one tiiousand per annum were killed, and 
 the export of skins had absolutelv ceased. (Consequently 
 reuKleer meat is no longer in dailv use, and the reindeer 
 skins, so essential for the protection of the inhabitants 
 against the cold, are not sufficient to supply the home 
 demand. 
 
 In hunting the seal the use of firearms involves the 
 loss of many animals, wliich sink after the shot before 
 they can be cajitured ; and the gun is so awkward a 
 weapon to carry in a kayak that in manv situations the 
 Greenlander is hindered, rather than helped by its aid, 
 so that the chances of securing a seal by the use of liis 
 harpoon and float are about as good as they would be 
 
 ■■a^uk,; ,"i; 
 
- 
 
 THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 153 
 
 With the rifle. When in quest of birds, the noise of the 
 gun frightens the whole flock and makes them wary 
 while with his bird spear the kayaker can approach the' 
 
 ZfeZ\::''' '^^' ''' '' «^^^' "I- theTater and 
 quietly capture as many as his small boat can carry 
 
 withoii^ aiming the great numbers which are un-' 
 harmed Guns are said to be of no avail in hunting the 
 walrus, because his skull is so thick that a rifle ball will 
 not penetrate it. 
 
 The tendency of civilization to diminish the size of 
 the families occupying one house i. also generally re- 
 garded as deleterious and productive of poverty. In 1 870 
 there were only one hundred and five houses in Pani.h 
 rreenland having more than sixteen inmates each. At 
 that time the highest number in any house was thirty- 
 forty "'''^^' ^^'' '''''''^'^ ^^« I"-obably as high as 
 
 _ Serious famines have occurred at various times dur- 
 ing the present century, while epidemics have thinned 
 the population to an alarming degree. Still the total 
 number has not diminished during the last forty years 
 but, on the contrary, has slightly increased. vVhile in 1855 
 there were but 9,644 natives on the west coast, in 1889 
 there were 10,177. Hans Egede, one hundred aad fifty 
 years ago, estimated the jiopulation at 30,000, bu^ this 
 estimate 's probably a great exaggeration. At any rate 
 It is not biised upon anything like an accurate r,,8up 
 such as IS now taken from year to year. 
 
 _ Two extracts from Graah's interesting nHrmti.e will 
 give a better idea both of the original clur.v , . ustics of 
 the Eskimos and of their social cusioms than any gen- 
 eralizations can do. We may premise, howevor, that 
 originally among tnem the winning of a wife proceeded 
 upon the supposition that she was unwilling to enter 
 
 ill 
 
154 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 into that relation, and so had actually to be forced into 
 it. Many incidents are related of the persistence with 
 which the woman has sought to evade being captured 
 by her lover. Foreigners who have ventured to inter- 
 fere for the rescue of the young woman have usually 
 found, however, that the unwillingness on the woman's 
 part was not invincible, for she is sure to prefer the rule 
 of her lover to the protection of her impolitic defender. 
 It is a common remark, also, that the Eskimos generally 
 refrain from expressing in a public manner their inter- 
 est in one another. Both their greetings and their 
 good-bys are as undemonstrative as possible. Christian- 
 ity has modified rather than eradicated these character- 
 istics. In Danish Greenland the marriages are per- 
 formed by the. clergyman on his occasional rounds. 
 But when the crisis approaches it is usually difficult to 
 find the groom, who would be ashamed to have it appear 
 that it was a matter in which he was at all interested. 
 Lovers, while in each other's company, show no interest 
 in each other. 
 
 The first of the incidents which we quote from Graah 
 occurred after he had been icebound seventeen days 
 upon the eastern coast, and his provisions had run short, 
 putting his Greenlanders much out of spirit. "For the 
 rest," he says, " nothing of any moment occurred dur- 
 ing our detention at this place except the killing of a 
 bear, to whicli one of our kayakers had nearly fallen a 
 victim. The poor fellow had been sleeping on the 
 ground in the open country, and was awakened by the 
 luird breathing of the animal close bv him. Springing 
 np, he escaped in his boat, and felled him from thence 
 with his arrows. The Greenlander who met with this 
 adventure, and whose name was Ningeoak, was a lively, 
 merry fellow of some twenty years of age, very much 
 
 m 
 
THE ESKIiMOS OP THE NORTH ATLANTIC. I55 
 
 addicted to antic tricks-in fact, the clown of the party 
 Like his fellows, each of whom had, on our setting out 
 selected a helpmate for himself from among the women 
 of the party, he had made court to several, in succession, 
 of his fair countrywomen, but had been refused by all 
 of them on the plea of his being a ' Nellursok '-that is 
 to say, a heathen, literally an ignoramus. More than 
 once he had begged me to make intercession with them 
 in his favour, but all my efforts had proved of no 
 avail. The dead bear proved, howev^ ^ more efficient 
 advocate, his conquest of it (for a sn 1 bear hu'iter 
 
 18 held in Greenland in high repu. .aking so deep 
 an impression upon them that I veril> .elieve he might, 
 if he had chosen it, have had them all. Kingeoak's 
 pride had, however, been deeply wounded by their pre- 
 vious rejection of his suit, and, to revenge himself, he 
 chose for his helpmate a superannuated beldame, the 
 ugliest of the whole party." * 
 
 On a later occasion, after describing the collection 
 of two hundred natives for a festival and tamboureen 
 dance (which continued all night), but which he was 
 unable to attend on account of illness, Graah writes : f 
 
 "On waking this morning, I heard tlio tamboureen 
 of my Greenland friends still going. I made haste, 
 therefore, to join them, and though when I reached the 
 spot they were on the point of breaking up, thev con- 
 tinued their dance a little longer on mv account. To 
 form an adequate conception of the dance I witnessed 
 on this occasion it is absolutely necessary to have seen 
 
 * Graah's Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of 
 Cireenland, p. 72. 
 
 t The circumstances concerning this gathering have already 
 been referred to on page 120. 
 
 1 I 
 
 ! I 
 
 ■' I 
 
 ! I 
 
• ■»■ 
 
 156 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 It. To describe it is no easy matter. The tamboureen, 
 a^ I have termed it, employed by them by way of mu- 
 sical accompaniment, is a simple ring, or hoop, of wood, 
 with a piece o old boat skin, well saturated with oil 
 retched tightly over it, and furnished with a handle 
 
 ■ his one of the party holds in his left hand, and, taking 
 ins station in the centre, while the rest form a ring 
 about him and throwing off his jacket, strikes with a 
 small wooden stick, extemporizing, after a brief prelude, 
 a song, he subject of which is the chase of the seal or 
 some other, to them, important incident or event, the 
 whole assembly joining at the end of every strophe in 
 the chorus of ' Eia-eia-a ! Eia-eia-a ! ' During this per- 
 formance he makes unceasingly a sort of courtesying 
 motion, and writhes and twists his head and eyes in the 
 most laughable style imaginable. Nothing, however 
 can equal in absurdity the movements of his nether 
 
 r/ei' ht^^' ''^"''^' ^'' (describes entire circles, nay, figures 
 
 ''This tamboureen dance is in high esteem among 
 the Greenlanders. When about to take part in it, they 
 put on their best lioliday apparel, and the women take 
 as much pride in performing it with what they consider 
 grace as our young belles in dancing a quadrille or a 
 galop. It serves, however, not merely the purpose of 
 amusement, but constitutes at the same time a sort of 
 forum, before which all transgressors of their laws and 
 customs are, in a manner, cited, and receive their 
 merited reproof. When a Greenlander, to wit, thinks 
 he has sustained a wrong or injury at another's hand, 
 he composes a satirical song, which all his friends 
 straightway learn by heart, and tlien makes known 
 among the inhabitants of the j)lace his intention of 
 bringing the matter to arbitration. On the day ap- 
 
THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 157 
 
 pointed, the parties, with their partisans, assemble and 
 form the ring, which done, the phiintiff, singing and 
 dancing as above described, states the case, taking occa- 
 sion to retaliate on his adversary by as much ridicule 
 and sarcacim as he can devise, to which, when he is 
 finished, the other, singing and dancing in his turn, 
 replies; and thus the case is pleaded, till both have 
 nothing more to say, on which the spectators pronounce 
 sentence at once, without appeal, and the adversaries 
 part as good friends as if nothing had happened to dis- 
 turb the harmony of their friendship. In this way the 
 debtor is sometimes reminded of his debt and the evil- 
 doer receives a merited rebuke for his misconduct. In 
 fact, a better system of prevention and punishment of 
 offences-one, at least, better adapted to the disposition 
 of the people among whom it obtains-could scarcely be 
 devised as there is nothing of which the Greenlander is 
 so much afraid as to be despised or laughed at bv his 
 countrymen. This apprehension, there can be no 
 doubt, deters many among them from the commission 
 of offences ; and it is to be regretted that the mission- 
 aries, losing sight of this peculiarity of their temper, 
 have abolished this national dance on the west coast "* 
 A brief account of two Sabbath services which I 
 attended will furnish some important colours in the 
 picture of existing life in Greenland. 
 
 In the early part of August, 1804, as already described 
 I set out with a party of eight from Sukkertoppen to 
 spend a week in camping close by the projection of the 
 mland ice, which there comes down to the head of the 
 lonely and picturesque fiord of Ikamiut. A hard pull 
 
 * Graah's Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of 
 Greenland, pp. 107, 108. 
 
i 
 
 158 
 
 GRKKNLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 at the oars for twenty miles brouylit us, late on Friday 
 night, to our destination. On Saturday the weather 
 was unpropitious. 'Fhe wiiul blew liard, and the air was 
 full of fog and drizzly rain. We were able to do little 
 but sit in our tent and cultivate the acquaintance of our 
 strange but kindly and well-disposed neighbours. They 
 were curious to see everything we had, and to know 
 both what it was and what it was for. It must be con- 
 fessed also that we were equally curious to learn every- 
 thing about them. But, in token of their good will the 
 women and children brought us an abundant supply of 
 moss and crowberry vines with which to carpet our tent 
 and to disguise the hardness of our rocky floor. 
 
 Sunday morning came, and it was still cold and 
 rainy. While we were eating our breakfast and shiver- 
 ing over our coal-oil stove in the tent, a man of mild 
 appearance and diminutive stature came to the door 
 with a hymn book ami a Bible in his hands, and pointed 
 to them to indicate, as we surmised, that (here was to 
 be religious service somewhere in the settlement. But 
 he did not linger long, and so silently disappeared that 
 we did not see where he went, and hence were at a loss 
 to know where the service was to l)o held, for the settle- 
 ment was squalid in the extreme, and no one of the 
 three igloos seemed better than the others. 
 
 But on going down to one boats we heard singing in 
 one of the igloos. Stooping down Ix-fore the low door 
 and j)ushing it open, on our hands and knees, we were 
 welcomed by motions into the most interesting church 
 service I ever expect to attend. To our eyes the room 
 in itself was dreary beyond description. The low walls 
 of stone and turf were reeking with moisture, while wa- 
 ter distilled fi-eely from the sod roof in various ]ilaces, 
 and, as one walked along the passageways, spurted up 
 
160 
 
 GBEENLAND IlRPIEM)s. 
 
 from the crevices between the loose stones with which 
 the fl,,o,- was covered. The only dry place was the shelf 
 elevated about a foe., on the ncrth side of the 2m 
 which for the regnlar inmates was their ..IceninK 2oe' 
 .y n,g t and their lounging place by day. A cylitd't 
 
 because the creepnig vines and peat were so wet that i 
 was impossible to kindle a fire. A lamp of seal n 
 freshly distilled from the raw blubber Z bu,-.":^ ' 
 the other end of the room, being the s,,ecial pr„,rer v 
 and caro o the oldest woman of the household.' I'^u! 
 place could one stand erect. 
 
 Sahlfn '""■° ■™' ^""""■'"' "'^ "■'•<''<' eon'mnrnty for 
 habbath morning worship. Of course, I could not un- 
 derstand the words 0, their hymn, bul the tune a a 
 
 n r ctt m""" ,'"■".' "' "''''^'' "" '"'"''' """'taining 
 
 ?I,MI , "• "'°""""''' "•"' "«<'«">"' movement 
 Xhen followed a sermon from the little man, who proved 
 
 eiedm the Eskimo language, and with eloquence and 
 effect, though from the lowness of the room the speaker 
 was compelled to remain in a sitting posture tZ !„T 
 intelligible words to mo in eitlie; T men ortt 
 prayers were the amens, in which all joined Fiiallv 
 the service was closed with another hymn sung o .„ 
 equally impressive ( lerman clmial. ^ 
 
 Not to bo excelled in respect paid for the Sabbath 
 «e arranged an English service in our tei t t e 
 
 mi ay mea and circulated the notice am g 
 i^kii ,os m the same manner as that emploveil bv ! 
 catechist m the morning. We should lu^-e-fa en .« 
 
 t ,::„:': ,:"r 'r'" "'." '™'' -"• - *«^ "ad t 
 
 ~ d tha^^ ,""* '" S"'""'"-. P"'dencc 
 
 suggested that they be excluded ; so I stood in the door 
 
THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 161 
 
 of the tent with our own company mussed near the en- 
 trance, Willie the Eskimos, notwithstanding the inclem- 
 ent weather, gathered in front of the tabernacle. But 
 thoy were all there, listening with the utmost devotion 
 to the smgmgand the service, of which they understood 
 not a word. Such was our first Sabbath. 
 
 The second Sunday service was at Sukkcrtonpen in 
 a tastily built church seating about four hundred. The 
 
 Fio. 39.-Church at Sukkertoppen. Me,, ea,Tying a .u„uak i„ the fore- 
 
 ground. 
 
 room was crowded to its utmost capacity-the men sit- 
 ting upon one side and the women and children upon 
 the other, while a score or more of dusky but bright-eyed 
 babies peered over the shoulders of their mothers or older 
 sisters and added to the singularity of the service by 
 their gentle but constant crooning. Numbers also of the 
 late-comers were sitting upon the floor in the back part 
 of the church. 
 
 The services were conducted by a native catechist, 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 
 2.5 
 
 ^ III 1.4 
 
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 2.2 
 
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 1.6 
 
 Photogiaphic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) (i/2-4503 
 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 1^\'^C>'^ 
 
 
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 162 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 organ, upon whiol> ,. „ati,e played 121^ ' ?"* 
 ludes and harmonies that rogSVLZi ^^ "n '"""■• 
 choral. Some years bef or^I h d 7 ? ^'^" ''''™''" 
 this form „f J u "'' '"*"" '"ipressed with 
 
 wh^ittas^rr rrrrir^^^ 
 eXr T'-''^-' ^^^^-^y —ire;':? 
 
 centur.es of practice, all seemed to be unique at C„Wn„ 
 
 in the same noble harnf ni"! h fsa Wv th?" '° """ 
 
 ennusiasm. Probably each individual voice alone would 
 have sounded execrably, but all together blended bto, 
 d>gmfled volume of sound of the noblest and mostlt s 
 
 itf eltsoTo.""^"'!"' ''"°" "' <='»■«'' ""™- 
 se vices at Lh! ""■ ""■"'' "'P'"'''"« '>>^ S^^-bath 
 thU !? P'"™' "■■' "> ""^ ^••'""' «««'ct, and show 
 
 that our expenence was not exceptional 
 
 A superficial glance at the condition of woman 
 among the Eskimos leaves upon the ordinary Europau 
 1 e ,mpress,on that she is very much oppressed Indt 
 l.ttlc less than a slave to the men. More'^^'arefr, i "ut 
 
 ?o7i:L:'„f "" *'"" ""^ '^ ""■ '■■- being ther/: 
 
 101, in fact, the women are exceedingly cheerful and in 
 the division of labour have reason to be, as they Lre we 1 
 satisfied with the part assigned to them. 
 
 When a seal is towed to land bv a kavaker if ».«„. 
 according to the standards of Amiican^ctmlllir,!' 
 

 TM ESKIMOS OP THE NOBTH ATLANTIC, igg 
 "d ul4'^/:r":f ""'"-". leaving tl.en, I 
 
 moss. But really this is the proper thing for him Z 
 do, for the whole existence, not to sa, comfo; of the 
 
 Fia. 40.-A company of Eskimo women on the outlook. 
 
 family depends upon tlie man's success in capturing the 
 wild animals upon which they su' .st • .nrl fi, vf l 
 the most difflcit and .^JJ^^t^l^tt^Z 
 mamta,n,ng existence amid the conditions of lite which 
 tl e-e preva, For days together, perhaps, the ardy 
 
 and with l.ttle food, and with the thermometer far be- 
 ow freezmg. Everything depends upon his s„cc s in 
 he chase, and the heroism and patience dispLcd C 
 
 the hunters „ almost incredible, while the physical 
 
164 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 exhaustion often proceeds to the very limit of endur- 
 ance, and the accidents to which they are exposed are 
 numerous—about ten per cent of the deaths being from 
 that cause. Of four thousand four hundred and seventy 
 deaths recorded in one portion of southern Greenland 
 from :7S2 to 1853, four hundred and fifteen arose from 
 accidents to kayaks. In fact, the whole life of the suc- 
 cessful Eskimo man is one of daring and heroism, such 
 as is well calculated to enlist the admiration of woman's 
 heart ; so that the jiart of the work which the women 
 undertake to do is performed with great alacrity and 
 cheerfulness, and is such as in the main could not well 
 be done by the men without interfering with their effi- 
 ciency in the more imperative duties which devolve upon 
 them. The A\fomen, being always at home, naturally 
 have charge of the material which is brought in for the 
 support of all. 
 
 It is a busy scene which follows when a kayaker has 
 captured and successfully brouglit to land a seal of ordi- 
 nary dimensions. The women immediately seize the ani- 
 mal, and, stretching it out upon the shore, strip it of its 
 skin, which in due time they are to manipulate for the in- 
 numerable uses to which it may be put. Chunks of blub- 
 ber are distributed around to the eager crowd of children 
 and others, who devour them with all the avidity which an 
 American schoolgirl manifests for candy. What remains 
 of the blubber is carefully stowed away for use in the 
 ever-burning lamp. The meat also is stripped off from 
 the bones in preparation for a universal feast, and is in 
 general eaten without being cooked ; while the undi- 
 gested food ill the stomach of the animal is preserved 
 as a most precious delicacy, and the sinews and entrails 
 are laid aside to be manufactured into thread and thongs 
 of most enduring character. 
 
 t 
 
 i--.. 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 THE ESKIMOS OP THE .NORTH ATLANTIC. 166 
 
 The preparation of ihe skins for use varies according 
 to the objects in view; but one of the most essential 
 operations, which is always performed by the women, 
 consists in chewing the hide— a process which serves 
 the double purpose of removing from it the adhering 
 fat and oil and of rendering it pliable. Chewing is 
 done by doubling up the hide into a fold, so that a por- 
 tion can readily be inserted in the mouth, where it is 
 munched until all the fat is extracted and the whole 
 made scft. This work renders it necessary for the 
 women to have good teeth, and it is noticeable that 
 Providence has in general supplied them with such ; 
 whether as a direct result of their use from ciiildhood, 
 or by the indirect process of natural selection, it is dif- 
 ficult to tell. But it is certain that women provided 
 wi:': teeth well adapted for the preparation of hides 
 must have a great advantage over those less generously 
 provided, and must be sought for more frequently as 
 suitable companions for the most heroic and successful 
 hunters. 
 
 The skins of the eider duck, the kittiwake, ptarmi- 
 gan, and other birds are prepared by the women in a 
 similar manner, this serving as a sort of knitting-work 
 in the intervals between the severer tasks of rendering 
 pliable the skins of the larger animals. So severe is the 
 work of munching the seal skins that a day of labour 
 upon them is followed by a day of rest. The women 
 are also relied upon to mend the seal-skin boots, which 
 are so essential in all Greenland expeditions. These, 
 too, have to be rendered pliable by chewing before the 
 rips are closed up or the patches sewed on. It is evident 
 that the Greenland women get along very comfortably 
 without the use of gum. 
 
 The women show much taste and skill in the manu- 
 
 t 
 
 
II f 
 
 1()C 
 
 ■t ! 
 
 GlilOKNLANI) ICKFIKLDS. 
 
 e '>;''>'";"^»tut,on of their olothin^r. The leath- 
 
 ll lu r"\ r '' "«"HlIy .olouml u beautiful blue, 
 an t e boot-tops are ornarueuted uitb stripes pleasing 
 bo«i i„ eolonr ami n. forn. The short trousers art 
 made of undressed reindeer skin, variegated with stripes 
 
 F.O. 41.-Eski,uo household servants. Married and unmarrfed 
 
 of fur from other iininials of a different colour; and in 
 the summer time tlie blouse, which comes down to the 
 hips, IS covered upon the outside with cloth of appro- 
 priate figure, and ornamented with a band of a different 
 colour around the bottom ; while a necklace of coloured 
 beads covers the shoulders and breast when in full dress 
 
 / 
 
 Ui'r I 
 
dv 
 
 THE ESKIMOS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 107 
 
 and the Imir is ptillcd ..p from every Pido to the top of the 
 10ml und, utter being made into a compact roll, is tiffhtlv 
 
 bound with uribbon, whose colourindicutes the condition 
 of the vveurer. The untnurried women bind their hair in 
 red, the married in bine, and the widows in black, min- 
 gling bine with it, however, and surrounding the fore- 
 head by a narrow band of white when they have mourned 
 a su hcent length of time and are ready to marry again. 
 Ihe great abundance of birds supply both m'en and 
 women with ample material with which to provide their 
 blouses with a warm lining. The skins are stripped 
 bodi y rom the breasts of the birds, and, after being 
 care ully chewed and tanne.l, are sewed together with 
 much skill to fit the body, with the feathers inward 
 Beautiful quilts are also made from the skins, present- 
 ing upon one side the soft down of the eider duck, and 
 upon the other the thicker but coarser feathers of the 
 kittiwake, the auk, or the ptarmigan 
 
 The women, like the men in Danish Greenland, can 
 all read and write, and are extremely fond of music and 
 dancing In the long days of summer they never seem 
 too tired to gather on some level place in front of their 
 houses and dance their beautiful quadrilles to music of 
 their own singing. In one favourite dance the partners 
 at certain intervals, draw off from each other in a very 
 graceful manner, and shake the forefinger of each hand 
 in succession three times in the face of the other, and 
 cap their hands together three times in the rhythm of 
 the music when they join hands again to move on as 
 before. Indeed, the lieart seems as merrv in the midst 
 of Greenland s icy mountains as it is in the sunny islands 
 of the south Pacific, proving how easy it is everywhere 
 foi man to rise above liis environment and make his life 
 worth living. 
 
 I 
 
168 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Doubtless Christianity has done much to ameliorate 
 the condition of women in Danish Greenhind, but even 
 anion<r the heathen Eskimos on the east coast and north 
 of Melville Jiay the apparent hardships to which widows 
 and orphans are subjected have some foundation of ex- 
 cuse in the severity of the conditions of life to which 
 they are compelled to adjust themselves ; for so near are 
 they living all the while upon the verge of starvation that 
 the community can not take upon itself the responsi- 
 bility of providing for an indefinite number of non- 
 producers. Each man has all ho can do to provide for 
 his own family ; so that when a widow is left with in- 
 fant children there is an appearance of hard necessity 
 driving them to leave these helpless ones to their fate. 
 It is often a cjuestion between leaving one familv to 
 starve by itself or all starving together. The problem 
 and the extremity of the resort are not so different as 
 they seem from those which sometimes confront us in 
 civilized lands, where the population in any district has 
 increased faster than the means of subsistence have done. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EUROPEANS IN GKEENLAND. 
 
 _ The discovery of Greenland by Europeans took place 
 in tne latter part of the tenth century, when colonists 
 from Iceland and Scandinavia were attracted thither in 
 considerable numbers and established a civilization which 
 maintained itself for four centuries. The discoverer Avas 
 an Icelander named Eric the Red, a freebooter, who was 
 compelled to leave his country for his country's good. 
 A few years before he set out upon his voyacre of dis- 
 covery another Icelandic adventurer, named Gminibjorn 
 had been driven by fierce storms westward into unknown 
 waters where he came in sight of islands which proba- 
 bly belonged to the eastern coast of Greenland, or per- 
 haps of the coast itself, but he made no attempts to 
 ^nd. H.s reports, however, stimulated the hope of 
 Eric and guided him in his efforts to discover a new 
 country where he should be undisturbed by enemies 
 He was successful in finding harbours in the southern 
 part of Greenland, where he spent two winters. This 
 was about the year 982, and the portion of the coast 
 explored by him is that between Cape Farewell and 
 Juhanshaab, about latitude 60°, the regioi. known as 
 the Eastern Bygd, or Colony. 
 
 When the term of Eric'^ banishment had expired he 
 went back to Iceland, and, partly by giving an attractive 
 name to the region, induced twenty-five ships to return 
 
 169 
 
IP 
 
 170 
 
 GKEENLANl) ICEFIRLDS. 
 
 with lum ; but, of these, eleven were driven back or 
 wrecked. Jiink expresses the feeling of all who read 
 the history, when ^e says that it is amazing " that Erio 
 and his followers in the course of throe or four years 
 
 Fia. 43.-Arrival of the Rigel for relief of the Miranda 
 
 Should be able to find out what in modern times only 
 repeated exploring expeditions extending over more than 
 one hundred years at length succeeded in rediscoverin^r 
 notwithstanding the enormous advantages furnished by' 
 science and new inventions and the assistance rendered 
 by government to later explorers. The first obstacle en- 
 countered by the voyagers to Txreenland is the border of 
 drift ice that commonly guards the coast, vvhich is gen- 
 eral y so narrow that the vessels outside can sight the 
 land across it, and yet so thick and dense that it be- 
 comes more or less impossible to force a wav through 
 It. Second if we succeed in reaching the 'shore we 
 meet with labyrinths of rocks, islands, and bluff head- 
 
■ 
 
 EUltOPEANS IN (JKEENLANU j^j 
 
 nieuns of subsistence for l.unmn in),.. 7 ''f'^'^'y 
 
 wiil bo found wl.ioh ,r,i,rl,t w„ll l '"■"'" 
 
 ablo to t,.o ancio, dSt: ' TCT"" '"l"""'" 
 
 bored with the sumo barrier of drift ice wliich in modern 
 mes has frustrated so n.any hazardous attempts to rl h 
 
 he coast. We may also condude that he a tempted to 
 force his way through it in many places before h ailed 
 four hundred miles to the southwest and rounded Cape 
 Farewe 1, and, having finally succeeded in landing he 
 must afterward be supposed to have tried hundred^ of 
 
 ounds, deceptive inlets and creeks, or n^ls-de-sac, on 
 
 he coast bordering Davis Strait at a stretch of four 
 hundred miles. 
 
 "With all the detailed knowledge Avhich has now 
 been acquired regarding the same course, the Danes 
 laving had establishments there for more than a cen- 
 tury, no better localities for settlers have yet been found 
 than those which Eric of old pointed out to his follow- 
 ers in the fourteen ships which succeeded in reaching 
 the country."* ^ 
 
 ^riiree yea-s later, in the year 990, Leif, a son of Eric 
 the Red, visited IS^orway, where he met Olaf Tryggvas- 
 
 
 Danish Greenland, pp. 4, 5. 
 
 I 
 
PI 
 
 172 
 
 GHIOKNIiANI) ICKKIKLDS. 
 
 Hon, the king, wlio vvuh jnnt then oxliibiting tlio zoal of 
 II now oonvurl. in tlio Hpmul of ('iiriHtiiii.ity. Hy tho 
 iirgiinjonis of the king tho julvonturor wm convorted, 
 iind in tho foMowing snniinor rotnrned to (Jroonhmd, 
 taking with him a priost, whoso ixu-siuisivo urgnnionts, 
 joined to thoso of hoif, woro MncooHsfu" in tho oon- 
 voraion of Ksic, who, with ull his (olloworH, whs soon 
 after baptized. 
 
 In (hie time tho eoh)nios spread as far north as (lodt- 
 haah, in hitituthi <;4°. Hnt tho only moans of comrnn- 
 nicHtion hetwoen tho two settUunonts was by boat, and 
 six (hiys wer(( recinirod for tho passage. The east sc^ttlo- 
 nient eve. itually grew to e<)ntain twelve parishes and one 
 hundred and ninety farms, iind suj ^ ortod two monus- 
 terios and a cathtMlral. Tlio west district luul four pur- 
 ishos and one 'linndrod farms. Numerous ruins still 
 exist nnirking the site of those oarly settlements, ono of 
 whieh is believed by Uink to bo tho very house in whioli 
 Krio took up his lirst abode. This, as indicated in an 
 earlier chapter, is situated neur [galiko, in latitude Gl° 
 50', at the end of a (iord e.Ktending forty or llfty miles 
 toward tho inland ice from .lulianshaab. The steep faeo 
 of a precipice formed one side of the house, while tho 
 walls on tho other side and at the ends consist of red 
 sandstone blocks more than four feet thick. Until re- 
 cently tho entrance to this was still i)roserved, " meas- 
 uring about six ioot in height and four feet in breadth." 
 Some of tiie stones in tho wall measure from four to six 
 feet in cubical dimensions. Tho house was abojit forty 
 feet in length by twenty foot in breadth, ^riio ruins of a 
 church are found near by, with fragments of sculptured 
 stone, indicating Christian burial i)laces. 
 
 At this period Greenland was not wholly devoid of 
 literature. In connection with the establishment of 
 
-"'fS' 
 
 KI'HOI'KANS IN (HtKKNLAM). 
 
 
 ;vi..;.no,,».,.^!;t;;ifjr;:„r::;;;j::l;r;:;''^ 
 
 the eonuMg y.nr l.-ifn hrotlu-r T horva | wT h 
 
 men, vinited Vinlun.l, vv|,,ro ho s, , . '^^ 
 
 I wo years lat.or, uftor tho return of Tl., .-v i r 
 
 spent ,t winter in (iroonln, ^"'""'"-^ '"'^^ 
 
 Kric's Tl... r '."'"'^^"•'' '■"''' """•'•'<''! n relation of 
 
 m.l> the „ati r ' 1 llf/rr T '? "."'■"^'""■'" 
 fonn.lI.MwI M c J'ttio doubt that Now- 
 
 i'Mindiand, i\ova Hcofi'i «i»iri w i ■^''t>v 
 
 by tho,e nivent , or .n t ..f ™ rf " ""'■" ""''"■'' 
 Moanwh:!o tfio j-o-Kf r.fW-. i i , .' 
 
 .na„o ,,po,, tho wok const ^^'k: ;':',:' :';;™;;;7» 
 
 grco of latitude. A runic stono i. ,"";."''^^>^-^''^t'' <>«- 
 1^3., wlulc Ihoro ,s somo ovidonco that i„ vm JZ 
 
 I 
 
174 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 imi'-Ch I 
 
 ■u 
 
 pedition visited Lancaster Sound and reached a latitude 
 01 7o 40 . 
 
 From tJ. 3 number of Xorse ruins existing in Green- 
 land It 13 thought by some that the population may 
 have reached several thous..nd, and, according to the 
 records, while they had to import all timber and iron 
 their exports show that they raised sheep and oxen to a 
 iiniited extent, and were successful in killing seal and 
 walrus. Bread, however, was said to have been, then as 
 now utterly unknown, while reindeer, whales, and bears 
 contributed to their necessities and comfort. Evidently 
 the conditions of the country have changed but little 
 since. It IS said that as late as 1484 there were "forty 
 men in Bergen, Norway, who were acquainted with 
 Orreenland navigation, and used annually to bring home 
 precious cargoes from that country." After that date 
 all communication with Greenland ceased until it was 
 rediscovered by Davis in 1585. 
 
 Upon the rediscovery of Greenland vigorous efforts 
 were put forth to find the descendants of the colonists 
 who had been so long neglected ; but none have ever 
 been found, and Hiere has been great disappointment as 
 to the extent of the ruins of the former settlements and 
 of the cultivable land surrounding them. The fact 
 seems to be that there never was much cultivi don of 
 the soil in Greenland. 
 
 The failure to find these colonies on the accessible 
 shore of western Greenland has led to many eiforts to 
 find them on the east coast; but these have only re- 
 sulted in proving that the east coast was never inhab- 
 ited by Europeans. Even as late as 1883, Kordenskjold 
 cherished the hope that a habitable region existed in 
 the interior of Greenland which he supposed was not 
 reached by the heavy snowstorms that characterized the 
 
EUROPEANS IN GREENLAND. 175 
 
 coasts. But the exploration of the interior has demon- 
 strated that it is entirely enveloped with ice, and fur- 
 
 nishes no conditions for supporting the life of either 
 man or beast. 
 
 A popular impression has been that the early colonies 
 were destroyed by the Eskimos near the middle of the 
 
 1 ."i 
 
 10 
 
j«ra 
 
 176 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 fourteenth century, about which time it is said they first 
 came in contact .vith them in the neighbourhood of 
 Disco Ishxnd. But it is doubtful if tliere is any truth 
 in this legend. It is more likely that the decay of the 
 colonies was hastened by the " black death," which dev- 
 astated so much of Europo during the middle of the 
 fourteenth century, and which was extremely fatal in 
 liondiijem the Norwegian port which had most trade 
 with Greenland. Kink is of the opinion that the Euro- 
 pean settlers became intermixed with the Eskimos, who 
 advanced upon them in the latter part of the fourteenth 
 century, and that very likely their descendants are still 
 to be found among the present natives of Greenland, 
 many of whom even on the east coast show distinct 
 traces o Eui-opean descent. As contributory causes of 
 
 sidei also the many feuds that were continuallv arising 
 among themselves, and the difficulty of maintaining a 
 comfortable subsistence when intercourse with Iceland 
 ana JNorway ceased. 
 
 After the rediscovery of Greenland bv Davis, in 1585 
 more than a century elapsed before effectual colonization 
 began again. In Km the King of Denmark sent out 
 an exploring expedition, which went as far north as the 
 sixty-seventh degree of latitude, and returned with many 
 articles of commerce and with two or three of the na- 
 tives whom they had captured and brought awav against 
 their will ; but subsequent efforts were not so successful 
 and the country was only infrequently visited during the 
 remainder of the century. 
 
 The present development of Danish occupation and 
 control dates from July 3, 17'-?!, when Hans Egede with 
 his wife and children landed at the place now called 
 Wodthaab, and established a Christian mission for the 
 
EUROPEANS IN GREENLAND. ^^7 
 
 conversion of the natives. It was hoped that the trade 
 of the colony might be sufficient to make it self-support- 
 ing, but this proved deh,sive. Among the most inter, 
 estmg but unprofitable effortsof the Danish Government 
 to inluse life mto the colony was that of 1738 when a 
 military expedition, consisting of twenty-five' soldiers 
 with heir proper officers and eleven horses, was sent 
 from Denmark to explore the interior. But the horses 
 were of course useless and soon died, while the governor 
 found that the interior was but a barren wusfe of ice 
 Diinng the first winter the soldiers and other colonists 
 wlio had been sent with them endured unspeakable hard- 
 ships, and no less than forty died of diseases. 
 
 The difficulties encountered by Egede were such as 
 would have discouraged -any less devoted man The 
 anguago was difficult to master, and for years he had 
 to depend on pictures to convey to the Eskimo the new 
 Ideas of the Christian religion. At first, also, they took 
 him to be an amjvhok, or medicine man, whose author- 
 ity could be sustained only by a miraculous healing of 
 the sick. Two orphan boys to whom he had given spe- 
 cial instruction left him at length, declaring that he was 
 of no account, and could do nothing " but look in a book 
 and scrawl with a feather," whereas their own country- 
 men "could hunt seals and shoot birds." 
 
 In 1731 the death of King Frederick IV, who had 
 been the chief patron of the mission, brought things to 
 a crisis, and orders were given for the Europeans all to 
 come home. But Egede, who had just mastered the 
 language and won his first converts, persuaded a few 
 men to stay with him, and wrote a letter begging the 
 new king not to abandon the work which had been be- 
 gnn with so much labour. This letter was effective, and 
 the mission was continued. 
 
178 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 h' } 
 
 Soon after this, in 1733, the Moravians established a 
 mission at New Herrnhut, in close proximity to Egede 
 Since that time the Lutherans and Moravians have con^ 
 tinned their work side by side. The Moravians now 
 have six stations, but the main work has been done bv 
 the Lutheran missionaries on the foundations laid by 
 ■njgede. •' 
 
 Egede remained in Greenland nutil 173O, when his 
 wife died and he himself was taken ill, which compelled 
 h.m to return to Denmark, where he spent the rest of 
 his hfe m broken health. His son, however, remained 
 behmd, and h,s father's work was carried on with re- 
 
 tTr ,r pI"** '""■"''"« '""""' ■"""• »' ">e present 
 time, the Eskimos in Danish Greenland are all nominally 
 
 Chr.stn.ns, about two thousand of them being connected 
 
 with the Lutheran Church. Eight Lutheran mission- 
 ary oversee the work of the numerous native at . 
 ohists and schoolmasters who are employed to impart 
 instruction directly to the people. ThesI Daiiish S 
 — r™"^ remain in Greenland only aboutZ 
 
 instfuctronf""^'"^*'' ^'''"' '''«""'*y "' f"™i«'"-g 
 
 landers 2 h' ^'"f ™ "''^^'^ ^^""^^^^ ^^ ^^ «reen 
 lando 8 are the rudiments of education have been so 
 
 effectively imparted to them that nearly all can now 
 GodtZb " "'\ ^ P""«"« ""'^ -"maintained a" 
 
 ished. These comprise the Bible, about twenty re- 
 hgious books, and si.xteen entertaining story bookY be- 
 
 Ides numerous schoolbooks. According to Bink whose 
 long residence in Greenland makes his lestimonv imim 
 
 to read tolerably well oat of every book in their own Ian- 
 
 
EUROPEANS IN GREENLAND. 
 
 179 
 
 guage. ... The art of reading is not only familiar in 
 every house, but reading also forms a favourite occupa- 
 tion. . . . Carrying on correspondence by letters has be- 
 come pretty frequent between the natives of different 
 stations. . . . Moreover, the natives seem to be pecul- 
 iarly talented as to acquiring a good hand in writing. 
 . . . Scarcely any country exists where children are so 
 ready to receive school instruction as Greenland ; it is 
 almost considered more a diversion than a duty." * 
 
 Everything in Greenland is under the control of the 
 Danish Government, the management being committed 
 to a board (the Kongelige Gronlandske Handel) residing 
 m Copenhagen. Danish Greenland itself is divided into 
 two inspectorates, the northern and the southern, of 
 which the respective capitals are Godhavn and GodthLb. 
 The two inspectors are commissioned with the responsi- 
 bility of carrying out the regulations of the board, and 
 withm the limits of those regulations have almost abso- 
 lute power. A foreigner is not permitted to remain any 
 length of time in Greenland without the permission of 
 the inspector. 
 
 In each district (of which we have given detailed 
 account in a preceding chapter) there is a subordinate 
 governor responsible to the inspector, and under him 
 various post traders, though the trade is all made to 
 centre in the capitals of these districts, which are visited 
 annually by one or two Government vessels. Ordinarily, 
 as has appeared in the detailed account, the capital of 
 the district contains only three or four Danish dwell- 
 ings, a storehouse, and a blubber-boiling house, around 
 which are gathered the casks to hold the oil and the 
 barrels to contain the fish which are to be exported. In 
 
 Danish Greenland, pp. 214-217. 
 
ISO 
 
 f i 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 somoof tho districts there is a clergyman o f., i 
 Dhvsipi'mi on,i „ T i.1 ^^t^rgymau, a teacher, a 
 
 fZ IT ^^"tlieran church, though in most of 
 
 Fio. 44.-The Danish ladies at Sukkertoppen. 
 
 ant, Mr. Baumann, and their wives <infl fi.v«. i -i^ 
 
 University. Altoo-etlier tlii. If Copenhagen 
 
 lead a life whirh ?« ' company of Danes 
 
KUROPEANS IN GREENLAND, 
 
 181 
 
 provisions is always kept on hand, to guard against any 
 failure in communication vvitii the outside world. An 
 ample library, both of Danish and English booJis, fur- 
 nishes them reading material during the long winter 
 night, while the piano and their own cultivated voices 
 provide them with music according to their various 
 moods of feeling. Mr. Bistrup has been seventeen years 
 in Greenland service, and, according to their regulations, 
 will, after eight years more, be permitted to retire and 
 return to Denmark upon a pension. Miss Fausboll is 
 simply spending two or three years for an outing with 
 her uncle, having charge meanwhile of the instruction 
 of the children of the two families. They all speak 
 with enthusiasm of the life, though longings for the 
 home land could not altogether be suppressed. 
 
 The Siihiries of the superintendents are fixed at £3.50 
 a year, besides residence, fuel, and attendants. The 
 salary of the inspectors is £338, while that of the 
 clerks and assistants is £100. Besides these officials 
 there are nearly 300 Danish outpost traders, seamen, 
 and mechanics employed in Greenland, distributed 
 pretty equally among the colonies and receiving an 
 annual salary of £35 each, and, in the case of the 
 traders, a percentage on the trade. 
 
 The discomforts a.id inconveniences of official life 
 in Greenland are manifest, but are endured with little 
 complaint, all seeming to nuike the best of their circum- 
 stances and to minimize their trials. In the posts where 
 there are no physicians (which constitute a majority) it 
 IS necessary to be sick when the phvsician makes his 
 semiannual round, in order to reap the benefit of his 
 services. One of the ladies of Sukkertoppen was plan- 
 ning, when we were there, to return to Copenhagen the 
 next season to have a much-needed operation in den- 
 
 I 
 
182 
 
 b 
 
 OBEENLAKD ICEFIELDS. 
 
 t.8try performed. Happily, wo had an accomplished 
 deutet from ^„„ York witl> us, who was able to'^o tl e 
 wo k and reheve her of the burden of the long jounev 
 and separation from her family. It is related of Z 
 .upermtendent at Upernivik that he lad b otl t to 
 
 sTould "If , , ""' "■'" *'"' ''"i<"-« *»' « copy 
 If "er da;:."°"^'" """ ""* ■"''■™"g "' "-"-t a ye^^ 
 
 Though the Government is entirely in the hand, «f 
 
 D°r It'"" '" "'"^"'«'"'' "-»"«" *^e ettnl 
 tw ntv fi" V ™ "«P<'ctorof southern Greenland for 
 twenty-five years or more, local councils were organized 
 
 delegates f ron, every station " elected at the rate of about 
 one representative to one hundred and twcntrvoters " 
 Tins native council is invited to aid the regular offlcTals 
 
 especally m distributing the surplus profit! of rade Ind 
 n genera a V oe with reference to the'welfare of th: ^s 
 
 met. It holds two sessions every year, and the discus 
 
 rrrn:"';!' "■ "^ ^^''™° '"^™so." The; ti: 
 
 guardians of the poor, and both investigate and punish 
 
 c'r^f? , ■"'^.^r""""" =""' ^'"^^ i.'.eritanceT In 
 cases of high misdemeanour they arc permitted to inflict 
 corporal punishment. But the character of the Eskimo 
 IS so peaceable that there is little work for this conn'n o 
 
 fZt/T'''' ""*"'■"""" o' ^^"^f *" "» needy Sur" 
 
 Ziml T\u ° • '""'™ y*™ -^^ "'"'^ establishment 
 
 t^M *fn ""^ '""' "" ''"""'P"' «'"'«<'« ^''bmitted 
 
 sioned the death of a person, and another of openly 
 th eatenmg; five or six instances of grosser thefto^ 
 cheating, and as many of concealment of birth and 
 crimes relating to matrimony; every year a few petty 
 
 ( 
 
( 
 
 KCTROPEANS IN OREExXLAND. jgg 
 
 «ts and instance, of making use of the tools of others 
 without permission, or of likfi rH««wi., . ^"*^^^ 
 
 trifling litigations."* ^^^ovaov.; and several 
 
 Fig. 45.-The governor-s house at Sukkertoppen. 
 
 Witli tlie great preponderance of women among the 
 Eskimos consequent upon the luizardous nature of t e 
 o cup,t,ons of tlie men, it would seem as if the servant-g 
 question inight be easily solved in Greenland ; but such 
 
 are restive under the restraints and duties of civilized 
 * Robert Brown, in Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 
 •»t -.Jr 
 
v 
 
 184 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 liousekeoping. So long as they can bo persuaded to re- 
 main in service, their pleasant faces, mild manners, and 
 generally docile spirit make them unusually accept..ble 
 servants. Dressed in their attractive native costume, 
 they move quietly about the house, attending to their 
 duties, unencumbered by the long skirts of female attire 
 in civilized countries, and, to the stranger, add much 
 picturesqueness to the dinner parties so lavishly given 
 by the Danish families. But their hearts are not in this 
 service. They still prefer to mingle with those of their 
 own kind, and wander away during the summer months 
 on camping excursions or join in the long winter even- 
 ings in the more agreeable tasks of chewing and tanning 
 and working up the seal skins and bird skins brought 
 into the igloos by the adventurous hunters of the other 
 sex. ' 
 
 In the year 1870 there were " in the service of the 
 Danish mission 53 appointed teacliers, besides several 
 other teachers classed as seal hunters or fishers. In the 
 serv-ice of the royal trade were 13 outpost traders, 15 
 head men and boatswains, 14 carpenters and smiths 19 
 coopers, 15 cooks, 54 sailors and labourers, besides' 10 
 pensioners and 33 midwives ; five officers were enumerated 
 as natives, but three of them are more properly Europeans. 
 In the same year the Europeans numbered 237, of whom 
 90 were engaged in the trade, 8 were Danish and 11 
 Moravian missionaries, and 38 lived at the cryolite 
 laines; the rest were women and children " 
 
 As already said, the trade of Greenland is a Govern 
 ment monopoly, having been taken up in the year 1774 
 
 nZ'' li^'V'T' '' '^ ^^^^«^'^^^^^ - ^ P^^^-te mo-' 
 nopol3^ Rmk estimated that the earnings of the Es- 
 kimo families average £8 each "from the produce of 
 t.e hunt sold to royal officials." According to Robert 
 
EUROPRAKS IN GREENLAND. jgj 
 
 Brown, cl,>ring the twenty ycara from ISM to 1873 the 
 average annual exports of the material brought in by 
 
 Skins, 1,436 fox skins, 41 bear skiii^ ft«i «,„* i 
 
 down, 0,900 pounds feathers, a,300 pounds whalebone 
 
 h des"""D:ri'::?i' '' "Tv™^^' »"" ''''' -">™- 
 
 Hides During the period of 1870 to 1874 " the mean 
 annual value of the products received from ( en7and 
 (exclusive of cryolite) was .£45,000; that of the eZes 
 s nt thither, £ZiMi; and the mean expenditure o , tl 
 ^.ips and crews, £8,897. . . . The average profit o tL 
 
 mfand is'^f \™; ^ '"^ '-"y-onoyiars bet™ 
 1863 and 1874, about £0.000 yearly. The capital sunk 
 n the 'royal trade ' is calculated at .m,426 fand, tlk 
 ng the whole amount of net revenues from the present 
 trade during the period from 1790 to 1875, the inte es 
 
 per s of Z r '" r?""-" ^""""""g ^ *» 'o- 
 £32 noo it ; ,' ''='""■" '■"■ «"" y"" ^^'0 valued at 
 £32,000, which shows a considerable falling oft from the 
 
 14,000 tons between that time and 1804. In that year 
 the exports rose to a much higher figure, averagi -CI 
 
 Sine: mV?"" '"" r""""^ '"' '"-"-' "'•■- U-s 
 b nee 187.3, however, there has been a slight falling oil . 
 
 Ibo^t LT^''^t "T'^'^ ''"" '«^1 has been 
 about £450000. Prom this the Danish Government 
 
 Though the production is nearly as great now as ^ver 
 
 aotuTe o""'"" °' '"'""' '"' "•■^'""^ '" the manu: 
 facture of alummium seems to render the mines rela- 
 
186 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 tmly less important than thoy were formerly supposed 
 
 It thus Appears that the present relation of Den- 
 mark to Greenland is supported more by motives of 
 humanity than by hopo of profit, and the regulations of 
 he Government have chieriy in view the protection of 
 no native population, and all certainly bear mark, of 
 this humanitarian air. The prices to be pai-^ for Euro- 
 pean articles are fixed for every year, those pnrrent 
 being printed in Danish and Eskimo and distributed by 
 the Government. The traders sell European articles of 
 necessity to the natives at cost, and bread at somewhat 
 less than cost, while twenty per cent profit over the cost 
 price in Denmark is all that is allowed to be charged 
 on general mpchandise. The price paid for native 
 products IS about twenty-two per cent of the value in 
 European markets. One sixth of the price paid for the 
 native products is "devoted to the Greenlanders' public 
 fund, spent in public works, in charity, and on other 
 unforeseen contingencies," the expenditure of which is 
 under the control of the council above described. 
 
 The Danish Government has also done an important 
 work in surveying and mapping the west coast, thereby 
 adding largely to our knowledge of the geography of 
 the country. The results of this work and all that is 
 incidental to it, such as the collection of facts concern- 
 ing the language, character, and history of the Eskimos 
 the early European settlements in the country, and the 
 meteorology of the regi n, have been prblished in an 
 elegant series of an ,i moT. )graphs, partly in Danish 
 and partly in English, entitled Meddeleser om Gron- 
 land. 
 
 The prospect of any marked commercial or social 
 improvement, however, is not encouraging. The cap- 
 
EUROPEANS IN OKEENLAND. jg^ 
 
 turo of the whale hus almost wholly ceased, while the 
 reindeer have so ditninishod that there are scarcely 
 enough to supply the wanta of the natives, and some 
 of the favourite haunts of the eider duck iiave become 
 almost depleted of their 'jcupauts by thoughtless efforts 
 of the natives to increase unduly the annual returns. 
 napi)ily, however, most of the haunts, both of birds and 
 of fish as well as of the seal, are so guarded by Nature 
 that they can not well be seriously interfered with by 
 any agencies that are likely to be employed. It is 
 greatly to be hoped that profit enough may continue to 
 attend Danish control in Greenland to make it and its 
 protection to the natives as continuous as it is benefi. 
 cent. 
 
•^4 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PLANTS OF GEEENLAND. 
 
 The verdure which the old Norse discoverer com- 
 memorated m the „.„e Greenland is scanty in com- 
 panson wth that of all other inhabited coLtrs 
 Mountains whose surface is mostly bare rock "uallv 
 of sombre gray or dark colours, form the G e" dand 
 
 mo,e. But even the rocks, except in the most precini 
 
 tons and bleak places, are overgrown with lichens whch 
 
 .kew.se are usually of dark and dull-gray colours rtronj 
 
 y m contrast with the snow that is^drif ted ep y ^S 
 
 the ravmes and there endures nearly to the end of "he 
 
 short summer. On the higher slopes of many o the 
 
 mountains the snow is never whol/y melted aJav and 
 
 forms small local icefields, from which glacier T 
 
 scend ,n the valleys. In the general view ffom a ship 
 
 passmg along the coast, tl,e dark gray of Z 'J^l 
 
 ttZd :;\^;'""^ 0' "- ««- floids an • ioc75:' 
 
 ciers, and of the larger glaciers flowing down f.^om the 
 n and ,ce sheet, suggest that this is the^last p"r oT h 
 voW. excepting only the more completelv ice enveloped 
 
 J<o.i,e, inspection of the land, however gained hv 
 
 ^ZZT '""^ \-*"n «ords,'rc;eTmai 
 neantitul b ts of scenery, where, between the frowniuo^ 
 mountain sides and the deep, riverlike, crooking Za! 
 
 188 ' 
 
THE PLANTS OP GREENLAND. jgg 
 
 Cdv no'rM,'' "' "!?«'' ™^ «^^"=^ ^^ ''^Oecked with 
 hardy northern „ud arctic flowers. Increasing variety 
 the vegetation, and many shrubs or even dw!r t™e/ 
 o en (ormmg considerable thickets along the rav nes" 
 are seen „, proceeding toward the head of the fiZ 
 the moist and cold sea winds on tl,e outer coa t ril; 
 a mean summer temperature several degrees loef than 
 that of the more sheltered, less ■itnrmv „ 7 
 inner fiord valleys. ^' ""^ """ '"""J" 
 
 During the two or three months favourable for the 
 growth of vegetation the headlands and stu^s of the 
 oo^t, wherever the rocks are covered by the thiu glae 1 
 
 vid a"! rh"^""^ "^' '"" ™ffi-ent 'amount tfp™ 
 vide a SOI , bear a considerable variety of mosses sedges 
 
 the sh, ubby plants there and nearly everywhere through 
 out the land tracts of Greenland is the crowberry or «,r 
 
 hv hit J "";'^ ""'""'" '''°^'«' i« "">«!' enjoyed 
 
 found in t"""'' "f :''"'' "'""^^^ ""•» '"^ ^""Panion 
 found m luxuriant abundance, and ate of very heartily 
 
 on their reaching the land at the western base of tte ice 
 
 sheet late in September, Dr. Kink tells us that it t the 
 
 only berry or fruit used by the natives, and that, except 
 
 n marshy p aces, one can hardly cut out a sod anywhere 
 
 without including roots and branches of this heathhke 
 
 procumbent evergreen. He further writes .- 
 
 Jiilv^TiT """'""■'' '*■■"''' ■"""■" '" "'"■ •""'•K '" «><• "MJle of 
 
 are perfeetly tresi, when they como to liglit by the meltuir of the 
 
 b^lL r"'V"™- "'= "'"""■"'« »' these Jft ifw! 
 able year, ,s really s^pri.ing. Even i„ 60' nonh latitude the 
 
iMEiM: 
 
 ii 
 
 I 
 
THE PLANTS OP GREENLAND. 
 
 191 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 S 
 te 
 > 
 
 •a 
 
 a 
 
 OS 
 
 CO 
 
 ■a 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 b 
 
 CO 
 
 1) 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 a> 
 
 EH 
 
 
 creeping brancf.es may be seen so laden with fruit that they re 
 seml,le bunche. of grapes, and almost blacken the ground * 
 
 About the months of the fiords, liaving a somewhat 
 more sheltered position than the outer ishinds and tiie 
 ea])os of the mainland, two species of willow (Salit 
 arclwa and S. glaum) and the dwarf birch (mula 
 nana) thrive, fixing tiieir roots in the clefts of the rocks 
 and creeping along the ground, with sterns sometimes 
 SIX to eight feet long and one to three inches in diam- 
 eter much knotted and twisted, and rising to maximum 
 heights of two or three feet. Among the flowers noted 
 by Jxink as found there in bloom during July and Au- 
 gust are the Lapland rhododendron, several others of 
 the heath family, numerous species of saxifrage, willow, 
 herb (Bpi/obium), lousewort (PedicnlarLs), and bell- 
 flower (Campanfda), the narrow-leaved arnica, species 
 of cinquefoil (Pofenhlla), crowfoot (Ramuwulas), and 
 others, rose-coloured, blue, purple, yellow, and white, 
 which beautifully diversify the prevalent brownish 
 green of the spots occupied with vegetation 
 
 mile^s^fifr ^"f" "^ '''' '"■^^^' ^''"^ '''' '' t^^'^"ty 
 me to fi ty miles or more from the outer coast, south- 
 cm Greenland has thickets or copses of alder (J/;,.. 
 c!dt/^ extending northward some fifty miles bevond 
 Godthaab, and of a white birch {Beiala aIj>,Ms), which 
 IS only found south of Frederikshaab. The dwarf hi 
 inper (Jnniperu, nana), which is the only coniferous 
 species occurring in Greenland, has a wider range but 
 attains its maximum size in these sheltered valleys its 
 prostrate stems having sometimes a thickness of five to 
 SIX inches, though commonly no more than two or three 
 inches. 
 
 14 
 
 * Danish Greenland, p. 88. 
 

 102 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 i 
 
 I' 
 
 1 
 
 Bosidcs the crowberry, tlie only other edible berries 
 are the bog whortleberry or bilberry ( Vaccininm niigi- 
 nofiirm) iuul the eowberry ( Vaccininm Vitis'Idwa), both 
 of which grow also in northern Enroi)e and extend 
 southward in North America to the White Mountains 
 and the north coast of Lake Superior. The cloudberry 
 ( Riihus VhanHvniorns) is common near Godthaab, wliere, 
 according to Rink, it may be seen flowering prettily even 
 on the outer shores, but its fruit very rarely ripens. This 
 species, which also is European, extends south to the 
 White Mountains, and occurs locally on the coast of 
 Maine. 
 
 There are several ])lants of which the flowers, buds, 
 leaves, or roots are eaten by the Eskimos, generally in a 
 raw state. The most prized k the A rchanf/elica offici- 
 nalis, somewhat resembling celery. It grows to a height 
 of six feet in favourable spots of the fiord valleys, and 
 extends northward to Disco Island. The young stalks 
 are brittle and sweet, with a flavour like that of carrots. 
 The nutritious lichen called Iceland moss {L'etraria is- 
 landica) is common, and has a wide range in both lati- 
 tude and altitude, but attains its greatest abundance on 
 the outlying southern islands. The chief resources of 
 vegetable food, however, are marine, as noted by Dr. 
 Rink : 
 
 Spnu'f'fidn may jKM'luips be coiisidowd tlio most important vege- 
 tablo diet of the Eskimo, because they liave in many cases saved 
 people from death by starvation. The species most commonly 
 eaten is Aluria Pi/laii, closely allied to the edible "hen ware" or 
 "bladderlocks" of Scotland, the SiwdliiitHok (\. e.. withont hollow- 
 ncss) of the (JreenlaiKh'r. wliicii has a soft stalk as thick as tliat of 
 an asparagus, and headed by a broad leaf. . . . Another kind, 
 Chnrdn,fihim, the "sea laces" of the English fishennen. the Atig- 
 pihtgfok (i. e.. red) of the Eskimo, is considered more delicate, but 
 is less abundant. Both these kinds arc also eaten when there is 
 
 iB" 
 
THE PLANTS OF GREENLAND. 
 
 193 
 
 no lack of food, but there is a third sort, smaller in size and far 
 more common, which is only resorted to in time of need.* 
 
 The cliief fuel used by the Danish people in Groen- 
 lund IS the peaty turf, six to eight inches thick, formed 
 commonly on sloping hillsides by the matted growth of 
 phints. It is cut in proper size for use and thoroughly 
 dried in the summer-a necessary exercise of foresight 
 which mainly prevents its use by the Eskimos. Bog 
 peat similar to that of temperate countries, but attain- 
 ing a thickness of only one or two feet, also occurs occa- 
 sionally m the glens or ravines tributary to the southern 
 tiords as far northward as Godthaab (latitude G4°) 
 
 In addition to the species of ph^nogamous plants 
 already mentioned, the following, as enumerated by Dr 
 Kink, are the most abundant on the turfy slopes /four 
 grasses, Alopecurns alpimis, Hierochloa alpina (also oc- 
 c.imng on the mountain tops of >.^ew England and New 
 
 Un to 1 C'?'' i""' '""""^'^ ^ox.th^.^r^ to the central 
 United States, where it is well known as the Kentucky 
 blue grass, and J..^..«^,...>,V,; eight sedges. Car'. 
 
 lahlu, C hyperborea, C. rariflora, and C. Lhia- two 
 
 Z V u^ three species of wood rush, Lm^aa sp. 
 nd 'tlfriJoc •^""':;"' />-;^-vV/?o.., of which the fi^st 
 
 n New Hampshire; Jnncus hu,lum.is ; Salix herbacea 
 H very small, herblike willow, risipg only a few inches' 
 
 t)"^' '"";/' '^"^ ""''^ ^'^ '^^ ™« Moulin 
 S ; Th •';";•' """''''''' ^^PPomca, found on 
 the tops of the AVhite and Adirondack Mountains; four 
 
 * Op. cil, p. 90. 
 
I 
 
 i ' ' 
 
 h 
 
 194 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 of the lioiith family, iiamoly, Azalea {LniKolpiiria) pro- 
 cuDibens, which iiouin is n species of the White Moun- 
 tains, Ledum (huenhitHlii'iim, PlnjUodocc cmrulea, and 
 Andromeda fetraf/ona; six species of saxifrage, namely, 
 Saxifraxja sM/aris, S. nivalin, S. rimilaris, S. ccBxpitosa, 
 <y. tricaspida/a, and X oppositifoUa ; and six representa- 
 tives of the rose family, Dryas integrifoUa, Sibbaldia 
 prncnmhen.% Potent ilia niren, P. emarffinata, P. viacu- 
 lata, and P. tridentata. The geographic rji ge of the 
 lust reaches south to Cape Cod, the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains, and northern Iowa. 
 
 Dr. E. K. Kane, in the two Grinnell expeditions— 
 the first in 1850 and the second in 1853-'r).")— collected 
 lOG species of flowering plants along the coast of Green- 
 land from jSukkertoppen to the latitnde of 81°. These 
 plants are preserved in the herbarium of the Philadel- 
 phia Academy of Natural Sciences. According to Du- 
 rand's report of Dr. Kane's collections, 73 species were 
 from the coast north of Upernivik and the parallel of 
 73°, while 85 species were collected at Upernivik and 
 southward, 53 of these being also fonnd in the region 
 farther north. Oiesecke's catalogue, published in Brew- 
 ster's Edinburgh Encyelopivdia in 1832, enumerated 171 
 • pluenogamous species of Ureenland; and two years earlier 
 E. Meyer, in his Plauf(n Lahradorirm, noted 224 pluw 
 nogams, of which the greater part are indigenons in both 
 Labrador and Greeidand. Mr. Durand's compilation in 
 1856, from these and all other available sonrces, gave a 
 total of 204 phffiiiogajnons jdants occurring in Green- 
 land, belonging to 109 genera and 30 families; of which 
 70 species, in 44 genera and 20 families, were recorded 
 north of latitude 73^ The cryptogams of .Dr. Kane's 
 collections, also reported by Durand, comprised 42 spe- 
 cies, being one Equisetum, three ferns, three species of 
 
region 
 
 THE PLANTS OF GRKRNLAND. jyr, 
 
 Lycopodium, twenty-five mosses, four species in the class 
 Hepaticefe, and six thailopiiytes (lichens).* 
 
 Dr. Isaac I. Jlayes, in Ids polar vovage in 18G0-'61 
 wintering at Port Fo.ilke (latitude 78° 10'), with a sledge' 
 journey northward along the east coast of (irinnell Land 
 to Lady Franklin Bay (latitude 81° 40'), from which 
 the return was made late in May, collected several 
 thousand botanical specimens in that region northward 
 from Whale Sound and Liglefield Gulf (latitude 77° to 
 78 ). Ills plants, mostly collected at Port Foulke in 
 Greenland, are referred by Durand to 53 species, repre- 
 senting 3G genera and 18 families. Thev include five or 
 SIX species that were not in Dr. Kane's list, and about a 
 dozen which that list had not recorded for the tract 
 north of 73°. The orders or families most largely rep- 
 resented in this far northern region are the Cruciferte 
 (mustard or cress family), 4 genera, with 8 species; the 
 GaryophyllacejB (pink family), 5 genera, with 7 species- 
 the Kosacea3 (rose family), 3 genera, 5 species; the saxi- 
 frage family, represented by 7 species of saxifrage; and 
 the Gramineii3 (grass family), Jiaving there 5 V^nera, 
 with G species. It is quite notable that the very large' 
 genus Carex (sedge), which has about 150 species in the 
 Northern United States east of the Mississii)pi, and which 
 has 44 species in southern (h-eenland, is represented in 
 this very thorough observation and collection of the 
 flora north of Inglefield Gulf by only one si)ecies.t 
 
 A very comi)lete syno])sis of the Greenland flora is 
 given by Dr. Henry Kink in his valuable work, to 
 which refer nee has been already so frequently made in 
 
 467. 
 
 Appendix xviii of Kane's Arctic Explorations, 185G, pp. 442^ 
 
 t The Open Polar Sea, I. I. Hayes, 18G7, p'-. 398, 390. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 ! . 
 
 ! ! 
 
 190 
 
 (aiHKNLANI) ICHFIKI.DS. 
 
 this clmptor. When liif4 book wum first issued in Don- 
 mark in 18.')7, the tMumuTiition of tlio pliu'iio^^itnons or 
 iloworingpluntscompristHl ;{;;>() HiuM'ii's; but in 1877, when 
 his now edition, und its tninslution into l^:iiglish with 
 tho aid of tho distin,i,niisiiod botanist J)r. llol)ort Hrown, 
 ai)poared, this list had boon onlar«j:ed to 'M'd. Ei<,dito('n 
 gtMUM-a of the grass family are represented, with a total 
 of 44 speeies. 'J'he largest genera are Poa, with 10 
 si)eeies, and (Jlyeeria, 7 spcciies. Both thes(> genera are 
 still more largely represented in the northern Tnited 
 States. 'I'he total of the (Jyperaeeiu (sedge family) is "d 
 speeies, in (5 genera, one of which {(!are.\), as before 
 noted, has 44 species. Of the nisii family, tlie genus 
 .1 uncus iias speeies, and Luzula (J species. Tho cosmo- 
 politan orchis family, though best developed in warm 
 temperate and troi)ical countries, notably in, the lliuia- 
 hiya Mountains, has 4 genera (A species) in (Ireenland- 
 Birches are represented by 4 species, and there are (5 
 species of willows. The (^omposita>, including daisies 
 and dandelions, have 22 (Greenland species, in 10 g(>nora, 
 tho Hieracium, or hawkweed, having there G sijocios! 
 The Scropliulariacoa> (figwort family) have G genera, mio 
 (Pedicidaris) having 7 species. Among the 10 genera 
 of the heath family, the most numerous is the Pyrola 
 (wintergroen), with 4 species. The genus Saxifraga, 
 the only one of its family, has 12 species. Tho lianun- 
 eulacoie (buttercup or crowfoot faniilv) have 5 genera, 
 each of one species in (^rroenlaml, excepting Waini'nculus, 
 ANhich has 10. In the cress familv, i:} genera comprise 
 2o species, of which 9 belong to DraDa (whitlow grass), 
 'i'here are 3 species of gentian, two primroses, a poppy 
 (extending to northern <iree?dand and (Jrinnell Land), 
 and 3 species of violets. Nine genera of the ])ink fam- 
 ily have 27 species, the most numerous being Stellaria 
 
 ri 
 
TIIR PLANTS OF flfiERNI.AND. j,,- 
 
 (Htarwort) ,,,„,.io,; SuKina (,„„„.lw,„.t), f, ; „„,| AI,i„o 
 .n.l U,™,tn„„, each huvinjj • »|,..,,i™. ,',-i,„;„,, „„^ , ° 
 an, , ,» n.p,...Hc.„W 1^^ 
 
 .1.™ y tiK, »a„u, „,„„l,o,. a, a,.„ r,„„„l i„ Now L,l.J 
 1 uao d.taili. ,„ay envoy tho ini,,r„s«ion that the 
 l.""l bonlor „f („«nlan,l, „nt»i.lo it ioo shoot, h„ » 
 »..n,owhat noh ll,,,,.; I„,t thi» i» the rovor.,,, of th "h 
 
 whothor.t ,, oon,,a,.oa with the .Wa „f Cana,h 
 the Nm-tho,-„ «tatoa „r with „tho,- arotio r<.gi„M.s a 
 noH.,-n 1 n,.,,„o, ,. tho nonhorn part „f „nr ."ont no 
 un 1 tho a, ,„,n,nx arohi,,<.|aKo. In ,,hi« ,,|,oo wo will 
 on y noto that tho iioraof Now Kn«l,.n,l hal ah„nt 1, 
 mt,vo plnunogan,., ,n- /h.wonnfi plant.,; .hat Minno „ta 
 •'"" "'""" 1.'""'; ■•""> Caliton.ia ahont a.WK. 
 
 ulllos, (.roonlan.i ha, U „,,ooio,. Thirtoon are fern, 
 ... <: gonom, I>olyp,„lin,„ and Uoo.lsia having oaoh :j 
 poo,o». Tho gonn. I.:,,ni«„t,„„ (|,.,,,,tail) i, rop^e^onto, 
 I'.v 4 .Hpo,.,,., and l,yo„i,„,|in,„ (ohd, „n«s o trailin.^ 
 cvorgreon) hy 5 spcioica, ° 
 
 B.nwn, ■„ an appond.x- of hi, Knglish ,.,liti„n of liink', 
 work ennraeratos m „u«,o, and livorworLs, !K. n.arine 
 aTul fresh-wator alga),, ]io|,on, „„d in f • 
 
 total of 5,34 ^poeioi The liifo'rfi, ,.:?;• :;; 
 
 g r „r,Io,., may oortainly bo vory greatly i„crea,,od 
 .y fi rt ,or spoo,al ollooti.n,,, an,] ,tndio». Kven on tho 
 
 b.ee, land a dozen such para,itio fungi were i,Io.>tifiod. 
 , As one of tho glaciers in the Alj.s Inis a "gard<.n " 
 
 nTf hi! '"";''"""' '™ ^"■-'"•'" ".ennnftaJsor 
 tops of hills and nionntaii.s projecting above the (ireen- 
 
 ( 
 
*/' 
 
 t 
 
 19S 
 
 ORRKNLAND ICEKIHLOS. 
 
 and ICO slu-et, huvo tlu-ir suninior greenery and flowers. 
 iM.r example, on Jensen'8 nunutuks, a cluster of rocky 
 peaks nmig 1()() to :)()() feet above the inland ice, ut a dis- 
 tance of nearly 00 miles hack (east-northeastward) from 
 tlie foot of the Frederikshaah glacier (latitude 0^° ;jO') 
 and 5J0 nules from the nearest land outside the ice sheet 
 Kornerup, the geologist and botanist of Lieutenant .Jen- 
 sen s party, in 1878, colku.ted ^7 8],ecies of flow(.ring 
 plants. The lee surface there is 4,1)00 to C^.m feet, or 
 nearly one mile, above the sea; an.l tlio nunatak sum- 
 "iits vary m height from 5,!;>0() to a,(;r)() f(.et. This very 
 liigh and isohited flora comprised an abundance of Lu. 
 zff/a hijperbnrea and Carex nurdlmt ; the grasses Truv 
 til III snbspimtuin and Poa trirhoimia, m scattered tufts- 
 the sorrel, ()xyna dhjuiuc, the white-flowering Ceras. 
 tuim alpunim. a.ul Sa.rifrm/a opiumfifoUa', the little 
 blue-flowenng (^ainpaniila NHiflom; 'Pofentilla nivea, 
 hainuicKliix putinucns, Silnie aratilis, Cds.swpe hyp. 
 iioid(>s,xxn(\Aniu'ri,( Si/nriai; and the verv hardy, yel- 
 h.w-flowering arctic p(,ppy, Papairr uudicnuh! ^vas 
 growing on the top of the highest nunatak. The same 
 species of Ox'yria, Trisetum, Silene, and CJassiope are 
 among the arctic plants left stranded at the close of the 
 (ilacial period in New England on the White .AFoun- 
 tains, while this most i)lentiful (Ircenland saxifrage is 
 similarly found on the (ircen Mountains. Their altitude 
 on the Greenland nunataks is closely the same as on 
 these mountains, 1,300 miles farther south. 
 
 _ Near latitude 71° 40', on the north side of a moun- 
 tain ridge which rises to the •altitude of about 5,000 
 feet in a distance of five miles, bordering the Umaiiak 
 Fiord, Dr. Rink relates that he found flowering plants 
 to the height of 4,500 to 4,700 feet above the sea. His 
 ascent was on July ,30, 18-M, during a cold and unpleas- 
 
 i 
 
TnR PLANTS OF OliKKNLAND. 
 
 109 
 
 ant Hununer. Conoorninfe^ tl.o voffotation of this moun- 
 
 Hin Hlopo, U.U tl.o Inuiu of the perpetual h..o>v uJ e 
 
 Jio writea us follows: ' 
 
 The forduM.! consiMtecl of low rocky f.illK ,.!(. ...tinL- with 
 scutU.ml over w. l/l.I" T, ^^'"''•''''''^'"- ^'•'-^'''K " Pl"i" 
 
 r„ ;. '-"'"'■'■""y l'»PI«^"» that wl,„„ i|,„ sky |,„, 
 
 was f ,„,„l to ,.o„t,„„u- ul,no8t lumitered up to u hei-rht of 2()(.a 
 
 .•M)<)0 foot ve! ' "' " ^"'^'''^ "' '«'^--'» 2.000 and 
 
 "I'l"-'"-. H.ul arc .ucooodod by mosses A 1 /,,'"''' ^''■ 
 tl.o «an.o .„o.s.ses still onliroly "o ^'sma I I '" /" ''"'" ''"' 
 with bloomi„fer buttercuns IW ^^'^'^ ''''^"'^ ''^"'"^'^ 
 
 '•".' singly i,. t,.o gnuol : rthe : Z.'"'"' ''"* '^'""'^ ^^'"'"- 
 T1.0 arctic willo. ti.nUIv aLj^^^'T^r'^'IV''"'''''- 
 snow lie scattorodovor "flw. J ' "' '"''''"■'^' ^'»-'''PS of 
 
 fo.n>d horo. Lastly toil '""' '"'^ ^'''^ ""^lors were 
 
 visible. CI. Jt,; t ;i :; ;'x'*r ^"r'^^-->^ "- ^-.d 
 
 tl'o numerous hillocks of to , '"''"f"'""^' snowflol.l, a,no„g 
 
 4,rm foot, the ;■,"! H 'I '"""' '^' '' '""■^"'* "^" """-^^ i'"^" 
 
 Fesfuca hrevi folia Cn l r '""""'"' ^^''"'"' «'-^^''^^' 
 
 duly aeterndnod':;r:L'fo::r '" """' ^' *'^^^ ^^'^^''- ^^""« 
 If wo eonsidor facts so „pp,,entlv incompatible as plants in 
 
2(M) 
 
 (JHMKNLANI) ICKKIKLDS. 
 
 I 
 
 I'E 
 
 ' I 
 
 u 
 
 bloom Hi ,1 In.i^ri,, „r .|.r,(M» f.vi i„ 71' in.rlh I.itllu.l... ,i!„l snow ro- 
 ^'l^'llllK ll.o llmvviiiKof uwIm.Io »<umrii.M'.slu..il in (tl i„.rili la(ilii<lu 
 Ht hwihun 11)0 r.H.t iibovo (ho U.vol of Mio sva. it will aim.-ar u 
 rulh.-r ,liill..uli i„.k to .iHmni.u. m.yl!.in;r Hk.- a positive snow 
 I'll.'. In r.i.l, tho fortnulion of Klaciors from snow. uwiriK to iln 
 <1.iv.njj lus|,..l for sovmil jn.rs.m.l inrn.'.l int.. .soli.l ico. ,|..,„.n.l» 
 on many ,liir..r,.nt huvil inllm.na's hcHitlos ll,.. Iui,;|,(, alu.vo tlu. 
 l.-vol ..f ll„. S..H. Itui .still. ..n roKanlin^ t|„. rounlry a.s a wholo 
 a ,T!tani .Iv^rw of unifonnily may !..• .lisn.vnv.l in M... annrar- 
 Hiuv of tlu. .noro c.nsi.lcral.l.- mountain ri.lj;,.s. It, will Im- found 
 that, at a h.-l-ht of from 'im) to ViiM ftH-t or mor,.. Hat surfa<M.H 
 of son... ..xloni an<l mor.. or loss oxcaval...! surfmvs havo in moMt 
 oast-s Kiv.-n ri.M. to H,.|.is of p.-rpctual snow an.l i.r. From th.-s,, 
 aminmlations Kl«i*'i<'rs ariso. and aro m..v..d onwards ovon t.. tl... 
 nlKo of tlu- wat.'r. I.ut ^Im-iors oriK'inatin;: at a lowor lu.i,i:l,t than 
 tins arc only oxcrpiional. in tl... s,t,„.. way .loar ground al.ov.. 
 .MHM) foot will 1.0 oxooptional. an.l foun.l 1.. I.o cat.so.l i.y sl.-on- 
 ni'Hs. hmilod ystont ..f a horiz..ntal surfmv, an.l ..th.^r a.ri.lontal 
 niliuoueos.* 
 
 Kvoii Iho siirfiu'c of the snow uiid «,'liici,.rs mul of Mio 
 i'-c sh.vt itsi'lf 1ms in rimuy pIiKuvs its own vcrv niiiinto 
 rryptonramic. plants. Some of tlu-so luv fonnd* only on 
 I lie snow imd „nr fiidds, iind ono {Prohrorrus fUMlis) 
 IS the ctuiso of " i-(.d snow," and, jiocordin^r t„ (Mminhof- 
 Im, IS mvoiintal.le, with fod lichens, for tho colour of the 
 (Vin.son Clilfs (latitude 70") northwest of (^,pe York. 
 Six species of these snow jilpe, ..,,s thev nuiv he calle.j, 
 were collected hy Xonl.Miskjold and I^eriri;,,.,, durin^^ 
 their journey, in July, JSIO, up,,,, the iidand i(!e nem- 
 iMtitude (;s<^ :>()'. Tw., .,f thes,. spe.^ies, how,.vcr, seemed 
 to hvo only where the dnstldown from the land of the 
 west coast (hut supposed hy Nordenskjold to he cosmi., 
 dust and named hy him " kryoconiti-'") wiis collected in 
 very plentiful little pits of the i(!e surface. 
 
 * Danish (Jroonland. pp. 0.1-07. 
 
'""'■ '''"VNTS OK (illUKNI.AM,. j,,, 
 
 \ym-m.U,K Ihr uivul .li-inlM.ii,,,, „f „n.|i,. „„„„ 
 
 '"'-lvu.uxO,,,yo,.i|„,J,,„,,,,.H,«,,,,n,i,, „,,,,, J" 
 
 "»".■:,!. „,„,,„„„,:,„„rti„. .,„iii,,,J ,v 
 
 "' "'". "''"""" « '"Ki""- or ll„. tn,,,i,.H, wl.il r 
 
 The. (.v„|„r,,i ,.i,v,„„|,„|,„. „,,,, „|. II 
 
 ».^»lK..v„,„„M,l,i«b,.||, i„,„, ,,.ni„„av,.l,/:, 
 » lo,™ of wl,„.|, |„,.«,„., . . . ,.„,. ,„t,,;,,,|vF, 
 
 "7 """"-""' -'"Mu,t ■«,. ,„„„!.v, ' 
 
 "''"':: '"•! .'■"■'"■«' "' "» 'iiv,.,.»itv „f v..„,.[,a i, ,„„, 
 
 "' .V,u„l,nav,„, .„. I.u,,ln,,.l, wl,MO^ ,,lH,uKl, . » , I 
 ""; """'"■'•"l»p.™.«,.M,lul,„„.l„li,|,.,,,„ ,, „f u , 
 
 ':::':;::;"' '''r'.''''''T'^«'"^ '""-';• 
 
 "M„, ,.„.|,,a,„| ,H ,,ralo„„„,„|, t|,,„„f,|,„„t iiio „„,.,l, 
 """I"'"'" ': ' "f ti"' oi'i W,„l,l t „U, i,„,,,„l,J 
 
 x::;;: ■''''''"■'■'■;■ "' ■'• i-™'-''-..-'-'!.- 
 
 n-t ,.v,„,,.,.,i ,„ A„„.,i..a, ,vl„.,.„ ti,„ An,l,.s.(:„nlill,.„,„ 
 """"" "■" '-» l-™i't.'.l u co„si,k.,,U,l,. „„„.l, 
 
202 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 i ; 
 
 arctic and northern plants to extend also to the highest 
 southern latitudes. 
 
 Greenland is especially cited by Hooker as having a 
 flora clo.^ 'ly identical, so far us it goes, with that of Lap- 
 land, but the latter is far richer in species. All but 
 eleven of the 307 species of flowering plants (07 mono- 
 cotyledons and UO dicotyledons) recorded in Greenland 
 north of the arctic circle, and likewise nearly all the 
 species of its more southern part, are also native in 
 northern Europe. Of the eleven not found there, three 
 are known elsewhere only in Asia, and the remainder are 
 North American, chiefly restricted to Labrador or to 
 mountains farther south. Fifty-seven arctic plants of 
 Greenlaiid are absent, so far as shown by collections, 
 from the same latitudes in North America and in the 
 archipelago west of Baffin Bay. The eastern portion 
 of the arctic area of North America, however, has 
 105 species which are not found in Greenland. The 
 meridian of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, therefore, 
 appears to mark the limits of the migration of the 
 Scandinavian flora outward both to the east, throujrh 
 nortlieni Asia and North America, and to the west, 
 by way of tlie Faroe Islands and Iceland, to Green- 
 land. Wo can not doubt tliat the migrations took 
 place upon continuous land areas, and that the con- 
 trast on the opposite sides of Baffin Bay has been 
 caused by the long existence of a barrier of' water there 
 nearly as now. 
 
 How a land bridge was provided across the north 
 Atlantic area and across the site of the present narrow 
 and shallow Behring Strait will be considered in a later 
 chapter; but we may here profitably notice, although 
 briefly, the enforced migrations of arctic and boreal 
 plants caused by the accumulation of ice sheets on the 
 
 ; V 
 
THE PLANTS OF GREENLAND. 
 
 203 
 
 ward in every longitude, und oven BoroJZZ 
 
 and also returned nortlnvard;r:;:rXi:r 
 of^the^^c.,nt„es .„e, had invade. d!,ring t„iirt;tC 
 
 a sSLt:; ::;'::;„,^„f :r''^' "■"> «-^ ^ -p^-^ 
 
 +,-f ^ ^1 .•; '^'^i^^'"^'^"^!! o± the almost complete idpn 
 
 iess number of spee.es, and its poverty of forms not ilso 
 
 found elsewhere; the rarity of distinctively Imeielu 
 
 pee,es there; the fewness of temperate planth he 
 
 omewhat temperate southern par of Oreenhnd and 
 
 2^:t "' "'^'^ °' "- ™-* «-ni„:d a,::^^.' ":' 
 
 England and the Rocky Mountain region. I)r Hooker 
 reasons thus : ilookei 
 
 ' drive this vogl L "si ™/i :"'•' " ^'^'^ ^''^^"■«' ^P«^h did 
 
 exposed o vorv"l'ffZn "^ ^-^ been 
 
 tnenfs. In Gm Hn. "' f-" those of the great oon- 
 
 confined to the sonfhern no ion of "th "I""""''' ^^ ^''^ ^e 
 
 there brought into ool rr u f^^"'"'^"l«> '"hI, not being 
 
 no .trnggif fi';;;: zs; t^i^'^ ";r;r ^'^'^ ^--^'^ ^' 
 selection of better adapted ^.r;:::r^:^i:t:r7z:!sZ 
 
if' 
 
 f 
 
 I if 
 
 2(4 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 1 , 
 
 I 
 
 \'l > 
 
 vivors would simply travel northward, unaccompanied by the 
 plants of any other country.* 
 
 Ill tlie first volume of the final reports of the Geo- 
 logical Survey of New ILinipshire, Mr. Williuni F. Flint 
 and Dr. Kathan Barrows write of tlie arctic plants 
 which occur on the summits of the White Mountains, 
 but not elsewhere in that State and all the surround- 
 ing region. Dr. Barrows enumerates 53 flowering 
 plants which are found in New Hampshire only on 
 the White :Mountains, and 57 others which likewise 
 occur on the mountain tops above the limits of trees, 
 but have also a more extended range on the low- 
 lands. Forty of the 52 strictly al])ine species are 
 indigenous in northern Europe, and most of these 
 occur also in Gieenland. They were driven southward 
 when the ice sheet was accumulated on the northern 
 half of Nortli America, and on the return of a warm 
 climate, when the ice was malted away, were able to 
 survive in the temperate latitudes only by finding con- 
 genial homes on the bleak, wind-swept, and cold moun- 
 tain tops. The proportion (four fifths) of these moun- 
 tain plants whieii are also European is far greater than 
 for the whole flora of New England, in which only about 
 one fifth part are also Eurojiean species. f 
 
 The flora of Greenland is poor in its number of 
 
 * Outlines of the Distribution of Arctit; Plants. Trans. Lin- 
 na>an Society, London, vol. xxxii. 18(11. pp. 251-848; reviewed 
 by Prof. Asa Gray in the American Journal of Science, II, vol. 
 xxxiv, pp. 144-148, July, 1803 (also in Scientific Papers of Asa 
 Gray, 188{), vol. i. pp. 122-]:?()). 
 
 f Besides the (xeolojjy of New Hampshire, vol. i. 1874, chap- 
 ters xiii and xvii. see an article by Prof. J. IT. Huntington, The 
 Pknverin,<r Plants of the White Mountains, in Appalachia, vol. i, 
 pp. 1(»0-107. :March. 1877. 
 
 W , 
 
TtlE PLANTS OP GBBE.NLAXI). jOS 
 
 species in comparison with tl,e arctic part of America 
 und more so as co.npared with Iceland and Upland' 
 I ookor gues a list of ^30 American boreal and a,Tt c 
 ph.nts.none of wl.ich oecnr in Greenland, but of ^h " 
 5Care fonnd „. Iceland, 57 in Enropc, an,l 3« in 
 antarcfc regions. Of the Iceland l„ra, UO sn c 
 are absent from Greenland, but 50 of these arel, d 
 n northern Europe, fommc.ting on these re'r^ 
 Me f«,t„res m the areal distribution of the circum 
 po ar ora, Prof^ Gray regards it as " most proba .^ 
 the diffusion of species from the 01,1 World to the 
 I^^ew was eastward through Asia, for the arctic no le 
 than (as has elsewhere bee. shown) for the .emper:t„ 
 
 Subsecjueut to the studies of Hooker and Gray fnr 
 her nnporhmt investigations of the Greenlan.l i^oZ and 
 .te h,s ory have been made by two Scandinavian bota 
 nists, Lange and Warmiuo- j„ , ^oa r ' , 
 
 38(lsnociesof r,-,„, I , , ^""S" '"bnlated 
 
 |oa^:;ri:'ri:t:t:^:--h:;r:::;: 
 
 Euronemi rli.fnW , "'^'*'"« '""'^"'y to the eastern or 
 -uuiopedii (lihtuct, not occiirr nff west of Rnffl>, u 
 
 According to the resourclies of W ^^^' 
 
 especially S.^e tp "tI,:"'; Ir'"-^ "^ "'^ "^ 
 tl.e greater part of Greenland, has hardly a^; snch i;;! 
 
k- 
 
 206 
 
 GREEiNLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ropean plants, but a considerable number which are 
 peculiarly American. A large majority, however, have 
 a completely circumpolar range. 
 
 It is well argued by Warming that the mountains of 
 the western coast (7,000 feet high near the Umanak Fiord, 
 at latitude 71°, and 5,000 to 7,000 feet high near the 
 coast between latitude 63° and Cape Farewell, according 
 to Steenstrup and Holm, v/hile farther inland there they 
 estimated the heights as probably 8,000 to 10,000 feet), 
 which rise above the limits that were reached by the 
 more extended glaciatiou during the Ice Age, and the 
 high Payer and Petermann peaks (7,000 and 11,000 feet 
 above the sea) near Franz Josef Fiord (latitude 73° 15') 
 in eastern Greenland, would permit the preglacial flora 
 to survive, at least partially, through the Glacial period, 
 so that it would spread afterward over the present land 
 borders. This view supplements that presented by 
 Hooker in ascribing the preservation of the flora partly 
 to nunataks, as well as to southward and then northward 
 migration on account of the formerly greater extent of 
 the ice sheet. While many plants in these ways sur- 
 vived the vicissitudes of the increased Pleistocene gla- 
 ciation of Greenland, others succumbed, as the genera 
 Chrysosplenium, Caltha, Oxytropis, Astragalus, Phaca, 
 etc., which are so widely spread elsewhere in the arctio 
 regions and in aljjine districts of temperate latitudes.* 
 
 * These notes of Lanj^e and Warjninj? are derived from Sir 
 Henry IT. Howortli's review in tlie Geological IMaijazine, III, vol. 
 X. pp. 496-498, November, 1893. Tlovvorth also adds that a simi- 
 lar conclusion is also reached by Natliorst in regard to Spitzber- 
 gen, whose present flora, instead of being duo to immigration 
 since the Glacial period, is shown to be "the wreck and ruin of 
 what was once a much richer flora, and which has been able to 
 survive tho drastic conditions which now prevail there." 
 
I 
 
 THE PLANTS OP GREENLAND. gOT 
 
 Immediately before the Glacial period the flora of 
 
 very hardy species wir'eo M ^^^^^^ ^^- 
 
 pears to have been largely pre er ed 1' /i '^'' '^'■ 
 Green]")nrl UL^. fi ^ -^Z^^®^*®^ ^'^ng the seashores, 
 wtcniana, like the northern half of ^^r^,.fu a 
 
 thus snvn.l t„, j\ '"" ™°'' ^P^i^'es beinir 
 
 mis saved toward tlio south) and covered the nn^„ 
 
 valleys aga u with verdure when the iee retreated T ^ 
 
 broad glacers, and even parts of the marg n of to 
 
 m and ,ee, extending quite to the sea in some lees on 
 
 both the east and west eoasts, prevented the far ort ern 
 
 ™grat,onof tl,eso plants ; and in northern Greenland 
 
 besules such as eould live there through the Gladal' 
 
 penod, others have undoubtedly since c^me in, ac,"s 
 
 he comparatively narrow channels, fron, the ar t o 
 
 archipelago and the American mainland 
 
 Inr, fr'" ■■""""'''' "'" ''"^"8" ""<* '""^'o'-y of Ibe Green- 
 hn flora ,s revealed by the wonderfully ,L,nda„t fo s"l 
 
 ™ tr^ ;tf i7 7f' ,"■'"' ^'"""^"^ "' »-'■ "> t"« 
 northe' L "''""J*""' "'"^ "f contiguous and more 
 northcn islands and parts of the main western coasts 
 between the latitudes of nr and 73". The plant-bear 
 
 middle rd"! : ""' f "' '" "«" ""•""«'' "« ^»'-'i--. 
 middle, aiKi later parts of the Cretaceous period, to the 
 
» CTj^^ -T^;-^, 
 
 'l-i 
 
 1 (. 
 
 i 
 
 "^ 
 
 !^ 
 
 208 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Miocene or middle period of the Tertiary era. Alter- 
 nating with the npper beds, and covering them, are 
 great outflows of columnar and aniygdaloidal basalt, 
 nearly horizontal, and varying in thickness up to 100 
 feet. The date of these lava outflows was approxi- 
 mately the same with similar or even grander vol- 
 Cf?-;ic action in the Fiiroe Islands, Iceland, and the 
 regV'.T of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and 
 Washington; and in Iceland and the northwestern 
 United States the volcanism has continued to recent 
 times. 
 
 Prof. Lester F. Ward, reviewing the geographical 
 distribution of fossil plants, in the Eighth Annual Re- 
 port of the United States Geological Survey (for 1886- 
 '87), snmmpizes the known fossil floras of Greenland, 
 chiefly studied and figured by Ileer, as follows: Car- 
 boniferous species, 1 ; Cretaceous species, 335, of which 
 88 belong to the Lower, 177 to the Middle, and 118 to 
 the Upper Cretaceous, with 38 overlapping ; and Ter- 
 tiary species, 28^,— giving a total of C18 fossil plants. 
 The richest locality of the large Middle Cretaceous flora 
 is Atanekerdluk (latitude 70°), the collections being ob- 
 tained at the base of the high northeastern side of the 
 Waigat passage, which separates Disco from the Nug- 
 suak peninsula. Twelve hundred feet higher, directly np 
 the same mountain side, are the richest Tertiary plant 
 beds. For the Lower Cretaceous flora, one of the most 
 productive localities is Kome (latitude 70° 37'), on the op- 
 posite northern side of the mountainous Kugsuak penin- 
 sula, whence Ileer in 1871 described leaves of a poplar 
 (Pojmlus primmva), which, according to Ward, is "the 
 most ancient dicotyledonous plant thus far published." 
 About half of the Lower Cretaceous species are ferns, a 
 quarter part are conifers, and a considerable number of 
 
Nug- 
 
 u 
 
 the 
 
 THE PLANTS OP GREENLAND. ^09 
 
 the others are cycads, the one poplar being the only 
 ;ifcw'^'" of our present predo.'inant clal o'li^olf 
 
 About two years after tliis review exten.ivp n.n 
 .ons of the flora of tl.e l-oto.ac fo^l^on "T^i t U 
 ad Maryland were described by Prof. W. M. Fo„ W^e • 
 1 1.S formation, ,vl.ich is regarded as of Lower Cretaceo„s 
 ago, bemg perhaps as old as the Kome beds in Gre » 
 land, IS very ren.arkable in eontaining a conside mbl 
 proportion of diootyledonons plants, th'e tota ^ bHsW 
 
 i Z ,'. *** gyni'iospermous plants, mostly conifer, 
 
 m-obablo trTt,"'""- '' ^""' '"'«-■' -ms no m-' 
 piobable that the pnmoval poplar of Kome is the ea "- 
 
 est known forernnner of its great class. 
 
 From undetermined regions wl>ere these broad-leaved 
 flowenng plants had become well developed dl^ 
 
 the IMd 1 f f "° "'"V "P"'- ^"'-"""^ epochs. In 
 half !f 1 """" ''°™ "' ^^'""' «'-<'e"tad, fullv 
 
 setr ;,, T"" "" ''^^'y'^^o-^' including trees of 
 per mm " "^S™'™' »« t^e poplar, fig, sassafras, 
 peisimmon, tulip tree, magnolia, and sumach The 
 somewhat later Upper Cretaceous beds of Patoot Gree 
 
 widch™"';'''" ^ir-^'"'""'""''"^ p'™*^'"" ^»'^w o" 
 
 which are ferns ; 1 1 conifers, five of which belong to tlie 
 genus Sequoia, a very widespread Crctaceou an'd T 
 t.a.} ype, but now represented by onlv two living soe 
 CCS t e redwoods or " b.g trees" of California ™mol 
 cotyledons; and 7.5 dicotyledons, or about five e hi" 
 
 1 \;«"„vr""'' "'f"""»-p-'- of oak, :':i': 
 
 I^ t^ccjM^syci^^ cinnamon, aralia, dog- 
 
 • United states Geological Suno^Jl^,^^^,^^^i^i^l^^r^^^ 
 
^ 
 
 210 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 I; 1 1 : 
 
 / fl.' 
 
 J .V 
 
 i 
 .18 n 
 
 ! . i\ 
 
 \ 
 
 if 
 
 wood, eucalyptus, ilex, bucktliorn, c.-issiii, and the other 
 genera of this chiss previously noted. 
 
 So late as the Miocene period, according to Ileer's 
 correlations with the Tertiary floras of Europe, or, ac- 
 cording to Sir William Dawson, J. S. (jiardner, and 
 others, in the preceding Eocene period, the country 
 which is now the bleak and treeless Disco Island and 
 adjoining coast bore luxuriant forests chiefly composed 
 of plane trees and sequoias. Nearly half of the fossil 
 flora in Greenland referred by Ileer to Miocene times 
 consists of trees, including 30 species of conifers, 
 besides many of our common deciduous broad-leaved 
 genera, as beeches, oaks, walnuts, })oplars, maples, lin- 
 dens, magnolias, and the plentiful i)lane ti-ces, of which 
 last the stately sycamore, or buttonwood, in the eastern 
 half of the United States is a lonely surviving species 
 from the many of Tertiary times. 
 
 Not only is such a rich forest flora found to have 
 lived then within the arctic circle in Greenland, but 
 other leaf-bearing Tertiary deposits, and even a bed of 
 very good lignite coal 25 to 30 feet thick, were found 
 in 1876 by Capt. H. W. Feilden, the naturalist of the 
 English expedition commanded by Sir George Nares, 
 at latitude 81° 45', on the northeastern coast of Grin- 
 nell Land adjoining Robeson Channel. Among the 
 30 species of plants collected at that place and deter- 
 mined by Heer are three species of pine ; two of spruce ; 
 the bald cypress, very abundant, nearly like the same 
 species now living in the swamps of our Southei-n 
 States; two species each of poplar, birch, and hazel ; an 
 elm ; a viburnum ; and a water lily. " There appear," 
 Professor Heer writes, " in this most northern portion 
 of the earth, for the most part, +he same species with 
 which we are already acquainted from Spitzbergen and 
 
TIIK PLANTS OF GREENLAND. 2II 
 
 Groenliind ; uiul it is highly probublf that the same flora 
 fxtentled up to tlio Pole, and tluit, supposing dry land 
 to have existed there, this latter was clothed with the 
 same forest of coniferous and leafy trees." * 
 
 III Spitsbergen, Iceland, (ireenhind, and Grinnell 
 Land, in liritish North America on the Mackenzie River 
 at latitude G5° north, in Alaska, and in the New Siberia 
 Islands, the fossil arctic Miocene flora, on which lleer 
 did so much thorough study crowned with elaborate 
 publication, has been found abundantly preserved. The 
 latest accession to our knowledge of this flora was 
 brought by Baron Toll, in 1880, from Thaddeus Island 
 of the New Siberia or LyakholT group, where he discov- 
 ered layers of Tertiary lignite and remains of Sequoia 
 species.t Upon the arctic circle and much farther 
 north, as known by the fossil plants in Grinnell Land 
 less than GOO miles from the pole, a temperate and even 
 warm climate prevailed, nourishing forests in the now 
 fi-igid zone on all sides of the pole during a geolo-ic 
 period not far preceding the Ice Age, "^ 
 
 xAIoro free circulation of ocean currents than now 
 carrying the warmth of tropical regions into the circum- 
 polar area, was probably the cause of the warm Tertiary 
 climate. Ensuing uplifts of northern lands, to be dis- 
 cussed m another chapter, at length excluded the marine 
 currents, and the increased land altitude, at least as 
 great as the depth of the fiords, was attended with snow- 
 tall, instead of rains, till the snow and ice accumulation 
 culminated in the Glacial period. During Tertiary 
 times, according to Professor Asa Grav, " Greenland 
 
 * ^'Zi""'^^ '^""'■'"'^ ""^ ^'"^ Geological Society, London, vol. 
 xxxiv, 1878, pp. 6G-70. 
 
 t Nature, vol. xxxvii, p. 523, March 39, 
 
 1888. 
 
rr-f 
 
 "1 
 
 ^' 
 
 I I 
 
 212 
 
 ORRENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Spitzbergen, and our arctic seashore liml tlio climate of 
 rennsylvania and Virginia now/' Concerning the eflect 
 of glaciation to disperse the luxnriant ciniiiinpolar Ter- 
 tiary flora and its descendants southward, Professor Gray 
 further writes : "^ 
 
 Here, then, we have reached a fair answer to the question how 
 the same or similar species of our trees came to be so dispersed 
 over such widely separated continents. The hinds all divei-Lro 
 from a polar centre, and their proximate portions-howeverdiirer- 
 ent from their present conliguration and extent, and however 
 changed at diff^ out times— were once the home of those trees 
 where they flourished in a temj)orate climate. The old period 
 which followed, and which doubtless came on by very slow de- 
 grees during ages of time, must have long before its culminali.m 
 brought down to our latitude, with the similar climate, the forest 
 ihey possess now, or rather the ancestors of it. . . . Wliorefc>-« 
 the high, andmot the low, latitudes must be assumed as the ))irth- 
 place of our present flora, and the present arctic vegetation is best 
 regarded as a derivative of the temperate. This flora, which 
 when circumpolar was as ne.-irly homogeneous rouiut the high 
 latitudes as the arctic vegetation is now, when slowlv translated 
 into lower latitudes would preserve its homogeneousness enough 
 to account for the actual distribution of the same and similar spe- 
 cies round the world, and for the original endowment of Europe 
 with what we now call American types. It would also vary or be 
 selected from by the increasing differentiation of climate in the di- 
 vergent continents, and on their ditferent sides, in a way which 
 might well account for the present diversification.* 
 
 Another botanist, Dr. Leo Lesquereux, after exten- 
 sive studies of American and foreign fossil floras, simi- 
 larly concludes that « the essential typos of our actual 
 flora are marked in tlie Cretaceous 'period, and have 
 come to us after passing, without notable changes, 
 through the Tertiary formations of our continent." 
 
 Scientific Papers of Asa Gray, 1880, vol. ii. pp. oog^ 009, 
 
THE PLANTS OF ORKKXLAND. 213 
 
 During lo„g go.logic agos, up to the (Jlaciul period, 
 (rreenlund po««essed a mild temperate climate, and it 
 Hhores bore as richly diversilied a llora of forest trees and 
 horbaceous plants as the present Northern United States. 
 Ui h tlio onconung of the Ice Age, vvl.ich still lingers 
 n this bleak, mountainous, far northern land, most of 
 ts preglacial plant species, including all its large forest 
 ecs, penshed, havi.ig no land pathway for e^capo, as 
 from other parts of the circumpolar region, to the still 
 temperate and even hot tropical and equatorial lati- 
 tudes. After the partial mitigation of the severity of 
 glaciation, as it continues within somewhat diminished 
 imiits in (Ireonland to-day, the plants which had sur- 
 vived on .^s low shores and on nunatak peaks again ex- 
 tended their range over all its land borders. Above the 
 rock strata of Kome, Atane, Patoot, and the manv other 
 ocahties where the Cretaceous and Tertiary ancestors of 
 tlie forests of the north temperate zone are' found repre- 
 sented by their fossil lea .08, the impoverished and 
 dwarfed present Greenland flora blooms cheerily during 
 Its short summers, undaunted, and indeed made hardy 
 Knd brave by its adversity, for patient endurance of its 
 still glacial climate. 
 
rill 
 
 f hi 
 
 Nati' 
 
 th 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE A.VIMALS OF GKKKN'LAXD. 
 
 HA LISTS liiivu distingnisheil hrrre ro|rions of 
 
 of 
 
 the eurtli which urc characterized by peculiarities 
 
 I'lr faunas and floras, certain species, genera, and 
 orders, both of aninnils and plants, being limited in 
 their geographic range so tiiat they are plentiful in one 
 region but absent or very scantily represented else- 
 where. Fro'm su(!h restrictions in zoological range, 
 Selater, in isr>7, i)rop()sed six grand divisions of tlio' 
 earth's land areas. These gi-eat zoological regions, 
 blending with each other on their boundaries, are now 
 accepted by Wallace, Flower, and Lydekker, and many 
 other writers on natural history; and each region is sub- 
 divided, on account of its climatic and topographic 
 limitations of faunal and floral range, into smaller prov- 
 inces. 8clater's .livisions are : 1, The Pahfarctic region, 
 or the northern part of the Old World, comprising 
 Europe Iceland, Africa north of Sahara, and Asia north 
 of the Himalayas; 2, the Ethiopian region, com,)risincr 
 intertropical and southern Africa, southern Arabia, and 
 Madagascar; 3, the Oriental region, comprising India 
 and -tending southeastward to Java, Borneo, and the 
 Ihihppine Islands; 4, the Australian region, including 
 Celebes, how Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the 
 islands of the Pacific Ocean ; 5, the Xearctic region, or 
 north part of the New World, including Greenland and 
 
 214 
 
TIIK ANIMALS OF fiI{REXLANI). ^15 
 
 North America as far south as northern >re.vic.o; and, 
 0, the ^eotroi.u.ul region, embracing the ren.ainder of 
 tlio American cojitinent and the West Indies 
 
 Other authors, as llcilj.rin and Packanl, note so 
 
 t rjr "h '^* and cornn.uuity of species through all 
 
 the fai northern countries of both tiio Old and Ko^v 
 
 olds of which we have reviewed the botanical side 
 
 n tlie foregoing pag.,.s, following Hooker and (Jray, that 
 
 thy prefer to unite these northern areas of the J^Ltern 
 
 f'd \Vestern liemisphcres as a single circun.polar zoo- 
 
 ogical and botanical region, which is named tiie Ilolarc- 
 
 Zfl^l ^ ;''>l"-i"'/'-«"^ its reaching wliolly around the 
 eaitii in the arctic zone. 
 
 IVom the geographic distribution of animals, not 
 loss han of plants, abundant evidence is found that in 
 1 ' ' f °^;;S'%t""«' V^'oh'My comprising the closing 
 g of the Tertiary era and the early part of the 
 (^..iternary until the Ice Age, an extensive land area 
 occupied the present place of Behring Strait and Sea 
 "Pon which the fauna and flora of the northe^lands 
 reely migrated from Europe and Asia to America, and 
 the reverse, becoming nearly alike in these two great 
 continental regions. Over all the circumpolar land ex- 
 panse the mammoth, mastodon, and many other large 
 Jtnimals roamed from the United States to Alaska, Si- 
 '-- Continental Europe, and the British Isles during 
 
 Tertiary 
 
 late 
 
 period, or more probably well forward in the Quaternary 
 era, almost to the epoch when the increasing upl "ft of 
 northern countries brought on the Ice Age, .nen hav- 
 ing been created through evolution from the anthropoid 
 
 'r.l' 'nn Iv"^?'^ ^'''"^ '^^'''' ""-^^'^ ^'^'r^ical portion 
 of the Old World to all parts of the great land 
 
 that hemisphere and to A 
 
 areas of 
 merica. On account of the 
 
 
210 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 oppor umty afforded in tlie circumpolar region, under 
 Its mild iertiaryaud early Quaternary climate, for free 
 intermigration of plants and animals, "the present fauna 
 of Greenland, like its flora, has close alliance or identity 
 of many species with those of arctic Europe and 
 Liberia. 
 
 Because of the greater freedom of animals than of 
 plants to extend their geographic range within recent 
 times from the northern part of America and from the 
 arc ic archipelago to Greenland, th,y give less decisive 
 evidence than the flora for the late Tertiary and pre- 
 glacal union of Greenland with Iceland, the Faroe 
 Islands, Britain, and Europe, while the Baffin Bay 
 manne barrier prevented communication between Green- 
 land and N6rth America. As in the case of the plant, 
 many species of the preglacial land fauna in Greenland 
 probably survived on the shores and on the mmataks 
 during the more extended glaciation, which appears to 
 have been contemporaneous with the Korth American 
 and European Ice Age. Since that time other species 
 have doubtless come in, relatively in greater proportion 
 than for the flora, from the contiguous lands on the 
 west. 
 
 ■ Only sevt or eight species of land mammals are 
 known to exist in Greenland in a native or wild condi- 
 tion, to whi(;h the domestic cat and dog (perhaps to be 
 considered the same species as the domesticated Eskimo 
 dogs), goat, sheep, ox, hog, and house mouse, brought 
 into the country by the Danes, are to be added for the 
 total mammalian fauna. 
 
 A single specimen of the arctic wolf, probably astray 
 from the o])posite western shore of Baflhi Bay and 
 Smith Sound, was shot in 18G9. The whole number of 
 Eskimo dogs in Greenland was estimated by Rink in 
 
 111 
 
aud 
 
 THE ANIMALS OF GREENLAND. 21" 
 
 1877 to bo ubout two thousand. He thinks them to 
 have been derived, througli domestication, from the 
 nearly related arctic wolf; and Peary, after much ex- 
 perience in dog sledging across the inland ice, shares 
 the same opinion. 
 
 The most important fur-bearing land animal is the 
 arctic fox {Canis lagopus, genus Lemocyon, Gray), 
 which IS rather common, occurring in two varieties' 
 called blue and white. They are hunted by the Eski- 
 mos for selling their skins to the Danish traders. The 
 price of the ^Mute is small, but that of tlie rarer blue 
 variety, when in its best pelage, has several times risen 
 to fifteen dollars in the European market. Flower and 
 Lydekker describe this species as having "the tail very 
 full and bushy, and the soles of the feet densely furred 
 below. Its colour changes, according to season, from 
 bluish gray to pure wiiite." Dr. Rink says : 
 
 The foxes appear mostly confined to the mainland, thonc^h 
 they live perhaps, for the n^ost part upon what they may findon the 
 shore at low water Tn sununer they often visit the islands, and 
 ">ay be met with, having made their holes and bred their young 
 m the i,n,..ediate vicinity of abandoned winter houses, apparently 
 at meted thither by the garbage left by the inhabital, 1 e 
 half-grown cubs may then be seen playing outside like whelps of 
 ame dogs, and may be approaehed and taken bv the han<l. They 
 ore always eas.ly tamed, and behave in this state just like d >gf 
 
 being s,..uor and of a dirty grayish-brown colour during the 
 other months, Many of the foxes are caught in traps of a v v 
 primitive ccastruetion. formed of a fiat stone so fixed as to f I 
 
 b::"::; t t ^^ ^*""": ^''^'" ^^■^'^" ''-^ ^^^^ •'- »-" ^"-'- 
 
 e ne down t H "", "'' •""' '"^ '""^"'^^ ^>''"» '" -"» -'-" ^hev 
 tei. Of course, this sort of sport is limited to those southern 
 
 fir.t part o( the winter. There the foxes are by far the mos^ nu- 
 
 l 
 
218 
 
 GREENLAXD ICEFIELDS. 
 
 i 5 
 
 
 merous, but even in the furthest north they are not wanting 
 Wherever seals M.e been caught in winter upon the ice Zt 
 pnn s of some fox that has been attracted bv the drops of blood 
 
 able to hnd the food necessary for supporting life durin- eidit 
 
 zz tLt h ''' T''''' '''''' ^•^'"'^^- -.ewh^t :f 
 
 mjsteiy. The sea being frozen over for hundreds of miles the 
 beach especially being covered by a crust of ice upwards of n 
 teet m thickness, and the birds having migrated to L south he 
 only other animals left to roam over the vast snow-cove ^ trie 
 
 owls All hese terrestrial animals are scarce, and seem to be un- 
 able to yield sufficient food for the foxes. Severe win ers vv"th 
 much snow are favourable to fox hunting, and such favo , b 
 ears seem to have been often succeeded by periods in which the 
 animals were unusually scarce. The number of foxes killed 1. p 
 been fifteen hundred yearly, on an average, from isl lo 8 2 
 greatest number ever obtained seems to have been in 1874, ;i en 
 they amounted to five thousand. Of the whole stock, abo it o e 
 half IS caught between 60' and Gl north latitude.* 
 
 The wliite or polar bear ( ITr.us marUinins), called 
 tlie "water bear" m Labrador (from its life on the floe 
 ice and often swimming in the sea), has a comparatively 
 small head, with small and narrow molar teeth, and the 
 soles of Its feet are more covered with hair than in other 
 species of its genus. It is less ferocious than has been 
 generally supposed, and Hayes affirms that it has 
 never been known to attack man except when hotlv 
 pursued and driven to close quarters." Packard shows 
 that these bears lived in the time of Cabot and Cartier 
 nearly rour hundred years ago, as far southward as ^ev^^- 
 foundland; but their numbers and geocrraphic rancreare 
 now much diminished. Dr. Rink's notes of this'most 
 characteristic arctic mammal, as observed in (;,-een- 
 land, are as follow : 
 
 * Danish Greenland. 1877. pp. 104. 105. 
 
THE ANIMALS OF GREENLAND. £19 
 
 The polar bear is almost an amphibious animal. Upwards 
 of fifty of them are, on an average, shot yearly, of which more 
 than one half are shot in the environs of the northernmost settle- 
 ment, and of the remainder the greater part at the southernmost 
 extremity of the country, where they arrive with the drift ice 
 around the Cape Farewell. Throughout the whole intervening 
 tract bears are scaice, but still they nuiy be found everywhere 
 and solitary stragglers may even be met with unexpectedlv in 
 summer in the interior of the fiords. Killing a bear has, in' an- 
 cient as well as in modern limes, been considered one of the most 
 distinguishing feats of sportsmanship in Greenland. Erik (he 
 Ked IS said to have quarrelled with one of his best friends from 
 envy on account of the latter having had the luck to capture a 
 bear. . . In the nortli the bear is pursued upon the frozen sea 
 by the aid of dogs. It often takes refuge on the top of an ice- 
 berg, where it is surrounded and held at bay by the dogs until it 
 IS shot, generally not without some of the latter being lost on the 
 occasion. In the north the male bears at least seem to roam about 
 in winter as far south as 68^ noi-th latitude, because wherever the 
 carcass of a whale may be found, or a rich hunt of seals or white 
 whales occurs in a certain place within these confines, there sev- 
 eral bears are sure soon to make their appearance. In the south 
 where no dogs are to be had for assistance, the natives generally 
 try to force the bear into the water, and often kill it with harpoons 
 from the kayak.* 
 
 The ermine (Puforius erminetus), the Xorth Ameri- 
 can lemming (Mi/odes obensis), and the musk ox {Ovi- 
 f)ns moschatus), "are not found," according to Dr. 
 Robert Brown, " as far south as the Danish possessions. 
 They inhabit the shores of Smith Sound and East 
 Greenland in about the same latitude, but do not 
 stretch farther south, so that the probabilities are that 
 they have migrated round the northern end of tlie 
 count'-y, and are kept from spreading southward by the 
 glaciers." 
 
 I 
 
 Op. cit., pp. 106. 107. 
 
220 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ( i ?! 
 
 
 , ! 
 
 Arctic hares {Lepus glacialis) are ratlier infrequent; 
 no more tiian a tliousand, according to Kiuli's estimate, 
 being killed by the Eskimos yearly. 
 
 Above jJl the other land animals in Greenland, as in 
 all the arctic zone, the reindeer {Rang if er tarandus), 
 extensively domesticated in northern Europe and Sibe- 
 ria, is the most interesting and useful to man. Flower 
 and Lydekker say of this species : 
 
 The reindeer, or caribou, as it is termed in North Amerina, is 
 the sole representative of the genus Ranyifn\\\\\M\ is sufficiently 
 distinguished from all its allies by the presence of antlers in both 
 sexes. . . . This animal is distributed over the northern parts of 
 Europe, Asia, and America, the differences which may be ob- 
 servable in specimens from different regions not l)eing sufficient 
 to allow of specific distinction. The reindeer is a heavily built 
 animal, with short limbs, in which ilie lateral hoofs are well de- 
 veloped, and the cleft between the two main hoofs is very deep, so 
 that these hoofs spread out as the animal traverses the snow-clad 
 regions in which it dwells. The antlers are of very large relative 
 size. There is a bez as well as a brow tine, which are peculiar in 
 bemg branched or palmated. In the American race (caribou), as 
 well as in some of the specimens found fossil in the English 
 Pleistocene, one of the brow tines is generally aborted to allow of 
 the great development of the other.* 
 
 • In Greenland the reindeer has a geographic ran<re 
 from Foulke Fiord (latitude 78° 18'), where they were 
 seen in small numbers by Hayes, and from the neiffh- 
 bouring northern shores of Inglefield Gulf, where Peary 
 found considerable herds, southward along all the west 
 coast to Cape Farewell. Rink gives the following 
 description of reindeer hunting by the Eskimos in 
 summer : 
 
 * An Introduction to the Study of Mammals, Living and Ex- 
 tinct, 1891, pp. 324, 325. 
 
THE ANIMALS OP GREENLAND. 
 
 221 
 
 The chief hunting grounds, situet-d by the interior of the 
 fiords, were tlie rendezvous places .. hunters from widely 
 spread wintei-ing places. In their skin boats, escorted by kayaks, 
 they carried their families, tents, and all their necessaries. From 
 the fiords the boats occasionally were borne by land to the lakes, 
 and in this way the farthest accessible interior regions were 
 visited. . . . The chase gradually increased, chiefiy on account of 
 the more common use of the rifle. It reached its culminating 
 point in the period between 1845 and 1849, when the number of 
 deer killed might be rated at 25,000 anniudly, the number of skins 
 exported being about 16,000 per annum. But after 1850 the chase 
 rapidly declined, and in 18(J8 to 1871 the annual export had 
 dwindled to G skins, or, in other words, nothing, while the whole 
 number of aninuils killed may scarcely be rated at more than 
 1,000 per annum during the latest period. On these longer ex- 
 cursions the hunters are generally accompanied by women, whose 
 duty is to carry home as much of the venison as possible, winch 
 they elTect by passing the strap from which the load hangs 
 around their foreheads. Notwithstanding tlie great skill they 
 have acquired in carrying bui-dens in this way, their assistance 
 proved insufficient during the briskest period of the chase. We 
 may suppose that during those years one half of the flesh was 
 abandoned on the rocks, while a great many deer were killed only 
 for the sake of the hide and the tongue. . ". . We have before us 
 but an instance of a similar destruction of various kinds of game in 
 almost every other part of the globe. Xow, since the animals have 
 ceased to congregate in so great herds, the pursuit of them never 
 can be so ruinous, and it seems that during the last vears the re- 
 niaunng stock has not been subject to any further decrease. Rein- 
 deer meat lias, of course, ceased to be in daily use. but. on the 
 other hand, it has as yet by no means become a rarity in Green- 
 land. . . . The tallow is higlily appreciated, and always eaten raw 
 as a titbit. The antlers are almost indispensable for the manu- 
 facture of several weapons and kayak implements. In the years 
 followiiig 1850 they were made an article of trade and purchased 
 at a price of about one penny per pound, and the quantity of 
 them dispersed over the country proved to be so great that at one 
 station moi-e than 100.000 pounds were brought for sale within a 
 short period. Although hunting the reindeer wa,s ordinarily a 
 summer occupation, it also took place in winter, and in some 
 
222 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Far more valuable to the Greenlander for the means 
 of ubs,.te„ee in hi, frigid and barren, monnw"Z 
 
 cetaceans the ? " "' *'"' P'""'!'^''^ »■"» ">e 
 
 cetaceans, the former comprising the walrus and seals 
 
 1)1. E.nk notes the uses of these animals by the Eski 
 mos, and their methods of capture, as follows 
 
 reason denominated Mataliks. It is ahnost always eaten raw In 1 
 consists of two sheets, the inner one very tough ^.t")":; ' 
 
 m ifCiZ^^w ^^ ''''''-''' ''' -^'-"^^ hair^c!:::.:;^^ 
 
 moie bnttle. Ihere are as many varieties of it as there exist 
 ^ of cetaceans, from that of the small porpoise to ^ZZ^i 
 
 The principle npon which the peculiar seal hunting of the 
 Eskimo IS based is almost the same as that whicli has be ifres .• L, 
 to m the ordinary European mode of killing whales-v z nrev 
 ously striking .he animal with the harpoon,^and ke pi^g hok o^ 
 
 ac .r:W^illi„7'f 1: ""^ ''''''-' ^" ''' harpLfsot' t^o 
 ,.7 fTu u ^ ""^ '^ ^'>' '"^'^"s "f the lance and spear The 
 
 seof the harpoons, lines, and lances is perfectly analogous imon^ 
 the European and the Eskimo hunting at sea.' The chief dX' 
 
 Op. cit., pp. 101-104. 
 
oil for 
 
 THE ANIMALS OP GREENLAND. 223 
 
 F.=, <r.-K.,ak, „„„ i„„aM „Wd,r and other ,mpie,„s« ot ch.se 
 
 off w,th extmonllnary q„fck„ess. The .oal „r whale h,vn^ 
 become »„mcio„tly exha„,loa by ,l,„„„i„l rthe btl-l.T *^ 
 
 IG 
 
 Op. cit, pp. Ill, 112. 
 
224 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 
 First m size and in nniqueness of specific characters 
 among the pinnipeds is che wah-us {OUobmnus ros- 
 marti^^, genus Trichecus of Gray and most writers dur- 
 ing the past century), also called the morse, from its 
 Russian and Lapp name, or the sea cow or sea horse. 
 Its length IS ten to twelve feet, and its weight two thou- 
 sand to three thousand pounds. From the first discov- 
 ery of the Atlantic shores of ^^orth America up to -bout 
 a hundred years ago immense herds of walruses or -sea 
 oxen (assembling "to the amount of seven or eiglit 
 thousand ') lived about «able Island, off the coast of 
 Nova bcotm, on the Magdalen Islands and Anticosti in 
 tlie iTulf of St. Lawrence, and around Newfoundland. 
 A thousand years ago the walrus was abundant on the 
 coasts of iinmark, the most northern part of Norway. 
 Relentless slaughter for its oil, hide, and tusks, has since 
 restricted the limits of this species in the Western Ilemi- 
 sphei-e to Ubrador and the coasts of Hudson and Davis 
 
 Wn 11 .u^." 7' ^""^ ^'^ioi"i"g ^^^iters, and in the Old 
 Woild to the islands and the icy seas to t.. northward 
 of eastern Europe and the neighbouring portions of 
 western Asia, where it rarely, if ever, now visits the 
 hores of the Continent."* A closely similar species, 
 ^^e only other of the genus, inhabits the region of 
 Behring Sea and Strait and the contiguous shores of the 
 Arctic Ocean. 
 
 In Greenland, according to Dr. Robert Brown, the 
 walrus ;' IS found all the year round, but not south of 
 Ri ko , in latitude Go°. In an inlet called Irsortok it 
 collects in considerable numbers, to the terror of the 
 natives who have to pass that way. ... It has been 
 
 *J. A. 
 p. 79. 
 
 Allen, History of North American Pinnipeds, 18S0, 
 
THE ANIMALS OF GREENLAND. 226 
 
 found as far nortli as tlie Eskimos live or explorers have 
 
 gone It ,s not now found in such numbers as it 
 
 once was and no reasonable man who sees the slaugh- 
 ter to which It is subject in Spitsbergen and else- 
 where can doubt that its days are numbered. It has 
 already become extinct in several places where it was 
 
 crsionT"'"- ''' """• ^^^""^'^" is a foregone con- 
 Kink says: « r//, walrus is only rarely met with 
 along the coast, with the exception of the tracts between 
 60 and 68 north latitude, where it occurs pretty nu- 
 merously at times. The daring task of entering' into 
 contest with this animal from the kayak on the opL sea 
 forms a regular sport to the natives of Kangamiut in 6G° 
 north atitude. The number yearly killed has not been 
 separately calculated on account of the skin bein^ rrener- 
 ally eaten along with the meat, and considered a very 
 delicate dish; but they can hardly exceed two hun- 
 
 Considerable herds of the walrus were found by 
 Kane Hayes and Peary in the region of Smith Sound 
 and Inglefield Gulf, and they describe verv exciting 
 encounters with these powerful animals, when, some of 
 their number being wounded or killed, thev sought to 
 avenge their losses by concerted attacks on their perse- 
 cutors. ^ 
 
 The chief food of this huge animal consists of bi- 
 valved molluscs, notably JL/a tnmcata and Samcava 
 rngosa, which are dug out from their beds in the mud 
 and sand of the sea bottom by means of the animal's 
 tusks. It crushes and removes the shells bv the aid of 
 
 * Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London, 1868, p. 433 
 t Op. cit., pp. 120, 127. ' ^- *^^- 
 
') 
 
 226 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 its grinding teeth and tongue, swallowing only the soft 
 part . . It Hlso feeds on other molluscs, s^uidworms. 
 starfishes, and shrimps. " ' 
 
 Among the hvo or six species of seals of Greenland, 
 the most abundant and important to the natives as a 
 
 Fro. 48.-Women dressing a .-in....,, seal J.ust brought in by a kayaker. 
 
 source Of food is tlie Phoca fn'fida, or ringed seal of 
 naturalists called tlie fiord seal by Fabriciusrthe naLk 
 of he skimos, and the "floe rat" of English whalers. 
 Its length IS four to six feet, and its weight ranges from 
 seventy five to two hundred pounds or more! Allen 
 says of this species : 
 
iker. 
 
 1, of 
 tsek 
 lers. 
 
 rom 
 
 THE ANIMAF^S OF GIIEKNLaND. 227 
 
 The ringod seal is pre-emi.,ontly boreal its l.„m.. i • 
 most exclusively ,he iey seas cf ti.o Ltie liot w, Z"^ t 
 res<.rts are sai.l t.. l,e retired bays ar>,l fln.vl . • V ^'''*'""^« 
 
 - long as they are filled with fi , . "^' " t' hi .""'V'' '""'T' 
 betake themselves t,. the floes where tLv. '^" "'' ^^''^ 
 
 It is essentially a li.toral or a it J ' ^ "^ ^'"''^' '^'''' >'"""S- 
 >"ot with in the open 'ea> ''"""^ '^'''''''' '^^"'"ff -'J"'» 
 
 Its geogra])hic rnn-o extends south to Labrador and 
 in utropo to the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and t Gulfs 
 
 i el ring Sea It ;s said to occur also in the wholly 
 fresh w,ter of Lake Ladoga in Russia; and nea 2 
 
 i.ake Ji ukal, 1,.JG0 feet above the level of the ocean. 
 
 Ui '{ink estimates the number of these se-ils r-n. 
 tured .yearly in Greenland to be about 51,000 He re' 
 marks on its habits and the origin of its specific name 
 
 of Baffin Bay m July, and return to the coast when the fir blv 
 .s l^nn,„, , September, or occasionally appearing wtnee^ 
 the weather has been stonnv. But the chef stock !X 
 favourite haunts, as has been described, are t ice fiords l"' 
 -t seen, to leave the coast at all. It L ahnl^ ,^ ' L ^^ 
 ^eal that ,s captured as " utok " and by „,eans of the ic .et^s 
 <ler.ves > s scientific name fron. the nauseous smdl e ,• to 
 cer am older individuals, especiallv those captured i the i, Z 
 
 *0j}. cif., p. G19. 
 
 t Op. cit, p. 123. 
 
228 
 
 fSUKKNLANl) IC'EFIKLDS. 
 
 t^ 
 
 and til r •"""'"'• '""*<«'■• -"I, called i„ (.," " 
 
 monlj in Aonvay as tie " ilcinl «..„i " r. , , . 
 nearly liko tlie piveciinLr ,.,,,1 ' """«"' " 
 
 -ixtyioono i„u , 1 ' sirHrr^v.r^'" " '^^ 
 
 mngo extends t„ New ,le ev ,u,^ "».g«'gmi*io 
 
 jeon e,,,t,.e„ on t„„ .:::":: t:^:izz"oX 
 
 sLdinavian 0,1,™,;! l''''""'^ '""' ""'"■'« "'° 
 family." Tl„ ,e :'t' , 7"""°"™' "I"-"™ of tho 
 of >:,„■„„<. a, if- " """"^' "'"»« tho "Orthen, shores 
 
 Ul T.llIO])(! JlIUl Asia, t hrOll<r 1 liolu-inrr iH-. ■,. -, 
 
 a ove ti io water, having been taken rarely in J akn, 
 Cliam])lain and Ontario Tf i. ,i ^ ^ ^^^^ 
 
 the year at „„ potallt ' ,, S\, ,:;;;^ "^'^ ""-."-" 
 
 Dr. Eink states that this siiecios is " much less ,n, 
 merons in Greenland than the natsek. itoe .rsh ro 
 . nd the,.o hcvove,., tl„.onghont tho coast, a,Kl "em st 
 !« asrtat™unya^^o,.mer, with which it also eorre- 
 
 * Page 589. 
 
^1 */^p 
 
 THE ANIMALS OP GRKKNLANI). 
 
 -)(. 
 
 99 
 
 sponds in size. Tiio skin is highly vahunl in (ireoiMu :a 
 for milking (ilothes. Tiio annuiil eiitch in doubtful; it 
 may bo guessed ut a thousand, and at any rate scarcely 
 amounts to two tJiousund."* 
 
 Next after the ringed seal, the most ah,' >dant and 
 valuable species for the Eskimos is the I'hnca ynen- 
 lanUica, or harp seal, conirnonly called the "saddle- 
 back" by English-si)eaking whalers and the svartside 
 by the Danes, but known to the Norwegians and Swedes 
 as the Greenland seal. This gregarious and migratory 
 species grows to be five or six feet long, with weight vary- 
 ing from three hundred to seven hundred pounds, of 
 which the skin and blubber constitute about a third part. 
 Allen writes of its geogra])hic range and migrations: 
 
 Althoug the harp seal has a circumpolar distribution, it ap- 
 pears not to advance so 'ir northward as the ringed seal or the 
 bearded seal ; yet the icy seas of the Noith are pre-eminently its 
 home. It is not found on the A( hmtic coast of Xorth America in 
 auy numbers south of Newfoundland. A few are taken at the 
 Magdalen Islands, and while on their way to the Grand Banks 
 
 some must pass very near the Nova Scotia const The harp 
 
 seals are well known to be perio.lieally exceedingly abundant 
 a ong the shores of Newfoundlan.l, where during spring hundreds 
 of thousands are ann.ially killed. In their n.igrations thev pass 
 along the coast of Labrador, and appear with regularity twice a 
 year off the coast of southern Greenlan.l. . . . The sad.llehack, 
 although found at one season or another throughout a wide ex- 
 tent of the arctic seas, appears to bo nowhere resident the whole 
 year. Its very extended periodical migrations relate apparently 
 to the selection of suitable conditions for the production of its 
 young, and occur with great reguarit.v. Where it spends por- 
 tions of the year is not well know-. ^ v .lo. on the other hand, it 
 may be found with the utmost certainty at particular localities 
 durmg the breeding season. Its most noted breeding stations are 
 
 Pages 123, 124. 
 
¥r:l\ 
 
 H 
 
 230 
 
 GREENLAIVD ICEFIELDS. 
 
 11-^ ' 
 
 immense herds.* "i^ptui .arjy m spring m 
 
 haunting its shores and roamin/ tiu s"„ 'ds ' T« "",' "' '" 
 larly during „,„ gr«tor part ol tl,o ,U lUs ^, i,i?°'''K,''8''- 
 portance on acoauni nt u i • , , ^ inestimable m- 
 
 thesoutt . ."of tC . '" '' ^PP^"-^' reguhirly along 
 
 ^- south L\::t;:\^:r:;;^r:rr;:r"^"^ ^" ^^^^^ 
 
 the fiords. Thevare then prottv It b„t t. ?'' '''''""^ *° 
 is still increase ch,rU.TL ^ ' ^^''"' '^'^^* ""^ blubber 
 
 November It. r f n^o^XSw • t'^^t ;" "'"'"'' '^' 
 
 cembor, -jrows moro ..n,!? P;'^"^'^"' ' ^hen it decreases in De- 
 
 tinctinrbrl V Tr /" f ^""'"•>' "'"^ becomes almost ex- 
 coast in Mav 1 d'on ttr Z " '''''''''''' "^ ^^e southern 
 grown ve y io 1 2 f '' "^r^"'" '" ''""^- ^'-J^ ^^-'^ then 
 visited th fi r ^ """'■^ *''"" ^"'^ tlieir blubber. Having 
 
 • ancl ret t^t2:Z'7' '"'''' II'^^'^^^'^'" ^^'^^^^P^^ '" '^^^ 
 twice a yea and as , , ^""^^^^'''^""y this seal deserts thecoast 
 
 first m.kin ^^ '^' '''^'"'"^ ^'^ '' '" ^^"« ^«'>^«". ahvays 
 
 the nrt':; reglT""'^^ Thl'? ^If r-f"'.! -"-»-* later i 
 
 .*in has :;r„r ' ll^r" '"■ '"■'■'"■'■" -"i-al. whose 
 sides of the Zl ,nd ^""■;"™"-*''P'«l "-"■>' -"arking „„ l,oth 
 
 wHo,„ these.::!;; r„: ;---;: -^ 
 
 Pages 040-643. 
 
 f Pages 124-126. 
 
ii 
 
 THE ANIMALS OK OREKNLAND. gSl 
 
 It seems very doubtful wl.ether the gray seal <rr„!,- 
 clmrm gnjpus) has ever been fnn,„i Ji^T ' ''" 
 coast of Gree.iland h„t it ; I " *" "'•'«''*™ 
 
 east eoast. It '"Is f -o ' k '' .^ °" «'^ 
 
 theI3HtisbIs>es3wrdtlC\^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 m Wwa„ but is absent f„. the is.anis^f It'Zl 
 
 .-, the largest s^e S o o. ; Ko^ft I't!!' f ^^"'^ ™'- 
 
 7nher./a„no:;L::r:u^:rhVrf::'r 
 
 e lulled by tl)e Iiarpooned seal. The annual catch 
 h.«dly amounts to a thousand." Allen savs of Vf= 
 
 :;-"!^; T", ^-"^^"^ '^^^- '^ circu:: o rand et 
 tieaiey boreal m its distribution, «nd appeirs to hp 
 
 migratory only as it is forced southward in i.te^ by • 
 the extension of the unbroken icefields " ^ 
 
 i..e,..ussi;.o..h;'f:.*^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 n rivL"™!';;"'"" l"";""^- "'« ^^iu and fat b „g 
 neaiiyiialt. Allen says of this species •« T),n i, i? 
 
 KoHhiir ' Tr'""^" "■^""" '-« «'° •> 
 
 J^oitli Atlantic and to portions of the Arctic Sei Tf 
 raiiges from Greenland eastward to Spit berg! 'and 
 along the arctic coas^ nf "P i,... p"^'^. ^^^ 
 
 • 11 
 
 ope, but is rarelv found 
 
 i JJ 
 
I'ir- 
 
 232 
 
 aitEENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 H I 
 
 south of soiitlioni Norway and Nowfouiidlund. . . . Like 
 tlie harp seal, it a])pears also to be regularly migratory, 
 but, owing to its much smaller numbers and less com- 
 mercial importance, its movements are not so well 
 known." 
 
 Nansen describes the ruthless slaughter of this spe- 
 cies on the floe ice between Iceland and Greenland as 
 follows : 
 
 _ The capture of the blmldor-Tiose in DonniHrk Simit is not an 
 UKlusti-y of v.«ry Ion- shindin-. It was inaugurated by the Nor- 
 wegians HI ISrii. and their exaniph' was followed by a few En-dish 
 and American vessels. For the first eight years the venture" was 
 an unprecedented success: the seals were more than plentiful 
 and we o sho, down in thousands. During this period something 
 like five lunuhvd thousand head were captured, and it is probable 
 that quite < ,,,a.ny w.>re killed and lost. After these vears of 
 plenty came a change, and ever since the pursuit has been practi- 
 cally a fadure, all the vessels alike being equally unsuccessful.* 
 
 In 1888, however, Nansen saw again vast numbers 
 of these seals on the inner and firm areas of the lloe ice 
 in the same region, where, he thinks, they had learned 
 to stay as less exposed to their human enemies, instead 
 of living as formerly on the outer and loose floes, where 
 they better escaped the ravages of j)olar bears. 
 
 Notes of the Iiooded seal on the western coast of 
 Greenland, by Rink, are as follows: 
 
 It is only occasionally found along the greater part of the 
 coast but vidts the very limited tract between CO an.l (11^ north 
 atitude m great numbers, most probably coming from and re- 
 turning to the east side of (Jreenland. The first time it visits us 
 IS from about May 20 till the end of Juno, durin^^ which it viehls 
 a very lucrative catch. It is very fierce, an.l when wounded not 
 unfrequently attacks its pursuer, violently splashing, and trying 
 
 The First Crossing of Greenland. IHflO. vol. i. p. lyo. 
 
THE ANIMALS OF OIlEENLAND. 283 
 
 to bite him. This hunt wl.i,.i, ,v. i> ^ 
 liittiiig their i.R.vrn,,,;,!,,. i ,1 ' "11". Uio liu.il,.,-, flrst 
 
 it Witt t„™. v:;,™ \ , , 'r;;:r' "I't:";;'-' """'■"'"'""« 
 about „„„ i„„„„,'t „,.,i „ve„t ,„ ' ,; „ ;:"""-:'r ^'""» 
 
 dred noiimk nf ».,.u m i "'"""'' "i miibbor und two hun- 
 
 Robot Iifo,„, as k„ow„ to occur i„ tl,o waters of west 
 cru Gree„la,„|, Tl.e ,„„st valttablc of t ,e o o t " 
 M,n.os ,s the white whale (/M,„„ .„,„,„ T/ 
 p/ump/cru» ;„,„,,), which, ttccordirty to J r lUnk 
 
 bay tee brcttks „,,, a,„l ,„ a„tnn,„ before the .lew ice 
 forms. It ,„eas„res twelve to sixtoeti feet ir, el 1, 
 a.Kl y,e ,1s abo„t four huujred p„,„„,s o W hb a d 
 at, equal or greater atuount of etttablo parts, ,,,1 
 
 humltecl. I he geographic rauge of tliis small whale 
 cuculs south to the flalf of St. I.awrence, from wh"c 
 
 t.ce„ds the H..r St. Lawreuce for a c„u.:iderable 
 t, , . n„g the Champlaiu epoch or closing pa t 
 
 "he L^r';r''T'"' •.,"■''"' "'" ""' ^^'^"''«'' i"'™- '0 
 edfr ", "'""'''"'■" '" -»" as it was u„cov. 
 
 .'lo'ig the tl,™ ctdarged Gulf of St. Lawreuce to Ver. 
 mout whore ,a ucyly cotupleto skeletou of it was fout.d 
 in 849, emhedde,! m the C'l,am,,h.iu marine chtys, sixty 
 
 foe above the lake, ttnd nctrly one 1 dred aud . y 
 
 feet above the present .,ott.Ievel. At several localities il 
 Canada, tdso, along the St. Lawrence Valley, the bones 
 o 1 1, speetos have been fot.n.l i-, the CIntmtdain clays, 
 up to heights exceeding two hundrc,! feet tibove the sea 
 
 Op. rif,. p. na. 
 
 i >i 
 
 I 
 
. tf 
 
 ... 'i t> 
 
 234 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Second in valne to the Greenlanders is the narwhal 
 or "sea unicorn " (Afo7wdou moHocero.), so named from 
 the long and straight, spirally grooved, single tusk or 
 iiorn of the male, which often attains a length of 
 seven or eight feet. It is " essentially an arctic animal, 
 frequenting the icy circumpolar seas, and but rarely 
 seen south of Go<' north latitude." Riuk tells us that it 
 IS much scarcer than the white whale, and is "almost 
 only caught at the northernmost settlements, especially 
 in Umanak Bay. It follows immediatelv after the white 
 whale, and is chased from the kayak in xVovember, when 
 the surface of the sea every moment threatens to be 
 rapidly congealed in calm weather to the utmost dan- 
 ger of the hunters. The annual catch probably does 
 not su rpass a h u n d red . " 
 
 The large species of whales are now less frequently 
 captured by the Eskimos than formerlv, the present 
 average number taken yearly being no niore than two 
 or three. These colossal marine mammals, the chief ob- 
 jects of pursuit by the European and American whalers 
 include the Greenland or arctic right whale (Balmia 
 myshcetns), forty-five to fifty feet long ; three species 
 of rorquals, " finners," or " razorbacks," as they are va- 
 riously called, namely, the "blue whale" (Balmwptera 
 sihhahJi), "the largest of all known animals," having a 
 length of about eighty feet, and two others of this genus, 
 commonly called the "big finncr" and the "little fin- 
 ner"; the humpback whale {Mec/aptera loiH/imana or 
 Mecjaptern boops), about fifty feet long; and "the sperm 
 ^yhix]c(FJn/sefermacrocepJiaIus), very rare in BaflTm Bay, 
 of which the male grows to be sixty feet long, while the 
 female is only about half as huge. The sperm whale 
 IS mainly a tropical species ; but the " humpback " is 
 chiefly limited to far northern latitudes, as from Nor- 
 
V 
 
 THE ANIMALS OF GREENLAND. 235 
 
 way to Baffin Bay. During the closing stage of the Ice 
 Age ho^veyel^ the humpback whale is known to have 
 lived in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for portions of a 
 Skeleton of this species, as reported by Sir William Daw- 
 son were found in 1882 in the gravel and sand of a bal- 
 last pit on the Canadian Pacific Railway, three miles 
 north of Smith's Falls, in Ontario, and thirty mile 
 north of the River St. Lawrence. This locality is four 
 hundred and forty feet above the sea, having nearly the 
 same height as one of the principal Late Glacial or 
 i^liamplain marine shore lines on the Montreal Moun 
 tain and in other parts of the St. Lawrence Vallev * 
 Lven at the present time this species is occasiona I'y 
 seen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and, according to 
 Dawson, » is more disposed than the other large whales 
 to extend its excursions some distance into the es- 
 tuary. 
 
 Among the, otlier and comparatively small cetaceans 
 of Cicenland, besides the right whale and narwhal be- 
 fore noticed, are the bottle-nose whale (llynmMm 
 
 Islands ((.hhcq.halns mdm) ; the common porpoise 
 (lkocm,a oommuni,), of which a few are nsiallv ob! 
 tained by the Eskimo hnnters yearly; two or thee 
 others Of the dolphin family, obsened Will more ra^ 
 . nd the grampns or " killer " ( Orca ,,l,aH„t„), " readily 
 
 from ill tl,,.,-,. .,1- , """ They are distinguished 
 
 being the only cetaceans wliich habitually prev on warm 
 blooded animals, for, thongh fish form part'of th rTood 
 
 I ' 
 
 * J. W. Dawson, The Canadian Ice Age, 1803, p. 268. 
 
28 ({ 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS, 
 
 ( 
 
 i! 
 ', i 
 
 I- » 
 
 they also attack and dovoiir seals and various species of 
 tlieir own order, not only the smaller porpoises and dol- 
 phins, but even full-sized whales, which last they corn- 
 bine in pack? to hunt down aiul destroy, as wolves do 
 the larger ruminants."* 
 
 Long lists of the fauna of Greenland, in its other 
 great classes, are given by the Manual of the Natural 
 History, (J oology, and Physics of areenhmd and Neigh- 
 bouring IJegions, pre])ared in 1875, under the editorship 
 of Prof. T. lluim't Jones, for the use of the British 
 Arctic Expedition in 18:5-':g, commanded by Sir 
 George Nares ; and these lists, with additions, are also 
 given in an appendix of ])r. Henry Rink's Danish 
 (Greenland, as edited in English by Dr. Kobert Brown 
 in 1877. 
 
 'riie (h-ebnland avifauna, according to the list by 
 Ueinhardt, thus published, comprises 1:;>.4 species, of 
 which^ 51 species are very rare, or occur only as strag- 
 glers far from their ordinary geographic range. Among 
 the rare or astray species which are familiar summer 
 birds in the eastern United States, are the golden- 
 winged woodpecker or flicker, several flycatchers and 
 warblers, and even the robin. In the grouse family, 
 the rock ptarmigan {Larjopus rujjestrU), highly es- 
 teemed for food, is stated by Rink to be "pretty com- 
 mon, being in summer almost everywhere met with at 
 heights of from one thousand to two thousand feet, 
 while in winter flocks of them are sometimes seen close 
 to the liouses. Very few are caught by snares, almost 
 the whole of them being shot with fowling pieces, and 
 mostly by persons who ar- engaged and provided bv the 
 
 * Flower and Lydckkor, Introduction to the Study of Mam- 
 mals, 1891, pp. 267, aoa 
 
 n 
 
by 
 
 of 
 
 THE ANIMALS OF GREENLAND. 237 
 
 Euro] .cans with the necessary implements for taking 
 tliem riie whole annual production of ptarn.i<run 
 ma, be rated at about ]:>,()()() on an average." Con- 
 corning the raven {Carvns comx), nearly ccJsmopolitan 
 in range but rare or absent throughout the eastern half 
 of the United States, Kink says : " The ravens are as- 
 siduous guests in every settlement when the country is 
 covered with deep snow, and when even berries, which 
 otherwise seem to constitute part of their food, are dif- 
 ficult to be got. They then become almost tame, and 
 follow people carrying seal llesh or blubber in order to 
 snatch the snow that may have imbibed some dropping 
 blood or oil. Their ilesh is eaten by few persons, and it 
 IS generally not considered worth while to shoot them " 
 <)t the sea fowl, which are especially useful to the 
 iiskimos for food and clothing, Dr. Rink writes : 
 
 In s.umner, .svvunns of sea fowl are scattered over the whole 
 extent o the coast. It is well known that for the purp.'e f 
 oap>ng hen- enenues so,„o of then., especially the eider <Uck.s b Led 
 nsn,a and low oul.r islands, while others inhabit precipi ,us 
 rocks, the so-called bird clilfs. The breeding places of the r 
 ^«. -.s are ,„n.ted to certain clusters of isIe.s.'Jhich are regal rv 
 ■Hited by the natives in June and July in search of eggs and 
 dowiK The eggs, even when containing liUlo c-hL-kens, a.? no tat 
 Hi offensive to their heroic taste. The san>e recklessness with 
 which the natives now waste these eggs has no doubt been shown 
 by thcni in ancient times ; for this reason it is rather surmiM'nff 
 that a more constant decrease in the product i.>n of down does not 
 fvppear to have set in before the last twentv vears, the average 
 quantity exported having dinn-nished from fifty-six hundred to 
 two thousand pounds [of raw eider down] yearly during this pe- 
 riod. The only [)robable reason may be found in a more general 
 persecution of the bird itself having of late been added to the 
 devastations of the nests. 
 
 Compared with eider ducks, the sea fowl which inhaUt the 
 chfs are much less subject to have their nests and eggs taken. 
 
238 
 
 GRKENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 1 I 
 
 Thoso precipitous walls risinj,' uliruptly from tho son to a hoiglit 
 of Olio llioiisiind or (wo tlioiLsiuid f,.,'!. or ovcii iiioro, with all their 
 protrmliiif,' (ulgos uiid Ihoir holes im,! Ussiires crowded with birds, 
 oITer II curious sij,'ht on accoiiiil of th.e iniuiense luindier of Mieir 
 cathered iulial)itants. and I lie enormous si/e of tho bootlinf,' rocks 
 when repirded from a boat a few hundred feet distant from tho 
 shore. The appearance of such rocks is j^eiieraily illusive to the 
 oyo by appearing' nearer and lower than they really are. for which 
 reason the size of the birds at, tho same timo will apjiear too small. 
 On seoiuj,' the innumerable while patches with which tlie jr|,„„„y 
 walls are dotted over, we are reminded of snow, while some single 
 birds which happen to be souriujr in tho air present tho ai)[)earaiico 
 of down or feat hers lu.riie by t ho wind. Hut on tiring a gun, or on 
 some other sign being given, the white spots begin to move; in a 
 moment thousands of birds swarm over one's iiead, tilling tho air 
 with their discordant cries, and the l)eholder then first receives a 
 correct impression of the true size and height of the wall inhab- 
 ited l)y thenv .Some of the bird clilTs, and especially those of tho 
 farthest north, contain dilTerent species of soa fowls ranged over 
 mio another, tho auks occupying tho lowest part, tho kittiwakes 
 being tho chief inhabitants of the centre, and the gulls iiihiil)iting 
 the most inaccessible iieights. The (Jreenlaudcrs know nothing 
 alu.Mt those peculiar contrivances made use of in other countries 
 t.) get at the nests; they merely step from their skill upon tho 
 rock and climl) wherever they are able to find tho least foot- 
 ing . . . 
 
 In winter all the sea fowls migrate to tho south, where open 
 water iuay be found, and there, south <,f m north latitude thev 
 afford profitable huntin:, to the native during a season when some- 
 times they have nothing else l)iit, tisli for f..od ; th," feathers furnish 
 them with an article of trade, and tho skins, with the feathers or 
 down still adhering to them, form excellent clothing, being at the 
 same time light and warm. Some of them, distin-uisluMl for their 
 cour and softness, oven yield a valuable f.ir for the Kuropean 
 market in tho shape of coverlets or of articles for ladies' dress. 
 ny far tho greater part of these birds consist, of auks and eider 
 ducks, and although a great many of them are now shot, they are 
 still chiefly taken from tho kayaks bv means of tho bird spoar 
 Sea-fowl jackets are. on acoout.t of their lightness, much used by 
 the kayakers. The whole amount of sea fowls annually killed 
 
TIIH ANIMALS OF (JKKKNI.ANI). ^IJO 
 
 n.uylM, mt..,l ut (vv,.„(y lhu„san.l ci.lor .lucks un.l r.ilu.,- Imvor 
 ljHHl.sH,ul „„„•.. ll.an liny ,l,.,.,san.l uuks un.l ..,)„.• smwII.t kinds 
 n.o OKKH yearly (ak.-n, ,.|,i..ny tln.so ..f d.l.r .In.'ks, .nuy !.. ..,1- 
 inatcl at inoro (Inin tl.rue hunclrod tlioiisun.l. 
 
 Tlio groat auk {Aim hnpennis), f„r,„orly inhabiting 
 the northeastern coasts of our continent from Massachut 
 sotts northward, also Greenland, I.-eiand, and the north- 
 western shores of Europe, has i,r.,habiy now become 
 everywhere extinct, being hist known in Iceland in 1844 
 and a solitary specimen in Labrador in 1870. Unable' 
 to lly, these large birds fell an easy prey to man's hun- 
 ger, and their gradual extcrn.inati.,n was w(,ll advanced 
 on our northeastern coast before the cming of Euro- 
 pean colonists, as is shown by the plentiful bones of the 
 great auk in the aboriginal slicll mounds. 
 
 Liitken's catalogue of the fishes of Greenland in- 
 cludes 79 sp{!cies. Motes bv 7)r I?;i.l- ->.. *i 
 
 I ^' -'^'"'^s oy iir. Kmlv, on the species 
 
 most valuable for food, are as follows : 
 
 Shark, (SonnnmuH mirwrvphalm) i,r,^ f„,„„i ,...u,ninff ul.ont 
 ovcrpvluT.. Hn.i .ill .„nn „,,,.,,, .vlH.n.v.-r a lar,., can-ass is 
 oun.l ,M- a plontifnl caplnro ef s,.als l.appons t<, take r-lum 
 H...SO that are .-aught vary in length from six to sixteen foot, an.l 
 tl'o hv.,r, forming as yot ahnost the only part retained for use 
 weighs hetwoon twenty an.l sixty pon.uls, in rare instances oven 
 several tunes n.oro. This n.onstrous fish appears almost as in.lo- 
 lent and torpid as it is voracious. Curious instances arc related 
 of the gree,lin<-ss an.l n^gardlessnoss of danger exhibited by them 
 when crowding round the car.-ass of a whale, from whi(,.h thev are 
 no to be scare.l away even by being severely wounded an.l muti- 
 •il.-d. . . Several modes of fishing them from open boats and by 
 d.(T.-rent sorts of hooks and lines have been attem,,ted, but none 
 of them have proved more off,.ctual than the f.sherv through holes 
 m the ,co. Th.s has be-M, done n.,t only with line; or chains, but 
 also by drawmg them t.> the hole n.erely by means of torchlight, 
 and then taking them with shar,. hand hooks, two men be in -re. 
 qiured to haul each of the larger fish up on the ice 
 17 
 
240 
 
 OltKKNLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Tlio cutch lu'ing first suc-ccssriillypotnim'nco.l in a certain spot 
 vliurks will .soon 1,0 altructod, ..m,1 it ,n«v l,o continued in tlio 
 suno place for a great part of the winter. The huge caroa.«ses 
 spreading over the ico then accumulate to several hundreds; at 
 some stations, in favourable seasons, even thousands have cove'red 
 the ice, attracting ravens, foxes, and especiallv <logs. But to the 
 latter this frozen shark's flesh has proved ..bviously unwholesome 
 when swallowed in largo quantities and forming their onlv food 
 for any length of time. It renders them sluggish and torpid and 
 i;ul.j..vt l.^ntsof guMiness; on having pulled the sledge a short 
 distance, their ears begin to droop, they tumbl.> from one side to 
 the other, and finally fall into convulsions, and can not be com- 
 pelled to stir from the spot. The con.agious disease [called pib- 
 lockh, by which Hayes and Peary lost the greater ,)art of large 
 teams of sledge dogs] . . . bears a great similai-ity to this com- 
 plaint, and as it commenced a few years after the shark fishery 
 had gained its highest pUch, there may be some reason for believ- 
 ing that this disease might have originated from the same source. 
 The bones, being merely cartilage, are considered good eating by 
 the natives, especially after having been kept for a certain time; 
 a little of the fiesh is cut into slices and dried, but by far the 
 greater part of the carcjisses is thrown away. The flesh has 
 however, proved to be very rich in oil, and there seems no doubt 
 that its unwholesome qualities merely appertain to it in a raw and 
 particularly in a frozen state. A shark of middle size, weighing 
 about three hundred pounds, contains al)out one hundred pounds 
 of pure flesh. The number annually captured varies from ten 
 thousand to twenty thousand. 
 
 The. codfish of Davis Strait [and also of the Canadian and 
 New England fishing banks, as well as of Europe] (Gadus mar- 
 rhiia) does not spawn on the shores of Greenland. Spawners are 
 only very rarely caught, and during the winter the cod is wholly 
 absent. Sometimes in spring a great many quite young ones ar- 
 rive at the inlets between 60' and 61° north latitude, which would 
 seem to suggest that their breeding places were not far off; but 
 they generally make their appearance after June 20th on the fish- 
 ing grounds, which are situated between 64' and 08^ north lati- 
 tude, at a distance of sixteen miles from the shore, and in July 
 and August resort to the inlets up to about 70° north latitude. 
 With regard to nui^ber, the occurrence of codfish on the Green- 
 
TlIK ANlAIALfc} W GUKENLAND. 
 
 241 
 
 lan.l sh„ros is peculiarly variublo. Hoim years, or certain periods 
 of few years, may prove extninely favouml.io us regards tho 
 catch, whereas others turn out, a t..lul failure. The number annu- 
 ally cau-ht by the natives may be estimated at somewhat about 
 two hundrwi thousand fish on an av.'ra;,'e. 
 
 .Sa/mon trout (Sulmu rarpio) occur in the lakes aiul brooks 
 nnd at their outlets alon^ the whole coast, but their capture will 
 hardly ever attain any importance, because it necessitates people 
 who undertak.. it to stay in remote j.laces during the best jmrt of 
 the summer time. A few are cau^d.t in nets to be exported, while 
 tho greater nund)er are either harpooned or speared from tho 
 river sides or from weirs built across the rivers. 
 
 Th,- muartah; or laru^r halibut (llipponlossm vuhjnri,), oc- 
 curs on the banks as well „s in difTerent places outsi.ie the ijamls 
 up to ,0 north latitude in .lepths of from thirty to fifty fathoms 
 Of late the capture of this fish has become an object of commer- 
 cial speculation, and forei^Mi ships, chiefly American, have been 
 engaged ,n it, apparently with better success than that of the cod 
 fishery. A halibut of this species weighs from twenty to a hun- 
 dred pounds, and its flesh is fat and much value.]. Superior in 
 taste as we 1 as fatness is the smaller halibut, or knln-alik (IT 
 puigu..), winch IS angled fur in the ice fiords at depths of about 
 two hundred fathoms. Tho '• red Osh " (S.t^astJs norregicusl 
 
 S" iThrr,";'''''-''/'';"?'' ^-•^>'""— - ^-inds south o 
 
 tNventy to one hundred and eighty fathoms, and its flesh is liko- 
 
 w-.se noh in oi . which occasionally, in times of want, is extracted 
 
 .y boil ng, and used instead of blubber. The nepi^ak {Cyclopterus 
 
 Api.l and May for tho purpose of spawning, and forms at this 
 asoi, during a couple of weeks, the chief food in certain place, 
 the s,,awn being also collected and consi.lered a dainty 
 
 of oM vfi? TT'' "'■ ''"^"'^'"' ^'^^"'^''"' ^•'^^^^•^"'^•)- ''«-^' '^'^^ times 
 Iv n a dii *^ "'r^P'-"«^'^'"<^ fi«^--T to the Greenlanders. and 
 Zli tut It 1 rl '"T'"'" time, frequently bo said to havo 
 couMi uted tho daily bread of the natives. They are shovelled on 
 shore by means of small nets by women and chiidren, and sp leaS 
 over tho rocks to dry during four weeks of May and June, wh n 
 
 own"'; '" T. '''T "' '"'^^-^ ^""^h °^ '«° "-^h latitude to 
 -lUNvn. rhu fishery has now considerably decreased, but may 
 
 
242 
 
 OKKENLAND ICKFIKLDS. 
 
 still bo foiisiaer«d to yiold ono millioa uiid a Imjf pounds weight 
 or iiioro of imdriod lisli ywiriy. 
 
 Lusstly, wo have to luentioii certniu kinds of fish which, al- 
 though iiiierior iu <iuality. uro nevenlioloss of iiitvsliumblu vuluo 
 to tho improvident {)opulati.)u on account of thuir being so widoly 
 .sproud, and generally to be hud at u serson when other provisions 
 arc most scanty. These are the ovuk, or smaller cod ( Uadus ovak) 
 Ww frmjJiHh, ov kanajok {Cutlus scorpiu.s), and the mimrkonuik 
 or smallest cod {Gadun ayilis). Tho two former ai-e found to-' 
 gether almost everywhere, though gradually .lecreasing in num- 
 ber toward the north, while, on tho other hand, the latfer seems 
 to begm ab..-.t the mitl.lle part of the coast, increasing so as to 
 become abundant in the furthest north. It to the captun> of the^o 
 fishes we finally add the gathering of common mnm'ls, which atv 
 generally to De found at low water where the shore is not totally 
 closed up with ice, besides . . . seaweeds, we have enumerated 
 the several means by which the final shortcomings of the yearly 
 housekeepingu)f a Greenland family are made uj) for, and which 
 almost every year, in some place uv other, become tlie meajis of 
 saving the people from direst want, and not unfrc.picntly from 
 death by starvation.* 
 
 I?. I 
 
 Mcirch cutalogiR's 2:^0 specios of molluscs belonging 
 to western (Greenland, of which ho had seen 17G species, 
 while 50 were rei)orted from records by others. There 
 are 7 species of land nnivalve shells and 4 of fresh-water 
 shells. Some of the others live on the seashore and 
 along the fiords, between the levels of the high and low 
 water of tides, which there have a range o? about ten 
 feet; but the great majority are obtained by dredging 
 in depths ranging from the low-water line down to 
 1,750 fathoms, or two miles, ^hmy of the marine shells, 
 however, are also obtained from the stomachs of tho cod 
 and. other fishes which feed on them. 
 
 * Danish Greenland : Its People and its Products. 1,S77. m 
 101-135. ^ ii 
 

 pp. 
 
 THE ANIMALS OP ORKKNLANI). £43 
 
 The insects of Groonlarul in Sohjo.lte's list, n-ade in 
 18o . number lU Hpecies, indiuling n beetles, 29 species 
 ot buttorflies and n.oths, und 48 species of f)ie« and mos- 
 quitoes. Mosquitoes are encountered ^ery plentifullv 
 by nearly all who visit Greenland. During the warmth 
 of the arctic sumn.er of constant sunlight they become 
 sonict.mes far more abundant than even in the northern 
 I lilted States and (.'anada, where, both in the woods 
 and on the prairies, they often astonish and harass those 
 who have lived chiefly in towns or in f ., older and 
 hji.ger cultivated parts of the country. Hansen writes 
 oi ins exj)enonco one memorable morning with an ex- 
 eoptional abundance of mosrpiitoes on the east coast of 
 (.reenland, previous to his setting out on his journey 
 acu-oss the it-o sheet. 
 
 1 Nvok. t.. fnul n.ysolf scratching my face vigorously, and to 
 .o.> t ho wl.ole tent full of mosquitoes. We ha.l h,.gur, by taking 
 great pleasure in the company of these creatures on the occasion 
 of our first landing on the (Jreenlnnd coast, but this day cured us 
 completely of any pnHiilecliuns in that wav ; and if there is a 
 '"•"•lung of my life on which I look ba.k with unn>itigaled horror 
 it IS the mornin^r which I now record. I have not ceased to won' 
 der. indeed, that we retained o.u- reason. As soon as I woke I put 
 on my clothes with all sjuhmI and rushed out into the open air to 
 escape my torn.entors. liut this was but transferring mv^elf 
 from the frying pan to the fire. Whole clouds of these blood- 
 tJursty demons swo,.ped upon my face and hands, the latter being 
 at once covered with what might well have passed for rou-^h 
 woollen gloves. ^ 
 
 Hut breakfast was our greatest trial, for when one can not get 
 a scrap of food int., one's mouth except it be wrapped in a mantle 
 of mosquitoes, things are come to a pretty pass indeed. We fled 
 to the highest point of rock which was at hand, where a bitter 
 whk was blowing, and where we hoped to be allowed to eat our 
 ^roakfast in peace and enjoy the onlv pleasure of the life we led 
 V\e nin from on<> rock to another, hung our handkerchiefs before 
 our faces, pulled down our caps over our necks and cars, struck 
 
 
 n 
 
 wi 
 
244 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 out and beat the air like lunatics, and, in short, fought a most 
 desperate encounter .gainst these overwhelming odds, but all in 
 vain. Wherever we stood, wherever we walked or ran, we carried 
 with us, as the sun his planets, each our own little world of satel- 
 lites, until at last in our despair wo gave ourselves over to ths tor- 
 mentors, and, falling prostrate where we stood, suffered our mar- 
 tyrdom unresistingly while we devoured food and mosquitc^s 
 with all possible despatch. Then we launched our boats and fled 
 out to sea. Even here our pursucis followed us, but by whirling 
 round us in mad frenzy tarpaulins and coats and all that came to 
 hand, and eventually by getting the wind in our favour, we at 
 last succeeded in beating off, or at least escaping from, our 
 enemy.* 
 
 In the remaining and lower classes of the Greenland 
 fauna some idea of the extensive observations and re- 
 searches of naturalists visiting tiie country or examining 
 collections from it may be obtained by^ .he following 
 totals of the species enumerated in Dr. Kink's work": 
 From Lutken's tabuiation, in the class of the Tunicata, 
 18 species of the simple ascidians are known, while the 
 compound ascidians, though rather numerous, have not 
 been studied and identified ; of Polyzoa, also according 
 to L'itken, 04 species are known; of arachnids (spiders 
 and cheir allies), according to Schjodte, 13 species ; of 
 Crustacea, according to Reinhardt and Liitken, ;202 
 species ; of the Annulata (annelid worms), according to 
 Liitken, who also is authority for all the following, 133 
 species ; of Entozoa (intestinal worms), 62 species ; Echi- 
 nodermata (starfishes, etc.), 34 species ; Anthozoa (sea 
 anemones, etc.), 15 species; aealephs (jellyfishes, etc.), 
 33 species ; and sponges, 28 species. 
 
 The First Crossing of Greenland, 181)0, vol. i, pp. 396-398. 
 
 :^ t 
 
 fV . I 
 
i*'. 
 m 
 
 m 
 
/ 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 EXPLORATIOXS OF THE INI 
 
 ICE OF GREENLAND. 
 
 ^ When Agassiz, in 1840, his studies of the gla- 
 
 ciers of the Alps and of the., previous much greater 
 extent, announced his grand generalization that the 
 drift covering northern lands was due to great ice sheets 
 which since have vanished, little was definitely known of 
 the existence of the ice sheets which now have been as 
 certained to cover the greater part of the antarctic con- 
 tinent and of Greenland. Reports of scanty observations 
 suggesting the existence of these great continental ice- 
 helds in both the arctic and antarctic regions had been 
 brought to Europe, but no demonstrative explorations 
 iiad yet proved that the snow and ice were of vast ex- 
 tent and thickness. Kot only has the glacial theory of 
 Agassiz received continually cumulative support by its 
 affording adequate explanations, derivable from no other 
 source, for many characteristics of the drift and for its 
 various phases of deposition and the diversity of condi- 
 tions attending its origin, as these have been gradually 
 made known by the progress of geological surveys, but 
 also the theory has found exemplification bv now exist- 
 ing ice sheets, that of Greenland being found to have an 
 area approximately one fourth as large as the Pleistocene 
 ice sheet of Europe while that surrounding the south 
 pole is somewhat more extensive than the old ice sheet 
 
 245 
 
 
240 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 of Nortli America, which covered ubout 4,000,000 square 
 miles. 
 
 It was not long, however, after the glacial studies of 
 Agassiz had set all geologists to new and fruitful think- 
 ing and observing for explanations of the drift that the 
 voyages of Ross, in 1841 and 1842, brought tidings of 
 the border of the antarctic ice sheet terminating in the 
 ocoan with frontal perpendicular cliffs 150 to 200 feet 
 or more in height, along which, in latitude 77° 45' to 78° 
 south, he sailed 450 miles eastward from Mounts Erebus 
 and Terror, finding only one place low enough to allow 
 the upper surface of the ice to be viewed from the mast- 
 head. There it was a plain of snowy whiteness, reach- 
 ing into the interior as far as the ey^ could see. 
 
 These and ' other voyages to the antarctic regions 
 show that land, chiefly covered by u vast 7ner cU glace, 
 extends to a distance of 12 to 25 degrees from the south 
 pole, having an area, according to 8ir Wyville Thomson, 
 of about 4,500,000 square miles. Whether the antarctic 
 ice sheet covered an equal or greater extent in the Pleis- 
 tocene period, contemporaneous with the glaciation of 
 now temperate regions, we have no means of knowing. 
 That the ice plain has a considerable slope from its cen- 
 tral portions toward its boundary is shown by its abun- 
 dant outflow into the sea, by which its advancing edge 
 is uplifted and broken into multitudes of bergs, many of 
 them tabular, having broad, nearly flat tops. As de- 
 scribed by Moseley in Xotes by a Xaturalist on the 
 Challenger, these bergs give strange beauty, sublimity, 
 and peril to the Antarctic Ocean, upon which they float 
 away northward until they are melted. Many parts of 
 the borders of the land underlying this ice sheet are low 
 and almost level, as is known by the flut-topped and 
 horizontally stratified bergs, but some otJier areas are 
 
 i'^'f 
 
KXPLORATIONS OF THE INLAND ICE. 247 
 
 high and mountaiuous. Due south of New Zealand the 
 volcanoes Terror and Erebus, between 800 and 900 miles 
 from the pole, rising respectively about 11,000 and 
 15^,000 feet above the sea, suggest that portions or the 
 whole of this circumpolar continent may have been re- 
 cently raised from the ocean to form a land surface, 
 which on account of its geographic position has become 
 ice- clad. 
 
 Inside its border of mountains, Greenland is envel- 
 oped by an ice sheet which has a length of about 1,500 
 miles, from latitude 60° 30' to latitude 83°, with an 
 average width of almost 400 miles, giving it an area 
 of about 575,000 square miles.* On the east this ice 
 sheet in some places stretches across the mountains, and 
 the coast consists of its ice cliffs ; and on the west glaciers 
 flow from the inland ice through gaps of the mountains 
 to the heads of the many fiords and bays, where the 
 outflowing ice is broken into bergs of every irregular 
 
 «,.!/• ■ ^^'"''' '" ^^'^' ^^timatod the area of Greenland as 
 
 513,000 square miles, of which he considered the inland ice sheet 
 to cover 820,000 square miles. Dr. John Murray, in the Scottish 
 Geographical Magazine for January, 1888 (vol. iv, p. 7), computes 
 the area of Greenland, according to maps, to be 914.550 square 
 miles: and he estimates its mass above the sea level to be 556 350 
 cubic miles, the average elevation being regarde<l as about 3,200 
 feet. Lieut. R. E. Peary, in the Bulletin of the American Geo- 
 graphical Society (vol. xxiii. p. m, June 30, 1891). estimated the 
 area of Greenland as 740,000 or 750,000 square miles; and he 
 stated that " no less than four fifths of this area, or 600,000 square 
 miles, ... IS covered by the inland ice." Later, in Johnson's 
 Universal Cyclopaedia (vol. iv. 1894, pp. 25-27). Pearv gives the 
 whole area as about 500,000 square miles, of which the ice sheet is 
 thought to occupy "over 400.000 square miles." Measurements 
 on our map of Greenland show the whole area of the country to 
 be_ very nearly 0H(>.(.(»0 square miles, and of the ice sheet about 
 5 1 5,000 square miles. 
 
 m 
 
 
248 
 
 GRKEXLAXn KEFIRLDS. 
 
 Gliape and borne uwjiy by the sea. One of these ice 
 streams, discovered and named by Kane tlje Ilumbohlt 
 Ghicier, is GO miles wide wiiere it enters Peabody Bay, 
 above which it rises in cliiTs 300 feet liigli. The general 
 boundary of tlie ice sheet u])on the mountains and 
 pUiteaus of the border of (Jreenhind, excepting the out- 
 flowing valley glaciers, has usually a heigiit of 1,500 to 
 2,000 feet above the sea; aiul thence the ice surface 
 gradually rises to the great altitude of 8,000 to 9,000 
 feet, or more, in its central i)art. Near its boundary the 
 ice sheet, there undergoing more ablation or superficial 
 melting than snow accumulation, is commonly much 
 intersected by crevasses, due to its flow over a surface of 
 varying gradients, and is made uneven by the small pin- 
 nacles and ridges of its irregular melting, so that it is 
 very difficult of ascent for the first few miles. Farther 
 within the ice area, it has been found by Hayes, Nor- 
 denskjold, Nansen, and Peary to have a very even snow- 
 covered surface, well adapted for travel with sledges and 
 snowshoes. This great central region t)f the inland ice, 
 with its snow covering, is the analogue of the neve fields 
 or gathering grounds of the ice of all Alpine glaciers. 
 Instead of an ice surface, it is wholly a vast snow neve 
 field after the comparatively narrow peri])heral zone of 
 ablation, ice ridges, and yawning crevasses is passed. 
 
 In a valuable chaijter of Nansen's First Crossing of 
 Greenland, which is also largely reprinted in the Bulle- 
 tin of the American Geograjjhical Society (vol. xxiii, pp. 
 171-103, June 30, 1891), the various journeys on the 
 Greenland ice sheet, and oliservations of its margin, are 
 brought under review; and from this and other sources 
 the following notes, arranged in chronologic order, are 
 derived : 
 
 An ancient Xorse ti-eatise, called the Konfjosjwilet, 
 
EXl'LORATIOXS OF THE INLAND ICE. 249 
 
 or " King's Mirror," written apparently in the thirteenth 
 century, portrays, as quoted by Nansen, tlie condition of 
 the interior of (ireeidand, so far as the early Icelandic 
 immigrants had explored the country: 
 
 Seeing that thou hast askod whefhor the laiul is free of ice or 
 not, or whetiier it is c-overed with ice liive the sea, thou must know 
 that that part of the country which is bare of ice is siiuili, and that 
 all the rest is covered witii ice. and (iiat people therefore know not 
 whether the country be large or snudl, seeing that all mountains 
 and all valleys are covered with ice so that one can nowhere find 
 an opening therein. And yet it would seem most credible that 
 there should be an opening eitiier in the valleys that lie among 
 the mountains or along the shores, by which animals can find 
 their way, since otherwise animals could not wander hither from 
 other lands unless there be an opening in the ice and land free 
 from ice. Hut oftentimes have men tried to come up into the 
 land upon the highest mountains that be found there and in divers 
 places, in order to see round about them, and to discover if jiciad- 
 venture they could fiml land which was bare of ice and habitable, 
 and they have nowhere found such, but oidy that on which peoplJ 
 now dwell, and for a little way along the very shore. 
 
 After the recolonization of Clrcenland in 1721 by the 
 Norwegian missionary Hans Egede and his cotnpanh^ns, 
 only two years passed before the enterprise of the liergcn 
 Company, under whose patronage for tlie exploration of 
 the land and development of commercial relations with 
 the Eskimos the new mission and colony were established, 
 found expression in the following letter of instructions 
 sent to Egede : 
 
 It seems to us quite advisable, if indeed the thing has not been 
 done already, that a party of eight men should be told oif to 
 march through the country, which, according to the map, would 
 appear to be only from eighty to a hundred miles across at its 
 narrowest part, for the purpose of reacliing, if it be possible, the 
 east side, where the old colonies have been, and on their wav to 
 look out for forests and other things. If this is done, as" we 
 
 
jj 
 
 250 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Eli: 
 
 * 
 
 8houl,l much like, the thing must he .m.ltM-taken in the early 
 summer; au.l, furtheruioro, the men mu.Kt be provided eneh mth 
 pack, provKsions, and gun, as well as with a com,,ass, in order that 
 they n.ay be able to And their way bagk again; and, thirdly, the 
 men of the party must both lo..k out warily for the attacks of 
 savages in case they should fall in with any on the way. and must 
 also make all possible observations, and wherever they pass must 
 raise pih.s of storu-s ui.on high places, which will serve as marks 
 both for this and future occasions. 
 
 Hansen well reniiirks of this roconimondatioii that 
 It IS "an amusing instance of the achievements of 
 colonial policy under the guidance of geographers of 
 the study and easy chair." Egede replial that the 
 maps were unreliable, and that to traverse the count.-y 
 to the east coast would be difficult or impossible, on 
 account of th9 high cliffs and the mountains of ice and 
 snow. In 17-^7 a letter sent to Europe from (iodthaab 
 stated that "following the backbone or central rid-o of 
 the country from south to north was an appalling trm^t 
 of ice, or mountain covered with ice." 
 
 Undaunted by this report, the home Government of 
 Dennuirk, which had succeeded the commercial com- 
 pany of Bergen, Xorway, in the support of the (Green- 
 land colony, in 172H instructed Paarss, who had been 
 appointed (Governor of Greenland, "to spare no labour 
 or pains, and to allow himself to be deterred by no 
 danger or difficulty, but to endeavour by all possible 
 means, and by one way or another, to cross the country 
 . . . for the purpose of learning whether there still exist 
 descendants of the old Norwegians; what language they 
 speak ; whether they are Christians or heathens, as well 
 as what method of government and manner of life pre- 
 vail among them; . . . and what is the true nature of 
 the country; whether there is forest, pasturage, conl, 
 minerals, or other things of the kind ; whether there 
 
 ' IV 
 
KXPLCHATIONS OF THE INLAND ICK. ^ol 
 
 are horses, cattle, or other uninuils suited to the service 
 01 num." 
 
 Witii the expectation that the expedition couhl ride 
 on horseback acrr>ss (ireenhmd, eleven horses were sent 
 tron, Denmark, but five died on the voyage, and the 
 others "soon perished from hunger and hardships in 
 Greenland.' After a winter of the utmost distress and 
 discontent in I'aarss's colony, at the newly founded 
 station of Godthaab, he set out, with seven others, April 
 ^o, 17^.>, on the i,roi)osed expedition, sailing to the head 
 of Amerahk Fiord (which in 1888 was the end of Han- 
 sen s journey across Greerdand), and thence marching 
 two days mland to the edge of the ice sheet. The Govt 
 ernor described his efforts there as follows : 
 
 When we had ascended this and advanced upon it for two 
 hours at our great peril all farther progress was denied us by 
 
 reason of the great chasms which we found thereon As soon 
 
 as we saw that no farther advance was possible, we sat ourselves 
 down upon the ice, with our guns fired a Danish salvo of nine 
 J'hots. and in a glass of spirits drank the health of our gracious 
 lung on a spot on which it had never been drunk before, at the 
 sanrie tune paying to the "ice monntafn " an honour to which it 
 had never before attained; and after we had sat a.ul rested our- 
 selves for about one hour we turned back again. 
 
 The large boulders which were seen on the border of 
 the ice were thought to have been swept upon it "by 
 , great and violent winds and tempests, which there have 
 incredible fury." 
 
 Nansen observes that this expedition, though rather 
 ridiculous in its achievements, "can not have failed to 
 liave considerable effect at home in Copenhngen, seeing 
 that the next expedition organized by the Danish Gov- 
 ernment was not sent out till 1878, or a hundred and 
 fifty years later." 
 
 ! I 
 
 It'll 
 
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 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-S) 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 qv 
 
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 V 
 
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mm 
 
 252 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 H I, 
 
 A more extended exploration of tlie ice border was 
 accomphsi.ed by Lars Dulager, a merchant of Frede. I' 
 haab, in September, 1751, reaching large nuna taks I 
 ew mdes inside the ice sheet at a" distance of ^^ J 
 twenty m.les inland from the termination of the g ea 
 glacier known as " Frederikshaabs IsbJink." Of lit 
 journey Dalager wrote as follows : 
 
 My errand was only to divert myself with mv gun, but on this 
 occasion it w.s not long before I had resolve.i fo set out on a 
 journey across the "ice mountain," to "Osterbvgd" to whL 
 determmation J was led by a new discovery ZJe ^ " a 
 
 tneJand,,ke Moses of old, and I took with me the aforesaid man 
 eforunr"''^'' ^'^^-herwith two young Greenland W 
 
 se out. upon onr journey after having already advanced thus f^ir 
 nuo a fiord .y the southern side of the glacie;. . . In h Irn 
 Hig we connn.tted ourselves to the ice. purj.osing to reach the first 
 mountain top, which lies in the middle of the ice fiel.l and ^S 
 was five mdes distant from us. So far the ground wa as fl. ' 1 
 smooth as the streets of Copenhagen, and aU the diffe e ef thl 
 could see was that here, it was rather more slippery b t o t, 
 or er hand one had not to wade out to the sideTin^'th^ slu"h 
 orchn. to avoid being overthrown by the posting horses and car- 
 nages. . . . T.ience tHey went forward the next dav] to the 
 uppermost mountain on the ice, called On.ertlok, to whi4 it was 
 also about five miles, but here the ice was verv r^ugh a d f i " 
 cracks, for which reason it took us seven hours to reach it. 
 
 From this nunatak they looked across the ice north- 
 eastward some fifteen miles to other peaks, which the 
 i^^sKimo hunter and Dalager supposed to be near the 
 east coast, but which are now known as Jensen's nuna- 
 aks (noticed more fully on a later page) and are found 
 to be situated also near to the western border of the ice 
 sheet, in comparison with its -'ntire width. 
 
 If! 'V 11 
 
EXPLORATIONS OP THE INLAND ICE. 253 
 
 Dalager wished to advance fartlier, but says : " I was 
 constrained for many reasons to set my face towards 
 hcne, one bein- very important, tliat we were now 
 going no better than barefooted ; for, tliougli each of 
 us was provided with two pairs of good boots for the 
 journey, yet they were ah-eady quite worn out by reason 
 of the sharpness of the stones and ice. And as the 
 handmaid whom we had in our company had, to our 
 great misfortune, lost lier needle, we could get none of 
 our things mended. For this cause we were much em- 
 barrassed, though we consoled each other with laughter 
 as we contemplated the naked toes peeping out hom 
 he boots " The crevasses of the ice su/fac^ seemed u 
 Ualager to oppose no insuperable obstacles to a lou'nev 
 across It to the east coast; but on other accounts he 
 thought the crossing impracticable, because "one can 
 not drag as much provision as one sliould reasonably be 
 
 of the into erably severe cold, in which I think it all 
 ou. impossible that any living creature could exist 7 
 he were to encamp for m.iy successive nights upon 'he 
 
 nT.lV " \ r' '''^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^1 tl^e bitter winter 
 nights on which I have camped on the ground in 
 Greenland, none have so much distressed nfe by rea^ 
 
 FabHcif ^ Trf^'l «^-^''-— ot the inland ice by 
 Fabucius and (lesecke, we find a long interval of about 
 fifty years which brought no additional knowledge on 
 
 Rink " vf ?r "^^^ "^^^"^-^'"^^ '^"^^-^ -- ^>- H n" 
 Ruik, whose elaborate work on Greenland, resulting 
 
 f^-om many years of residence and explora ion th re 
 years later was revised and published both in Danish 
 
254 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 H 
 
 T 
 
 and English. This work, following npon the glacial 
 theory of Agassiz and the new zeal with which the 
 drift of Europe and North America was being studied, 
 greatly interested physicists and geologists in its de- 
 scriptions and map of the Greenland ice sheet. 
 
 No exploration of the ice sheet to ar • considerable 
 distance from its margin had been done when Kink, de- 
 scribing the relationship between the western ice-free 
 hind belt, with its deeply indenting liords, and the great 
 inland ice enveloped area, wrote : 
 
 Wherever these fiords have been followed to their termina- 
 tions, and an attempt has been made to penetrate the regions 
 beyond, or to attain a view from the adjoining heights, the coun- 
 try has been found to exhibit the same continuous waste of ice 
 When visiting>the southernmost portion of the mainland in the 
 environs of Cape Farewell, near the latitude of Christiania, we 
 meet with the very same hindrance as on the coast a thousand 
 miles farther north. On entering these southern fiords we are 
 first struck with the luxuriant vegetation, gradually increasing 
 toward their termination. The charming scenery of the verdant 
 valleys and slopes here displayed leads the traveller to suppose 
 that a few miles still farther inland the country will be covered 
 with wood, and change its arctic character. So far from this, 
 wherever we follow a fiord to its soui-ce and try to proceed farther 
 in the same direction by land, we are suddenly arrested by a wall 
 of ice rising abruptly from the ground, which in the immediate 
 neighbourhood produces vegetation. But if we subsequently, in 
 order to find some other passage, ascend a neighbouring hill, 
 thinking that the ice wall probably belongs to some glacier of a 
 limited extent, we see that it forms the unbroken edge of an ele- 
 vated icy plateau, sloping gently down toward the sea and occupy- 
 ing the whole interic-. As far as this plain can be overlooked 
 from the heights of the outer land, or has been travelled over (to 
 a distance of twenty miles from its nearest seaward border^ it 
 only attains a height of a little more than two thousand feet, but 
 must be supposed to still rise very nrrndually toward the wholly 
 unknown interior, where no human foot as yet has trodden. Thia 
 
EXPLOKATIONS OP THE INLAND ICE. 255 
 
 south frequently attin a •? 7"/ ^'"''' '" '^'' "^''^h '.nd the 
 thousand VerXc'Sn 'T '''''' ^'^^^^^^ ^o four 
 and other reasons " co t S^^ .^'^^ ,*^« "-^-rnity 
 
 glaciers or mer. d glace Tt res s .. '"""^f'"" ^hat, liko other 
 contrary, its probab rUucC X^xt 'f '''"^'^"'- ^" ^^« 
 pared with an inund-ition f^f v. ""^ ""^-^ '■'^^^«'' ^^ «"'»- 
 
 course of age" onyfo om . "'"'^P'"'^^ ^''^ "^^^"«'" "^ the 
 
 limit towanl he sel tT T" "' '"•''' ^^^^'^ ^'*h'" « '^-^-n 
 more in Jo Lee\ith ""^ ^^V" '" '""'^^^'^^'"" '^ ^"••t'-r- 
 called nunataks b" T aTvT .r"" 1""'^^ ^''"^^ °^ '•"^'^•^' 
 from the uniform hor zonH? T ''' ^"'''^^'^'■' ^^''^""^ "«« 
 
 ing mountain t ^ h L^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ill emerg- 
 
 least within the fir^t fiftv or ' - » ,' '''"'''' °" ^^'^^ ''^^^^' ^^ 
 
 border,seem tohaeioo,H ^- '"^'"^ '""'^^^ '' '" ^'« ^^^^^ern 
 Jands which nr'-eet as V" -'"P^^-n with the bold head- 
 
 " P'^"J<^ct as Its continuation seaward.* 
 
 extend of , 1*^™ "S'sts .„ exploring the el.aracte „„d 
 extent of the North An.eriean and European drift de- 
 posits, and in seeking to evnliin f1,«i,. „,; ■ 
 observers fr„m fi f^-^P'am then' origin, numerous 
 
 Observers f om the years 1859 and 1800 onward have 
 ad,M mueh to .hat was previously known of this ^Z 
 
 in tte'f.T'''- " '^°"' """^ "'"■■ """"■ "'« '^"J »f October " 
 m the following year, made short excursions of reeon- 
 no,ss,juee on the border of the iee sheet in the vicinUy 
 
 te'nirf '■' "'""""' '"° ^"'>' "™'- "- -»"' ™™of 
 Twelve hundred miles farther north, at nearlv the 
 same imc with Eae's expedition, a mo,;, notahl o 
 
 made bv DrVT'n ''"" ^"""^ ""'■'"'^^ ^"l^' »- 
 made by Dr. I. I. Hayes, starting October 23d and oc- 
 
 cpyiug SIX days. On the second day Hayes and lis 
 
 18 
 
 * Danish Greenland, pp. 41. 
 
 42. 
 
 ute! 
 
256 
 
 OKKENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 I' *' 
 
 f Hi 
 
 III I 
 
 five companions reached the ice border and scaled its 
 steep and much crevasaed frontal slope, and advanced 
 thence an estimated distance of five miles. "As we 
 nearcd the centre of the glacier," Hayes writes, " the 
 surface became more smooth, and gave evidence of 
 greater security. The great roughness of the sides was 
 no doubt due to an uneven conformation of that portion 
 of the valley upon which the ice rested." For this dis. 
 tance the angle of ascent was estimated as G°; but the 
 nexL day, when the party travelled " thirty miles," the 
 gradient was found to decrease to about 2°. Dr. Hayes 
 further writes of this journey, which was nearly due 
 east, along or near to the parallel of 78°, upon the part 
 of the ice sheet immediately north of Inglefield Gulf, 
 being the same tract which Peary crossed in 189;2, when 
 setting out on his gretu journey to Independence Bay : 
 
 From a surface of hard ice we had come upon an even plain 
 of compacted snow, throu<,'h which no true ice could be found 
 after digging down to the depth of three feet. At that depth 
 hcwever, the snow assumed a more gelid condition, and, although 
 not actually ice, we could not penetrate farther into it with our 
 shovel without groat difliculty. The snow was covered with a 
 crust through which the foot broke at every step, thus making the 
 travelhng very laborious. [The distance., therefore, and probably 
 also the altitude stut-d later, seem overestimated.] 
 
 About twc:Uy-fi-'^ miles were made the following dav the 
 track bemg of the ,e character as the day before, and at about 
 the same elevation; but fhe condition of my party warned me 
 agamst the h^^.ard of continuing the journey. The" temperature 
 had fallen to 30 b,>low zero, and a fierce gale of wind meeting us 
 m the face drove us into our tent for shelter, and, after resting 
 there for a ffcw hours, compelled our return. I had, however 
 accomplished the principal purpose of my journev, and had not 
 in any case intended to proceed more than one day farther at 
 this critical period of the yer.r. 
 
 . . . The temperature fell to 34^ below zero during the night; 
 
EXPLORATIONS OP TIIi: INLAND ICE. 257 
 
 and it is a circurastance worthy of m«nfmn i,„<. *t, i 
 
 of the thermometer at Port lll^a ^Z on h ""* '""''^ 
 hiL'hor TK„ . , ^'""^^ """"g our absence was 22° 
 
 the human eye, Tliere was npithnn K;n '"' "easurabje to 
 
 Which lies between the ».,, * „,„„ „!^ ,.f J''" ""» °' '""'» 
 «et the eye but our feeble teut/wWehtn t ^'r^" ° rJS 
 
 ng towud the homon, gluumerej through the drift, i- snow 
 
 cyp.: i-t' :h:°'*° ""?""* "'*— ^ ^cu^i^irrZ 
 ten,p:;™;^„rsh':r i"„f t;*"?' "■"' " ^"'^ •""'" "^f— 
 
 -.ehejq,e-:;;r-^--;:~-^^^ 
 
 aegrees. Although wo reposed without ri-lr ^.f 
 
 shelter was very cold • ..n,1 n f .i , ' ^^^ °"'' ^'^^^'^^ 
 
 On .r„„„ ](), ,sii», Edward Whymner the di, 
 
 cended the bo,-der of the inland ice (ro.n the Ilordlek 
 F'ord, near latitude C9» 30'. about twenty n,iles tlor^h of 
 
 *Th 
 
 e Open Polar Sea. 1867. pp. 1.32-135. 
 
 
 SPF 
 
 m^L'. 
 
m 
 
 258 
 
 GIIEEXLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Jakobshiivn. This was a reconiioissanco with the in- 
 tention of learning the best jilaco for beginning a more 
 extensive sledge jonrney which he hoped to make later 
 in the same summer. Whymper's lirst observations 
 and his subsequent fruitless endeavours are summa- 
 rized from his narrative, by :Nansen, as follows : 
 
 The first view showed the surface of the " inland ice " to be 
 much smoother and far less formidalile than had been expected. 
 Tlio party ascended it and advanced without difTicuIty, finding 
 the snow harder and better to walk upon the farther they went. 
 When they had pushed in some six miles, and reached a height 
 of about fourteen hundred feet, and the surface appeared to them 
 to be equally good as far inward as tlu^y could see, they con- 
 sidered that the ol)ject of the excursion had been attained, and 
 that there was nothing to be gained by advancing farther. They 
 were convinced that the snowfield was eminently fitted for dog 
 sledging, and the Eskimos declared that they could easily drive 
 thirty-five or forty miles a day. They all turned back with the 
 best hopes of success, " for there appeared to be nothing to pre- 
 vent a walk right across (jreenland." 
 
 However, as at Ilovdlek the ice does not quite come down to 
 the water's edge, Whymper determined to look for a suitable spot 
 where this was the case, so that he might take to the ice at once 
 and avoid the transfer of his baggage over land. So between 
 June 24 and 37 he made another excursion to the edge of the ice- 
 field, this time to "Jakobshavns Isfiord," as it is called, which 
 lies to the south of the colony. Here, however, the ice was so 
 fissured and rough that any transport by means of dog sledges 
 would have been impossible, and therefore the sjmt which they 
 had first visited was decided upon as the starting point of the 
 ex])edition. 
 
 A number of preparations were, however, necessary, and in his 
 fittempt to carry out these Whymper was met by ditllculties 
 which proved almost insuperal)le. . . . IViost of these obstacles 
 were overcome in one way or another, and on July ;;0 the expe- 
 dition was ready to start. The party consisted of five members, 
 Eskimos and Eiiropeans, in addition to Whymper himself, one of 
 the latter being the English traveller, Dr. Robert Brown. Two 
 
KXPLOIIATIOXS OP THE INLAND ICE. 259 
 
 Moamvhile Why.nper asoendeil ono of tho noi^hbourinr. 
 
 aspect. Whoti ho had seen it a month before there had bee., a 
 cover,n. "of the pure.t, most spotless snow," buttu hadn . 
 
 iotn 'T "•;;•' ''"' ^^"'^ '^^"^'^^"^ ^ ^«"ta'>'" ocean o"r 
 "ursil'r '""";7^ "f — - of every conceivable form .u.d 
 
 b ttei, an attempt was ,nade to pnsh over the ice eastward But 
 
 was considerably shaken and j ' ' ' I, "'V \ '""^'"""^ 
 
 a.Km, the Alps! he writes "Th" n er'io; o 'or 1 ^"""'''^^ 
 t.bo. .solntelyeovered by .lacier ^^ 
 
 p::^t\h;^:il:;1.-;:-l--;^^^^ 
 
 thousand feet," an elevation which til 1 . T '" ''^^' 
 can not be very far from the tn'th.* ' '"'"'"*' ''' ^'^"'' " 
 
 Mr Wliymper again visited GreonlaTid in 187-^ and 
 from the summit of a mountain fi son f l\ { 
 
 the large Umanak Fiord (1 ti Te 7rM '^'' ""''' 
 
 "a straio-hf nnK- i U'*^"tuae n ), he saw eastward 
 
 a stiaiglit unbroken crest of snow-covered ice con 
 
 ably in excess of 10,000 feet " TT. i , consulei- 
 
 ^u,uuu reet. lie also concluded " tiiat 
 
 Hansen's First Crossing of Greenland, vol. i, 
 
 pp. 474-479. 
 
!^IH99 
 
 4 
 
 2m 
 
 (IHEKNLANI) ICKFIKLDS. 
 
 the whole of tlie interior, from north to soutli and cast 
 to west, is entirely enveloped in snow and i(!e." 
 
 The first j.airnoy of Jiaron A. E. Nordenskjold on 
 the (iroonland ieo sheet, aceonipauied by Dr. Jierggren 
 and two Eskimos, was July lytli to the 25th, 1870, 
 starting from the head of Aulatsivik Fiord, near lati- 
 tude 08° 20', and advancing nearly due cast an estimate<l 
 distance of about 35 miles upon the inland ice,* to the 
 altitude of 2,200 feet. Large streams on the ice sur- 
 face were encountered, " which could not be crossed 
 without a bridge." After flowing some distance, how- 
 ever, these streams, produced by the superficial melting, 
 usually plunged into deep " glacier wells " or monlins. 
 Small lakes and pools of water v/cre also found on the 
 ice, into which rivulets flowed, while their wafers perco- 
 lated downward from the lake bottoms. " When one laid 
 the ear down on the ice, one heard from all sides a pe- 
 culiar subtori'anean murmur from the streams inclosed 
 below, while now and again a single loud cannonlike 
 report announced the formation of some new crevasse." 
 Beyond the point of turning back, " the inland ice con- 
 tinued constantly to rise toward the interior, so that the 
 horizon toward the east, north, and south was termi- 
 nated by an ice border almost as smooth as that of the 
 ocean." The temperature at night was a little below 
 freezing, but in the middle of the day it rose to 45° or 
 46° F., near the iieve surface, and even to 75° or 85° in 
 the sunshine. " During the whole of our journey on the 
 ice," writes Xordenskjold,f " wo constantly enjoyed fine 
 
 * This distance was estimated by Nordenskjold to bo " about 
 80 miles," but Nausen's estimate, as here given, is more probable. 
 
 \ Geological Magazine, T, vol. ix, pp. 303-306. 355-808, July 
 and August, 1873. 
 
 m" • 
 
KXPLOllATIONS OF THE INLAND WK. 201 
 
 weather frec,uontly there was not a single cloud visible 
 in the whole sky." 
 
 Coneerning long past and recent fluctuations in the 
 extent of this part of the ice sheet, Nordonskjold re- 
 marks: 'The inland ice, in former times, evidently 
 covered the whole of Aulatsivik's Fiord, together with 
 the surroundiug valleys, mountains, and hills. The ice 
 has accordingly, during the last thousand or hundred 
 thousand yea,rs, considen:bly retired. Now, on the con- 
 trary. Its limit in these parts is advancing, and that by 
 no means slowly." "^ 
 
 A fine, gray powder, called « krvoconite," which was 
 behoved by Nordenskjokl to be cosmic dust, was f(,uud 
 on the ice ; but analyses indicate that this is dust blown 
 from the mountains of the coast, and it does not occur 
 in noticeable amount, according to Nansen, on the east- 
 ern portion of the ice sheet, where his ascent was made 
 upon ice bordered by only little bare land. On account 
 of the sun's warmth, the kryoconite on certain tracts 
 had sunk into the ice, leading to the formation of cylin- 
 drical and bowllike holes from one to two feet deep 
 which sometimes were so plentiful that it was difficult 
 to find place for one's feet and for walking among them 
 During the year 1875 the first exact measurements 
 of the rate of flow of the Greenland glaciers were made 
 by Helland, who visited five ice fiords, besides several 
 small glaciers not extending into the sea, npon the part 
 ot the west coost between Egedesminde (latit^ide (18° 42') 
 and the fiord of Kangerdlugssuak (near latitude 71° 15') 
 He also ascended the front of the inland ice near the 
 same place where Whymper had done so eight years 
 before. Helland ascertained that the central part of 
 the front of the great glacier in the Jakobshavn ice fiord 
 (latitude G9° 15') moved in Julv at the rate of (J4 feet 
 
 'i U' 
 
2(12 
 
 GUEKXLAM) KKKIKLDS. 
 
 •liiily. Tho 1)1-051(1 th of this ^hwAvv is J4,()()() foet, or 
 '2} niilos, umi its dt'ptli in tiic oi-ntre exceeds 1,000 
 feet. Five years later, the movenieiit of this glueie'r in 
 a part about 4,000 feet nearer to its side was found by 
 Ilamtner to vary from .'{;} to 51 feet daily in March and 
 April. The deelivity of its surface .. ascertained to be 
 only a half of one de«rree, or about 40 feet jn-r mile. 
 
 The Torsukatak (;ij»eier (near latitutle (jy° .''^o'), hav- 
 ing a width of about five miles, was found by llelland 
 to move, at its (3entre, 30 to ;i:i feet daily ; and a year or 
 two later JSteenstrup measured its rate at some distance 
 from the centre, and found it to be from 10 to ;^5 feet 
 in t.venty-four hours. 
 
 The Ka>ajat (llaeier (latitu. 70° 30'), at the head 
 of the Umanak Fiord, with a width of 1!»,000 to ^:;>,000 
 feet, or about !our miles, moves in summer, according 
 to Steeistrup, 22 to 38 feet a day ; and the Itivdliar- 
 suk (Jlacier (latitude 70° 4.5' ), 17,500 feet wide, was 
 found to move 4(J feet a day in April, and 21 to 28 
 feet daily in May. 
 
 Fastest in rate of advance among all the glaciers of 
 Greenland thus far measured, is the great glacier out- 
 flowing into the Bay of Augpadlartok (latitude 73°), near 
 Upernivik, which, according to Ryder's observations in 
 August, 1880, was found to have a velocitv of 100 feet in 
 twenty-four hours; but a measurement' at nearly the 
 same point in April showed a progress of only 34 feet 
 daily. 
 
 In the district of Julianshaab, near the southern 
 extremity of Greenland, the measurements of three ola- 
 ciers in 187G, by Steenstrup, Kornerup, and Ho^m 
 gave maximum rates of only about 12 feet in twenty- 
 four hours; but even this is three or four times the 
 maximum rates of the glaciers of the Alps. 
 
■''^#- 
 
 I'Xff.()KATlOXS OP THE INLAND ICK. 203 
 
 wcie 8uit out for tho8o un,l other e.xpiorutiona bv the 
 
 tie.r wo k has boor, roporto.i in tlm Mofhl-lelaer om 
 ('ro.uuncl, pnblishod in Coponhu^on fro.n 187 o wur 1 
 S n.„nng up t^n-ir work on tho n.ovoment ^ Zg ^ 
 c CM. li nk ,n 1888 statod that the rute of motion of 
 w n y.hve ghu.ors, or n.ore, torminuting in d^, h rds 
 had boon uccunitely detorniiiiPd tu. ^ ' 
 
 summer in fh<.i.. "^ 'Y*^'"""^*'' tl>o average rate in 
 summer in thoir central portions being 51 feet a d.iv 
 J)nnng the colder portions of the v-ar thev m,l ^' 
 
 slowly, and at all times the rZ f ' T "" '^ 
 « i.1 i-»'"ts ine r e ot motion d inlni^jlioa 
 
 ^ om ,„ ee„t,.o t„ the ,id™. " TI.e true l.om 
 t gs »co«,, „,g t„ Kink, „ .tl,o cost between Z' 
 «...l /.. nortl, latuiulo, whiel. contains „11 tl,„ l,,i 
 
 ,» fio* „,. tw „,,e,.„ .„„ t„.t are t,..;,,';;,!; 
 
 xu ana 71 1,,, "sj,^ only ice, like a great sea 
 
 s rfaet of the glac.ers in the fiords w,,., n;ostIv free from 
 
 tones, except at the margin. At the JakobsL n F,^," 
 
 the discharge of ,ce in July was equal to one large icel^e g 
 
 continues in tlie winter, as tlie icebergs set free tiro™ 
 but at a slower rate. He observes also'^^hat the aZ it 
 o glacier discharged a, 'ce is far less than that whic 
 passes out as water beneath the gh,cier. The n , „ 
 
 * n. Rink. The Tnlnnd Too of Grocnliin.l <5r.nft;,i, ri ,. . 
 
264 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 amount of mud discharged by the waters flowing from 
 six glaciers lie found to be, in July and August, 1875, 
 737 grairmes in one cubic metre of water (or in 100,00,0 
 grammes very nearly)." * 
 
 Fio 49.-Explorations of the Greenland ice sheet, in the vicinity of the 
 Fretlenkshaab Glacier, by Jensen and Kornerup, 1878. The black nurf 
 ice: white, land: shaded, water; J. N., Jensen's nunataks • D N 
 Palavers nnnataks : white lints on the black, crevasses : arrows ela- 
 cier flow. The two parallels of latitude shown are at &Z° iW and 'ra" • 
 fl^id the two meridians designated, 49° and 50° W. longitude. (From 
 Dana, after Jensen.) ^ vnuiu 
 
 * J. D. Dana, in Amerioan Journal of Science, III, vol. xxiii, 
 p. 3(j5, May, 1883, from Helland's reports. 
 
 m ; 
 
EXPLORATIONS OP THE INLAND ICE. 2G5 
 
 In 1878, Lieutenant J. A. D. Jensen, with Mr A 
 Kornerup as geologist, in the service of the Greenland 
 survey, made an important expedition to the nunataks 
 which Dalager had seen more than a century before, as 
 narrated on a foregoing page. Jensen's party started 
 Jul) 14th from a locality called Itivdlek (near latitude 
 G3°40'),on the north side of the Frederikshaab "ice 
 
 "^•^£Ksj^iS?^^— -5„-^-^^ . 
 
 bhnk, ' and they travelled east-northeasterly about 47 
 miles, the group of nunataks which thev reached, since 
 known as Jensen's nunataks, being near^latitude 62° 50' 
 and longitude 40° (Figs. 49 and 50). The ice was 
 found to be much crevassed, so that travelling was diffi- 
 cult and slow, and, moreover, the party suffered much 
 from snow blindness. The nunataks, wldch Dalager had 
 
Ir/ 
 
 V ' 
 
 
 266 
 
 GRP]ENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 supposed to be mountains adjoining the east coast, but 
 which are only about twenty miles from the nearest part 
 of the ice border on the west, were reached on the 24th 
 of July, and the party remained there a week, being de- 
 tained by a snowstorm. 
 
 The observations by Jensen and Kornerup on the 
 relations of the currents of the ice sheet, and on the 
 form of its surface, as influenced by the obstructions 
 of the nunataks or projecting mountain tops, are stated 
 by Dana, from the Danish reports of the Greenland 
 survey, as follows : 
 
 The heights above the sea of the four largest were severally 
 commencing to the north, 5,G23 (</), 5,184 (0, 5,G54 (A), and 5,580 
 (m) feet. From these peaks, which stand like islands in the sea of 
 ice, moraines of stones and earth (some of the stones 20 feet in 
 their dimensions) extend for 1 to 2^ miles (m', m", m"\ m"", Fig. 
 05); and dust, by the aid of the storm winds, is drifted oIt for 
 wide distribution over tno glacier. The nioraines, after a short 
 outside existence, disappeared beneath the ice, the stones dropping 
 down the crevasses that were from time to time opening (the ac- 
 count says) as the glacier moved on. The varying direction of 
 the morames, and the eddies in the flowing ice, due to the ob- 
 structmg ridge (of which the nunataks are the peaks), which these 
 directions indicate, are remarkably instructive. The arrows show 
 the inferred direction of movement. The moraine m\ 2^ miles 
 long, IS made mostly of polished stones, which appear therefore to 
 have travelled far, and not to be the debri.'^ of the nunataks. The 
 m" and in" have no connection with any visil.le nunatak. At b 
 is a lake 824 feet in diameter, and towanl it the ioe around slopes 
 from a height of 4.900 feet to that of 4.120 feet on its borders. 
 The glacier had a height at t, east of the nunataks. of 5,150 feet. 
 Tiie slope of the ice surface for the distance traversed averaged 
 0° 49', or about 75 feet per mile (1 : 70), and it was evident that 
 the movement of the glacier depended on this slope. Crevasses 
 were numerous along the route transverse to the line of movement 
 as well as longitudinal and radial (see fine lines along the route on 
 Fig. 49) ; and fresh-water streams were common, and waterfalls 
 
EXPLORATIONS OP THE INLAND ICE. 267 
 
 oitnae schist in bold flexures, with mica schist and gneiss * 
 
 In 1880, Dr. N. 0. Hoist, the Swedish geologist ex- 
 amined portions of the margin of the GLnhmd ce 
 
 d If t, then modes of occurrence, and the processes of 
 their deposition He found extensive deposits of both 
 englacia and subglacial drift, respectively characterized 
 by angular and by glaciated stones and boulders The 
 largest accumulation of superglacial drift, which had 
 been englacial, was observed on the sontheri edge of e 
 
 Zi^^'l^^'T ^ I ''' ^-^-ikshaab i?e blink 
 (latitude G2 30). The drift covering the ice surface 
 here, as exposed by the ablation or stiperficial melt ng 
 n. ascertained tc extend along a diLnce of ne::?; 
 
 half upon the ice. According to Hoist's Swedish report 
 of his observatioi-,, summarized in translation bv Dr 
 Josua Lindahl t the quantity and upper limit of the 
 superglacial drift at this locality are as follows : 
 
 Its thickness is always greatest near land, but here it is often 
 quite difficult to estimate its actual thickness, as it sometimes " 
 torms a compact covering, only in some fissures showing the un- 
 derlying ice. This uneven thickness of the moraine cover offers 
 to the ice a proportionally varying r>rotection against the sun It 
 H.US happens that the unequal thawing moulds the underlving 
 su.faco of the ice into valleys an.l hills, the latter sometimes li'.ing 
 to a height of r,0 feet above the adjacent vallev, an.l l,eing st 
 •lonsely covered with moraine material that this c^ompletelv hides 
 
 * American .rournal of Science, as l)efore cited, p. 364 The 
 plants collected by Kornerup on these nunataks. as here reported 
 Have been noticed in a — eceding chapter (p. 1((S). 
 
 + American Naturalist, vol. xxii. pp. 589-.5!)8 and 705-71J5, Julv 
 and August. 1888. • 
 
268 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 tho ico core, which, liowever, often forms the main part of the 
 hill. 
 
 Further in on the ice the moraine gradually thins out. At 
 tho locality just referred to tho moraine cover, 8,000 feet from 
 land, measured several inches in depth ; still the ice wjis seen iti 
 some bare spots. Uoyond 4,000 feet from land the moraine 
 formed no continuous cover, and at b,;500 feet it ceased entirely, 
 with a perceptible limit against the clear ice. Only some scattered 
 spots of sand and gravel were met witli even a few hundred feet 
 farther in on the ice. Dr. Hoist estimated the average thickness 
 of the moraine taken across its entire width near its eastern end 
 at one to two feet. Tho limit between tho moraine cover and the 
 pure ice is always located at a considerable though varying eleva- 
 tion above the edge of the inland ice. In the instance of tho 
 ttbove-mcntioned moraine it varied between 200 feet and 500 feet. 
 
 Terminal inoriiiue ridges, in process of ucc urn illation 
 on the thinned border of the ico, were seen in several 
 places, sometimes, as shown by the following quotation, 
 consisting chiefly of subglacial drift, elsewhere of en- 
 glacial drift : 
 
 The border moraines north of the Arsuk Fiord ico river [lati- 
 tude CI 10 ] are visible far out on the sea off Ivigtnt. Dr. Hoist 
 examined one that surrounds the southernmost strip of land at a 
 distance from land of about 2,000 feet. It is not one continuous 
 ridge, but consists of several disconnected portions arranged in a 
 seinicircle. One of these portions was about 200 feet wide and 
 35 feet high. This moraine was nwiinly a ground moraine, prob- 
 ably forced up by some elevation of the ledge under the ice. 
 
 Another border moraine to tho north of Kornok's northern 
 ice river [near latitude (!4 40] was of a different character. Tho 
 stones, at least at the surface, were greatly in preponderance over 
 the gravel. Tliey were angular and of varying size. The moraine 
 showed some arcuations, l)iit taken as a whole it v. as parallel to 
 the land. In some exceptional instances it approached closely to 
 tho land, even so as to touch one of the projecting points, but gen- 
 erally it was located some distance away from land. Its width 
 was estimated at 100 feet, and its height at more than 50 feet; 
 it should be remembered, however, that it might have had a core 
 
EXPLORATIONS OP THE INLAND ICE. 269 
 of ice. Its length was about a milo and a half Sm.fh nt ,u- 
 
 thoni were parallel, one in«ide the other ^ "^ 
 
 ce and bearing forest trees and luxnriant slirubby and 
 hcrbaceons vegetation. Again, Hoist's notes of the o 
 
 border of to /"'' ."'; "^^"^^' '^^ ^^^^ ^'^-^ -^^ 
 Sfe d ^'l^'''''^r^ ''' «J>^«t on the north side of 
 inglefield Gulf, near latitude 78^ by Prof. T. C. Cliam- 
 berhn, in 1804, who finds the englaeial drift to ex eml 
 toheights of 50 to 100 feet, and occasionally 150 feet o 
 
 Near the front of the ice sheet in southern Green- 
 condition late in summer, are noted by Hoist as folL's • 
 
 tort, /r ""'^ "'" ''*"-^'^"'' though generally not so steep as " 
 to render the ascent at all diffleult. Farther in the slope is n.u 
 
 ^r whn ' ,:? ' ^'r '''''"'- '- -'^t agener.l ris^ wJ 
 
 The"^ dor o n • "T'"'"' ^"'"^^"^^ ""''' undulations. 
 
 1 iio bo, ler of the loc appeared to have retreated quite recently in 
 
 r tho'r^ '" ""T'' ' '"'^ ^^'^^^"^••^ "^^-'-'i This see " 
 
 be the necessary effect of the varying amotuit of precipitation of 
 
 no.vor nun over the glacier basin, causing the glacier it elto 
 
 nXr":;: i';::; . ^)'- r: '''''-' ■■" ^'^'- -- *' --^^--h 
 
 nland e ,^ '"" '^T "" '^'' ^'^"^- ' " " ^>" ^he surface the 
 
 oar ecr^K ![';"?"'"' ''' '^^^"'^'''^"^^ '' ^ -"P-^ nmss of 
 
 rock candv o 7 T' "'"'"'^"'^ ""^ "^ '^' ^••"'" «f -'"-"on 
 
 ,wi.r^^' '''" '^ •' honeycombed by the solar heat and shows 
 
 intersecting systems of parallel plates, apparently the remnants of 
 
 h 
 
m 
 
 270 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 HH 
 
 , * i 
 
 lur^o ico prystuls, often several irielics long, whicli have wasted 
 away, only leaving (he frame, as it were, on wliieli Wwy were built. 
 These plates or Iab!et8 are highly mirroring, relleeting the solar 
 rays in all directions, (lepencling on the position of oaeh individual 
 crystal. 
 
 Nonlonskjiild's sooond pxpodition on tho Orcenliind 
 ico sheet was in 1883, stiirtinj,' July 4th from ahnost tho 
 same phico (near hititudo 08° ^0') as in 1870, and advan- 
 cing nearly due east in eigliteen (hiys about 7',i miles on to 
 the inlaml ice, to a height of about 4,9o0 feet. On July 
 21st tlio main party, numbering eight, stopjied on ac- 
 (H)unt of the wetness and softness of the snow ; but two 
 Lapps, travelling with tho peculiar snowsiioes called 
 ski, advanced a probablo distance of 45 or 50 miles 
 farther, where tho barometers indicated a height of 
 5,850 feet. Land in the interior, free of ice and bearing 
 vegetation, which Kordenskjold believed to exist, favoured 
 hyfoehn winds (described on page 12:]) blowing inland 
 over the mountainous borders of tiie country, and which 
 he hoped to reach, was not found. Indeed, no nunatak, 
 or projecting top of hill or mountain above the ico sur- 
 face has been yet discovered more than forty or fifty 
 miles inside the ice-covered area. 
 
 A detailed narrative of this journey, from which tho 
 following extracts are taken, written by Karon Norden- 
 skjc'Wd in letters to Mr. O.scar Dickson, the patron of the 
 ex[)edition, was given in Xature for November 1 and 
 8, 188;}, from which it was reprinted in America by 
 Science :* 
 
 During the entire journey wo had great diliiculty in iinding 
 suitable eaniping places. Tims, either the ice was so rougii that 
 there was not a square large enough for ouv tent, or else the sur- 
 
 * Vol. ii (December 7, 188.3), pp. 732-7.'58, with map. 
 
sur- 
 
 RXPLOIlATfOXS OF THE INLAND IfR 271 
 
 faco was HO oovcrod with cavitios-vvhich I will fully .l.-sc-riho laU-r 
 on-thut ,t, was noc.ssary to pitc-h it ov.r sonu- h ..i.lro.l s,„a .p 
 ';-,'; H . ox..n la,-K.T rouna hollows o„o to tin-oo fcj Ip . 
 V. h water, or ols.- to raiso it o„ a s,.ow.lrift so loose undT. '^ 
 "'tte.1 w.th water that o„e's feet became wet eve,, i t , ,.T 
 An exoeptu.,, to this was ,ho plaeo whe,. wo ea,..pe.l". . ,' h 
 -v./.. ca,„p„,,. p|H,.„ No. 0. vVo eneou„torc,l hero a s,„aH To 
 I'lH.u su,-n,u„,le.l by little .-ive,., and al„.ost f,-ee f,-,, ,i ^ 
 
 Ho,no thirty „,et,.es s,p.a.-e. All the rive,, flowed i " S 
 
 I'iko near us, the water from which rusi.e.l with n , l 
 
 un.o...hasho,.tbutst,.on,eu,...e,.ti.,to:t;L::;i;: 
 
 ICO plateau. The .-iver .-ushed dose to our (e.>< fl... f ", 
 
 •;;.iiow. the .hies of Which we..e..r,n::;:r;..: flirt;, z 
 
 - ban s of .ce. i ha.l the spot photo^-ap^..!, ,„.t „ ^^' . 
 
 8cene-v,z a perfectly hewn aqueduct, as if cut by hu.nan hand! 
 in the finest n.arblo, without flaw or ble.nish. i<>eu t ^ 
 
 and the sa>lo,-s stood o.i the bank lost in a,l,ni,-ation. ^ ^ 
 
 . . . On the 11th . . . wc p,-ocee.hMl uloufrside a bijr river tho 
 Honthern bank of which forn.ed a co,„pa,.ativdy s.noo t pLi^ 
 or rath,,r, .co road, with valleys, hill, ..vitiesfor e.-, Is' '' 
 llnspla,nwas,nseve,-al places beautifully ,.olou,-od with ""red- 
 snow, especially alouj; the banks of the .^iver It wis 1/ 
 spot on the whole inland ice whe.-o wo foun! '';.!" s^w r 1:1' 
 anyquant.ty. Even yellow-brown ice was seen in no place 
 but, on the other hand, ico cH,lou,.e,l grayish-b.w,, 071 "^^^^^^^ 
 green party by kryoconile and partly by o,.,.anis,„s, was ^00^ ' 
 mo,, that ,t generally gave colour to the ice landscape 
 
 Even on July joth, between c-a.nps Nos. 7 an, 8, wc found 
 blad s of g,.ass, leaves of the dwarf birch, willows, crackberry n 
 pyrola W.I . hose of other (hvenland flo,.a. on the snow /tZl 
 wobel.ev.dthatthoyhad been carricl hither fron. , ;, i^,^^. ^^ 
 but tha th,s was not the case was domonst,-ate,l by the ci c , 
 stance that ,io„e was found east of ca,nn No 9 Tl.fn , ' 
 
272 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 
 was found on the surface, not oven one as large as a pin's point. 
 But the quantity of clay-dust (ivryoconitc) deposited on the ice 
 was very great— I believe several hundred tons per square kilo- 
 metre, 
 
 ... The Otii camp lay on the west side of an ice ridge close 
 by a small, shallow lake, the water from which gathered, as usual, 
 into a big river, which disappeared in an abyss with azure-coloured 
 sides. From this spot we had a fine view of the country to the 
 west, and saw even the sea shining forth between the lofty peaks 
 on Lhc coast; but when we reached cast of this ice ridge the 
 country was seen no more, and the horizon was formed "of ice 
 only. 
 
 Through an optical illusion, dependent on the mirage of the 
 ice Horizon, it appeared to us as if we were proceeding on the bot- 
 tom of a shallow, saucer-shaped cavity. It was thus impossible 
 to decide whether we walked up or down hill, and this formed a 
 constant source of discussion between us, which could only bo 
 decided by thet heaviness of the sledges in the harness. 
 
 The constant sunshine by day and night, reflected from every 
 object around, soon began to affect our eyes-more so, perhaps, 
 because we had neglected to adopt snow spectacles at the outset 
 of our journey ; and snow blindness became manifest, with its at- 
 tendant cutting pains. Fortunately, Dr. Berlin soon arrested this 
 malady— which has brought so many journeys in the arctic regions 
 to a close-by distributjig snow spectacles, and by inoculating a 
 solution of zinc vitriol in the blood-stained eyes. Another mal- 
 ady, if not so dangerous, at all events quite as painful, was caused 
 by the sunshine in the dry, transparent, and thin air on the skin 
 of the face. It produced a vivid redness and a perspiration with 
 large burning blisters, which, shrivelling up, caused the skin of 
 the nose, ears, and cheeks to fall off in large patches. This was 
 repeated several limes, and the pain increased bv the effect of the 
 cold morning air on the newly formed skin. Anv similar effect 
 the sun has not in the tropics. With the exception of these com- 
 plaints, none of us suffered any illness. 
 
 On July 1.3th we covered thirteen, on the 14th ten, and on the 
 15th fourteen kilometres (9th to 12th camps). At first the road 
 gradually rose, and we then came to a plain which I. in error, be- 
 lieved was the crest of the inland ice. The aneroids, however, 
 showed that we were still ascending; thus, the 9th camp lies 753, 
 
EXPLORATIONS OF THE INLAND ICE. 273 
 
 the 10th 877, tho 11th 884, and the 12th 905 metres above the sea 
 Our road was .st.ll crossed by swift and strong rivers but the ic^* 
 became more sn,ooth. while the kryoconite cavities becane mo « 
 and more troubleso.ne. Tl.is was made more u^san b "ai 
 which began to fall on the afternoon of Julv 18th wi^h „ V 
 Wind from the southeast. It continued al, t night; d thete^^ 
 morning turned into a snowstorm. We all got v'ery we b' 
 onsoled ourselves with the thought that the storm coming 'fron 
 the southeast argued well for an ice-free interior. When it cleared 
 
 bre I th" ;""" "" '''' '"^ ''''' '^y •"-"^-- whi h wo d 
 
 that of the searchers of the^ElZraJ ^^ aJthl^rlnd 
 
 e Lapps had no shadow of doubt as to 'the 'e^- tele o ' an ce- 
 fre mtenor; and at noon, before reaching camp No. 18 every- 
 body fancied he could distinguish mountains far away to the east 
 They appeared to remain perfectly stationary as the cLds drift d 
 past them-a sure sign, we thought, of its not being a ma sol 
 
 £ JutTl" H """• ^' ^^'^' ^^^^^^^P^^' ^^^-' dfscussed and 
 at last salu ed with a ringing cheer; but we soon came to the 
 
 conclusion that they were unfortunately no mountains, bu merdy 
 
 the^dark reflection of some lakes farther to the eait in the S 
 
 . . . The kryoconite cavities were perhaps more dangerous to 
 our expedition than anything else we were exposed to. . . These 
 lie, with a diameter just large enough to hold the foot, as close to - 
 one another as the stumps of the trees in a felled forest, and it 
 was therefore impossible not to stumble into them at every mo- 
 ment ; winch was the more annoying, as it happened just when the 
 foot was stretched for a step forward, and the traveller was pre- 
 cipitated to the ground with his foot fastened in a hole three feet 
 in depth. The worst part of our journey was four days outward 
 and three days of the return ; and it is not too much to say that 
 each one of us, during these seven days, fell a hundred 'times 
 (daily) into these cavities-viz., for all of us, seven thousand times 
 1 am only surprised that no bones were broken. . . . One advan- 
 tage the kryoconite cavities had, however, viz., of offering us the 
 purest drinking water imaginable, of which we fully availed our- 
 selves without the least bad consequences, in spite of our perspir- 
 ing state. "^ * 
 
 
274 
 
 OllKEXLAND ICEFIB^LDS. 
 
 1 I 
 
 On July Klih wo covered thirteen, on the 17th eighteen and a 
 lialf, and on the tSth seventeen and a half kilometres. The eoun- 
 iry, or, nioroeorrectly, the iee, nowgrudtially rose from }»0r» to l,2i;3 
 motres. Tiio distances enumerated show tiiat the ice became more 
 smooth, but the road was still impeded by tiie itryoconite cavities, 
 whereas the rivers, which oven here were rich in water, became 
 shallower but stronger, thus easier of crossing. Our road was, 
 l)esidos, often cut oir by immense snow-covered crevasses, which, 
 however, did not cause us much trouble. 
 
 . . . During these days we passed several lakes, some of wliich 
 liad the appearance of not flowingaway in the winter, as we found 
 here large ice l)locks several feet in diameter, screwed n\) on the 
 shore; which circumstance I could only exiilain by assuming that 
 a large quantity of water still remained here wiien the j)ools about 
 became covered with new ice. The lakes are mostly circular, and 
 their shores formed a snow "bog," which was almost impassable 
 with the heavy sledges. 
 
 On July l!>th we covered seventeen and a half, on theSOth 
 sixteen and a iialf. on the 21st seven, and on the 22d seven and a 
 half kilometres (loth to 18th camps). The ice rose between them 
 from l,2l;i to 1,402 metres. The distances enumerated fully show 
 the nature of the ice. It was at first excellent, particularly in the 
 morning, when the new snow was covered with a layer of hard ice ; 
 but on the latter days we had great dilTiculty in proceeding, as a sleet 
 fell witli a southeast wind in the night between the 20th and 21st. 
 The new snow, as well as that lying from the previous year, be- 
 came a perfect snow bog, in which the sledges constantly stuck, 
 so that it required at times four men to get them out. We all 
 got wet, and had great difliculty in finiling a spot on the ice dry 
 enougli to pitch the tent. On the 22d we liad to pitch it in the 
 wet snow, where the feet immediately became saturated on put- 
 ting them outside the India-rubber mattresses. A little later on 
 in the year, wlicn the surface of the snow is again covered with 
 ice, or earlier, before the thaw sets in. the surface would no 
 doubt be excellent to journey on. ... It being utterly impossi- 
 ble to get the sledges farther, I had no choice. I decided to turn 
 back, 
 
 I wished, however, to let the Lapps go forward some distance 
 to the east to see the country r.s far as possil)le. ... At 2.;50 a. m. 
 on July 22d they started. The days we waited for them were 
 
KXIM.OUATION-S OF TIIK INLAND lOK o-k 
 
 ffonomlly spont i„ tl,o tent, as water surroun.lo.l us overywhoro. 
 
 he sky WHS ..vered with a thi„ veil of clouds, througl, which 
 
 he .sun si.one warmly, at ti.nes even scorchingly. From time to 
 
 uno th s veil of clouds, or haze, descended to L .u-fL7tl: 
 
 ice and hid the view over the expanse; but it was, ren,ari<al>ly 
 
 ;;;:;:''; '" ^'^'l '"^ ^^'-^-y^^' - ^^y ^^^t our wet dothes u. si' 
 liitely dried in it. . . . 
 
 retm-no!l"'^"''A""r/;" ''^"T' "^ ""^"^^^'^^ h^"^'^' ^''^' ^.tpps 
 VV ■ • •. • f ' '''" '""• ^''''' '''''^'''^ the following report : 
 
 When they had reached thirty miles from the camp, no nore 
 ^vater could he foun.l. Farther on, the ice became ptfcctiv 
 smooth. 11,0 thermometer registered -5^ C. It was very easy 
 to proceed on the sUdor. At the point of return the snow was 
 level, and packed l,y the wind. There was no trace of land. Thev 
 only saw before them a smooth ice covered by flue and hard snow 
 Ihe composition of the surface was this: first, four feet of I00.0 
 sn.nv hen granular ice, and at last an open space large enou-^h 
 to hold an ou stretched hand. It was surrounded bv arfgular U^ 
 
 ICO (crystas). The inland ice was formed in terrac^es, th^is 
 hist ft hil , hen a level, again another hill, and so on. The 
 Lapps hud s ept for four hours, from twelve, midnight, on July 
 
 1 hey had till then been awake fifty-three houis. ... On the re- 
 turn journey . . . two ravens were seen; they came from the 
 north, and rofurnod in the same direction 
 
 as he weather now becalne very bad, and it was with great diffl^> 
 culty we proceeded in the hazy air between the number of cre- 
 vasses. The cold, after the sun sank below the horizon at night 
 also became very great, and on the morning of July 07th the glass 
 lui to -11 t. The rivers now impeded us but little, . . thev 
 •vv-ere to a great extent dried up. The ice-knolls had decreased 
 considerably in size, too, and lay more apart; but the glacial 
 crevasses had greatly expanded, and were mere dangerous, being 
 covered with snow. Even the cavities and the glacial wells, o? 
 which many undoubtedly leave a veritable testimony of tliei; 
 existenr-o behind them in the shape of corresponding hollows in 
 the rock beneath, had expanded and increased in number On a 
 few occasions on the return journey we saw flocks of birds, most 
 probably waterfowl, which were returning from the north 
 
270 
 
 OUKKXLANI) ICKKIKLDS. 
 
 f' 
 
 Uohori K. IVrtry, i» J„no hm.I .JuIv, 1880, acconi- 
 
 panuMl by Christian Mui^aur.l, m.u.U. tho'next innmrtant 
 
 oxp oration of tho inland ico, ^n,ing oast from tho lu-ml 
 
 of 1 aki^sok l-Mord on tho northeast jmrt of Disco Bay in 
 
 iHt.U.do (i!)' ;]()'. An acconnt of this oxpodition, which 
 
 was a rcconnoissanco, with tho hopo of tho n.oro ox- 
 
 tondod jonrnoy nnuU, six y.-urs hitor, is f,nvcn ,,v Voavy 
 
 ■ m tho Jinllot.n of tho An.oricun (Jco^r,,j,hi,.tl S.cioty, 
 New Yori<.* *" 
 
 Tho explorers uavanoed to a distance (,f ahont 100 
 nnios frmn the edge of the ico, attainn,.. ... altitndo of 
 about 7,:.00 foot. Describing the first ton niih-s of the 
 ic-o, Peary writes: « In detail, tho snrfaco was, as a r.do, 
 roughly granular in texture, air,rding firm, sure foe - 
 mg, interrupted here and there by crevasses, some opnn 
 and sonio coyorod with a snow an^h by patches of soft' 
 deep snow m the depressions between tho hummocks 
 and by patches of Inird ice cut by nearly j^arallel fur-' 
 rows, as if made by a huge plough." The can.p at the 
 end of their advance was in a shallow basin of the neve 
 of snow which covers all the inner portion of the ice 
 sheet, there having, to use Peary's words, "the con- 
 sistoncy of fine granulated sugar as far down as I could 
 force my alpenstock (some six feet)." The nuir.^in and 
 the interior of tho ice sheet are characterized by Peary 
 as follows : *^ -^ 
 
 Wherever the ico projects down a vallev i„ ,i Ion- t..ni,Mie or 
 stream the edges -ontnict and shrink luvay from tlie warmer 
 rooks on each side, leaving a deep eailon between, nsnally occu- 
 pied by a glacier stremn. . . . Higher „p along the unbroken 
 portions of the dam [i. e.. inolosing mauniainsj, wljere the rocks 
 have a southern • ; „ ■ -o o, rise much above the ice, there is apt 
 to be a deep cafion between tho ice and the rocks, the ice-face 
 
 * Vol. xix (September 30, 1887). pp. 201-289. 
 
KXPLOUATTOXS OF T!IK INLAND UK. 277 
 
 8orn.'llin..H (]() U>ot high, puro ,„»!,. grcori. nnd fliiitv. In another 
 pliicc III.' i,r-f,i,H' limy 1«! so slriutc! mnl .liscojoim-d as to ho a 
 pm-iHo couiit.Ti.art, of tlio roi-k opposii... lookiii^ as if lorn mm 
 It. by Hoino w.r.viilsion. Tlic hollo,,, of th« carto,! is almost ii.va- 
 
 riahly ocnipi.Hl by w,itor Still fa.lhor up. at the very erost 
 
 of thu (lain, the ias lies snioothly apiinst the rocks. 
 
 As to tho ft-alurcs of ihi- interior b.-yon.l tlio coasl line t|. , 
 surface of the ice blink n,.,i U,,. inaiKin is a siKHTssio,, „f .HniiKhMl 
 hu.n.nocks, steepest and highest on their hindwar.1 sides. whi<-h 
 aro smnetin.es precipitons. Farther in, these hu,nn.n,.ks mer^-o 
 into long, flat swells, which in tnrn decrease in height toward 
 tho interior, until at last a Hal. gently rising plain is rem^hod, 
 wtuch doubtless beconu's ulliniately level. 
 
 In concliulin<r tlio narnitivo of this joiirnoy, after 
 describing the needful outfit, Peary remarked /" To a 
 small party thus ecjuipped, and possessed of tlie right 
 mettle, the deep, dry, unchanging snow of the interior 
 ... IS an imperial iiighway, over which a direct course 
 can be taken to tho cast coast." It was also suggested 
 that the unexplored northern shore liiH>s of (Jreenland 
 may bo most readily mapped by expeditions across the 
 high iidand ice. 
 
 Two years later, in August and Sq)tember, 1888, 
 Dr. Fridtjof Hansen, with fivo companions, crossed this, 
 ice^ sheet from east to west between latitude G4° 10' and 
 (54° 4.>', boir>g the first to learn tho contour and slopes 
 of an entire profile over the inland ice. The width of 
 th3 ice there is about 275 miles, extending into the 
 ocean on the east, but terminating on the west about 
 U miles from the head of Ameralik Fiord, and 70 
 miles from t.ie outer coast lino. For the first 15 miles 
 in the ascent from the east, rising to the altitude of 
 1,000 metres, or 3,280 feet, tho average gradient was 
 nearly 320 feet per mile. In the next 35 miles an alti- 
 tude of 2,000 metre., or G,500 feet, was reached; and 
 
 HI 
 
 
 '41 
 
 Till 
 
f /( ' ( 
 
 278 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 m 
 
 
 III ' 
 
 N' 
 
 he average gradient in this distanco, betu-een 15 and 
 50 m,los iron, the „,argi„ of the ieo, ,va3 thus ab, , 94 
 
 dOiiee 11,0 highest part of the ice sheet, about 112 
 
 It'irf '"ir"'\*" ^""■"""' "- '-"• to-ve "! 
 altitude 01 3,,18 metres, or about 8,980 toot. Its as 
 
 cending slope, therefore, iu the distance from 50 to m 
 
 25 felt ^; "'» g™J'«"ta are less steep, averaging aboul 
 ^o feet per mile for nearly 100 miles to the Stirude of 
 
 lint , >- f ;""" """ ^•'""* "'""■'=« »' "'■^"""t. and 
 . bont l,>o feet per mile for tlie lower western border of 
 
 luv ice. 
 
 tU^^d Ti?c F rr '"■*"'° «™'yi""«"-a'ed volumes, e„: 
 titled Ibe First Crossing of Greenland. Tho seieiitiflc 
 results attained are presented in an appoiu^xo b 
 second ^volume, from which the followi^'g extiJts It 
 
 As to the superficial aspect of the ImI-.thI ion t .v. ■ .. 
 
 only iu the m,t.eve:„ ■; t^„lS. 'r;: "'V 7°""™'' 
 aero. i„e„e Assure u ,„,;„ t.^^:,^! 'n:Z:tZ:2 
 of th ,ce I„ tl,e imerior tbero was no trace of thou,! ' 
 
 ;j£f;;oir:;:t^irr^'rir,:rx-^ 
 ^;s:,rtrrt^ir^;T-t'i::;ittr'«^ 
 
 po..ible, also, that there were .uinor brooks on tho surf,t in tl" 
 
 m: 
 
EXPLoRAflONS OP THK INLAND ICE. 379 
 
 are no rivers at any LZ -l • "',7 '""^'^'^'^ ^hat there 
 over which we passed ^ " "'"' ^'"^'^ "^ "^*^ ^^l^nd ice 
 
 cir;;n;w b^iC 1Z:\^r r "^^ ^^^^* *^« -^^- ^^ 
 
 form a thin crus o ic Th ;,: " ^l'" ,'" ''^'-'- ^^-^ than to 
 is precisely the same ^' '^ ^'^' ^"''^"'^^ "^ the interior 
 
 ico,^;ht:.f :r 7:^^^^ r ^t -- -^^ ^^-^ 
 
 Kood on the western side or n ? "P' ''^^'" ^^ ^^^" ^^ for 
 
 the extreme Il^e f ' " ""''' '*'"" '^ ^""^^^^d yards from 
 
 to expect Tl!; t "'f"''"'"S'«^J ^'^"'^^ ^'ould have led ns 
 
 Professor Molm 'to -4/^ C^^Lr?rf/r tT "'^"^^^^'^"^ «^ 
 tare of certain days, Septen.b r 11 h to (5th wtV""" ''"P"" 
 '■' <he mi.ldle of the country or a lit 1 to H <- ^' ''''"' '''^""* 
 
 ncl^^e, varied fron, - .30= C to I34 f , ± T'* '^ ^^"-^ ^"'^^'"^^t 
 i« at least 20^ C. (;30= P)'lLr than' ^ '" ~''^ ^•^' '^''^'^ 
 
 justified in expect n.' if h? 1 "nj on. would have been 
 
 ceptod laws, tal^^t i'^d H Si " T^"'"'""^ "" - 
 
 ^-" the sea. as wSi .. ti^ ^. t^^z:^::^^ 'ir ^^ 
 
 uig coasts. '"I't-iaiure ot the neighbour- 
 
 rain, wl.c. „„ „,,■» woa o -b '.nd , hrt™?' "'";,'"" "' ""™ 
 and o„ „„„ ,,ay ..oar the west "1 i h^d h i T "^'' 
 was iihvavs snow ivlii,-!, ,„ (i,. \ ' "" ""> ■■»' i' 
 
 '""f-f-i-on »t'i: jwiJ, ; t:::;; ""'^t' <" ■> 
 
 toscthc- with halos a„d n.oek Mms '" "■'= "'° """• 
 
 The severe temper, nres experienced bv Kansen ,„d 
 s party were m remarkable contrast with the m'evai 
 n gly warm weather and abundant snow-ra^'t nJ^w ,■ ' ' 
 NordenskiOld encountered somewhat ear i i "tfo st 
 mor five years previously, at a distance of on abo"" 
 
 I! 
 
 1i 
 
280 
 
 GREE.NLAND ICEPIE^.DS. 
 
 
 i: 
 
 i'il 
 
 three liundred miles farther north. The diversity of 
 average character of seasons in different years, which is 
 often observed in temperate latitudes of the United 
 States and J^urope, appears also to be equally exhibited 
 HI Greenland. We can not doubt that durincr the 
 middle three or four weeks of the summer in 1883 the 
 surface of the great neve covering the Greenland ice 
 sheet was rapidly thawing, with many resulting super- 
 glacial streams, upon the area traversed by Nansen- but 
 such warm and fast melting weather seems probably to 
 be exceptional, occurring perhaps only once in several 
 years, like tiie times of severe drought which rarely 
 come, as one in ten or twenty years, more or less, to the 
 eastern United States, or like our occasional prolonged 
 thaws in the middle of the winters. 
 
 The most extensive journey of exploration thus far 
 accomplished on the Greenland ice slieet was by Lieuten- 
 ant Robert E. Peary and Eivind Astrup in 189;^. The 
 narrative of this expedition, sailing from Kew York, June 
 C, 1891, wintering on the south shore of McCormick 
 Bay, at the northern side of the entrance of Inglefield 
 (xulf, near latitude 77° 40', and performing a sledge 
 journey of about thirteen hundred miles, including 
 both the advance and return, on the inland ice of north! 
 western Greenland, has been well told by Peary and 
 others of his party, in the Bulletin of the American 
 Geographical Society,* in a yolnme entitled In Arctic 
 ^_^^^^^^j^r^d^o^^ My Arctic Journal, by Mrs. 
 
 4-0 473 and 036-508 (with maps and views fron pLZr^rZ' 
 bepteniber 30 and Deooinbor 31, 1893. P^ol^-bI apns), 
 
 t In Arctic Seas: The Voyage r^the Kite with the Pearv Fx 
 ped.fon, by Robert N. Keely, Jr.. M. D., and G. G. Dav A.M 
 i>l. U. ; vu, o34 pajres, 185)3. ' 
 
RXPLORATIOXS OP THE IXLAXD ICE. 2S1 
 
 Poary,* wl,o nocompanioa lior husband to JlcCormiok 
 Hay and spent a yoar tlicro. a,oi micK 
 
 Peary with tiireo comrades, began the journey on 
 the ,ce sheet .May 3d; but the n^xt two veekrwere 
 employed .n transporting their supplies up the sleen 
 »nd erevassed ice border, and over the roifgl upvl S 
 ^lope for the first fifteen miles, to the beginning of tte 
 
 within tlie following week, they were hindered by severe 
 snowstorms, with "the constant violent wind rushZ 
 down from the interior to the shore," such as Ha "f 
 lad experienced there in ,800; but from h 34tl7„ 
 May, when two of the party returned to the station a 
 McCormick Day, no other violent storms occurred dur 
 ■ng the nortliward »arch. Taking a „ortheTstw"id 
 course past the heads of the depressToi.s lead g t^ e 
 Humboldt Glacier, Petermann Fiord, and the Iherard 
 Osborne Fiord, Peary and his young Korwe^ian com 
 
 S'oT'tlfe^'"'"; Tr"^" '"^ "^""'' "' "- -' "n" 
 end of the lee sheet June 27th, where, near latitude 83° 
 
 and longitiKte 40», they saw moun*;ino„s b, ,„, t 
 
 and imd a fiord in front of them, on account of whlh 
 
 n JiTTsf t ■ ?"'■" '" "" ^"^' "'"' -""^^ ' 
 
 of ..?-,f ,'""■'''''' t'-"™"ing. over sharp stones 
 
 tori r"; 7"?" I''*^ "' ™'"'"""J across nishing 
 
 • "'.'""'• '"^"^"''^ a headland which was named Navv 
 
 Cliff, whence they looked down about thirtv-fl™ hundred 
 
 feet upon Independence Bay, so named-from its *£ 
 
 White .b,,.,:: ;^:: 7,^ ,"■;"'-", '*'-"■'» of TI,„ area 
 
 h 
 
 i i I 
 
 
282 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 mutt 
 
 
 covery on July 4tl,. A large glacier, discharging from 
 tiie in and ICO, flows from the south into this bay, near 
 Mi ude 81 37' and longitude 34°. Peary's description 
 of tins northeastern border of Greenland, and of his 
 return journey, is as follows : 
 
 This land, red and brown in colour, and almost entirely free 
 
 IrT *^'""' "'' ^'^^'^^ '''^'^ -J «'-P atones of a 
 sizes. Flowers, n.sects, and musk oxen are abunda.,t. We sll 
 
 five musk oxen and a largo nun>ber of birds. Traces oT foxe" 
 hares, ptarmigan, and possibly wolves, were soon. The surface oi 
 he bay was covered with winter's still unbroken ice, p o ,," 
 the icebergs from the great glacier ^ ^ 
 
 On July 9th .;e started on the return, taking a course more ir- 
 land. In seven days we were struggling through the soft «now 
 and wrapped in the snow-clouds of the great^•nterior plateau' 
 over eight thousand feet above the sea level. We remai d ,' 
 
 oast o he Humboldt Glacier. Then, with dogs and ourselve 
 rained down to hard pan, we covered over thirty miles pe day 
 or seven days, till our eyes were gladdened by the deep'^green 
 
 loeberg-dotted waters of McCormiek Bay. 
 
 On the last day, as I came over the summit of the great ice 
 
 head of the bay, saw n.oving figures a mile or two ahead, on the 
 next ce dome. From that party burst almost ir.stantly ; cheer 
 and It was not long before I was clasping hands with Prof Ileil- 
 pnnandh.s men. who were out cm a reeonnoissance preparatory 
 to going in toward Humboldt Glacier to meet me.* 
 
 The relief expedition sent out by the Philadelphia 
 Academy of Natural Sciences, was brought by the same 
 steamer, the Kite, which had carried Peary to Greenland 
 the year before, and was under the direction, as before 
 of Prof. Angelo Heilprin.f Peturning southward, the 
 
 4.3* I^iilletin, American Geographical Society, vol. xxiv, pp. 472, 
 t The Arctic Problem, and Narrative of the Peary Relief Ex- 
 
EXPLORATIOXS OF THE INLAND ICE. 283 
 
 Kite bearing Peary and his party, left their station, 
 called Redchffe House, August 24th, and reached the 
 AVaigat passage, north of Diseo Island, August 29th; 
 t5. John s, Newfoundland, .September 11th; and Phil- 
 adelphia, Geptember 2-lth. 
 
 Describing the ice sheet whose northwestern part 
 iiad been thus explored, Peary wricefj : 
 
 The terms "inland ice" and " great interior frozen sea," two 
 of the more common names by which the region traversed by us 
 IS generally known, both suggest to the maj.H-ity of peoprLo 
 neous Ideas. In the first place, the surface s not ice but ne Iv 
 a compaeted snow The term -'sea" is also a misnimer in ' ^ 
 
 f' we oS t; ' ; '''■' Tr ^'"^ "^^^'"^^ «^ ^•^^-- ->b-quent ; 
 
 f ozen ovei. fhe only justification for the term is the unbroken 
 ad apparently infinite horizon which bounds the vision > 
 traveller upon its surface. Elevated as the entire region is to « 
 
 > the s.i "'"!"" T'"""" "' '''' '''^'^ ^^h-h would be . ..-ib e 
 to the sailor at a distance of sixtv to ei<>-hrv m,-lo« r 
 
 J^noath the landward convexity J U^.'^l^lX^/^Z 
 
 traveler has penetrated fifteen or twenty miles iifto the n erit 
 
 and then ne may travel for days and weeks with no break waT: 
 
 ever in the continuity of the sharp, steel-blue line of the horiz^ 
 
 The sea has its days of towering, angry waves, of laughing JL 
 
 ening white-caps, of niirrorlike calm. The " fro en sea ' 'is fiwa " 
 
 same-mot.onless, petrified. Around its white shield te si 
 
 rcles for months in succession, never hiding his face exc , in 
 
 s orms. Once a month the pale full moon climbs above theTpo" 
 
 site horizon, and circles with him for eight or ten days '^ 
 
 Sometimes, though rarely, cloud shadows drift acr'oss the white 
 
 :,• rr; ;*' ;■;•""■/'" ^"-"'^ ^^'^"^'^-^^ - ^^e hea: pr:p ! 
 
 c vs or actualities of furious storms veiling the entire skv at 
 
 c uus fcathois. I„ dearest weather the solitary traveller upon 
 tins wint, ,,,,^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^.^^^ ^^,^^^^ ^^^^^.^ . ^^ ^^^ i^upon 
 
 pedition of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia bv 
 Angelo Heilprin ; 1G5 pages (Contemporary Publishing crigo3). 
 
 I f-1 
 
 ;S)| 
 
 Mil 
 
If^ f *• 
 
 284 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 i 
 
 himself-thc unbroken white expanse of the snow, the unbroken 
 blue oxpiiuso of tlio sky, and the sun. In cloudy weather all three 
 of these nuiy disappear. 
 
 Many a time 1 have found myself in cloudy weather travelling 
 in gray simce. Not only was there no object to be seen, but in 
 the entire sphere of vision there was no difference in intensity of 
 li.:?ht. My feet and snowshoes were sharp and clear as silhouettes 
 and I was sensible of contact with the snow at every step ; yet' 
 as far as iny eyes gave me evidence to the contrary, 1 was walkin- 
 upon nothing. The space between my snowshoes was as light as 
 the zenith. The opaque light which filled the -phere of vision 
 might come from below as well as above. A curious mental as 
 well as physical strain resulted from this blindness with wide- 
 open eyes, and sometimes we were obliged to stop an.l await a 
 change. 
 
 The wind is always blowing on tlio great .Vo cap, sometimes 
 with greater,. sometimes with less violence, but tlu^ air is never 
 quiet. When the velocity of the wind increases beyond a certain 
 point it scoops up the loose snow, and the surface'of tlie inland 
 ice disappears beneath a hissing white torrent of blinding drift 
 Thclhickness of this drift may be anywhere from six inches to 
 tlurty or even fifty feet, dependent upon the consistency of the 
 snow. When the depth of the drift is not in excess of the lieight 
 of the knee, its surface is as tangible and almost as sharply de- 
 fined as that of a sheet of water, and its incessant dizzy rush and 
 strident sil)iIatioii become, when long continued, as maddening 
 as tlie drop, drop, drop, of water on the liead in the old torture 
 rooms. 
 
 ... As a result of my study of the Eskimo clothing and its 
 use, I adopted it Tlie deerskin coat, with the trousers, foot- 
 gear, and undershirt, weighed eleven and one fourth pounds, or 
 about the same as an ordinary winter business suit, including 
 shoes, underwear, etc., but not the overcoat. In this costume 
 with the fur inside and the drawstrings at waist, wrists, knees, and 
 fac.> pulled tight, I have seated myself upon the great icecap, 
 four thousand feet ab,)ve the sea. with the thermometer at -38^' 
 the wind blowing so that 1 could scarcely stand against it. and 
 with back to the wind have eaten my lunch leisurely and in com- 
 fort : then, stretching myself at full length for a few moments, 
 have listened to the fierce hiss of the snow driving past me with 
 
 mtr-. Si ^ 
 
EXI'LORATIONS OF THE INLAND ICE. 285 
 
 the same ploasnrable sensation that, seated beside the glowing 
 grate wo listen to the roar of the rain upon the roof ^ 
 
 Our sleep,ng-l,af,rs. also of the winter coat of the deer with the 
 f..r .nsule, were I think, the lightest and warn.est ever .^ed Ir 
 my own hag, weighing ten and one fourth pounds, I hav-e slen 
 conifm-tably out upon the open snow, with no she ter v lit Z 
 and the thennon.eter at -41 '. wearing inside the bag o„; under 
 garment.. Dunng the inland-ice journey, throughol.t wL" 11 e 
 on.perature was never more than a .legree or two below zr„ m 
 Icep.ng.bags were discanled, our fur clothing being anfrZ 
 taction for us when asleep, even though 1 carrfed no ten"* ^ 
 
 In the stimmor of 1893, Lieutenant Garde, of the 
 J)an.sh ^avy, mmh. an expedition upon the inland ice 
 starting from the glacier of Sern.ilsialik, latitude 01° on 
 the eastern side of Greenland. The distance travelled 
 was 300 kilometres (18G miles), occupying thirteen davs, 
 ana the highest elevation attained was 7,000 feet 'I'he 
 marches were at night, as the neve was then in' better 
 condition than during the warmer daytime f 
 
 Again m 1893, Lieutenant and Mrs. Pearv with p 
 purty for further exploration of the ice sheet at^:;^lh 
 ern shores of Greenland, sailed in the Falcon from Port- 
 land Me. July 8th, and from 8t. John's on the Uth" 
 mtchmg Bowdoin Bay, on the north side of Ingleiield 
 Gulf, August 3d. The narrative of this voyage to their 
 
 wTb ^f.'"^' "'^'-^ Anniversary Lod'ge, at the 
 hcad_ of Bowdoin Bay, near latitude 77° 40', longitude 
 
 Chapter of My Arctic Journal. 
 
 239,*240. ^"''"^ ^^''"'*' '^""'■"'•'' ^^-^ '^''''' J«"'-"''^l. pp. 231-233, 
 
 t Ilevue de Geographie, September. 1893, cited bv Bulletin of 
 the ^American Geographical Society, vol. xxv, p. 439. Septemb:' 
 
 <i 1 
 

 h',> 
 
 I 
 
 286 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 From thifi stjition, very early in the spring of 1894, 
 on the Gth day of March, Peary started, with tiie phm 
 of travelling northeast over the Greenland ice sheet a 
 distance of about G50 miles to Indei)endence Bay, the 
 limit of his previous expedition, thence intending to 
 send one party south, while he, with one or more assist- 
 ants, would explore the country farther north. On set- 
 ting out, the party comprised eight men, twelve sledges, 
 and ninety dogs. The time, however, proved to be 
 much too early, on account of the severity of weather on 
 the high ice sheet at the very beginning of the circum- 
 polar half year of constant daylight. After a journey 
 of two weeks on the inland ice, reaching an altitude of 
 about 5,000 feet, the party experienced, on March 20th 
 to the 2:J(^, an " equinoctial storm" of blinding snow, 
 fierce wind, and very low temperature, i)robably un- 
 equalled in the experience of any former arctic expedi- 
 tion. The self-recording anemometer showed that the 
 wind during thirty-four hours had an average velocity 
 of forty-eight miles an hour; and the thermograph 
 showed an average temperature of ,50° F. below zero 
 Exceedingly cold weather and ot!<er severe storms fol^ 
 lowed, the temperature being mostlv 40° to .50° below 
 •zero, with almost continual wmd. ^ Some of the men 
 had their feet and hands frozen ; the dogs, endurincr i,-, 
 the snow outside the tents the full hardships of "the 
 storms, were in a few instances frozen to death, and the 
 others were attacke,! bv a fatal disease;* and some of 
 the sledges were broken in being drawn over the sharply 
 ridged snowdrifts. The party was soon diminished to 
 half Its original number by the return of frost-bitten 
 and sick men, until the expedition, after having ad- 
 
 * CiiUcd pihlockfo, before noticed on pnge 240. 
 
EXPLORATIONS OF THE INLAND ICK .>j,^ 
 station anil south to Jrulvillo Jtny ♦ 
 
 moi ot 18.),), to succeed in crossing the ice sheet <>n.l f. 
 explo^ more fully the northeastern an^Z:^^:^ 
 riie very severe storms encountero.l in ih. . i 
 
 rt? ;';? "■"™' "- ^^'"^ *" <- ^!-t: o is;! 
 
 o hatof tho a„t,.rctic continent, wi.ero a distan o of 
 8o0 „,les ,es b„t„.oen tho most sonthorn in.lcnt " on of 
 shore l,no and the polo, will ho practicable o^^I 
 
 Lmnohr" '" '"" ""'''" ""'llaterpartsof t e 
 t^iicumpoliir summers. 
 
 the ee sheet and la„d s„,.faee, the drainn<.e of the w.st 
 
 on. Ihis party, „n,ler the command of Ilenrv 
 Bry,u,t, Secretary of the Cieo.raphical Clnh of P 'let 
 phut, and well known for his e.vploration of the C ™d 
 R.ver „. r.abrador, left Mrooldyn, X. V., Jnno Votl" a^d 
 
 30 
 
 't! 
 
 ; ) 
 
28S 
 
 (iRKKNLANI) ICKFIELDS. 
 
 
 
 St. Jolu.'s July ;tli. riroonhuul was first sighted July 
 l^tli, and its const was followed northward more than 
 1,000 miles to Peary's winter station on In^rU-lJold (;„if 
 A landing was made on Disco Island didv IGth, where 
 three glaciers were examined. This ishuid was also 
 visited on the return of the expedition, alloNving the 
 same glaciers to ho seen again forty-eight days later. 
 Much ice was encountered in Melville Hav, so\hat the 
 l-alcon was nnahlo to make the middle i)assage, hut the 
 inner passage was traversed without s(>rious delay, reach- 
 ing Cape York .July '>'3d. The next dav was given to a 
 search on the Carey Islands for fui-ther information re- 
 garding the lost Swedish naturalists, Bjorling and Kal- 
 stenius, wrecked there two years hefore, of whose party 
 numerous relics were found. Prof. Chamherlin writes : 
 On the inon.in- c.f .I„ly 2.-,th the Falcon ontere.l Whale Sound 
 the mouth of In-h.fiol.l (;uIf,o„rdesti>,ati,.n. but f,)un(l it covered 
 with ICO still too strong to ponnit the forcing of a passage. This 
 was the (lay fixed for our arrival in the prospectus of the expedi- 
 tion, and had the gulf heen open we would have reached Peary's 
 headquarters on schedule time. The trip up to this time had been 
 nearly ideal from tlio standpoint of one who wislied to see the 
 realities of the arctic region, witliout suffering much from them. 
 We had some sharp buttling with tlie ice pack, some groping in 
 .the fog, were beset and nipped with moving floes, but were\)ot 
 very seriously threatened or long delayed. We saw just enough 
 of the vicissitudes of tlie region to realize what they might be- 
 come in their full force, and just enough of tlio dangers to give 
 ns a wholesome respect for them. 
 
 The vessel being unable at once to ivach Peary's headquarters, 
 work was begun upon the glaciers immediately at hand, and 
 dredging was commenced with excellent results. Communication 
 was soon established over the gulf ice with head(|uarters. and 
 Lieutenant Peary and several of his party visited the Falcon. On 
 August r)th r returned with Lieutemmt iVary to his headquarters 
 by his invitation, and renuiined his guest until nearly the time for 
 our return. Meanwhile the Falcon and the rest of "the auxiliary 
 
EXPLORATIONS OF THE INLAND ICE. 289 
 party, aiul .sevorul of tho Poury nartv wonf f,. vu r , 
 
 n„,.,s„,., y ii,„i,„„. o„ ,.o.,„. „, th„ j;,,; , ;:r ™ 
 
 with .llllKulty l|„„„sh ll„. i™ ,„ |1,„ l>™, . I,i.a,l„„„r ,.r ' 
 
 uo.imivn ai„l („Mlthual., tl„. tw„ ,.a,,ital.s of Greeiil md Sf 
 
 :=z;:-;;;:::-x;n;;::ts;;:s:;^:~ 
 
 <.i.a„t. T„; „,.„,> .:;;^:;'j::;;i;;;;::;;-^;:r "■"- 
 
 In his address as P,-csiilo„t of the Geological Society 
 
 1»J4, 1 lof, C],anii,e,-l„i gave ,i si,nima,-v of his observi 
 f o„s on he glacie,. a,„l ice sheet i,. the Lilltl' ,'^ 
 eg.o„ of wl,iel, the followi„g is a„ abstntct: ;,t„ „: es 
 tal<eii during the addi-oss : 
 
 reflection of ti.: I ^ t . ir:: vf f '' ''::'""""• """"'"^ ^^ 
 
 ffro.uKl. It socns also o 1 ' , , "" '^^''■'" '^'Ijoi'""!? 
 
 slow rate of .o H Kl nc .""r T'-' '^'"'"'"'^ "" ^'»« ^^^ 
 usually .carcoly m h .. V .^^ '' ^"""'^ ''>' ^^^'^^^ *« be 
 
 from two and a half to four foot "H.lsununor is 
 
 J^;;^--;^^ in n.any of tho fontal ice 
 
 * Glaoialists' Magazine, ^^^^^^^^9770^oy^,~^4r 
 
290 
 
 (JItEKXLAXI) KEFIKLDS. 
 
 1:1'^ 
 
 clifTs fo J.oi^M.Js „f fif,y to „„ ,„.„j,.,.i f,ol. uM.l omisionally a 
 hu.ulroil uiHl llliy iwi, or nhnut Imlf of i|„.ir tot,.! li,.i.'l.t It is 
 quite un.Miually distributed, being e.m.monly ^-utliered." si.'eoiallv 
 
 a co„.ulorable luM-^l.ts. int.. layers of an inel. to a font or n.oro 
 w^ ore the .eo contains nu.el. roek detritus, interbedded w h 
 thu-ker layers ,.f nearly pnro ice. A;,ain, n.asses of drift sove 
 feet .n extent, analogous with till, are rarely enveloped it 
 
iially a 
 . It is 
 t'ciiilly 
 
 M 
 
 
 ore, 
 nth 
 eral 
 ice, 
 
 KXPLOUATIOXS OF TIIK INLAND ICK. 291 
 
 wlnH. ahovo an.l l...„.,ath ,1,,... ...assos h,u1 the .i,„ilarly inclosed 
 
 •-' .. l,as an w,.wanlly u.nl .lownwanlly nr.Uin, la.nLul n 
 
 ..n.;;:..eu„.:rix;;:,r-::::;;r:;;;!,':*r" 
 
 van those snowh-ift. are sufllHont in son.e pll.. t , c i e 
 Jcc to flow „,,. -a,,!, or to be laterally deflected 
 
 111 sonu. eases the nioniinic hillocks, seen in process of fonna 
 
 on heneath the steep o,- vertieal cl^c of tlu^'ee L throut" 
 
 -noso „„„iatu.-e ,l,„„,li„s. wi.h the hnninate.l .Z^rZ^ 
 
 up an ,n.te eonfonnahly over then. Xo es,..^,,. .can^: S 
 
 o>>eMu. Ihc ,lnunaj,M^ fron, the ^^acial n.eltinij is n.o.tlv by 
 
 ubaenal lateral strea.ns, along the inner .ide of the ad ioinin.^ 
 
 "loraines: rarely it is by central .ub-Wacial streams ' ' 
 
 Only very scanty drift is spread over the conntry outside the 
 
 2'; .; If" . u..ers; and the largest glacio-flnvial Jelta nt^ 
 
 Stat in' ' f ' '" "'';"' . '"'-^^ "' ^'" ^""^'■^■••^ ''-•« b'^- ^ong 
 stationai. a few are retreatn.g : others are a.lvancing ^ 
 
 Near the east side of Bowdoin Bay a drift less area havi,,.. a 
 
 lock, vvlueh s hornblendic gneiss. Its altitude is less than that 
 of ne.ghhouru.g glaciers, and it is accepted, with the ia^ "d ad 
 |u^.e.^ed outlines of the upper pal-t of n.any <:f ^llT^ a ^^ 
 fiedGZaT^ C'"Fs Farewell and Desolation north to Ingle- 
 hold Gulf (a distance of twelve hundred miles), as decisive evi- 
 
292 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS, 
 
 dence that there has never been a complete envelopment of the 
 western border of Greenland by hu <\ ice. 
 
 Dalrymple Island, close to the Greenland coast, near longitude 
 
 70 and latitude 76^ 30'. also consists of decomposing hornblendic 
 gneiss, with no drift, and with mountain forms due solely to sub- 
 aenal erosion. Fifty miles northwestward, however, he Carey 
 

 EXPLORATIONS OP THE INLAND ICE. 293 
 
 Island, which are mountains rising from a krge expanse of the 
 surrounding northern part of Ballin Bay, Imve been glaciated by 
 an ice sheet flowing over them from the nortli-that is, from 
 (arinnell Land and Smith Sound. In the course of this ice sheet 
 at a distance of fifty miles north of the Carey Islands, the sea has 
 a depth of two hundred and twenty fathoms. 
 
 Inquiring for the physical causes and explanation of glacial 
 motion Prof. Chamberlin thinks the theory of Ilugi, Grad, Porel 
 and others, which refers the movement, under the influences of 
 the solar heat and gravity, to the enlargement and long persist- 
 ence of the granules originating in the neve, to be more supported 
 by his observ-ations and studies than the now commonly accepted 
 theory of J. D. Forbes, which regards the ice as a viscously flow- 
 ing though brittle solid.* 
 
 In the present year, 1895, with his two companions, 
 Peary traversed the Greenland ice sheet upon nearly the 
 same course as three years before, from Anniversary 
 Lodge, at the head of Bowdoin Bay, which was left 
 April 1st, to Independence Bay. Musk oxen were 
 found there, as in the previous expedition, and several 
 were shot, affording an important addition to the scanty 
 provisions of the party, since, with only on- exception, 
 the caches made at the end of the attemptt . journe}-in 
 March and April, 1894, had become buried in the snow 
 and could not be found. The caches had indeed been 
 searched for in vain by an expedition during the inter- 
 vening September, for the purpose of raising^them from 
 the summer snow and again marking their locations. ' 
 
 The American Geologist, vol. xv. pp. 197, 198. :\Iarch. 1893. 
 1 his address is published in the Bulletin of the Geological Society 
 of America, vol. vi, pp. 199-220. with eight plates. Ttpon ., wider 
 range than could be given in this address, the same studies of the 
 Greenland glaciers and ice sheet are being presented very fullvbv 
 I rof. Chamberlin in a series of nrtieles in the Journal of Geoloev 
 from the number for October-Novemlier. 1894 onward 
 
 
f>~ 
 
 m 
 
 294 
 
 GllEENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Great hardships were encountered in this journey, and 
 ot tlie lorty-one dogs, drawing three sledges, with whicli 
 
 the advance from the vicinity of tlie lost caches began, 
 only eleven survived to reach the northern border of the 
 ice sheet. Peary's hoped-for opportunity to explore the 
 
 "x. 
 
JS 
 
 s 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 •J 
 
 i 
 
 w 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 ■a 
 
 EXPLORATIONS OF THE INLAND ICE. 295 
 northeastern coast in tlie nei^^hbourhood of Independ- 
 
 hunt for musk oxen; but the exhaustion of one of his 
 conn-ades, and the scarcity of their food, which won d 
 eviden y be wliolly needed for the homeward journey 
 compelled them soon to turn back. ^' 
 
 The return was begun with nine dogs and ended 
 with only one, reaching Anniversary Lodge June 5th 
 For more than two weeks the three n,en had subsisted 
 on one meal a day, and they had no food during the last 
 march of twenty-one miles. ' 
 
 The relief Expedition of this year, in the steamer 
 Jiite, though passing unimpeded through the usually 
 ice-covered Melville Bay, was unable on account of floe 
 ice to enter Bowdoin Bay, but reached McCormick Bay 
 separated from the preceding by the Kedclif! Peninsula 
 
 foXo f / > ""'' ^"'^^' '"''''^^ '' Anniversary 
 Lodge, foun.l Peary and his comrades on August 3d 
 
 and the homeward voyage to St. John's, Newfoundland' 
 was comjileted September 21st. ' 
 
 pj'n ^\ ^r ^'^'"^r^ "' ^^''' ''^''^ expedition, as 
 
 I of. Chamberhn in that of the previous vear, made ex- 
 
 nsive observations of the ice cap and glaciers of Red- 
 
 chff lenmsula and of the western coast of Greenland 
 
 ^ence southward to Disco Island and the J.^l^^ 
 
 lon of the (.reenland coast from Cape York northward 
 loo mi es in latitude to Cape Alexander, had accurately 
 mapped about a hundred glaciers, and had taken a lon^ 
 series of observations of the rate of motion of one of 
 the most active glaciers in the Inglelield Gulf reo-,on 
 
 It should be added that the Kite brought back from 
 Gieenland a very valuable zoological collection, which 
 was made principally by Prof. L. L, Dvche, in hiding 
 
 M 
 
296 
 
 !l 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 about 4,000 specimens of birds and their eggs, narwhals, 
 seals, polar bears, and other animals. Lastly, two large 
 masses of iron, one weighing about three tons, were ob- 
 tained from the coast of Melville Bay. These are 
 thought to be meteorites, but it seems worthy of inquiry 
 whether their origin may be like that of the equally 
 large iron masses erupted from the earth's interior with 
 basaltic lava, which by decay and weathering leaves the 
 iron masses on the surface, at Ovifak, much farther 
 south m western Greenland.* 
 
 Lieutenan Peary's narrative of his difficult and perilous 
 ourney on the ice sheet this year, with notes of his other explora- 
 tions and of the collections by this relief party, is in the Bulletin 
 of the American Geographical Society, vol. xxvii, pp. 300-306 
 September 3Q, 1895. ^^ ' 
 
 hfr 
 
 s \ 
 
!li 
 
h I: f 
 
 i '!; 
 
 i « • 
 
 'i| 
 
 
 It 
 
 >i- 
 
a 
 
 \' 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 COMPARISOJ. or PRESKXT AND PLEISTOCE.VE ICE 
 
 SHEETS. 
 
 bJZ ™,'f '"^ T'f" "^ S""'"""'" investigation, 
 brought out most clearly by Sir Oliarles Lyell, roqnires 
 u to .eek the explauation of past changes of l.e! th 
 by Ob ervatmn and study of agencies which are no. in 
 
 epo h s,r r'!'^ "':"'"■ "'""'S"^ """"g ">o present 
 J^oroes lyndall, and otiiers, proved conclusivelv a 
 
 80 that the comparatively small district of the Alni 
 eupphod the clew for deciphering the recordsof th. 
 latest completed chap^r of the" geoloH 1 to' „£ 
 northwestern Europe and the northern l,Lf of nLh 
 America. Glaciers of other regions in thp pi . 
 hemisphere, notably o, the Him,C d N™ 
 
 t^ht^rri^LziVn^i'^'-'-/" 
 
 Greenln,! I! /r?' ""^ ""'^ ^^ "'" »"tirctic and 
 
 Greer ani ^ ' ^'^ ^'^ '"^'"'etive Malaspina 
 biacier, and m some respects tbey mav i)e nroli4lv 
 
 In seeking to derive from the descriptions of the 
 
 297 
 
 III 
 
398 
 
 Ott^ENLAND ICKl'lKLDS. 
 
 oils of l„,.m,.t,„„ of the glacial and „,„diii,d drift do- 
 
 .0 .ts m te,„i,„,,.t„ latitudes, we „,ay therefore we 1 
 
 not,ce^b„efly these other uow exi.ti,,,^ ice sheets I:" 
 
 Laud ice surrounds the south i.olo to a distance of 
 twelve to t«nt,.flvo degrees fron, il, covering, ^SrW:! 
 V lie Ihomson estin.ates, about 4,5O(l,00() s.juare n.iles 
 Its area .s tin.s slightly greater than that of the I'lei to: 
 
 atd H ,H r'""^'"""' ' '^''''" "'» '^'"'fl"«'t Scandinavian 
 than ^,000,000 square miles, including the White lial 
 
 1' c by tlie continental mer de glme. The observations 
 ot OSS, ,n sading along a part of the border of the ant- 
 -ct c ,ec sheet, and of Moseley, in the cruise of the 
 Ulallonger among the enormous tabular icebergs which 
 fl at away fron, it, have been noted i„ the pfceed ing 
 cliapter (page 24G). ^ ^ 
 
 he St. Elias range to tlie shore of the Pacific Ocean, 
 , ^ '^-n^^-enbed as follows by its principal explorer 
 1891 : * "'' ' ' "' ^""^ expeditions of 1890 and 
 
 R.,77m' ^'r''' '''*'"'^' ""'^^ ""^''«'^^" continuity from Yakutat 
 Bay 70 u.les westward, and has an average breadth of b^t^een. 
 
 hi' ' V^'"'- ^P-. ^^^-^«3, with map, March. 1893. The report o 
 
 ho first expedition, in 1890, is ^iven by Rnssell in th xZna 
 
 (^oo.raph,c Magazine, vol. iii, pp. 53-203, with 19 plates ad 8 
 
 figures in the text. May 29, 1891. ^ ^ 
 
 m 
 
 (.'I 
 
PRESENT AND PLEISTOCENE ICE SHEETS. 290 
 30 and 25 miles; its area is api.roximately 1,500 s,iuaro miles 
 
 The .noraines not o„ly cover all of the outer border of the 
 glacier b.t stream otf fro.n the mountain spurs that project i to 
 
 ^rllT ■'"■• • ■ • ^''''««^"— I'l-t previous voontail 
 n. gla Mor are . . . concentrated at the surface, owin.' to the 
 "K .ng of the ice that contains then.. This is the history of al 
 of the moraines of the Malaspina glacier. They are forn.ed of the 
 deOn. brought out of the mountains by the tributary alj.ine gla^ 
 the'tr """'"^''''^'^^ ""^ ^^^« ^"'•^"^'^ ^y '-'^^on of the ablation of 
 
 The outer and consequently older portions of the frviaine 
 morames are covered with vegetation, which in places, particularly 
 near the outer margin of the belt, has all the characteristics of 
 old forests. It consists principally of spruce trees, some of which 
 are three feet m diameter, and Cottonwood, alder, and a great va- 
 riety of shrubs and bushes, together with rank ferns, which -row 
 so densely that one can scarcely force a passage through them. 
 The vegetation grows on the moraines resting on the ice. which in 
 many places .s not less than a thousand feet thick. ... It is only 
 on the stagiwmt border of the ice sheet that forests occur. Th'e 
 forest-covered area is. by estimate, between twenty and twenty-five 
 square miles m extent. ^ 
 
 The drainage of the Malaspina glacier is almost entirely inter- 
 glacia or subglacial. There is no surface drainage, excepting in 
 a few localities where there is a surface slope, but even in such 
 
."»()() 
 
 OltKKxVLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 pour „„t „r the "1; ';;'''■■'■ r;''''"'|'"'»"' «'■■<••""» "•lu.h 
 
 0„o olth,, larBct 5irp,„„s ,,„„„i„g ii,„ „|„,i„, . ,, ,. ^. 
 lliH rises III tmi |>riiicii)ttl lm.1,,.1,.., ». .1 .^"^'" " "'o \ahlse, 
 
 emerges att^ho^iiitll^: ■;■;-• -.■"■ "«"' ■""- '"".. 
 fl"o,l, f„ll.v >,iie hinidred feet acl ' "f „ "" " ■"'''*■ '"'"" 
 dwp. The stream, after its snhT • ''" '"' '"■™')' '«' 
 
 m».lybra„ehes,,ii„irb,,t,"'^^,' .'?'"'"'• "'"■'"''^ <"" '""> 
 and buriei, thou J^stf';'' ,:"■'» '»" »'-■" »- invaded 
 from the Vahtse to Yal;iit„t L ' "■'""■'">? the coast 
 
 ^.renins whieh ,l™„ tl! efl , ^o th.TT;' T' "' '°'-»"« 
 
 .°:tTh;r,::r ^ - ^--^-":'^ nit s -t- 
 the silt /.r.r.tre";',";' r'' •"*■''""'- "'™^'' 
 
 oene period, f„,. Us busal portion comil 1 ,f , ^ 
 Pl.oeene and 1-Joistoceno P ,„„.ole ,nd Y I / .1° '""* 
 tions, above wltioh tlie St P f V "''■*' '<"™'^ 
 
 thrnst. Fossil n i t,' L i':/" '" ''"' ''«^» "- 
 by species no,v livinl „ , V . ™'' "" '''^P'-^^^n'e'l 
 iected bvRnssel intb yl ,'"""" »'=™''. were col- 
 
 '^ei.hto^fitrnrr,::;:;::!^^ 
 
 • National Geographic Mag»zi;;;r;Zi;~;,;;7^77^ 
 
I'fiKSKTr AND I.LI.;,.STOCE.NE ICE SHEETS. 301 
 
 ;::;;:r;;;;:,^:r^:;';;:'4--^-:--n:L;l:: 
 
 ter fell „,,„„ tlu„„,H,Hl glaciors wen b .,' T ' ' "' ^'"- 
 
 tl.ousa.ul feet hi.^l,er than ,21,^ h thousand to two 
 
 "H ht „,Kl liui,hviii,t ami i„ 1800 by Kei,! t .,,,5^ 
 
 i't Elms, ami about 136 inilos north of Sitka It ! 
 an est,„„tert area, with its tributary gla „," „" "o' 
 
 a vertical wall of ice 130 ^020/^. '' ^""'^ '"'' "^ 
 which within 'Zf J , ^ ^'^'^^ '^^^^^ tJ^« ^vater, 
 Winch Mthm 300 feet from the ice front has a maximum 
 
 * American Journal of Science ITT ^n}^^ 7~. 
 map, January 1837 Th^ l.„ ! • Iv ^■^'"' ^P" ^-^^' ^^'^h 
 ter iii. • ' ' ^^' ^'' ^^' "' ^«rth America, 1889, chap- 
 
 ; i>ational Geographic Magazine, vol. iv n„ 10 si ^.u-u .» 
 
 plates and 5 figures in the textt March 21 18V ' ' ''^ '^ 
 
 American Geologist, vo', viii nn 207 oqo , -fi. 
 ber, 1891. ' PP" ^"'---JO, with map, Octo- 
 
 •11 
 
 'i 
 
;]()2 
 
 GIIKRNLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 clo])tli of 720 fe.u Hotweon tlio yours 1880 and 1890 
 tlio front hud receded one third to two thirds of u mile 
 
 In 1880 the hei-ht of the Muir ice clitfs above the 
 water was found to be ^'."iu to lioo fc,t ; and the rates of 
 forward motion of the most prominent iee pinnacles 
 near to the front an<l within liulf a mile back from it 
 were roughly measurc-d and found to vary from 72 feet 
 to feet per day, the maximum being that of a pinna- 
 cle close to the proje(Uing middle of the terminal cliffs. 
 In 18'J() the rates of the glacial currents were measured 
 by observations of ihigs set on the surface of the glacier 
 one fourth to one lialf of a mile back from its then 
 nearly straight and much lower front, and the maxi- 
 mum movement at some distance from the centre was 
 ascertained to be only about seven feet per day. In re- 
 spect to the apparent discrepancv of these determina- 
 tions, separated by an interval of four years, it is to be 
 remarked that the ice i)innacles, behmging to the most 
 fractured and crevassed portions of the glacier, doubt- 
 less move onward much faster than its more even tracts, 
 which can be traversed and marked bv flags; and that 
 the two different years between which the front was 
 withdrawn so far may have been considerably unlike in 
 the meteorologic conditions governing the flow of the 
 glacier, 'riie abundant observations of Helland, Steen- 
 strup, Drygalski, and others, on the rates of outflow of 
 glaciers into the fiords and bays of the western coast of 
 Greenland, show that there the glacial advanc o ranges 
 frequently from 30 to 65 feet daily, and in at bast one 
 case is about 100 feet. Narrow glaciers in the valleys 
 or the Alps move only a few feet daily ; but the broad 
 glaciers of polar regions, when they terminate in the 
 sea, often move at their ends much more rapidly, as 30 
 to 50 feet or more per day. 
 
PUKSKXT AND PLEISTOCENE ICE SHEETS. 303 
 
 Liko tlio Muhuspina ico sheet uud other glaciers of 
 ho St .has region, tiie Muir Ghicier is fast retreating 
 iTom the narrutivo of Vancouver's ex],loration of tiiis 
 coast in ir!»4, an.l from observations of freshly ghiciated 
 rock surfaces far outside a.ul also far above the present 
 glacier, it appears sure that only one to two centuries 
 ago the Muir (Hacier stretched some 20 miles farther 
 than now, nearly to the mouth of Glacier liay Its 
 advance to this maximum area ha.l perhaps occupied a 
 considerably longer time than its retreat, but the whole 
 time of both advance and recession appears to bo geo- 
 logically recent, h, its forward movement forests be- 
 came enveloped in the gravel and sand discharged by 
 streams from the glacier, and they were then oven-idden 
 by the ice advance, so that now on its retreat the still 
 standing trees are being uncovered by the channelling 
 ot streams. ° 
 
 During the summer of 1800 the rate of ablation 
 of the frontal part of the Mui- Glacier was about 14 
 mchos per week, which would lower its surface proba- 
 bly 15 or 20 feet in the whole season. This corres- 
 ponds approximately with the ablation of the Mer^e 
 Glace in Switzerland, ascertained by Forbes to be 24^ 
 feet between June and September, in 1842; while in 
 some exceptional cases the ablation of glaciers in 
 summer has been found to be as much as 'one foot a 
 fiav. 
 
 t),.?"^ °"f' ''"'"' "' ^'■°'" «g'»fi«a"ce brought out by 
 these .„vest,gat,„„s of the Muir Glacier is tie approxi! 
 
 r rock bod"'' v" "' "" ^'^ "' «'"^-' "■»-«' upon 
 lr„f n ^'""^"'•"'""""^ 0' 'he sediment in the 
 wate of the copious subglaoial streams, and estimates 
 of the .,„antlty of water annually diseharged from the 
 rainfall and snowfall of the Mnir basin, indica 
 
 ! " 
 
% 
 
 304 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ^M 
 
 according to Wright's computations, an average ero- 
 sion of one tliird of an inch yearly for all the ice-clad 
 area. ^ 
 
 From these existing glaciers and ice sheets we learn 
 much concerning the probable surface slopes and thick- 
 ness of the ice sheets of the Glacial period. In North 
 America, the upper limits of the Pleistocene glaciation 
 on Mount Katahdin, the Catskills, the Three Buttes or 
 Sweet Grass Hills of Montana, the Rocky Mountains 
 north of the international boundary, and the mountains 
 ot British Columbia give us reliable information of the 
 thickness of the ice sheet in the vicinity of these high 
 elevations of land. Its depth is computed by Dana to 
 have been about two miles on the Laureutide highlands 
 between the St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay, whence the 
 ice flowed radially outward in all dii-ections, during its 
 maximum stage overtopping the White, Green, and 
 Adirondack Mountains. In British Columbia, accord- 
 ing to Dr. G. M. Dawson, its maximum depth was about 
 7,000 feet. These thicknesses, however, which seem 
 well determined, would not give to the borders of the 
 North American ice sheet surface slopes of more than 
 about 25 to 30 feet per mile ; whereas the Greenland ice 
 sheet IS known to have surface gradients of 100 to 200 
 feet pe mile. Apparently, slopes of at least 50 feet or 
 more per mile for the outer portion of the ine sheet 
 are required to produce strong glacial currents, such as 
 transported boulders 1,000 miles, from the eastern side 
 of the southern part of Hudson Bay, where it narro\vs 
 into James Bay, southwestward to southern Minnesota, 
 and such as carried Scandinavian boulders likewise 
 about 1,000 miles from their sources to central Russia. 
 The Pleistocene ice sheets could have had gradients 
 comparable in steepness with those of the Greenland 
 
PRESENT AND PLEISTOCENE ICE SHEETS. 305 
 ice Sheet only by widely extended uplifts of the central 
 
 sand teet above their present altituiles. These conti 
 nental movements of uplift, suggested by the ice sheet 
 of Greenland, appear, as will be shown in a later chap- 
 ter, to have been the cause of the climatic changes by 
 which tlie ice sheets of North America and Eu opi 
 were accumulated. Europe 
 
 Another comparison may be made in respect to the 
 rates erosion by the Pleistocene ice sheets. The 
 Minr Glacier IS found to be eroding its rock bed at the 
 late of .oout a third of an inch in a year, or a foot 
 m t nr ,.s,, ,ears, and nearly three feet' in a centu!; 
 
 pe lod was less rapid, even in the zone of most efficient 
 action, which may have been usually from 50 to 200 
 miles inside the ice boundary. Jf their erosion was a 
 half or third as much, in a thousand years this zone 
 would be erode<l to an average depth of 10 feet, more 
 or ess, and in five thousand years 50 feet. Farther 
 within the ice-covered area the erosion was probably 
 ess; but during tlie recession of t!ie ice sheet, and per- 
 haps also during its accumulation, the maximum rate of 
 erosion would prevail successively upon all parts of the 
 drit-bearing regions. In the light of this comparison 
 with the modern Muir Glacier, it is evident from the 
 volume of the drift and the topographic features of the 
 country that a geologic period not exceeding thirty 
 thousand or fifty thousand years would suffice for the 
 observed v.,lume of the Pleistocene glacial erosion and 
 resulting drift. 
 
 With reference to the questions whether the drift 
 was transported chiefly beneath the ice sheets of the 
 Glacial period or chiefly within their lower part the 
 
 ill 
 
 r 
 
306 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 » 
 
 observations of Ilolst and Chamberlin on the englacial * 
 drift of the Greenland ice sheet and of Russell on the 
 Malaspina Glacier fully reaffirm the conclusions reached 
 through investigations of the North American drift by 
 Dana, Shaler, C. II. Hitchcock, N. II. Winchell, Up- 
 ham, and others, that the Pleistocene ice sheet con- 
 tained much drift in its lower portion to heights of 
 probably 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the ground. This 
 transportation of drift within the ice seems to have been 
 equally important with the subglacial transportation, 
 and indeed i)robably to have much exceeded that in its 
 amount. 
 
 The rates of observed ablation of the .Muir Glacier 
 and the Mer de Glace suggest that during the closing 
 stage of the Glacial period the ice sheets, both in Amei^ 
 ica and Jiurope, may have been melted away very fast. 
 If such ablation prevailed every summer for one or two 
 centuries, it must melt l>,000 to 4,000 feet of ice, which 
 was approximately the thickness of the Pleistocene ice 
 sheet from central Xew Englantl westward across the 
 Laurentian lakes to :\Iinnesota and southern Manitoba. 
 This accords with the apparent duration of the glacial 
 Lake Agassiz for only about 1,000 years, and with the 
 evidently very rapid accumulation of the eskers, of their 
 associated sand plains and plateaus, of the valley drift, 
 and of the drumlins. There were, indeed, many times 
 of halt or readvance of the ice front, interrui)ting its 
 general retreat, as shown by the marginal moraines, of 
 which Chamberlin, Leverett, and others have mapped 
 no less than fifteen or twenty in their order from south 
 to north in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and southern Miclii- 
 
 * A term proposed by Prof. Chamberlin to ilef^igiiate drift in- 
 corporated in the ice and tiuis transported with it. 
 
 i;i51 
 
 Pi 
 
PRESENT AND PLEISTOCENE ICE SHEr-s. 307 
 
 gan ; but such halts forming large moraines on each 
 side o± Lake Agassiz were demonstrably of short con 
 tmuance, only for a few decades of years, and the whole 
 departure of the ice sheet from the southern end of that 
 glacial lake to Hudson Bay was geologically very rapid. 
 _ Ihe Malaspina ice sheet has been gradually retreat- 
 ing duriiig the past hundred years, or probably much 
 longer. On all its border for a width of a few miles 
 now thinned perhaps to a quarter part, or less, of 
 the earlier depth, tlie waning ice is covered by its for- 
 merly englacial drift, but in that cold climate the 
 glacial movement is so very slow that forest trees, with 
 luxuriant undergrowth of shrubs, and manv herbaceous 
 flowenng plants, grow on this drift lying upon hundreds 
 ot feet of ice, as revealed by stream channels. Advan- 
 cing toward the interior, the explorer soon comes upon 
 higher clear ice and neve, having risen above the plane 
 of the englacial debris, excepting along the course of 
 belts of medial surface morainic drift, swept outward 
 from spurs of the mountains. This ice sheet partially 
 suggests the conditions of the moraine-forming southern 
 portion of t^.e JVorth American and European ice sheets 
 uunng the Champlain epoch or closing part of the" Ice 
 Age; but these had a climate much warmer than that 
 ot Alaska, with consequently far more rapid ablafon and 
 stronger glacial currents. 
 
 In Greenland, on the other hand, the mean temper- 
 ature has probably been gradually lowered during sev- 
 eral centuries past, since the prosperous times of the 
 ^orse colonies, nine hundred to five hundred vears ago 
 A groat ice sheet 1,500 n.iles long, with a maximum width 
 of .00 miles and an area of about 575,000 square miles, 
 covers all the interior of Greenland ; and although now 
 Its extent is less than during the Glacial period, it has 
 
308 
 
 1^^ 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ( oubtloss lield its own, or mainly somewhat increased 
 during several hundred years. While the snow and ice 
 accumulation is predominant, no englacial drift becomes 
 suprrgjaeia! ; but in the region of Inglefield Gulf 
 ClKimberhn liuds the frontal ice cliffs well charged with 
 
 SSfafe- 
 
 englacial dehrh to a third or half of their total hei-hts 
 of 100 to 200 feet or more. The same ratio of tlie lower 
 part of the ice sheet containing drift would quite cer- 
 tainly give it a thickness of 1,0U0 to 2,000 feet in the 
 deeply ice-covered central portion of Greenland. Other 
 
eased 
 
 id ice 
 
 iomes 
 
 Gulf 
 
 with 
 
 PRESENT AND PLEISTOCENE ICE SHEETS. 309 
 
 features especially noted are the very distinct stratifica- 
 tion of the ice and its ^^=fferential forward motion, pro- 
 ducing not only this stra.mcation but also sigmoid folds 
 and ov^rthrust faults, where the upper layers move 
 faster than the lower, and these in turn faster than the 
 fnction-hindered base. In just the same way the accel- 
 erated currents of the waning ice sheet during the tem- 
 perate Champlain epoch overrode each other in succes- 
 sion from the highest to the lowest on the moraine- 
 forming border, bearing a great amount of superglacial 
 dntt to the margin, whenever it remained nearly 
 s ationary during a series of years. If a mild temperate 
 climate could bring to Greenland the conditions of the 
 Ch^implain epoch, its thick ice sheet in the interior 
 under rapid ablation would fully ilhistrate, as the 
 MaJaspina Glacier even now does in a considerable de- 
 gree, the formation of the great series of morainic drift 
 hills which mark stages in the retreat of the continental 
 ice sheets. 
 
 iiiia- 
 
 hts 
 ver 
 er- 
 the 
 ler 
 
 1 
 
h^ 
 
 ClIAPTEU xir. 
 
 I'LEISTOCKNK .'HA X.i KS OK LKVKL AliOUNI) THE I.ASIN 
 OF TIIIO NOllTH ATI. ANTIC. 
 
 In North Anu-riea, on the wost side of the North 
 Athintic Oeoun, and in Europe, on its east side, ice 
 sheets of viist extent were ueeuniuluted diirin<v tlie' foe 
 Aire or Pleistocene period-the hist completed division 
 oi i^^oologic time-inm.ediately jjrecedin^r the present or 
 I syc^hozoic period. JJetween the two great ureas that 
 were then ice envek)ped is the hmd, almost a continent, 
 winch has been the theme of the foregoing pages; and 
 we have seen tliat it now lies, for the greater i)art of its 
 whole area, beneath an ice sheet similar to those o2 
 North America and Knrope in I>leistoccnc times, 
 (n-eeniand, tliereforc, may be well e.xj)ected to supply 
 us the key for tlie interi)retation of the processes of the 
 erosion, transportation, and deposition of th- glacial 
 drift on the contiguous continents. Furthermore in 
 onr inquiry concerning the causes of the extra Drdin'ary 
 Pleistocene ice accumulation, we mav well look to 
 Crreenland for aid toward the solution of this difficult 
 and still much debated question. Keserviug these dis- 
 cussions, however, to later chaj^ters, it will be profitable 
 here to take a general survey of the changes in the rela- 
 tive heights of land and sea which are known to have 
 occurred on the northern, western, and eastern borders 
 of the North Atlantic basin during the Pleistocene 
 
 i^ 
 
PLKISTOCKNE CIlAxNGKS OF LEVKL. a^i 
 
 period. TlK-so land o,s,;iIhifi.,n.s not only account for 
 
 ho pocnl.antie, of gco<n-ai.hic range of niany specie, in 
 
 the llora and fauna of (Greenland, but also they have 
 
 given origin to the groat climatic chanircs of the arctic 
 and north temperate zones, through which the warm 
 temperate Miocene circumpolar flora was succeeded at 
 
312 
 
 OltKKNLANi) ICKFIHLDS. 
 
 1 "' 
 
 I III' 
 
 I 
 
 ho oml of the rortiury eru by the ice sheets u.ljoining 
 the Xorth At htMt.c, a.ul later, by returning, .annth, 
 •nelt.ng away the continental ^rhieicrs and somewhat ro- 
 stnot.ng the area of the great (iehl of snow and ico en 
 velopmg the interior of (ireenland. In the present 
 chapter we will examine the evidences of the Pleistocene 
 changes of level, leaving their application as the causes 
 of the accnnuUation, and later of the <lisappearanco of 
 the 1 leistocene ,ce sheets, for special review in another 
 eha])ter. 
 
 More than forty years ago Prof. .Jan.es I). Dana 
 showed hat the Hords are valleys which were en,ded by 
 streams during a for.nerly greater elevation of the land 
 At the time of their excavation the streams flowed along 
 the bo tom of the liords, and the depths of these be 
 neath the,present sea level are a measure of the ensuing 
 subsidence, or of a large part of it, for evidently the 
 subsidence could not have been less, but mav have been 
 more, than the depth of the fiords. Few of the fiords 
 of Greenland have been carefully sounded, but many of 
 the ice fiords are known, by the size . the bergs floated 
 out to sea with the ebbing of the tides (10 to 13 feet in 
 difT^rence of height between high and low tide on the 
 liaffin Bay coast), to have at least a depth of 1,000 feet 
 ■ of water. In the Jakobshavn ice fiord the fishermen 
 sink their lines to a depth of nearly 1,;{00 feet for the 
 hsh which have their feeding grounds at the bottom. 
 In the h ram Josef Fiord, on the east side of (Ireenland, 
 Ciiptain Koldewey found no bottom by a sounding o 
 500 fathoms (;J,000 feet). 
 
 Greenland is divided from the contiguous North 
 American continent and archipelago b>;a great valley 
 of erosion, which is estimated from soundings and tidal 
 records to have a mean depth of 3,510 feet below sea 
 
h 
 
 I'LKISTOCKNK OlIANOES OF LEVEL. 313 
 
 level for (IHO niilos through Davis Strait, :i,()»r) foot for 
 770 ni.los next nortiiward through liafliii liay, and 1,(;(J3 
 feet for the next ao niiU's north through Smith Stn'i.t.* 
 Conti.niing northward, this eroded valley, now depressed 
 beneath the sea, has a dei)th of 2{):i fathoms (or 1,^18 
 feet) in Kennedy Channel, latitude 81°. 
 
 The liords of the west coast of (Jreenland vary from 
 10 or ^0 miles to 75 miles or more in length ; and on 
 the east eoast the deep and branehing Franz Josef Fiord 
 (latitude 7-'^ LV) was explored by Koldewcy in 1870 to 
 a distance of about 100 miles from the outer shore line. 
 Analogous in their i)hysical features and origin with 
 the fiords are the long, irregular straits, channels, and 
 sounds whi(di divide the many largo and small islands 
 of the arcti(3 archii)elago west of Baffin Hay. They are 
 doubtless old river courses of the former northward con- 
 tinuation of the continent, now so far submerged that 
 what were valleys have become branching and interlock- 
 ing arms of the sea. Only scanty soundings have been 
 obtained in these waters, which are covered bv floes and 
 the broken ice pack during the greater part oi the year. 
 In Lancaster Souiul, much frequented by American 
 vyhalers, the depth of 900 feet is recorded ; in Jijlrrow 
 Strait, leading thence westward between North Devon 
 and the west part of Cockbnrn Land, there is a sound- 
 ing of 1,080 feet; and the north })art of Prince Regent's 
 Inlet, leading southward near 90° longitude, has a 
 depth of 1 ,080 feet. (United States Navy Hydrographic 
 Office charts.) 
 
 ♦Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. xv, pp. 163 
 164. Am. Geologist, vol. vi, p. 8.30, December, 1890; Am. Jour! 
 Sci.. ITT. vol. xlvi, p. 119. August, 1893. (Compare also the state- 
 ment of the same explanation in a more recent paper, by Prof N 
 S. Shaler, Bulletin, Geol. Soe. Am., vol. vi, p. 158. January, 1895.) 
 
314 
 
 (JliEENLAND ICKFIELDS. 
 
 Sontl.wm-d on tho nortluvistorn borders of North 
 ouiMv uiiutM, iiwon iiiir to Prof I w v. 
 
 ";ilM!;,:f--'-S.'SS-.'S? ffi^^ 
 
 ovcr- 
 eiued. 
 
 tlie (Jnlf of St. Laurence, and tl.e Onlf of M-tino ro 
 spective V 2 ()4() fnof •x cro f l , ^>i<inio, le- 
 
 sea level T , i' ''^' ""^^ ^''^^^ ^^^^ ^^low 
 
 sea level. 11k> bed of the old Lanrentian l?iver fron, 
 
 he outer boundary of the Fishin, Hanks to t e no" 
 
 of the haguenay, a distance of n>ore than 800 miles, il 
 
PLI<:iSTOCKNK CHANGES OF LEVEL. 315 
 
 readied by soundings 1,878 to 1,104 feet in depth. Ad- 
 vuncin^r inliind, the sublime fSiigueniiy Fiord, along an 
 extent of iibout oO miles, ranges from .'JOO to 840 feet in 
 depth l)eIo\v the sea level, while in some places its bor- 
 dering cliffs, 1 to 1^ milo apart, rise abruptly l.OOO feet 
 above the water.* 
 
 The eontinuation of the Hudson River Valley has 
 been traeed by detailed hydrograi)hic surveys to the 
 edge of the stee]) (iontinental slope at a distance of about 
 105 miles southeastward from Sandy Hook. Its outer- 
 most 2') miles are a submarine fiord ;} miles wide and 
 from 900 to 2^m feet in the vertical dej.th, measured 
 from the crests of its bunks, which, with the adjoining 
 flat area, decline from 1300 to 000 feet below the ])i-esent 
 sea level. The deepest sounding in this submerged 
 ^nrd is ;^,844 feet.f 
 
 An unfinished survey by soundings off the mouth of 
 Delaware Hay finds a simihir valley submerged nearly 
 1,200 feet, but not yet traced to the margin of the con- 
 tinental j)lateau. 
 
 Farther to the south Prof. N. S. Shaler concludes 
 that l^londa has been uplifted probably ^>,0()0 feet, more 
 or less, above its present height. This oi)inion is 
 founded on the distribution of species of animals and 
 
 * J- W. Spnic-,..-, IJulletin. (}eol. Soc. Am., v„l. . .?() pn 65- 
 70,wUh n.up of tl.o (iulf of St. Lawrence and tlu, subrnVn^cl 
 Laurontmn liver. J. W. Dawso,., Xotes en the Post-Plioc^no 
 Geobgy of ( anada, 1873, p. 41 ; The Canadian Ice Age, 1893, pp. 
 
 f t««/^'"'^?o^'^'^' ^'^"'^ "•■ ^'- ^''- ^'"''^^ '""^ ^^"•^^ti'^ S"rvov 
 for 1884, pp. 435-438 ; An,. Jour. Sci., Ill, vol. xxix, pp 475-486 
 
 June 1885,- J,nnes D. Dana, Am. Jour. Sci., Ill, vol. xl pp. 425- 
 437, December, 1890. with an excellent map of the Hudson sub- 
 marine valley and fiord, 
 
816 
 
 (JHKKNLANI) ICKKIRLDS. 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 P an .n l.e West Indies and in the mljoinin,, parts of 
 ^orth un.l South An.orica; on tho ostuarino ninths of 
 the rivors o tho southoastern United States; on tho 
 ox.stonce of frosh water to tho dopth of !)()() f.-et, and of 
 «Hl water lowor, in a (h>ep well bored at St. An^M.Htine; 
 HMd on theocenrreneeof a^reat fresh-water sprint well- 
 ing up strongly in the sea " a few miles to the so,.th of St 
 Augustine and three or four n.iles fro.n the coast line '' 
 Iho issuanee of this submarine si,ring can ho only from 
 a (.ivernous subterranean water course in the lin.estono 
 of the Horn urn ponins.da, originally due to n.nninc 
 water when the land was formerly nnu.h elevated * H 
 •B worthy of note that an upliff, of 0,004 feet would 
 nnao this peninsula with Cuba, closing the Strait of 
 
 ^^It^thl'ul^^^^^ 
 
 In the West Indies the recent geologic researches of 
 
 ^J.\\ Sponcer,« well <lemonstrato that these islandl 
 have undergone great changes of level, both of subsid- 
 
 time. Similar conclusions are also reached bv V T 
 Simpson from his study of the distribution and varia- 
 lons of tlie land and fresh-water molluscs of tho ' t 
 Iiidiiin region. II 
 
 The Uthmm of Panama also appears to liavo been 
 .ieprossed dcopl, boneati, the sea wltlm, the saTo tte 
 
 t (Jnarl .I,,,,,-. r„.„l. Soc, v„l. xlvii. I8!)|, .,,, m-.j,,,, 
 
 .»c.i<,!::':T:;;;;,""ist.r ""■• ™'- "• ■■"• '"■■'-'«• -"■ ■»".• > 
 
 I Piw., U. s. N-,,;i,mal Jtiisomii, v„l, xvii, 1804, p,,. 43.'M50. 
 
PLKISTOCKNM (;HAN(JKS OF I.KVKL. 317 
 
 goologio period, m is in.licat.ul by the closo .-li.rjnshir) 
 of tiio Pacinc and West Indian dcop-sea fau..ua on the 
 oppoHito Hides of the isth.niis, made known through 
 ' ••edging by Alexan.U.r Agassi/.* This testimony, in- 
 deed, with that of Darvyin, L. and A. Agassiz,^ and 
 others, of yery recent, extensive, and >■ .p subsich-n.-e of 
 the western coast of South An.eriea, apparently, how- 
 ever, oontinning for no h.ng time, lends n.uoh proha- 
 bdity to tiie supposition that the low Panama isthnn.s 
 was somewhat deeply submerged for a geologieally short 
 perio.l co.itemporaneous with cpeirogenic u])liftc, \ of 
 tlio circumpolar parts of this continent, both at the 
 north and soutii, whereby the effects of great altitude 
 in coyenng the northern and southern iiigh areas with 
 ice sheets wore augmented by the passage of mucii of 
 the (iulf Stream into the racific Ocean. 
 
 .-seyeral low passes between the Gulf of Mexico and 
 the Pacifi,. are found in the Lake Nicaragua region, on 
 the Isthmus of i>anama, and in the Atrato Hiyer district 
 on the south, at heights from i;j;5 to 300 feet aboye the 
 sea, so that only moderate changes of level would give 
 a shallow submergence. Previous to the observations 
 by A. Agassiz in dredging, which seem to require d~eep 
 subsidence of the isthmus to account for close alliance 
 or identity of deep-sea species, a less submergence had 
 been long before claimed by P. P. Carpenter, Wyville 
 
 * Bulloti,,, Museum Comp. Zocil.. at Ilarvurd Coliogc, vol xxi 
 pp. 185-200, June. 1891. ^ ' 
 
 t The t ornis epeirogenr • -ul ^eirogenic (contiuent-producinff 
 from tho (.reek e,>eiros, a n.aiul.MM. or continent) are proposed by- 
 Mr. G. K. Gilbert (in Luke Bonneville, Monograph I U S Geo- 
 logical Survey, 1890, p. 340, to .lesignute tho broad moVen.ents 
 of uphfr and subsidence which affect tho whole or large portions 
 of the continental areas and of the oceanic basins, 
 
318 
 
 GKEENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 h'.?v 
 
 Thomson, ami others. Thus Carpenter, in a report on 
 the niolhisca of the oi)posite sides of the Isthmus of 
 Panama, regarded 35 species as uliko in tiie two oceans; 
 U other species so nearly allied that tiiey may prove to 
 he identical ; and 41 others sei)arated hy only very slier], t 
 differences.* Thomson arranged side by side 18 species 
 of echinoderms from each sea, which resemble each 
 other so closely as to be hardly distinguishablc.f A. R. 
 Wallace affirms that on the opposite sides of the isthmus 
 " no less than 48 species of fishes ai-e identical," which, 
 with the community in the lower orders before noted,' 
 he thinks to be sufficient jiroof of "a connection be- 
 two :^ he oceans at a recent date." J 
 
 t'u the Pacific coast of the United States, Prof 
 Joseph Le Conte has shown that the islands south of 
 Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, now separated from 
 the mainland and from each otiier by channels 20 to 30 
 miles wide and GOO to 1,000 feet deep, were still a part 
 of the nuiinland during the late Pliocene and early 
 Quaternary periods. « In northern California, Prof 
 George Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey, 
 reports three submarine valleys about 25, 12, and miles 
 south of Cape .Alendocino, sinking respectively to 2,400, 
 3,r> and 2,700 feet below the sea level, where thev 
 cross the 100-fathom line of the marginal plateau. || If 
 the land there were to rise 1,000 feet, these vallevs 
 
 * Britisli Association Report, 1856. 
 
 t I>oi)ths of the Sen, 1873, pp. 13-15. 
 
 t Xaturo^ vol. ix, p. oo,,, J„„. oo, jg-^, ^,^ ,^,^^^ ^^_^ 
 
 "'".'% il.^'' ^'^''"''^^ ^^'^''^^"^ i" <'"' ^^eologioal Masa/ine,Il. 
 vol. 11, 1875, pp. 573-580. n , . 
 
 * Bulletin of the r'nlifornia Academy of Sciences, vol. ii, 1887 
 pp. 515-520. ' '» 
 
 Ij Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 205-2G8, 
 
 
 fl 
 
PLEISTOCENE CHANGES OF LEVEL. 3^9 
 
 «e,»rated from the open ocoa^ ,y tl!" Htf Zi^ 
 tlie continuat on of the CoM^f p„ V isiands, 
 
 ^ro. t,.e aept„s o, t,!":ht::ltfUr t'M 
 
 ;- r- "-'- r.n or .e wtf :r.;i^c:: 
 
 va'leys o„ both the caste™ a/d t e> relt tuh'f 
 atest t,me of erogenic disturbance by Cti^ 
 .oava. of the Sierra Xevada and Coast „" '" c .T 
 fonna, <V„nng the closing stage of the Tert^hrv '-^.^t 
 
 o't': LT:; I trent "!iT''r ""' ^o™ '" ^ 
 
 -porting ArchZ';2,ert;s; tirf 
 
 tliG Mississippi to tlie shore of the Onlf of vr n 7 
 
 E. W. Ililgard thinks that t p^ ,:' f ^^j/ f 
 -g'-atm. the Ice Age, was 4,000 I 5,0 L 'ml n 
 «.e ee tra, part of the continent than at t e i ^i' 
 
 ^^^- Canadian .N-„.„„Ui»t, new sorio. v„,. vjii, pp. S4,-048, April, 
 t Am. , Tour. Sd., HI, v„l. „Ui, pp. .sH-m.'ihy. ,8!)3. 
 
320 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 The general absence of Pliocene formations along 
 both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of North America 
 indicates, as pointed out by Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, that 
 daring this long geologic period all of the continent 
 north of the Gulf of Mexico held a greater altitude, 
 which from the evidence of the submarine valleys is 
 known to have culminated in an elevation at least 3,000 
 feet higher than that of the present time. Such plateau- 
 like uplift of the continent had only a short duration 
 on the latitude of New York and of Cape Mendocino 
 (between 40° and 41°). AVith the steep gradients of 
 the preglacial Hudson River and of the streams which 
 formed the now submerged channels on the Californian 
 coast, these rivers, if allowed a long time for erosion, 
 mu^i have formed even longer and broader valleys than 
 the still very impressive troughs which are now found 
 on these submarine continental slopes. But the dura- 
 tion of the epeirogenic uplift of these areas, on the bor- 
 der of the glaciation for the Hudson and beyond it for 
 the Californian rivers, can scarcely be compared in its 
 brevity with the prolonged high altitude held during 
 late Tertiary and early Quaternary time by the deeply 
 fiord-indented Scandinavian peninsula, and by all the 
 northern coasts o." North America, from Maine and 
 Puget Sound to the arctic archipelago and Greenland. 
 The abundant long and branching fiords of these north- 
 ern regions, and thg wide and deep channels dividing 
 their islands, attest a very long time of preglacial high 
 elevation there. At the time of culmination of the long- 
 continued and slowly increasing uplifts at the north, or, 
 very probably, much later, when the most northern 
 lands and the basin of Baffin Bay had become depressed 
 nearly as now, the maximum epeirogenic elevation 
 seems to have extended during a short epoch far to the 
 
PLEISTOCENE CHANGES OP LEVEL. 331 
 
 south coincident witii tlio accnmulation of ice sheets in 
 high latitudes. 
 
 The time of the erosion of the great fiords of Green- 
 land IS known to have been wholly subsequent to the 
 deposition of the leaf-bearing beds, the highest of which 
 are considered by Ileer to be of Miocene age, while Sir 
 William Dawson and J. Starkie Gardner refer them to 
 the Eocene period. Intercalated with the higher por- 
 tions of these plant-bearing strata of sandstone and 
 shales are layers of basalt, and great outflows of the 
 same lava cap the fossiliferous series (see Chapter VIII 
 
 uXt ott/^i'" ^^^^^"^^ activity had Lased, in 
 uph of the and appears to have slowly borne the 
 basaltic plain thousands of feet above its original level • 
 and streams meanwhile, slowly cutting down their beds,' 
 channelled the majestic fiords and the deep Waigat 
 \ alley whose bottom is now submerged, dividing Di?co 
 Island from the ^oursoak (or .^ugsuak) Peninsida. Of 
 this Uaigat passage Dr. Hansen writes: "As Prof 
 Ilelland has observed, no geologist who has examined 
 he spot can doubt for a moment that the huge strata 
 fiom the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, as well as the 
 later basaltic formations lying above them, which show 
 corresponding features and dimensions on either side of 
 the channel once formed a solid and connected whole. 
 The channel can not be older than the rocks which fornx 
 Its sides. And as some of the Tertiary deposits are of 
 veiy recent date, belonging, in fact, to the latest section 
 of Miocene imes, and as, furthermore, these strata are 
 
 Waigat itsel must be a production of a comparatively 
 
 ZTFZ: ': • ^'^"'""'^ ''''"^''^ ^-each a height of 
 f om 4 000 to 5,000 feet, or even more; and as the 
 channel itself is of great depth, wc can sec that here a 
 
322 
 
 (JRKKNLANI) ICKFIKLDS. 
 
 |; I 
 
 mass of solid rock, nearly 100 milos in length, some 10 
 miles broad, and several thousand feet in thickness, has 
 been quarried out and carried away. . . ."* J\ans(!n 
 attributes this stupendous work of erosion to glacial 
 a<ition when the inland ice was so extended as to 1111 the 
 AVaigat Valley with an immense outilowing glacier ; and 
 it is true that the ice sheet has been suilicicntly gn^ater 
 thai\ now to permit this assum])tioiu Dr. Itink notes 
 the occurrence of granitic drift boulders on the top of 
 the basalt mountains of Disco. 'I'lie ice has doubtless 
 occupied the Waigat Vall(\y, but the cxciavation of this 
 liordlikc })assage, with essentially its j)resent topo- 
 graphic f(>atui'(\s, like the erosion of tlu* Colorado cafion 
 and its trihutai-ies, must be ascribed not to ice abrasion, 
 but to slow, long-continued stream channelling during 
 a million years, more or less, forming the later ])art of 
 the Tertiary era, with some portion probably for the 
 (J recnlaiul fiords, and the whole for the (J rand C^afion, 
 of the ensuing comi)aratively very short (Quaternary era. 
 For the sake of clearness of statement, we have thus 
 far considered only or chiclly the great uplifts of the 
 land areas which characterized the end of the Tertiary 
 era and the early })art of the Pleistocene period up to the 
 Ice Age. Succeeding that time of general elevation of 
 the northern and circnmpolar lands, on both sides and 
 north of the North Atlantic Ocean, there came a time 
 of correspondingly general land depression, when these 
 c;>untries sank nearly to their present height, or mostly, 
 for the regions which had been ice-covered, somewhat 
 lower than now, so that their coastal tracts were to a 
 considerable extent submerged beneath the sea. "'he 
 prevailing connection of this depression with the prcvi- 
 
 Tho First Crossing of Greenland, vol. ii. pp. 47.n. 474. 
 
IM.KI.STOCKNK CflAXUKS OF I.KVKI,. 333 
 
 ouc l.cavy l,„.,lin(j „f t|,„ l,„„l uy the tl,i„k ,„,.«., of the 
 
 oirc,.t,w,U he,l,»eu»,e,I further „„ , b t it i, evid nttli 
 " -m|o ar™, ,„.,, espeeiall, i„ the regio,, „/„ " , ' 
 
 m.l«,-, ,>hm„ Man:,, liaj, and farther north, the d „" 
 «nl „u,ve„u,nt of the land, ,„b»e,|>,ent to l,e tLo of 
 . ovatn.,, „, wh,eh thefl„rd» were eroded, „,., far gr™te 
 H„ wo„h he i,ro,,orth,„ate with the probable b rd n 
 of the ,eo sheets a,id their removal. 
 
 Tbo greater amount of this recent subsidenee f„l. 
 owed by more reeent re-elevation, known for ay it 
 
 in n '';■; '■'■«""',""^''«"'K "'« North AtlanticlLh. 
 n north wentern (Ireenlan,! and the contiguous (Irin 
 .andand.;ra,,t.,and In a paper read befo,; t '„ 
 »u t on „1 (,eogra,,hy ,n the Rritish Association at the 
 ;-""? ."August, 1«.M, (;oI. jr. W. Feilden, wl „ w 
 the naturahst of the Nares Arctic J-Ixpedition in h" 
 
 •u.' I,: '"■"•'^•/«- ''"'"%' i" tl'e ico'pack 
 
 ; t I ■" """■"'""'"'« "•« ""rtl. P"lc, will relurn 
 
 - t II the.r evpenences. Not o,dy is .Siberian drift, 
 wood strewn along the northwest coast of Creenlanl 
 
 |".a the sl„,res of (irinnellUnd, but al.,„ the „ 
 I'Hve brought such ,lriftwood during a long time past 
 n wh,c ,„.„,„„ Und has been uplifted !t least 1,000 
 fcc- Ip to that height Col. Feilden there found 
 ■In twood ond,e.ldcd in recent alluvial or glacial clay 
 "..J mud deposits, with marine shells of the sp«i^ 
 
 Zn Ti'i'iV'i u "Tr' '""■ '■'"" ''■™'™ ^"^^ 
 
 often std held together by their hinges and retain their 
 own ep,,lern„»; and the wood is combustible, and 1 
 Iwlit a^s to float on water. All the wood appears to be 
 eomferous speces, being wholly different from the 
 <Inftwood east on the shores of Spitsbergen, which is 
 
GRKEXLAND K'KFIELDS. 
 
 borne by tho Gulf Stream into tlie North Atlantic and 
 Arctic Oceans. In another pijier, jjrepai-cd soon after 
 tho return of tho Nares expedition, Fciiden, with hia 
 associate, C. K. De Kanco, wrote: 
 
 A Ciirofiil oxainiimtioii of tho fossil rcimiiiis found iti tho recent 
 beds of (irinui'U Lund and Nortli (hvcnland, exiciidinj,' fronv iin 
 altitude of 1,000 feet to tlie present sea h'vel, jjives uiiniislakuble 
 evidence that the fauna is praetiealiy identical with that now 
 exist inj; in (Jrinnell Land as well as in the nei-,'-hhouring sea. Tho 
 remains of maninialia, such as tlu' len)inin.i; (J/i/odcs torqiiatiin), 
 tlie rin.tfed seal (/Vtwa luHinda), (he reindeer (Ccri'iis fKrandufi), 
 and nuisk ox (Orihon mosr/td/u.^), were discovered in these beds. 
 The marine moUuscii most abundant as livin.t,' species in the adja- 
 cent seas, such as Fectm (/ra'nlnndinis, Asfaiie ()ori'ii/i\ Mi/a 
 triDirafn, and Saxicnra rugosa, are also tlie mos'. abundant spe- 
 c'ies throu.irhout the mud beds; while the stems of two species of 
 Lnininarut. which appear to grow in considerabh' abundance in 
 the Polar Sea. \n>rc detected in nuid h-ds. at an elevation of ;200 
 feet, still retaining their peculiar seashore odour. Coniferous 
 driftwood of precisely the same character as that now stranded 
 was found at elevations of several hundred feet, and so little 
 altered by time or climate that it still retaine.l its buoyancy. . 
 
 The accounts given of trees having been found in similar'nost- 
 I l.ocene beds in the polar regions, under circu.nstances that wo.dd 
 ead to the supposition that such trees had grown /. situ, are not 
 to be rehed on ; and no evidences were discovered in the n.ud beds 
 of Cxrnn.el Land to encourage the opinion that there have been 
 any mterglac-iHl periods of increased temperature-at all events 
 dunng the h.ng ti.ne whi,.h must have elapsed while Grinnoll 
 Land was risn.g to an altitude of 1.000 feet above the present sea 
 level.* '■ 
 
 _ A list of fifteen species of fossil lamellibranch shells 
 nine of gastropod shells, and several species in other 
 groups, collected by Feilden in the Pleistocene beds ol 
 Grinnell Land and ncrtheru Greenland np to about 
 
 * Quart. Jour. Geol. Sue., London, vol. xxxiv, 1878, pp. 5G0, 507. 
 
• 
 
 PLEISTOC'EXK ClfANXJlS OF lkYEL o.^ 
 
 1,200 foct ul,„v„ the son, as Wei.tiflcl by Dr. J (Jwyn 
 Jc irrojs and ot ii'i-i, ia .'ivcn l,v Sli,- wiiii i> " 
 
 Alio l„in.i.l.an Ico Ago (imgos a09, a70). 
 
 Later, m the same region, („..sil n,,,rine sliells have 
 >'ccn found at still greater heigl,,,, proving a re "nt 
 s ubsulenoo to the depth of ,,m feet with ^ubseql 
 re-, evation. (,„n. A. W. Oroelj's Uoport of the l' "d 
 Mates l.x,K.d,tK.n to Lady Franl^lin ]!ay, Cirinnell 
 Und, monfons (in volnn.e ii, page 57) the ooonr "ce 
 
 feot, and of .S,m,:am ar,://cu, as provisionally dJter- 
 ..uned, np to x',000 feet above the sea. At Polm-is Bav 
 
 M M), marine shells are reported, by Dr. Emil Bes- 
 sols to oeeur np to the height of l,(i(,0 Lt. 
 
 Manne fossils in beds overlying the glacial ,Irift 
 p.ove that he northeastern part of North Anieriea 
 stood lower ha„ now in tho Champlain epoeh-tha 
 
 e time of departure of tho ieo sheet. This depress o' 
 ^W. oh seo,„s to have been prodnoed by the vas^ woi^ 
 of the 100, was honnded on the south appro.xiiuately by 
 « I no , rawii from near the city of Now York JmI 
 eastward to Boston and onward through Nova Sooti,^ 
 » hu, the ,00 shoot was being withdrawn from this 
 
 ■T" , '" """""■^ .^°""' "f ""» li- ^tooa somewhat 
 gho, than now, as ,s shown by tho channels of streams 
 
 I emodTf/r!i;! '','""' "'" "»'""« '<=<> ""O «" -.-OSS 
 
 ot Long Island, Martha's Vineyard,Nant„oKot,and Capo 
 in ;„. nl'^'''""" .""l'™^'™ »' the land there, col 
 ha W "^i If' ""'"'"■■■■"I'tedly to the present time, 
 has brought the sea into these old river courses- bu 
 
 ressi:;;';;'';;'""'^' r "'- "-^ "'° '-"• ■" "■<' '■- "' 
 
 recession of the loe sheet was lower than now, and the 
 
32({ 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 coast and estuaries were more submerged by tlie sea 
 Fossiliferous beds of modified drift, supplied from the 
 melting ice slieet and resting on the till, show that the 
 vertical amount of the marine submergence wlien the 
 lee sheet disappeared was 10 to 25 feet in the vieinitv of 
 Boston and northeastward to Cape Ann ; about 150 feet 
 Hi tlie vicinity of Portsmoutli, New Hami>sliire; from 
 loO to 300 feet along the coast of Maine and southern 
 New Brunswick; about 40 feet on the northwestern 
 shore of Nova Scotia; thence increasing westward to 
 200 feet in tlie Bay of Chalours, 375 feet in the St 
 Lawrence Valley opposite to the Saguenay, and 500 feet 
 at Montreal; 300 to 400 feet, increasing from south to 
 north, along the basin of Lake Champlain; about 275 
 feet at Ogdensburg, and 450 feet near the city of Ot- 
 tawa; 300 t6 500 feet on the country southwest of 
 James Bay; and in Labrador, little at the south, but 
 increasing northward to 1,500 feet at Nachvak, accord- 
 ing to Dr. Kobert Bell ; while in northern Greenland 
 and Grinnell Land, as before noted, it was from 1 000 
 to 2,000 feet. ' 
 
 That the land northward from Boston was so much 
 lower while the ice sheet was being melted away is 
 proved by the occurrence of fossil molluscs of far north- 
 ern range, including yohUa {Leaa) arctica Grav, which 
 is now found living only in arctic seas, where \hey re- 
 ceive muddy streams from existing glaciers and from 
 the Greenland ice sheet. This species is plentiful in 
 t'v;. stratified clays resting on the till in the St. Law- 
 rence Valley and in New Brunswick and Maine, extend- 
 ing southward to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. But it 
 is known that the land was elevated from this depres- 
 sion to about its present heiglit before the sea here be- 
 came warm, and the southern molluscs, which exist as 
 
PLEISTOCENE CIIAXOES OP LEVEL. 
 
 327 
 
 »/ 
 
 colonies in tlie Gulf of St. Lawrence, migrattMi thither; 
 for these southern species are not included in the exten- 
 sive lists of the fossil fauna found in the beds overlvinff 
 the till. ^ ^ 
 
 In the St. Lawrence basin these marine deposits 
 reach to the southern end of Lake Chaniplain, to Og- 
 densburg, and Brockville, and at least to Pembroke 
 and Allumette Island, in the Ottawa Iliver, about 75 
 miles above the city of Ottawa. The Isthmus of Ciiieg- 
 necto, connecting Nova Scotia with Xew Brunswick, was 
 submerged, and the sea extended 50 to 100 miles up the 
 valleys of tiie chief rivers of Maine and New Brunswick. 
 From the Champlain submergence attending the de- 
 parture of the ice the land was raised somewhat higher 
 than now, and its latest movement from New Jersey to 
 southern Greenland has been a moderate depression. 
 'I'he vertical amount of this postglacial elevation above 
 the present height and of the recent subsidence on all 
 the coast of New Jersey, Long Island, New England, 
 and the eastern provinces of Canada, is known to have 
 ranged from 10 feet to a maximum of at least 80 feet at 
 the head of the Bay of Fundy, as is attested in many 
 places by stumps of forests, rooted where they grew, and 
 by peat beds now submerged by the sea. 
 
 At the time of final melting of the ice sheet this re- 
 gion, which before the Ice Age had stood much higher 
 than now, was depressed, and the maximum amoun^t of 
 Its subsidence, as shown by marine fossils at Montreal 
 and northwestward to Hudson Bav, was 500 to 600 feet 
 Subsequently our Atlantic coast has been re-elevated to 
 a height probably 100 feet greater than now; and dur- 
 mg the recent epoch its latest oscillation has been again 
 downward, as when it was ice-oovered. The rate of'de- 
 pression since the discovery of America has probably 
 
 I'i 
 
328 
 
 OliKEXl.AND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 li 
 
 uvonigo.l one to two feet in a hundred years ulon- the 
 distance from New .Jersey to Nova Heotiu. At° the 
 ruined fortress of Louisbur- in Cape Breton Jsland, 
 the subsideneo api)ears to have been at least four or five 
 feet since the middle of the eighteenth century. At 
 Lichtenfels (hititude 03°), in (Greenland, according to 
 the Danisli surveys, the sinking of tlie land since 1789 
 has amounted to six or eight feet. In the basin of 
 J'M'lson Bay, however, the observations of Dr. Bell 
 show tiiat the re-elevation fi-oni the Ciiamplain sub- 
 mergence is still in progress, its rate, according to his 
 estimate, reaching probably live to seyor f^et durin<r 
 each century. ° 
 
 Turning to the glaciated regions of Europe, we find 
 as m North America, that the countries which were ice- 
 covered had jj much- greater altitude before the ice accu- 
 mulation, as shown by fiords. During the later part of 
 the Tertiary era and np to tlie (ilacnal period the larc^er 
 portion of the British Isles and all of Scandinatia 
 suffered vast denudation, with erosion of fiords and 
 channels that on the borders of Scotland and in the 
 Hebrides are now submerged 500 to 800 feet beneath 
 the sea. lAIuch higher preghicial elevation is known for 
 Scandinavia, the principal centre of outflow of the Eu- 
 ropean icefields. .Jamieson notes the depth of the 
 Christiania Eiord as 1,380 feet, of the Ilardanger Fiord 
 2,GU feet,^and of Sogne Fiord, the longest in Z^orway, 
 
 Afterward, when the European ice sheet was being 
 melted away, its area was mostly depressed somewhat 
 below Its present level. The snpposed great submer- 
 gence, however, np to l,iiOO and 1,500 feet, or more 
 
 * Geol. Magazine, III, vcl. viii, pp. 387-393, September, 1891. 
 
PLKISTOCKNR criAN(JES OF LEVEL. S'2\) 
 
 whleh has been cliiiniod by liritish geologists for nortb- 
 ern Wales, nortbwestern England, and a part of Ireland, 
 on tbe evidence of marine sliells and fragments of sbells 
 in glacially transported deposits, is sbovvn by Belt 
 Goodebild, Lewis, Kjndall, and otbers, to be nntenable! 
 Indeed, ti.ese fossils, not lying in tbe place wbere tboy 
 were living, give no proof of any depression of tbe land 
 since tbey bavo been broi.gbt by cnrrents of tbe ice 
 sbeet moving across tbe bed of tbe Irisb Sea. But it is 
 clearly known by otber evidence, as raised beacbes and 
 fossihferous marine sediments, tbat large areas of Great 
 Britain and Ireland were sliglitly depressed under their 
 burden of ice, and have been since uplifted to a vertical 
 extent, ranging probably up to a maximum of about 300 
 feet. 
 
 In Scandinavia the valuable observations and studies 
 of Baron Gerard de Geer bavo supplied lines of equal 
 <lepressiou of tbe land at tbe time of the melting aM'ay 
 of tbe ice. This region of greatest thickness of the 
 European ice sheet is found to have been depressed to 
 an increasing extent from the outer portions toward the 
 interior. The lowest limit of tbe submergence, at the 
 southern extremity of Sweden, is no more than TO feet, 
 above the present sea level, and in northeastern Den- 
 mark it diminishes to zero ; but northward it increases 
 to an observed amount of about 800 feet on the western 
 shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, near latitude G3°. Along 
 the coast of Korway it ranges from 200 feet to nearly 
 (JOO feet, excepting far northward, near North Cape, 
 where it decreases to about ""OO feet. In proportion 
 with this observed range of the subsidence on the coast 
 of Scandinavia, its amount in the centre of the country 
 was probably 1,000 feet. 
 
 A very interesting history of tbe postglacial oscilla- 
 
'MO 
 
 (JUKKXLANl) IC'KFIKLDS. 
 
 tlonsof soutluMMi SvvciUmi 1ms boon also ascorliiinod by 
 Miiroii do (Joor, which sooiiis to bo olosoly liko tho post- 
 ^Miicial movomoiitsof flio northoafitorn bordor of Js'orth 
 Aniorioa. As on our Atlantic coast, tho npbft from tho 
 Chaniphiiji subniorjronco in tluit part of Sweden raised 
 tho country higher than now. Tiio extent of this up- 
 lift appears to have been about 100 foot on tho area 
 between Denmark and Sweden, closing tho entrance to 
 the Baltic Sea, which became for some time a groat 
 fresh-water lake. After this another depression of that 
 region ensued, opening a deeper i)assago into tho Baltic 
 than nov, giving to this body of brackish water a con- 
 siderably higher degree of saltness than at present, with 
 the admission of several marine molluscs, notably Lih- 
 riim litorcn L., which are found fossil in tho beds 
 formed duritig this second and smaller submergence but 
 are not living in the Baltic to-day. Thus far the move- 
 ments of southern Sweden are paralleled by the i)ost- 
 glacial oscillations of Now England and eastern Canada 
 but a second ni)lifting of this part of Sweden is now 
 taking place, whereas no corresponding movement has 
 begun on our Atlantic bonier. It seems to be sucr. 
 gested, however, that it may yet ensue. The subsidence 
 has ceased or beciome exceedingly slow in eastern New 
 England, while it still continues at a measurable rate in 
 Now Jersey, Capo Breton Island, and southern Green- 
 land. 
 
 So extensive agreement on opposite sides of tlio At- 
 lantic in the oscillations of the land while it was ice- 
 covered, and since the departure of the ice sheets, has 
 probably resulted from similar causes-namely, tho 
 pressure of the ico weight bearing down the land from 
 Its great preglacial altitude, and the resilience of tho 
 earth's crust from the subsidence when it was nnbur- 
 
PLKISTOCKNI-: CIIAX(JKS OF LF.VKL. 33J 
 
 dened. Tlio rcstonition of isostatic equililjriuin in each 
 country is uttcndc'd by minor osciliiitions, the conditions 
 reouisito for reposo being ovorimssod by the early re- 
 eicvation of outer portions of each of those great glaciated 
 areas. 
 
 In view of this harmony in the epeirogcnic move- 
 ments of the two continents during the (ilacial and Re- 
 cent periods, it seems evident that the close of the Ico 
 Age was not long ago, geologically s])eaking, for equi- 
 librium of the disturbed areas has not yet been restored. 
 Furthermore, the close parallelism in the staj.s of prog- 
 ress toward repose indicates nearly the same time for 
 the end of the (Ilacial period on both continents, an<l 
 approximate synchronism in the pendulumlike series of 
 postglacial oscillations. 
 
 The temi)erate Miocene climate of the arctic regions 
 seems jn-obably referable chiefly to a much freer oceanic 
 circulation than now, permitting more of the warmth 
 of the tropics to be carried by marine currents into the 
 circumpcxlar area, which also may have had generally 
 deeper seas and less land to be the gathering ground of 
 ice sheocs. In the ensuing Pliocene times the northern 
 lands appear to have been gradually elevated and to 
 have become continuous, before the Ice age, from North 
 America across the area of the shallow Hehring 8ea and 
 Strait to northern Asia, and from \orway across the 
 now submarine Scatidinavian plateau, as it has been 
 called, having maximum dejjths of 1,500 to 1,700 feet, 
 to the Fiiroe Islands, Iceland, and (Ireenland. 
 
 If we refer the erosion of the channels of Baffin Bay 
 and the arctic archipelago west of Greenland to late 
 Miocene and early Pliocejie time, that extensive tract may 
 well have subsided to its present height, or lower, pro- 
 ducing the continuous water area of BafKn Bay, Smith 
 
332 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 U' 
 
 Sound and Kennedy and Robeson Channels, before the 
 ate Phocene and Pleistocene epochs of a nearly unl 
 form cn-cumpol.r flora and fauna, which present, how- 
 ever, a considerable contrast, as was noted in foregoin. 
 chapters, on the opposite sides of Baffin Bay. Previou! 
 o the general Champlain subsidence of the northe 
 ce.bu.dened lands by which the reign of cold and ic 
 in now temperate latitudes was brought rapidly to .n 
 end and, indeed, previous to the Ice age' itself, but 
 
 ^IZl Vt" ^"''' '^ ^^''^'' ^""y ^'^'^«^^^' ^1^^ i^^'-^^ier 
 plants of Scandinavia and certain species of the land 
 
 animals, birds, and insects of northern Europe had mi- 
 grated across the now submerged plateau to Greenland, 
 giving the remarkable European affinities of its flora 
 and fauna. 
 
 Many sneqies of plants and animals, probably includ- 
 ing the reindeer and musk ox, survived even^throngh 
 the Glacial period on the low shore lines and the high 
 nunataks of Greenland, which did not become wholly 
 icetaveloped. In later times, since the icefields have 
 been restricted on their borders, these hardy representa- 
 tives of the richer preglacial fauna and flora have in 
 many instances, extended their range along the yet par- 
 tial y icebound coasts of Greenland, both around its 
 northern and smithern ends; and the Eskimos have 
 come to share with the reindeer, seals, and polar bear 
 the stern wintry climate of this mountain-girdled, icy 
 land. ' ■^ 
 
 The native American peoples, now generally consid- 
 ered a division of the Mongolian race, appear to have 
 migrated to our continent from northeastern Asia dur- 
 ing the early Quaternary time of general uplift of 
 northern regions which immediately preceded the Ice 
 
 HfO. I linvi l.m.l .,.,.1 1 .. n ... 
 
 age 
 
 Ihen land undoubtedly extended across the pres- 
 
PLEISTOCENE CHANGES OF LEVEL. 
 
 333 
 
 ent area of Behring Sea. The width of Behring Strait 
 is only 2S miles, and its greatest depth is only 170 feet. 
 Northward from this strait the Arctic Ocean is very 
 shallow, and the 40-fathom or 240-foot submarine con- 
 tour line is first reached at a distance of 400 to 500 
 miles. Similarly, on the south, the 40-fathom contour 
 lies about 500 miles distant from the strait, passing close 
 south of the Pribilof Islands ; but south westward from 
 Behring Strait this line is reached at a distai.ce of 250 
 miles. This largo area of shallow sea was probably all 
 land in the early Pleistocene or Lafayette epoch of gen- 
 eral northern land elevation. During the Postglacial 
 period, however, since the culmination of the Cham- 
 plain subsidence, the region of Behring Strait, accord- 
 ing to Dall, has undergone considerable re-elevation, so 
 that th? water there is now shallower than in the Cham- 
 plain epoch. The many divergent branches of the 
 American peoples, and their remarkable progress toward 
 civilization in Mexico, Central America, and Peru, be- 
 fore the discovery by Columbus, indicate for this division 
 of mankind probably almost as great antiquity as in the 
 eastern hemisphere, where many lines of evidence point 
 to the origin and dispersion of men at a time far longer 
 ago than the C,000 to 10,000 years which measure the 
 Postglacial period. 
 
 hi 
 I 
 
 I 
 
tl 
 
 I 
 
 I' I 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CAUSES OF THE ICE AGE. 
 
 What were the causes of the accumulation of the ice 
 sheets of the Glacial period ? Upon their areas warm 
 or at least temperate climates had prevailed durin^r 
 long foregoing geologic ages, and again at the presen't 
 time they have mostly mild and temperate conditions, 
 ilie X leistocene continental glaciers of North America, 
 Europe, am] Patagonia have disappeared ; and the later 
 and principiil part of their melting was very rapid as 
 IS known by various features of the contemporaneous 
 glacial and modified drift deposits, and by the beaches 
 and deltas of temporary lakes that were formed by the 
 barrier of the receding ice sheets. Can the conditions 
 and causes be found which first amassed the thick and 
 vastly extended sheets of land ice, and whose cessation 
 suddenly permitted the ice to be quickly melted awav? 
 Two classes of theories have been presented in an- 
 swer to these questions. In one class, which we will 
 first consider, are the explanations of the cliuiate of the 
 lee Age tlirough astronomic or cosmic causes, compris- 
 ing all changes in the earth's astronomic relationship to 
 tlie heat of space and of the sun. The second class 
 embraces terrestrial or geologic causes, as changes of 
 areas of land and sea, of oceanic currents, and altitudes 
 ot continents, while otherwise the earth's relations to 
 external sources of heat are supposed to have been prac 
 
 3^4 
 
 ,» ,W '^ 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE ICE AGE. 335 
 
 tically us now, or not to Imve entered as important 
 lactors in the problem. 
 
 It has been suggested that, as the sun and his planets 
 are believed to be moving forward together throudi 
 space, the Glacial period may mark a portion of the 
 pathway of the solar system where less heat was sup. 
 
 paits of this pathway. To this suggestion it is sufficient 
 to reply, that the researches of Prof. S. P. Langlev, now 
 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, show that .t 
 the present time no appreciable measure of heat com.s 
 to us in that way, and that probably not so mi, -h as 
 one degree of the average temperature of the earth's 
 climates was ever, within geologic times, so received 
 tiom all other sources besides the sun and the earth's 
 own internal heat. Concerning the latter, also it is 
 well ascertained that during at least the Mesozoic Ter- 
 tiary, and Quaternary eras it has affected the climatic 
 average by no more than a small fraction of a deo-ree 
 
 Others have suggested that the sun's heat has^aried, 
 and hat the Ice Age was a time of diminished solar 
 radiation, lo this we nm.st answer that durino- the 
 centuries of written history, nud especially during the 
 past century of critical investigations in terrestriat and " 
 solar physics, no variations of this kind have been dis- 
 covered. Such a cause of the glacial accumulations 
 would have enveloped Alaska and Siberi;. u'ith ice sheets 
 and their drift deposits. The anomalous geogranhie 
 distribution of the drif. forbids this hypothesis. 
 
 Among all the theories 01 the caus. . of the Gl-icial 
 period the one which has atUacti ! I.e most attention 
 not only of geologists but also oi physicists and astron- 
 omers, was thought out by Dr. James Croll, and pub- 
 Iished in magazine articles during ihe years I8G1 to 
 
33G 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 -I* 
 
 1874, and is most fully stated in his work entitled 
 Climate and Time (187;-)). Dr. Croll's theory, which 
 also has been very ably advocated by Prof. James Geikie 
 in Tlie (ireat lee Age (18:4, 1877, and 1894), and by 
 Sir Robert S. Ball in The Cause of an Ice Age (1891), 
 attributes the accumulation of ice sheets to recurrent 
 astronomic cycles which bring the winters of each polar 
 hemisphere of the earth alternately into aphelion and 
 I)erihe]ion each 21,000 years during the periods of maxi- 
 mum eccentricity of the earth's orbit. Its last period 
 of this kind was from about 240,000 to 80,000 years ago, 
 allowing room for seven or eight such cycles and alter- 
 nations of glaciid and interglacial conditions. The 
 supposed evidence of interglacial epochs, therefore, gave 
 to this theory a wide credence ; but the uniqueness of 
 the Glacial ^period in the long geologic record, and the 
 recent determinations of the geologic brevity of the time 
 since the ice sheets disappeared from North America 
 and Europe, make it clear, in the apinions even of some 
 geologists who believe in a duality or plurality of Qua- 
 ternary glacial epochs, that not astronomic but geo- 
 graphic causes produced the Ice Age. From the 
 meteorologists' standpoint this astronomic explanation 
 of a formerly glacial climate in now temperate latitudes 
 has been alternately defended and denied, just as geolo- 
 gists have been divided in respect to its applicability to 
 the history of tlie Glacial ])eriod. 
 
 Many eminent glacialists, as James Geikie, Wahn- 
 schaffe, Penck, Do Geer, Chnmberlin, Salisbury, Shaler, 
 McGee, and others, believe that the Ice Age was com- 
 plex, having two, three, or more epochs of glaciation, 
 divided by long interglacial epochs of miU and tem- 
 perate climate, when the ice sheets were entirely or 
 mainly melted away. Prof. Geikie claims six distinct 
 
THE CAUSES OP THE ICE AGE. 
 
 337 
 
 glacial epoclis, as indicated by fossiliferous beds lyinsr 
 betvveon depoBits of till or unstratified glacial drift and 
 by other evidences of great climatic changes. ' Mr 
 Mc(lee, m the United States, recognises at least three 
 glacia epochs. On thr other hand, the reference of all 
 the gluciai drift to a single epoch of glaciation, with 
 moderate oscillations of retreat and readvance of the 
 lee border, is thought more probable by Dana, Hitch- 
 cock, and the present authors in America, Prestvvich 
 Larnplugh, and Kendale in England, Falsan in France' 
 Hoist 111 Sweden, and Kikit-ii in Russia. The argu- 
 ments supporting this op-" .an are set forth by Prof G 
 1 . W right in Tiie Ice A^ orth America (1889) and 
 
 Man and the Glacial Per: . (1892), and especially in 
 articles in the American Journal of Science for Kovem- 
 ber, 1892, and March, 1894. 
 
 In accordance with Dr. Croll's astronomic theory, 
 glacial periods would be expected to recur with creolocric 
 frequency, whenever the earth's orbit attained a stage 
 of maximum eccentricity, during the very long Tertiary 
 and Mesozoic eras, wliich together were probably a hun- 
 dred times as long as the Quaternary era in which the 
 Ice Age occurred. But we have no evidence of any 
 Tertiary or Mesozoic period of general glaciation in" 
 circumpolar and temperate regions, although high 
 mountain groups .,r ranges are known to have had local 
 glaciers. Not until we go back to the Permian period, 
 closing the Pahvozoic era, are numerous and widely dis- 
 tributed proofs of very ancient glaciation encountered. 
 Jioulder-bearing deposits, sometimes closely resemblincr 
 till and including striated stones, while the underlying 
 rock also occasionally bears glacial grooves and striae, 
 are found in the Carboniferous or more frequently the 
 lermian series in Britain, France, and Germany, Natal, 
 
338 
 
 GKKENLANI) ICEFIKl.I). 
 
 India, and southeastern Australia. In Natal the stri- 
 ated glacier floor is in latitude .'30° south, and in India 
 only.^()° north of tlie equator. During all the earth's 
 history previous to the lec Age, which conptitutes its 
 latest completed chapter, no other such distinct evidences 
 of general or interrupted and alternating glaciation have 
 been found; and just then, in close relationship with 
 extensive and repeated oscillations of the land, and with 
 widely distant glacial deposits and striation, we llnd a 
 most remarkable ei)och of mountain-building, surpassing 
 any other time between the close of the Arcluean ei-a 
 and the (Quaternary. 
 
 Alfred Ilussel Wallace therefore concludes, in his 
 work on Islaml Life, that eccentricity of the earth's 
 orbit, though tending to produce a glacial period, is 
 insufficieiit without the concurrence of high uplifts of 
 the areas' glaciated. He thinks that the time of in- 
 creased eccentricity J>40,000 to 8(),()()() years ago was 
 coincident with great altitude of northwestern Kurope, 
 North America, and Patagonia, which cousciiuently hv.- 
 came covered by ice sheets; but that such previous 
 times of eccentricity, not being favoured by geographic 
 coiiditions, were not attended by glaciation. The re- 
 centness of the Ice Age, however, seems to demonstrate 
 that eccentricity was not its primary cause, and to bring 
 doubt that it has exerted any determining inlluence in 
 producing unusual severity of cold either during the 
 I'leistoceno or any former period. 
 
 In various localities we are able to measure the jires- 
 ent rate of erosion of gorges below waterfalls; and the 
 length of the postglacial gorge, divided by the rate of 
 recession of the falls, gives approximately the time since 
 the Ice Age. Such measurements of the gorge and Falls 
 of 8t. Anthony by Prof. N. I[. Winchell show the length 
 
 ?? ■ i 
 
 V 
 
THE CAUSES OP THE ICE AGE. 
 
 339 
 
 of tlie Posfcgljiciiil or Uocent period to luivo boon about 
 8,000 years; and from the surveys of Nia^^ara Falls, Mr. 
 G. K. (jilhcrt ostinuited it to have been 7,000 years, more 
 or less. From the rates of wave-cutting along the sides 
 of Lake Mi(;higan and the consequent accumulation of 
 sand uround the south end of the lake, Dr. 1<]. Andrews 
 computed that the land tlua-e became uncovered from its 
 ice sheet not more than 7,r)00 years ago. Prof. (J. l'\ 
 V/right obtains a similar result from the rate of filling 
 of kettle-holes anu)ng the gravel knolls jind ridges called 
 kames and eskcrs, and likewise from the erosion of val- 
 leys by streams tributary to Lake Erie; and ]'rof. K K. 
 Emerson, from the rate of deposition of modilied di-ift 
 in the Connecticut Valley, at Northampton, Mass., 
 thinks that the time since the (Jlacial })eriod can not 
 exceed 10,000 years. An cfjually small estimate is also 
 indicated by the studies of (Gilbert and Wussell for the 
 time since the last great rise of the Quaternary I.ak(>s 
 Bonneville and Labontan, lying in Utah and Nevada, 
 within the nrid (Ireat Basin of interior drainage, wbich 
 are believed to liave been contetnporaneous with the 
 great extension of ice sheets upon the northern part of 
 the North Anu'rican continent. 
 
 Prof. James (ieikie maintains that tbe use of pahvo"- 
 lithic implenu'iits bad ceased, aud that early man in 
 Furope made neolithic; (polished) implements, before 
 the recession of the ic^e sheet from Scotland, Denmark, 
 and the Scandinavian peninsula; an.l Prestwich sug- 
 gests that the dawn of civilization in Egypt, Cliina, ami 
 India nuiy have i)een coeval with tbe glaciation of north- 
 western Furope. In Wales and Vork.shire tbe amount 
 of denudation of limestone rocks on whicb drift boul- 
 ders lie has been regarded by Mr. D. .Mackintosh as 
 I)roof that a i)eriod of not more than G,000 year.-, has 
 
340 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 elapsed since the boulders were left in tlieir positions. 
 The vertical extent of this denudation, averaging about 
 six inches, is nearly the same with tliat observed in the 
 southwest part of the Province of Quebec by Sir Wil- 
 liam Logan and Dr. Robert Bell, where veins of quartz, 
 marked with glacial stria?, stand out to various heights 
 not exceeding one foot above the weathered surface of 
 the inclosing limestone. 
 
 From this wide range of concurrent but independent 
 testimonies, we accept it as practically demonstrated 
 that the ice sheets disappeared only 0,000 to 10,000 
 years ago. It is therefore manifestly impossible to as- 
 (^ribe their existence to astronomic causes which ceased 
 80,000 years ago, as is done by Croll's theory. Instead, 
 we may believe, with Prestwich, that th.e Ice Age not 
 only terminated, but began, after the end of the last 
 period of maximum eccentricity of the earth's revolu- 
 tion around the sun. 
 
 Another astronomic theory, which assigns a date and 
 duration of the Glacial period from about 24,000 to 
 0,000 years ago, agreeing nearly with Prestwich's esti- 
 mate of its time, has been brought forward by ^Major- 
 General A. W. Drayson, who first published it in the 
 Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 
 for 1871, and latest in a volume entitled Untrodden 
 Ground in Astronomy and Geology (1S90). This theo- 
 ry asserts that tlic earth's axis during a cycle of about 
 31,000 years varies 12° in its inclination to the plane of 
 the ecliptic or path of the earth around the sun. In 
 this long cycle the axis and poles of the earth are 
 thought to describe a circle in the heavens, with its 
 centre 0° from the pole of the eclii)tic. At present the 
 obliquity of the ecliptic or angle between its plane and 
 that of the earth's equator is about 2U°, which, there- 
 
 in', 
 
TIIK CAUSES OF THE ICE AGE. 
 
 341 
 
 fore, is the distance of the arctic and antarctic circles 
 from the poles; and this, according to Drayson's com- 
 putations, is nearly their minimum distance. He claims 
 that this obliquity of the ecliptic, which gives the dis- 
 tance of the arctic circles from the poles and of the 
 tropics from the equator, about 5,000 years ago was 
 some 2° more than now; that 7,500 years ago it was 
 increased (S^" more than at present; that its maximum, 
 nearly 12° more than at present, was about 13,500 u. c. ; 
 and that the beginning of this latest cycle of va- iation 
 in the widths of the intertropical and polar zones was 
 about 31,000 years ago. During the middle portion of 
 the cycle, Drayson aflirms that the arctic circle reached 
 approximately to 54° north latitude, and that the result- 
 ing climatic changes caused the Ice Age. 
 
 It is true that the obliquity of the ecliptic varies 
 slightly, and is at present decreasing about an eightieth 
 part of a degree in 100 years. Sir John Ilerschel com- 
 puted, however, that its limit of variation during the 
 last 100,000 years has not exceeded 1° 21' from its 
 mean, although for a longer time in the past, as mil- 
 lions of years, it may range three or four degrees on each 
 side of the mean. The portion of the present cycle of 
 variation, which is used as the basis of this theory, seems 
 insufficient to establish its conclusion of a wide ranjre 
 of obliquity; but, even if this were true, the same argu- 
 ments forbid its application to account for the Glacial 
 period as are urged by Gilbert, Chamberlin, and Le 
 Gonte in their dissent from CrolTs theory.* These ob- 
 jections consist in the absence of evidence of glaciatiou 
 during the long history of the earth previous to the Ice 
 Age, excepting near the end of Pala'ozoic time, and the 
 
 * The Ice Age in Xorth America, pp. 43!), 440. 
 
 .1 
 
342 
 
 ORKKXLAND ICKFU^ILDS. 
 
 I h 
 
 uiisymmotric geograi)liic arojiH of the ico slieets, northern 
 Asia iiiid Alaska hiiviiig not been icc-envt'loped. Ac- 
 corditig to Dravaon, UKtronoiiiio conditions caj)able of 
 producing an ice ago have recurred every 31,000 years; 
 but geologints have recognised no other time of ghicia- 
 tion of hirgo areas besides the Quaternary and Paleozoic 
 ico ages, wliich were divided ])robably by 10,000,000 or 
 15,000,000 yeurs. 
 
 A tliird and inucii ditferent theory, dependent on 
 the earth's astronomic relationship, is the suggestion 
 first made in 1800 by Sir John Evans, that, while the 
 earth's axis probably remained unchanged in its direc- 
 tion, a comparatively thin crust of the earth may have 
 gradually slipiH>d as a whole upon the much larger nu- 
 cleal mass so that the locations of the poles upon the 
 crust have been changed, and that the (llacial period 
 may have 'been due to such a slipping or transfer by 
 which the regions that beoime ice-covered were brought 
 very near to the poles.* The same or a very similar 
 view has been recently advocated by Dr. Fridtjof Han- 
 sen, who writes: "The easiest method of explaining a 
 glacial epoch, as well as the occurrence of warmer cli- 
 mates in one latitude or another, is to imagine a slight 
 change in the geographical i)osition of the earth's axis. 
 If, for instance, we could move the north pole down to 
 some point near the west coast of Greenland, between 
 00° and Go" north latitude, we could, no doubt, produce 
 a glacial period both in Europe and America." f 
 
 Very small changes of latitud(> which had been de- 
 tected at astronomical observatories in Kngland, Ger- 
 
 * Proceedings of the Royal Societv of London, vol. xv, np 40- 
 54. Febi-uarv 28, 1800. ' 
 
 f The First ("rossin-: of ({j-eciiland (ISnO), vol. ii, p. 454. 
 
 if 
 
 mm'i 
 
THE CAUSES OP THE ICE AGE. 343 
 
 many, Russia, and tlie United States, seemed to give 
 some foundation for this theory, whidi in 1891 was re- 
 garded by a few American ghicialists as worthy of atten- 
 tion and of si)ecial investigation by astronomers', with 
 temporary establishment of new observatories for this 
 purpose on a longitude about 180° from (Ireenwich or 
 from Washington. During the year 1893, however, the 
 brdlmnt discoveries by Dr. S. C. Ciiaudler of the pe- 
 riods and amounts of the observed variations of lati- 
 tude, sliowing them to be in two cycles (respectively of 
 twelve and fourteen months), with no api)reciable secu- 
 lar change, forbid reliance on this condition as a cause, 
 or even as an element among the causes, of the Ice Age. 
 This theory is now entirely out of the field. Sir Robert 
 S. Ball, after reviewing Dr. Chandler's investigations, 
 estimates that the place of the pole since the Glacial 
 period, and from even earlier geologic times, has been 
 without greater changes of position than would lie in- 
 side the area of a block or scpuire inclosed by the inter- 
 secting streets of a city. 
 
 The most recent matliematical investigation of the 
 effects of the une(pud amounts of solar heat received by 
 different portions of tlie eartli's surface, under varyin^^ 
 astronomic conditions, was published last venr by^Dr 
 (Jeorge F. Becker, of the United States Geologicai Sur- 
 vcy, who sums up bis results, differing antipodallv from 
 the views of the late Dr. Croll, as follows ; * 
 
 I bo-aii this inquiry without the vomotoM uh-.i as to what r-on- 
 Hiision would be reached. At Urn end of it I feel eonip..lIed to 
 assort that the combination of low eooentrieitv a'nd hijjh ohliquitv 
 will promote the aeeutnulation of glacial ice in hi-h latitudes 
 more than any other set of circumstances pertaini.,- to the earth's 
 orbit. It se ems to me that the glacial age m*y bo due to these 
 
 * i^m. Jour. Sci., III. vol. xlviii. p,,. 95-11:}. A li^i^SoT ~ 
 
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 ORREXLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 conditions in combination with a favourable disposition of land 
 and water. This theory implies, or rather does not exclude, simul- 
 taneous glaciation in both hemispheres. It does not imply that 
 the ioe age should last only ten or twelve thousand years. If the 
 conditions here suggested are correct, variations in the disposition 
 of land and water may have determined intervals of glaciation, 
 not necessarily the same ones in New England and the basin of 
 the Mississippi; and there may have been considerable time 
 differences in the inception or the cessation of glaciation in vari- 
 ous regions. It is not needful to assume that the glaciation of 
 the Sierra Nevada either began or ended svnchronously with the 
 ice age in New England. The date at which a minimum of ec- 
 centricity last coincided with a maximum of obliquity can almost 
 certainly be determined. According to Stockwell, the obliquity 
 has been diminishing for the past 8,000 yeare, and was within 21 
 minutes of its maximum value at the beginning of that time. 
 According to Leverrier, the eccentricity passed through a mini- 
 mum 40,000 years ago, the value being then about two thirds of 
 the present one. So far as I know, the obliquitv has not been 
 computed beyond 8,000. This can of course be done for Stock- 
 well's value of the masses of the planets, or for newer and better 
 ones. All the indications seem to be that within thirty or forty 
 thousand years conditions have occurred, and have persisted for a 
 considerable number . f thousand years, which would favour gla- 
 ciation on the theory of this paper. 
 
 We come now to the wholly terrestrial or geologic 
 theory of the causes of the Ice Age, which, in terms 
 varying with increasing knowledge, has been successively 
 advocated by Lyell, Dana, Le Conte, and others, includ- 
 ing the authors of the present volume. According to 
 this explanation, the accumulation of the ice sheets was 
 due to uplifts of the land as extensive high plateaus, re- 
 ceiving snowfall throughout the year. It may therefore 
 be very properly named the e))eirogenie theory. 
 
 In the first edition of the Principles of Geology 
 (1830), Lyell pointed out the intimate dependence of 
 climate upon the distribution of are.ts of land and water 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE ICE AGE. 
 
 345 
 
 re- 
 
 and upon the altitude of the land. In 1855, Dana, rea- 
 soning from tiie prevalence of fiords in all glaciated 
 regions, and showing that these are valleys eroded by 
 streams during a formerly greater elevation of the land 
 previous to glaciation, and from the marine beds of the 
 St. Lawrence Valley and basin of Lake Champlain be- 
 longing to the time immediately following the glacia- 
 tion, announced that the formation of the drift in Xorth 
 America was attended by three great continental move- 
 ments: the first upward, during which the ice sheet 
 was accumulated on the hmd; the second downward, 
 \>hen the ice sheet was melted away; and the third, 
 within recent time, a re-elevation, bringing the land to 
 its present height. But with the moderate depth of the 
 fiords and submarine valleys then known, the amount of 
 preglacial elevation which could be thus affirmed was 
 evidently too little to be an adequate cause for the cold 
 and snowy climate producing the ice sheet. The belief 
 that this uplift was 3,000 feet or more, giving sufficiently 
 cool climate, as Prof. T. G. Bonney has shown, to cause 
 the ice accumulation, has been reached only within the 
 past few years through the discovery by soundings of 
 the United States Coast Survey, that on both the Atlan- 
 tic and Pacific coasts of the United States submarine 
 valleys, evidently eroded in late Tertiary and Quatenmry 
 time, reach to profound depths— 2,000 to 3,000 feet 
 below the present sea level. 
 
 The evidence of this great preglacial epeirogenic up- 
 lift, both for North America and Europe, has been 
 stated in the preceding chapter. Just the same high 
 preglacial elevation and Late Glacial or Champlain sub- 
 sidence, with recent re-elevation, are known also for 
 Patagonia by its abundant and deep fiords and by its 
 marine beds overlying the glacial drift to heights of sev- 
 
 t 
 
J 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 eral Imndrod feet above the sea, as described by Darwin 
 .ind Agassiz. On these three continental areas the 
 widely separated, chief drift- bearing regions of the earth 
 are fonnd to have experienced, in connection with their 
 glaciation, in each case tliree great epeirogenic n'ove- 
 nients ot similar character and seqnence — first, a com- 
 paratively long-continned uplift, which in its culmina- 
 tion appears to have given a high plateau climate with 
 abundant snowfall, forming an ice sheet, whose duration 
 extended until the land sank somewhat lower than now, 
 leading to amelioration of the climate and the departure 
 of the ic©, followed by re-elevation to the present level. 
 Tlie coincidence of these great earth movements with 
 glaciation naturally leads to the conviction that they 
 were the direct and sufficient cause of the ice sheets and 
 of their disappearance ; and this conclusion is confirmed 
 by the insufficiency and failure of the other theories 
 which have been advanced to account for the (llacial 
 period. 
 
 Tlie end of the Tertiary era and the subsequent La- 
 fayette, Glacial, and Recent periods, have been excep- 
 tionally characterized by many great oscillations of con- 
 tinental and insular land areas. Where movements of 
 land elevation have taken place in high latitudes, either 
 north or south, which received abundant precipitation 
 of moisture, ice sheets were formed ; and the weight of 
 these ice sheets seems to have been a chief cause, and 
 often probably the only cause, of the subsidence of these 
 lands and the disappearance of their ice. 
 
 Between epochs of widely extended mountain-build- 
 ing by plication the diminution of the earth's mass pro- 
 duces epeirogenic distortion of the crust, by the elevation 
 of certain large areas and the depression of others, with 
 resulting inequalities of pressure upon different i)ortions 
 
 i i 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE ICE AGE. 
 
 347 
 
 of the interior ; and these effcetg have been greatest im- 
 mediately before relief has been given by the formation 
 of folded mountain ranges. There have been two epochs 
 pre-eminently distinguished by extensive mountain pli- 
 cation, one occurring at the close of the Paheozoic era, 
 and another progressing through the Tertiary and cul- 
 minating in the Quaternary era, introducing the Ice 
 Age. With the culminations of both of these great 
 epochs of mountain-building, so widely separated by the 
 Mesozoic and Tertiary eras, glaciation has been remark- 
 ably associated, and, indeed, the ice accumulation ap- 
 pears to have been caused by the epeirogenic and ero- 
 genic uplifts of continental plateaus and mounf:'in 
 ranges. * The earth's surface is probably now made 
 much more varied, beautiful, and grand by the exist- 
 ence of mo'iv lofty mountain ranges than has been its 
 average condition during the past long eras; but the 
 magnificent Pleistocene icefields and glaciers have van- 
 ished, or are much diminished, excepting only in Green- 
 land and on the antarctic continent. 
 
 * For a more cxtontled discui^sion of the relationship of the 
 earth's cooling and contraction, with movements of continental 
 and mountain uplifts, and with the accumulation of ice sheets, 
 see an appendix on Probable Causes of Glaciation, in Wright's Ice 
 Age in North America, pp. 573-595. 
 
ii'i 
 
 a 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 STAOKS OF TllK ICK AUK I>f NOHTII AMKUK'A AND 
 
 KUHOl'E. 
 
 FuoM tho consideration of the movomcnts of uplift 
 and subsidence of the lands on both sides of the North 
 Atlantic Ocean, whicdi are believed to have caused the 
 envelopment of vast areas of these continents by ice 
 siieets like those now covering Greenland and the ant- 
 arctic continent, we can advance to a completion of 
 our review of the Glacial period by noticing the several 
 stages of this period and the sequence of its liistory as 
 revealed by its marginal moraines and other drift de- 
 posits. Exploration of the European glacial drift by 
 two Americans, Prof. II. Carvill Lewis in the British 
 Lies and Prof. R. D. Salisbury in Germany, less than 
 ten years ago, laid the foundations for determining the 
 geologic equivalency of the successive parts of the drilt 
 series in North America "nd Europe. Salisbury espe- 
 cially noted that the ru. .ginal moraines of northern 
 (Jermany lie, as in tbo United States, at some distance 
 back from the limits of the drift. 
 
 Studies by numy observers have shown that on both 
 continents the border of the drift along the greater part 
 of its extent was laid down as a gradually attenuated 
 sheet ; that the ice retreated and the drift endured much 
 subaerial erosion and denudation ; that renewed accu- 
 mulation and growth of the ice sheet, but mostly with- 
 
 US 
 
STAOKS OK TIN-: K'K AGK. 
 
 349 
 
 out ext(Mi(lin^' to its cjirlior limitH, wore followed by a 
 gonerul (lo])r('yHiou of those burdened hiridH, after which 
 the ice agiiiu retreated, apjjarently at a rnueli faster rate 
 than before, with great 8U{)])lie,s of loe.ss from the waters 
 of its melting; that moderate re-elevation ensued; and 
 that during the farther retreat of the ice sheet i)romi- 
 nent moraines were anuissed in many irregular but 
 roughly parallel belts, wliero the front at successive 
 times paused or readvanced under secular variations in 
 the prevailingly temperate and even warm climate, by 
 which, between the times of iornuition of the moraines, 
 the ice was rapidly melted away. 
 
 Sueli likeness in the sequence of glacial conditions 
 probably im2)lies contemporaneous stages in the glacia- 
 tion of the two continents; and the present autliors 
 believe that it is rather to be interpreted as a series of 
 phases in the work of a single ice sheet on each area 
 than as records of several separated and independent 
 epochs of glaciation, differing widely from one another 
 in their methods of depositing drift. The latter view, 
 however, is held by James (ieikie, I'enck, Do Ceer, and 
 otliers in Europe; and it has been regarded as the more 
 l)rol)able also for America by Chamberlin, Salisbury, 
 McGee, and others. 
 
 Under this view Geikie distinguishes no less than 
 eleven stages or epochs, glacial and interglacial, which 
 ho has very recently named,* since the publication last 
 year of the now edition of his Great Ice Age, in whi^h, 
 however, they were fully described. These divisions of 
 the Glacial period are as follows: 1, The Scanian or 
 first glacial epoch; 2, The Norfolkian or first inter- 
 glacial epoch ; 3, The Saxonian or second glacial epoch ; 
 
 * Journal of Geology, vol. iii, pp. 241-2G9, April-May, 1895. 
 
^ 
 
 i 
 
 
 850 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 4, The Tldvotiiin or soeo.ul inter^diiciii; opocli ; T., The 
 I'oliuulKin or third ghicuil epoch; G, The Noudeekiun 
 or third intcrcrhicial o,,or-h ; 7, The Mecklenburghu, or 
 fourtli ghicial epoch; 8, Tlie Lower Forestian or fourth 
 interghiciul epoch; 9, The Lower Tnrbarian or fiftli 
 ghicual epoch ; 10, The Upper Forestian or fifth inter- 
 g.'ic.al epoch; and, 11, The Upp,, Tnrharian or sixth 
 glacial epoch. 
 
 The earliest ai)i)lication of such geogra])]iic names 
 to the successive sta.iies and forinatior.s of the Ice A<re 
 appears to be that of Chamberliu in his two cluipters 
 contributed to the new third edition of (Jeikie's admi- 
 rable work before mentioned, in whicli he names tlio 
 Kansan, East lowan, and East Wisconsin formations. 
 For the second and third lie has since adopted the 
 shorter names, lowan and Wisconsin. This classifica- 
 tion he lias also more recently extended, the interglacial 
 stage and deposits between the Kansan and lowan gla- 
 cial drift or till formations being named Aftonian, and 
 the Toronto interglacial formation, provionsly named, 
 being referred, with some doubt, to an interval betweeii 
 the lowan and Wisconsin stages. Chamberliu correlates, 
 with a good degree of confidence, his Kansan stage of 
 maximum Xorth American glaciation with the maxi- 
 mum in Europe, whicli is Geikie's .Saxouian epoch; the 
 Aftonian stage as Oeikie's Helvetian; the lowan as the 
 European Polandian ; and the Wisconsin or moraine- 
 forming stage of the United States as the Mecklenburg- 
 ian, which was the stage of the "great lialtic (i lacier*" 
 and its similarly well-developed moraines.* 
 
 According to the law of priority, the names of tae 
 Kansan, lowan, and AVisconsin formations and stages 
 
 * Journal of Geology, vol. iii, pp. 270-377, April-Muy, 1895. 
 
STAGES OF THE ICE AGE. 
 
 351 
 
 The 
 
 should also be applied to these European divisions of 
 the Glacial series, for the studies of Ueikio and Cham- 
 berliu show them to be in all probability correlative and 
 contemporaneous. Figures 57 and 58 therefore employ 
 these names for both our own continent and Europe, 
 giving the boundaries of these formations as mapped in 
 the Great Ice Age, and adding for the northeastern 
 United States and Canada the Warren, Toronto, Iro- 
 quois, and 8t. Lawrence stages in the glacial recession, 
 nearly as i idicated in a recent article on the glacial 
 representatives of the Laurentian lakes and on the Late 
 Glacial or Ohamplain subsidence and re-elevation of the 
 St. Lawrence river basin.* 
 
 Differing much from the opinions of Geikie, and les8 
 widely from those of Chamberlin, concerning the im- 
 portance, magnitude, and duration of the interglacial 
 stages, but agreeing with Dana, Hitchcock, Kendall, 
 Falsan, Hoist, Nikitin, and others, in regarding the Ice 
 Age as continuous, with fluctuations but not complete 
 departure of the ice sheets, our view of the history of 
 the Glacial period, comprising the Glacial epoch of ice 
 accumulation and the Champlain epoch of ice departure 
 may be concisely presented in the following somewhat 
 tabular form. The order is that of the advancing 
 sequence in time, opposite to the downward stmti- 
 graphic order of the glacial, fluvial, lacustrine, and 
 marine deposits. 
 
 mnn t W Tu "^ ^'''''''^ "^- ""^- ^"^- PP- 1-18. ^ith 
 
 map, by Warren Upha.n, .January, 1895. Mr. Upham's flrot essay 
 toward the d.scrunination of the two chief epochs and the si-.c- 
 cessive stages of the Ice Age, as recognisable alike in North Amer- 
 ica and Europe, was given in the American Naturalist, vol. xxix, 
 pp. 235-341, March, 1895. 
 
 24 
 
.( 
 
 I 
 
 852 
 
 OUEKNLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Epochs and Stag eh of the (Jlaciai. 1M:hiod. 
 
 1. The dhtrial l-Jpurk. 
 
 1. The Culmination- ok the Lafayette Ei'Ei- 
 KooENic Ui'i.ii'T, ulTectiiig both North America uiul 
 Kiiropo, niisctl tlie gluciuted urous to so liigii altitudes 
 that ihey received snow througiiout the year, and bo- 
 came deeply ice-enveloped. Valleys and fiords show 
 that this elevation was 1,000 to 4,000 feet above the 
 present heigiit. 
 
 Rudely chi])])ed atone in)plornonts and human hones 
 in the plateau gravel of southern England, 90 feet and 
 higher above the Thames, and the similar traces of man in 
 high terraces of the Somme valley, ;ittest man's existence 
 there before the maximum stages of the uplift and of 
 the Ice Age. America also had been already i)eoi)led, 
 doubtless by preghicial migration from Asia across b 
 land area in the place of the present shallow Behring Sea. 
 
 The accumulation of the ice shoots, due to snowfall 
 upon tlioir entire areas, was attended by fluctuations of 
 their gradually extending boundaries, giving the Scanian 
 and Norfolkian stages in Europe, the Albertan forma- 
 tion of very early glacial drift and accompanying gravels, 
 recently described by Dr. George M. Dawson, in Alberta 
 and the Saskatchewan district of western Canada, and 
 an early glacial advance, recession, and readvance, in 
 the region of the Moose and Albany Rivers, southwest of 
 Hudson Bay. In that region, and westward on the 
 Canadian plains to the Kocky Mountains, there seem to 
 be thus three stages recognisable in the glacial results 
 of the epeirogenic ujdift, namely, the Albertan Stage 
 of early ice accumulation, the Saskatchev.'an Stage 
 of abundant melting and considerable retreat, and the 
 
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 2. 
 
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354 
 
 U HEKN LAN I) ICKFI KLDS. 
 
 ensuing great Kansan growth of tiio continental ice- 
 fields. 
 
 2. Kansan Sta(»k.— Farthest extent of the ico 
 sheet in the Missouri and Mississijjpi river basins, and 
 in northern New Jersey. The Saxonian stage of maxi- 
 mum glaciation in Europe. 
 
 Area of the North American ice sheet, with its de- 
 velopment on the arctic archipelago, about 4,000,000 
 square miles; of t!io (Jreeuland ice sheet, then some- 
 what more extended than now, T00,000 square miles or 
 more, probably connected over (Jrinnell Land and EIIcl'- 
 rnere Lund with the continental ice sheet, the area of 
 Greenland being approximately 080,000 square miles, 
 and of its present ice sheet 575,000 squ_o miles; of the 
 European ico sheet, with its tracts now occupied by the 
 Wiiite, Jialtic, North, and L-ish Seas, about 2,000,000 
 square miles. 
 
 Thickness of the ice in northern New England and 
 in central British Columbia, about one mile; on the 
 Laurentide highlands, probably two miles; in Green- 
 land, as now, probably one mile or more, with its surface 
 8,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea ; in portions of Scot- 
 land and Sweden, and over tb.e basin of the Baltic Sea, 
 half a mile to a mile. 
 
 3. IIelvktian OR Aftonian Stage.— Recession of 
 the ice sheet from its Kansan boundary northward 
 about 500 miles to Barnesville, ^[inn., in the Red River 
 Valley; 250 miles or more in Illinois, according to 
 Leverett, but probably little between the Scioto RWer, 
 in Ohio, and the Atlantic coast, the maximum retreat 
 of that portion being 25 miles or more in New Jersey. 
 A cool temperate climate and coniferous forests up to 
 the receding ice border in the upper Mississippi region. 
 Much erosion of the early drift. 
 
 il n 
 
STAGES OP THE ICE AGE. 
 
 3.>5 
 
 The groator part of the drift urea in Russia perma- 
 nently rolinqiii8hccl by the mucij-tliwiiiiished ice sheet, 
 which also retreated couHiderably on all its sides. 
 
 During this stage the tvvo continents probably re- 
 tained mainly a largo part of their preglacial altitude, 
 'i'he glacial recession may have been caused by the astro- 
 nomic cycle which brought our winters of the northern 
 hemisphere in perihelion between ^5,000 and 15,000 
 yeara ago.* 
 
 4. lovvAN SxAdE. — Uenewed ice accumulation, cover- 
 ing the Aftonian forest beds, and extending again into 
 Iowa, tt a distance of 3.50 miles or mr •) from its most 
 northcrix indentation by tiie Aftoni.m retreat, and re- 
 advancing about loO miles in Illiuu.j, wliilt. its bound- 
 ary eastward from Ohio probably remained with little 
 change. 
 
 The Poland ian stage of renewed growth of the 
 European ice sheet, probably advancing its boundaries 
 in some portions hundreds of miles fr' a the llelvetian 
 retreat. 
 
 II. 77/^' n/ininplam Epoch. 
 
 5 CiiAMPLAiN Suh.sidknce; Neuueckian Stage. 
 — Depression of the ice-burdened areas mostly some- 
 what below their present heights, as shown by fossil- 
 iferous marine beds overlying the glacial drift up to 300 
 feet above the sea in Maine, 500 feet at Montreal, 300 
 to 400 feet from south to north in the basin of Lake 
 Champlain, 300 to 500 feet southwest of Hudson and 
 James Bays, and similar or less altitudes on the coasts 
 of British Columbia, the British Isles, Germany, Scandi- 
 navia, and Spitzbergon. 
 
 
 * American Geologist, vol. xv, pp. 201, 255, and 293, March, 
 April, and May, 1895. 
 
356 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 M 
 
 Glacial recession from the lowan boundaries was 
 rapid under the :emperate (and in summers warm or 
 hot) climate, belonging to the more southern parts of 
 
 tiie drift-bearing areas when reduced from their great 
 preglacial elevation to their present height or lower. 
 The finer portion of the englacial drift, swept down 
 
es was 
 
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 v/er 
 
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 1 
 
 STAGES OP THE ICE AGE. 
 
 357 
 
 from the icefields by the abundant waters of their melt- 
 ing and of rains, was spread on the lower lands and 
 along valleys in front of the departing ice, as the loess 
 of the Missouri, the Missisdppi, and the Rhine. Ma- 
 rine beds reaching to a maximum height of about 375 
 feet at Neudeck, in western Prussia, give the name of 
 this stage. 
 
 6. Wisconsin Stage.— Moderate re-elevation of 
 the land, in the northern United States and Canada 
 advancing as a permanent wave from soutli to north 
 and northeast ; continued retreat of the ice along most 
 of its extent, but its maximum advance in southern 
 New England, with fluctuations and the formation of 
 prominent marginal moraines; great glacial lakes on 
 the northern borders of the United States. 
 
 The Mecklenburgian stage in Europe. Conspicu- 
 ous moraine accumulations in Sweden, Denmark, Ger- 
 many, and Finland, on the southern and eastern mar- 
 gins of the great Baltic glacier. N"o extensive glacial 
 readvance between the lowan and Wisconsin stages, 
 either in North America or Europe. 
 
 7. Warren Stage.— Maximum extent of the gla- 
 cial Lake Warren, held on its northeast side by the re- 
 treating ice border; one expanse of water, as mapped 
 by Spencer, Lawson, Taylor, Gilbert, and others, from 
 Lake Superior over Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie 
 to the soutliwestern part of I-ake Ontario; its latest 
 southern beach traced east by Gilbert to Crittenden, 
 New York, correlated by Leverett with the Lockport 
 moraine.* 
 
 This and later American stages, all of minor impor- 
 
 * American Journal of Science, HI, vol. 
 July, 1895. 
 
 )p. 1-20, with map, 
 
358 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 ii 
 
 ^ 
 
 tance and duration in comparison with the preceding, 
 can not probably be shown to be equivalent with 
 Geikie's European divisions belonging in the same time. 
 Successive boundaries of the receding American ice 
 sheet are noted, as in Figure 57, in accordance with 
 studies of the Laurentian series of glacial lakes. 
 
 8. Toronto Stage.— Slight glacial oscillations, with 
 temperate climate nearly as now, at Toronto and Scar- 
 borough, Ontario, indicated by interbedded deposits of 
 glacial drift and fossiliferous stratified gravel, sand, and 
 clay.* Although the waning ice sheet still occupied a 
 vast area on the northeast, and twice readvanced, with 
 deposition of much boulder clay or till, during the for- 
 mation of this fossiliferous drift series, the climate then, 
 determined by the Champlain low altitude of the land' 
 by the proximity of the large glacial Lake Algonquin' 
 succeeding the larger Lake Warren, and by the east- 
 ward and northeastward surface atmospheric currents 
 and courses of all storms, was not less mild than now. 
 The trees whose wood is found in the iuterglacial 
 Toronto beds now have their most northern limits in 
 the same region. 
 
 9. Iroquois Stage.— Full expansion of the glacial 
 Lake Iroquois in the basin of the present Lake Ontario 
 and northward, then outflowing at Kome, New York, to 
 the Mohawk and Hudson Kivers. Gradual re-elevation 
 of the Kome outlet from the Champlain subsidence had 
 lifted the surface of Lake Iroquois in its western part 
 from near the present lake level at Toronto to a height 
 there of about 200 feet, finally holding this height dur- 
 ing many years, with the formation of the well-devel- 
 oped Iroquois beach. 
 
 American Geologist, vol. xv, pp. 285-291, May, 1895. 
 
STAGES OP THE ICE AGE. 
 
 359 
 
 Between the times of Lakes Warren and Iroquois 
 the glacial Lake Lundy, named by Spencer from its 
 beach ridge of Lundy's Lane,* probably had an outlet 
 east 10 the Hudson by overflow across the slope of the 
 highlands south of the Mohawk ; but its relationship to 
 the glacial Lake dewberry, named by Fairchild as out- 
 flowing to the Susquehanna by the pass south of Seneca 
 Lake,t needs to be more definitely ascertained. 
 
 10. St. Laaviiexce SxAOE.-The final stage in the 
 departure of the ice sheet, which we are able to deter- 
 mine from the history of the Laurentian lakes and St. 
 Lawrence Valley, is approximately delineated in Figure 
 57, when the glacial Lake St. Lawrence, outflowing 
 through the Champlain basin to the Hudson, stretched 
 from a strait originally 150 feet deep over the Thousand 
 Islands, at tht. mouth of Lake Ontario, and from the 
 vicinity of Pembroke, on the Ottawa Kiver, easterly to 
 Quebec or beyond. As sooi: as the ice barrier which 
 had held these glacial lakes was melted through, the 
 sea entered the depressed St. Lawrence, Champlain, and 
 Ottawa valleys; and subsequent epeirogenic uplifting 
 has raised them to their present slight altitude above the 
 sea level. 
 
 Later stages of the glacial recession are doubtless 
 recognisable by moraines and other evidences, tlie 
 North American ice sheet becoming at last, as it proba- 
 bly also had been in its beginnings, divided into three 
 parts, one upon Labrador, another northwest of Hudson 
 Bay, as shown by Tyrrell's observations, and a third 
 upoi^i the northern part of British Columbia. From com- 
 
 * American Journal of Seionce, III, vol. xlvii pp 207-'>n 
 with map, March, 1894. ' 
 
 t Bulletin, Geological Society of America, vol. vi, pp. 353-374 
 with map and plates, April, 1895. 
 
 ! < 
 
 i 
 
a(K) 
 
 OUKKNLANI) ICEKIKLDS. 
 
 ] 
 
 f H 
 
 pjirison witli the ghicial Lako Agiissiz in tlio biisiii of the 
 Iliul Hivor of the North iind of Liiko Winniixsg, whose 
 dunitioii WHS prohiibly only jiboui ii thoiisund years, the 
 whole (Jhiiinpliiin epoch of laud de])re8Hion, the depar- 
 ture of the ice sheet because of the warm climate so re- 
 stored, and uu)st of the re-elevatiou of the uiduirdeued 
 lands, appear to have re(piired only a few (perhaps four 
 or five) thousaiul years, ending about five thousand years 
 ago. 'J'hese late divisions of the (Jhicial period were far 
 shorter than its Kansan, Aftonian, ami lowan stages; 
 and the ratio of the (Jlacial and Chanqdain epochs may 
 have been approximately as ten to one. The term 
 ('bamplain conveniently designates the short closing 
 part of tiu> Ice Age when the laud depression caused 
 rapid though wavering retreat of the ice border, with 
 more vigorous glacial currents on actiount of the nuir- 
 gimil melting and increased steepness of the ice front, 
 favouring the accumulation of nuiny retreatal moraines 
 of very knolly aiui bouldery drift. 
 
 The (ilacial period or I(!e Age is thus found divisible 
 into two parts or epoi^hs, the lirst or (ilacial epoch beino- 
 marked by high elevation of the drift-bearing areas and 
 their envelopment by vast ice sheets, and the second or 
 Cham})lain epoch being distinguished by the subsideiu^e 
 of these areas and the departure of the ice, with abun- 
 dant deposition of both glacial and modified drift. 
 Kpeirogenic movements, (Irst of great uplift and later 
 of depression, are thus regarded as the basis of the two 
 chief time divisions of this period. Each of these epochs 
 is further divided in stages, nuirked in the (facial epoch 
 by fluctuations of the predominant ice accumulation, 
 and in the Champlain epoch by successively diminishing 
 limits of the waning ice sheet, which, however, some*^ 
 times temporarily readvanced, inclosing stratified and 
 
 iMi 
 
STACJKS OF THE ICE A(JK. 
 
 301 
 
 fossiliferous bods botwooii tlio ini.stnitined ^'hiciul de- 
 posits. Tho J(;o Ago still lingors in (Jreonliui<l und in 
 thoAhiskan rogion of Mount St. Klias, froni wliioli, and 
 from tho Al])s, our intorprotations of tlio moaning of 
 the North Amoricau and Europoan drift formations arc 
 derivod. 
 
 K\ 
 
 ■ 
 
 II 
 
 
(ilAITKIt .\V. 
 
 SIM.MAKY AND (•()N(;H'SIO>r. 
 
 Tin,: procodin- survey of facts i.npmssivcly slu.ws 
 tliuU.m.MlHMd IS not only an important object losson 
 in ^^Incial ^^oology, but an intricate i)uzzle as well. Con- 
 trary to all ordinary expectations, (Ireenland is nuiin- 
 ta.nin^^ for itself an independent ^dacial period lon^ 
 after glacial conditions have ceased to exist in tlie eoi^- 
 ivspondin<r latitudes of other portions of the iiorthern 
 honusphere. Oape l<\irewell is on the sixtieth i)arallel 
 of north latitude, and from that point northward, for u 
 distance of lifteen hundred miles, the conditions of the 
 (.lacial period continue without cessation. Hut with the 
 exception of the glaciers coming down fro.n the lofty 
 lieights of the St. Klias Alps, and of a limited number 
 on the west side of liaflin Hay north of Hudson Strait 
 there are no glaciers north of this latitude in Hritisli 
 America and Alaska, while in Europe the capitals of 
 Norway and Kussia lie almost exactly ujmn the sixtieth 
 ])ara]lel, and only a limited number of glaciers is found 
 to the northward in the Scandinavian Peninsula, they 
 being absent largely even from J.npland, which stretches 
 beyond the seventieth parallel. The extensive areas of 
 Finland and of Kussia, in Europe, north of the latitude 
 of Cape Farew<^]I, which were once deeplv enveloj)ed in 
 ghicial ice, are now fruitful fields supiwrting a large and 
 enterprising population. ^Po understand the reason of 
 
 362 
 
 V I 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCI.USION. ,3^,3 
 
 these present ilivom, eoiulitioiiH is probably to unruvel 
 the nmin cuuho of the (Jlaciul i)orio(i. 
 
 It is iiiUu-OHtin^' to note tluit the recent inventions 
 for ciiHtnbutm^r hoat throu-lioiit our houses by u skill- 
 fully mljustcd systeni of wiinii-wuter pipes are but irni- 
 tiitions of u ])lun followed by Nature fro.n time imnie- 
 
 Fio. 59.-lceberg off the c ast of Labrador. 
 
 morial. A study of the present climatic conditions of 
 the globe shows that the agencies for the distribution of 
 the sun's heat are as important in the production of re- 
 sults as is the direct action of the sun itself.* The Gulf 
 Stream in the Atlantic Ocean trends eastward, by reason 
 
 * For rofcroucps iuid a fuller stiitoincnt of facts, see Wright's 
 Ice Age in North America, pp. 419-4;33, 
 
304 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Of the diurnal motion of the eurtli from west to east, 
 and, finding free access to the seas stretching northward 
 from Europe, transfers liither the heat of tlie tropics to 
 modify the present climate of that once-frozen region 
 Hut If warm water from the south is permitted to enter 
 tiie Arctic Ocean, cold water from the nortii must move 
 southward from that area to take its place. By tiie 
 same diunial motion of the eartii which throws north- 
 erly flowing oceanic currents eastward, the southerly 
 flowing arctic currents are thrown westward, thus sur- 
 rounding Greenland with their chilling influences. 
 
 It is significant also tiiat the present narrowness and 
 shallowness of Behring Strait prevent the warm currents 
 of tiie Pacific from entering the Arctic Ocean from the 
 west, so that they can not now assist in amelioratincr the 
 climate of the lands about the pole. Under tliese "con- 
 ditions It IS easy to see that a moderate depression of 
 Behring Strait might admit sufficient heat from the 
 Pacific Ocean to change the whole aspect of the cli- 
 mates within tlie arctic circle, while a somewhat greater 
 elevation of the sea bottom along tiie line oi Iceland 
 and the Faroe Islands between Oreenland and Scotland 
 might shut off so much warmth from the arctic area as 
 greatly to extend the conditions favourable to the pro- 
 duction of glaciers. 
 
 Theoretical considerations of this sort combine with 
 much positive evidence to give great cogency to the 
 tlieory that the Glacial period was caused mainly by 
 changes of the relative sea level in the northern part of the 
 northern hemisphere, since these changes of level would, 
 so to speak, turn the currents of warm water on and off 
 from the different areas, thus controlling their local tem- 
 perature, as the liouseholder does that of the different por- 
 tions of the building which is warmed by modern methods. 
 
 
'f 
 
 306 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 The comparative shallowness of all these northern seas 
 favours this theory, since only moderate changes of level 
 would be required to jiroduce the results. The i)ositive 
 evidences of such changes of level have already been de- 
 tailed with sufficient fullness, but may hero profitably be 
 sumnuirized and somewhat enlarged. 
 
 Pre^•ious to the Glacial period warm climates did 
 actually exist everywhere north of the arctic circle. At 
 that time the vegetation of central Europe and of the 
 Middle Atlantic States of America nourished in northern 
 (•reenla)id and in Spitzbergen, while there are abundant 
 , independent evidences that this was at a perio.; when 
 the arctic lands were greatly depressed. At the same 
 time it is equally clear, from the fiords and other sub- 
 merged channels, that just preceding the Glacial period 
 there was an extensive elevation of all northern land. 
 This coincidence of late Tertiary land elevation and the 
 great increase of glaciers is too extensive to have been 
 accidental, and, both in its effect upon the distribution 
 of oceanic currents and upon temperature by virtue of 
 elevation, it is just the combination which should be 
 expected to produce a Glacial period. 
 
 There is considerable difference of opinion as to 
 what would be the character of Greenland if the ice 
 were melted from it. Some maintain that lh« moun- 
 tains upon the east and west coasts border a continent 
 of little or moderate elevation in the interior, being in 
 this respect analogous to most other large areas of land. 
 Indeed, some suggest that much of the interior may be 
 below the sea level, and that the real Greenland is but 
 an archipelago. In this case the great height of the in- 
 terior is produced by the accumulation of snow, such as 
 we suppose at one time obliterated the North Sea, and 
 joined the mormtains of Scandinavia with those of th^ 
 
HUMiMAKY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 367 
 
 British Isles in one continuous glucijil shoot. The 
 grout size of the icebergs flouting oif from the (Jreonland 
 coast gives much countonunce to this view. 
 
 The persistence of the ico slioot over Greenland is 
 also, i)erhui)s, un effect of sucii a condition of things, 
 since the great mass of, ice implied in tiiis theory woidd 
 act as a powerful conservative agency to resist moderate 
 changes in climate, while the great thickness of the 
 accumulation would add to the arctic character of the 
 climate. The small precipitation in Greenland— com- 
 monly stated to be only about ten inches annually on 
 and near the coast— renders it (piite probable that if the 
 ice were once melted away, it would not, under present 
 conditions, accumulate again. On the high surface of 
 the ice sheet, however, according to the experience of 
 Nansen and Peary, the snowfall is doubtless far more 
 than along the coast. 
 
 On the other hand, it is maintained that there is 
 not sufficient positive evidence of so thick an accumula- 
 tion of ice as this theory implies. The great size of 
 icebergs proves only a corresponding thickness of ice in 
 the few depressions along the seashore through which 
 the great glaciers discharge their contents. It is main- 
 tained that this may not be inconsistent with a nuich 
 thinner accumulation over the most of the interior. 
 Upon this theory Greenland may differ from the Scan- 
 dinavian peninsula chiefly in tlie large extent of its 
 neve fields and in their slightly higher altitude; so that 
 the elevation of the land itself, surrounded as it is by 
 water, may contribute largely to the production of 
 glacial conditions. 
 
 The distribution and preservation of plants and ani- 
 mals in Greenland also strongly confirms the theory of a 
 former extensive elevation of these northern regions. 
 
 .1,' 
 
 fi. 
 
ivm 
 
K 
 
 t 
 
 3 
 
 !3 
 
 B 
 
 M 
 
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 4, 
 
 XI 
 
 0)' 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 369 
 
 Asa Gray and others have shown tliat the attinity of the 
 l)hints of southern Greenland with those of Europe is 
 such as to make it probable tluit they emigrated directly 
 from Europe, ratlier than by the longer route across 
 Asia and !S[orth America.* Davis Strait seems to have 
 been a more elTectual barrier to tne emigration of plants 
 than was the North Atlantic on the east of (Jreenland. 
 'I'his would imply that the elevation of the bed of the 
 North Atlantic is more certaiidy proved, or that it was 
 longer continued than that of Davis Strait or Baffin 
 Bay ; or possibly it may ])rove simply that, from being 
 freer of ice, it was more available for the passage of 
 plants and animals. 
 
 But the question arises, How could the plants and 
 animals which had arrived on the coast of Greenland 
 survive the rigours of the (Hacial period on the borders 
 of a region which is covered with glacial ice at the 
 present day? The answer is found partly in the con- 
 clusions to which recent investigations have led, that, 
 much as the regions of the North Atlantic were ele- 
 vated, the glaciers of Greenland did not extend so as to 
 cover all the border which was raised above sea level. 
 Indeed, while it seems evident that nearly all of the 
 present border of (Greenland was covered by glacial ice, 
 the mountain peaks were never wholly enveloped, but 
 projected as niuKitaks above the icy wastes. On these, 
 as Mr. Upham surmises, many plants may succei,rffully 
 have maintained theii struggle for existence. 
 
 But more probably we may picture Greenland of the 
 Glacial period to ourselves as surrounded by wide, outly- 
 ing, unglj7 jiated areas of low land but littleabove sea level, 
 extending around the border, especially to the eastward. 
 
 * See above, pp. 201, 202, 
 
370 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 Here the reindeer and musk ox, and some other animals, 
 with all the existing plants of Greenland, may easily 
 have maintained their existence until the ameliorating 
 conditions of the climate caused the ice to withdraw 
 toward its present limits, at the same time that the 
 subsidence of the land curtailed their extension cut- 
 ward. In no other way does it seem possible to imag- 
 ine how the reindeer and musk-ox (even if they could 
 cross Smith Sound from America) could pass the icy 
 barriers of Melville Bay and of the Humboldt glacier 
 to reach the pasturing grounds of northern, eastern, 
 and southern drreenland. 
 
 The evidence that the mountains on the border of 
 Greenland were never wholly enveloped by ice consists 
 largely in the contrast between their appearance and 
 that of the mountains on the coast of Labrador. As al- 
 ready remarked,* there are in Labrador no sharp peaks, 
 but everywhere the mountains present a smooth and 
 flowing outline against the sky; while on the Greenland 
 coast the prevailing feature of the landscape is that of 
 sharp, needlelike peaks, such as would do credit to the 
 high Alps, or to the central portion of the Rockv Moun- 
 tain range. 
 
 The reason for this contrast can not be found in any 
 dissimilarity between the character of the rocks in the 
 two regions ; for, as already noted, they are of the same 
 age and essentially alike, being chiefly granitic and gneis- 
 soid in character, belonging to the Archaean period. 
 The most satisfactory explanation, therefore, seems to be 
 that the Labrador coast has been more completely en- 
 veloped in glacial ice than the Greenland coast has ever 
 been, resulting in its being planed down to a more uni- 
 
 See page 29, 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 371 
 
 form level ; for it is evident that the erosive action of 
 an ice sheet is prevailingly horizontal, while that of water 
 is, in its earlier stages at least, when the land is much 
 elevated, largely vertical, concentrating its force along 
 the lowest lines, producing gorges and cafions, which 
 are gradually enlarged into valleys separated by moun- 
 tain peaks. 
 
 Mr. Walcott, however, the present director of the 
 United States Geological Survey, believes* that the 
 shaping of present land surfaces, even in these northern 
 regions, is largely due to the action of ordinary erosive 
 agencies in pre-Cambrian times, when the entire Ar- 
 chaean area was brought down approximately to a base- 
 level. This is inferred in part from the situation of the 
 Cambrian strata which appear in various places in the 
 valley of the St. Lawrence and in Newfoundland, and, 
 we may add, in Labrador ap well.f According to Mr. 
 Walcott's observations, whenever the Cambrian or Silu- 
 rian rocks in the regions mentioned rest on the older 
 crystallines, the surface beneath them is essentially of 
 the same type as the general surface of the areas of crys- 
 talline rocks beyond them. 
 
 But the evidence of a long-continued elevation and 
 subsequent glaciation of the area west of Davis Strait is 
 beyond question. This has already been largely pre- 
 sented in our chapter upon Pleistocene Changes of 
 Level, but the full strength of the case calls for some 
 additional facts and discussion. Besides the great depths 
 of the Saguenay cafion and of the submerged channel 
 extending from it through the " ilf of St. Lawrence to 
 
 * See Twelfth Annual Report of the United States Geologic:! 
 Survey, pp. 540 et seq. 
 f See Ch.ipter IT. 
 
372 
 
 GUEKNLANI) ICKKIELDS. 
 
 the edgo of the deep depressioji of the Athmtie basin, 
 which iiavo ahvady been addiuHMl, we should iuhl the 
 fiKits elsewhere noted coneeniiiig the d^inh of Ihunilton 
 Inlet in Labrador, and of the lakes in the uj)per part of 
 Hamilton River below the (Jreat Falls. Analogous facts 
 occur also along th<^ eastern margin of Newfoiuidland, 
 which properly belongs to the same area. (J rand Pond, 
 on this island, whose surface is IIG feet above tide, has a 
 depth of more than 1,000 feet, Jiiaking its bottom 088 
 feet below sea-kvel. In Conception liay, also, which is 
 almost like a fiord, the (le])th of the water is 8-iO feet. 
 
 To the evidence already addtuicd (concerning the gen- 
 eral glaciation of Labrador, we nuiy add the similar 
 facts concerning Newfoundland, where glacial striie are 
 found all along the easterti coast upon the highest of 
 the headlamls. In the vicinity of St. John's the stria3 
 are very clearly marked in an east-and-west direction 
 upon the highest summits, flOO feet above the sea. 
 There seems, therefore, little reason to doubt the con- 
 clusion of ^fr. Murray,* that the glacial phenomena of 
 Newfoundland belong to a general movement which filled 
 the Gulf of 8t. Lawrence and extended some distance out 
 upon the Atlantic plateau to the east of that island. In- 
 deed, there is much reason to believe that the banks of 
 Newfoundland, so celebrated for their fisheries, are nio- 
 rainic deposits made during the maximum extension of 
 the ice which fiowed oif from the Labrador i)eninsula,t at a 
 time when the elevation was such a^ to raise this por- 
 tion of the plateau above the water level. 
 
 ij 
 
 * Procoodings and Transact ions of the Royal Socictv of ('an- 
 ada for 1882. soct. iv, pp. .in-TfJ. 
 
 t See an urtiolc of (J. V. Wright, in American Journal of Sci- 
 cnco. Folruary, 1895, pp. 8G-94. 
 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 373 
 
 Upon tiiriiiiig our attojition to the Orconhmd coast, 
 wc liavc, as already shown, even more striking evidences 
 of extensive eh^vations of the hind in prej^daeial times, 
 whihi it is erjualiy ch^ar that the a(!Cumulation of ice did 
 not proceed far enoii<,di to (!nveh)p com[)letely the iii<5h- 
 est mountain peaks vvhicii honh^r the western coast. 
 But tliat the ice sheet fortnerly extended much farther 
 than it does at present, is evichiiit from even a cursory 
 examination. I{ef(!rring only to my own ohsorvations, 
 which, so far as I know, are in acconhmce with all 
 others in soutlnn-n dlrtseidaud, I not(!d at Ikamiut glacnal 
 stria; on the sides of tiie hord sev(!ral hundred feet above 
 the water level pointing toward the open sea. Upon the 
 margin of Isortok Fiord, also, glacial grooving and stri- 
 ution appeared on a magnificent scale near its mouth, 
 which is now lifty miles from the head of the fiord. 
 The grooves here were passing diagonally upward and 
 across a projection of land separating the narrow por- 
 tions of the fiord from the open sea and rising to a 
 lieight of several hundred feet. Ac(!unndations more 
 nearly approaching a moraine than anything else I saw 
 in (Jreenland occurred at this point. At Sukkertop[)en, 
 while there was no glacial ti'l, but the rocks were per- 
 fectly bare and free from soil, there were at the same 
 time, scattered over the low elevations, many boulder* of 
 a light colored granite, which were not local, but must 
 have been brought from the intcirior. Beyond question, 
 therefore, all the so-called "outskirts" of (Greenland 
 were formerly enveloped in ice, with the exception, pos- 
 sibly, of the higher mountain peaks which projected 
 above it, as the nuiuitaks of Dalager and Jensen do at 
 the present time.* 
 
 ♦ See above, pp. 264-267. 
 
'^74 
 
 GUKKNLaNI) k'KKllOLDS. 
 
 IS 
 
 Tho cornplieutioii of tlu- plu-iiomeiiii, liowcvor, niul 
 thoir (limculty of inti'rprctiitiot,, strikiM<r|v appear in 
 tho facts Hhviidy noted by I 'n.f. Chuiubi'rlin', tliiit, in tho 
 far nortli, nour tho sovonty-sixth iwnilh'l of lutitiule, 
 thoro aiv in closo proximity tho sanio oontnists lotvvocn' 
 ghioiatod jind ungliu-iutod iimis whioh wo Imvt* notod 
 rospootin.u; Luhrudor jiiid tho ,i;ononiI ooast of (iroonhmd. 
 l)ah-yn.pIo hhuul, iti latitu(k" JC" 'Mf\ and noar tho 
 (Jroonland ooast, i)rosonts tlio iioodh'liko oontonr of its 
 mountain poaks oharaotoristio of an unglaciatod rojL(ion ; 
 wiiilo fifty milos northwostward, the Caroy Ishindsrcon- 
 sistmg of ahnost tho samo icU'iitioal nxik (hornbk'iidic 
 gnoiss), prosont th(> familiar graceful outlines (^haractor- 
 istio of glaciated regions. TJie ice movement over tho 
 Caroy Islands, however, was evidently from tho north- 
 that is, down Smith Sound— ami not from fho west 
 coast of northern (irooidand. This is shown both by 
 tho fact that tho stoss sides are on tho north, and that 
 tho erratics upon tho islands, consisting of litnestone, 
 sandstone, shale, and (puirtzite, must have como from 
 that direction. 
 
 At the same time, it is a suggestive commentarv upon 
 the h)cal variations which may take i)lace in coniloction 
 with oxtensivo ico movements, that within iifty miles 
 north of the Carey Islands tho sea is now moro than 
 thirteen hundred feet deep, and a small jmrtion of the 
 ooast oast of Dairy mplo Island is bolioved by Prof. CMiam- 
 berlin never to have been covered with ice, though its 
 altitude is now less than that of its neighbouring glaciers. 
 In short, thoro is a driftless area on the northern border 
 of Batlin Bay ])rosenting, though on a smaller scale, the 
 same characteristic contrasts to the region around it 
 which appear in tho driftless area of southwestern Wis- 
 consin. From this Prof. Chamberlin infers " tluit the 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 875 
 
 former olovation of (Jrcenliuid was not coincident with 
 conditions fiivoui'inf^ glaciation." * 
 
 Several considerations, however, wonhi seem to di- 
 minish conllden(!0 in tiiis conchision. In the first place, 
 the glaciation of the Cirey Islands shows that tlua'e was 
 an immense actnal enlargement of neighhouring glaciers 
 without cornrsponding effects being produced upon 
 I)alrynii)le Island and the neighbouring (ioast. This in 
 itself calls for some local (ixplanation, whether we sup- 
 pose the glaciation to have occurred during a period of 
 elevation or while tlie land was at its present compara- 
 tive level. In the second place, the effect of deej) de- 
 pressions, such as occur in Baffin Hay and in the gulfs 
 and fiords leading into it, upon the direction of the ice 
 streams and upon their consequent erosive power, is not 
 easy to estimate. There can be Tittle doubt that, during 
 the maximum extent of the ice in the (Jlacial period in 
 the United States, the icefields surrounding the driftless 
 area of Wisconsin were far higher than was the enclosed 
 unglaciated rc^gion. As in the progress of great cur- 
 rents of water there are eddies and lines of slack mo- 
 tion, so there seem to have been corrosj)onding areas of 
 stagnant iov, in the midst of continental glaciers, where 
 the supply of foreign ice is so diminished that the melt- 
 ing power of the sun is adequate to the maintenance-of 
 perpetual " glacial gardens," 
 
 At the same time it must be confessed that elevation 
 alone is not sufficient to account for extensive glaciation. 
 The supply of moisture to the currents of air is equal- 
 ly necessary, for the clouds can only precipitate what 
 they have elsewhere absorbed. It is therefore necessary 
 to keep constantly in mind the possible influence of 
 
 
 * Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. vi, p. 230. 
 
376 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 changes of level in phices distant from the region upon 
 which the precipitation is taking place. The effect of 
 an elevation in Greenland might be neutralized by an 
 elevation in the vicinity of Behring Strait, limiting the 
 flow of warm water into the Arctic Sea. 
 
 But the general coincidence of elevation just preced- 
 ing the Glacial period is so extensive as to connect this 
 irresistibly with the causes of the period. This evidence 
 appears not only in the fiords and deep submerged iver 
 channels on the borders of the continent, but is equally 
 impressive in the interior, where my own investigations 
 have been mainly prosecuted. The inner gorges of the 
 Ohio River and its tributaries, for example, are from 
 three to six hundred feet in depth, and still retain their 
 nearly precipitous sides, showing that they have been 
 worn with great comparative rapidity during a recent 
 geological period of continental elevation. 
 
 In the vicinity of Warren, Pa., indubitable evidence 
 was adduced by the joint observations of Mr. Frank 
 Leverett and myself that this erosion of the Allegheny 
 Valley had reached certainly to a close approximation 
 of its present extent before the first maximum period 
 of glaciation, for we found buried channels of south- 
 ern tributaries to the Allegheny filled with the very 
 oldest glacial iUhris to a depth which carried them 
 down very closely to the level of the present Allegheny 
 River.* 
 
 Prof. E. H. Williams has likewise adduced a large 
 amount of indubitable evidence that the Lehi-h River 
 in eastern Pennsylvania, and by consequence the Dela- 
 ware River, into which it empties, had worn channels 
 down nearly to the level of their present rock bottom 
 
 * See Ainericfin Journal of Science, March, 1S94, pp. 166-168. 
 
i:' 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 377 
 
 before the maximum extension of ice during tlie first 
 stage of the Glacial period. * 
 
 Such extensive coincidences of elevation immediately 
 preceding the earlier stages of the Glacial period, and 
 of the subsequent enlargement of glacial phenomena, 
 can not easily be set aside either by a priori theories 
 concerning the improbability of such extensive coinci- 
 dent epeirogenic changes of level as the theory supposes, 
 or by laying stress upon numerous local phenomena of 
 obscure import. 
 
 These oscillations of level, connected with the alter- 
 nate expansion and recession of the Greenland ice, go 
 further than some are willing to admit to sustain the 
 theory that the Glacial period in its vicissitudes was 
 caused by them. Indeed, the elements of the Green- 
 land i)roblem are essentially the same as those of the 
 whole Northern hemisphere during the Glacial age. 
 Prof. Shaler has warned us that New England at the 
 present time barely escapes glacial conditions. The 
 rudiments of a glacier still remain in Tuckermann's 
 Eavine upon Mount Washington. A slight lowering of 
 temperature or a slight increase of snowfall would again 
 start the glaciers of the White Mountains out upon 
 their career, and, when once started, it is difficult to tell 
 where they would stop ; for glaciers intensify the con- 
 ditions to which they owe their origin, and would seem 
 to have almost unlimited power when once the forces 
 producing them have come fully into play. Equally 
 close is the approach to glacial conditions in Norway 
 and Alaska. Indeed, as has been shown, the oscillations 
 of the Alaskan g.aciers have been very extensive during 
 the past century, while the delicacy of balance of cli- 
 
 * See American Journal of Science, January, 1894, p. 35. 
 
 f 
 
378 
 
 GREENLAND ICFPIELDS. 
 
 :; (' 
 
 ' 
 
 matic conditions in tlio Alpine region is such that much 
 alarm was felt in Switzerland over the su})posed pros- 
 pect (which, however, was without foundation) that 
 considerable areas of the Desert of Sahara were to be 
 inundated by an artificial canal. Even a slight ad- 
 dition, through the enlargement of the evai)orating 
 area over which they come, to the moisture borne by 
 the winds which bathe the heiglits of the Alpine 
 peaks, would so increase the size of the Swiss glaciers 
 as to make them desolating and destructive in the 
 extreme. 
 
 That there have been extensive oscillations in the 
 relative elevation of the lands of the northern hemi- 
 sphere in recent geological times is clearly proved by 
 the abundant facts already narrated. But so intimately 
 connected are the geologic forces of the earth, that we 
 have to look far for the deeper causes producing the 
 definite results which we are called upon to study. It 
 seems probable, as shown in the preceding chapters, 
 that the period of land elevation which preceded the 
 Glacial epoch was the culmination of long-continued 
 and slowly accumulatijig geologic forces. The slow 
 contraction of the earth through its loss of heat, the 
 ■extensive transfers of sediment which had been going on 
 forages from the elevated land areas to the sea margins, 
 all conspired to produce that marvellous readjustment 
 of the earth's surface which took place in connection 
 with the mountain-building era of Late Tertiarv times. 
 It IS at present impossible for us to sav why the Sierra 
 Nevada, the Rocky Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Alps, and 
 the Himalayas, should have marked the lines of exces- 
 sive crumpling and elevati.n of the earth's crust during 
 this period, or why the northern part of Xorth America 
 and of Europe and of the intervening Atlantic basin 
 
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380 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 should have risen so much higher than the southern 
 portions did. 
 
 But wlien once these areas liad arisen sufficiently 
 high to retain tliroughout the season and from year to 
 year a portion of the winter's snow, it is easy to see that 
 a force of tremendous significance was set in operation. 
 In due time several million cubic miles of water had been 
 abstracted from the ocean (lowering its level fully a 
 Imndred and fifty feet) and locked up in the glacial 
 mantle enveloping the northern part of Europe and 
 America, a portion of which still remains in the interior 
 of Greenland. If there is any plasticity in the earth's 
 crust (and the geological record proves beyond question 
 that there is), the transfer of so much weight from the 
 oceanic beds to a limited portion of the continental area 
 would seem sufficient to produce marked results in de- 
 pressing the regions over which the ice had accumulated. 
 After the depression connected with this cause had pro- 
 ceeded beyond a certain point, the lowering of the alti- 
 tude would seem naturally to be an important contribut- 
 ing cause to bring about the change of climatic conditions 
 which removed the ice sheet ; while at the same time 
 the removal of the burden of ice from the glaciated area 
 and the return of the water to the oceans would partially 
 restore the original preglacial conditions, and set in mo- 
 tion again the forces tending to produce a glacial period. 
 Thus it would seem that, in the disturbances which 
 brought on the Glacial period, there is revealed a set of 
 forces calculated to produce such a series of oscillations 
 as would account partially for the complicated character 
 of the glacial deposits, with the frequent temporary re- 
 treats and advances of the ice over extensive territories. 
 This is the more plausible, since Greenland, too, is not 
 without evidence of strange vicissitudes in glacial his- 
 
 •Vi 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 381 
 
 tory. But, while the ovidenco is clear that in southern 
 Greenhmd the ice formerly extended everywhere down 
 to the ocean, it seems likely that within historical times 
 a considerably larger area was free from ice than at Ine 
 present time. For, as already remarked, it scarcely seems 
 
 \ 
 
 Fio. 63.— Near view of the Devil's Dining Table, Labrador. (See page 36.) 
 
 possible that Norse colonies should flourish in southern 
 Greenland under present conditions as they did nearly 
 a thousand years ago ; but at the same time, M'ith this 
 apparent advance of ice in southern Greenland, there 
 is an apparent retreat in some of the n( 
 
 iflrn 
 
If 
 
 If- 
 
 If 
 
 I 
 
 I, 
 
 ^1 < 
 
 I ' 
 
 Ip 
 
 382 
 
 ORKKNLANl) ICKFIKLDS. 
 
 '8li Mt 
 
 tions. The ghiciers about InfrloHeld (^,ulf, in the vicinity 
 of Peary's J'omiciuarters, seem to be stationary, if iio^t 
 actually retreating. 
 
 But if we advance further, and permit ourselves to 
 speculate upon the causes which have produced the 
 change of level, of which there is evidence in the gla- 
 ciated region, we are compelled to be satisfied with very 
 imperfect and partial solutions of the problem. (Jreat 
 as is the absolute force brought to light in the alternate 
 transfer of water from tho ocean to the continental gla- 
 ciers, and from the glaciers back to the ocean, its otfects 
 are disguised and modified by other forces with which 
 they combine to such an extent that we are soon lost in 
 endless complications. We know so little about the vis- 
 cosity of the interior of the earth and about the rigidity 
 of its crust, and about the contending forces of eleva-" 
 tion and depression connected with the readjustments 
 of late Tertiary times, that we must leave the subject to 
 entice and baffle physicists and mathematicians for a 
 long time to come. The wonders of >s^iture are not 
 likely soon to be exhausted. Its secrets are not to be 
 taken by sudden assault. 
 
 Even a slight contact with aboriginal life in Green- 
 land makes it easy to believe in the evidence of glacial 
 man in Europe and America. Indeed, here we have 
 him still in Greenland, though probably of a very dis- 
 tinct race from the tribes whicli at one time hunted the 
 walrus and the reindeer along the front of the ice sheet 
 m the Delaware Yaliey, or associated with the musk ox, 
 tlie cave bear, and the woolly rhinoceros on the plains 
 of northern France, If man can maintain a subsistence 
 along the border of the existing ice sheet of Greenland, 
 where he is dependent for wood upon the scanty supply 
 brought by ocean currents from Siberia, and where 
 
SUiMMAIlY AND CONGLITSION. 
 
 383 
 
 there is absolutely no vegotiible food except u few berries 
 and stulka of ungelica, and where there are no oaves 
 and rock shelters in which he can protect himself from 
 the inclcmciKjy of the season, it is easy to believe that 
 he lived in comparative comfort in the well-wooded re- 
 gion which bordered the ice sheet on tiie jdains of (Jer- 
 many and in the valley of the Mississippi, and which 
 opened out toward more congenial climes to the south. 
 
 Fio. 64. -Contented Eskimos. 
 
 The question, however, arises. Why do men cling to 
 such conditions of life when more attractive ones are 
 opened to them ? In Greerdand, indeed, the natives are 
 shut up to these conditions, but it would seem that the 
 Eskimos in British America and Alaska would be at- 
 tracted southward. Tiie answer probably is, that the 
 regions to the south are already occupied bv other and 
 20 
 
384 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 r 
 
 III 
 
 '* 'U 
 
 hostile tribes, for it is a significant fat that everywhere 
 the Eskimo and the red Indian are inimical to each 
 other. A distinguished botanist has said, in illustration 
 of the truih of the doctrine of natural selection, that 
 plants do not live where they like best, but where other 
 plants will let them. So it seems to be, or to have been, 
 with the Eskimos— they have evidently adjusted them- 
 selves from necessity to these northern conditions ; but, 
 once adjusted, they are now really in love with them,' 
 and Greenland life is so attractive that the race would 
 not be at home anywhere else. 
 
 _ To a considerable extent the adjustment is physical. 
 The stomachs of the Eskimos have become fitted for the 
 digestion and assimilation of the food which the region 
 provides, and their systems inured to the kind of labour 
 necessary to provide the requisite food and raiment, 
 ihe missionaries and Danish officials have found it un- 
 desirable, and indeed impossible, greatlv to change the 
 habits of n.'ifive life in Greenland and Labrador; for 
 as already said, the value of native products is greater in 
 use than it can be in exchange. The blubber and skin 
 of the seal meet a more important want to the Green- 
 ander himself than they possibly can to civilized na- 
 tions; wlnle the food and clothing of temperate climates 
 are of little service in the rigours of a Greenland winter 
 or amid the exposures of the hunting season in Green- 
 land waters; and a European house, fitted to protect 
 against the cold and storms of an arctic region, would 
 be so much more expensive than the house of the na- 
 tives as to be entirely beyond their means. 
 
 Life in Greenland, however, is by no means so dreary 
 as It would seem to an outsider, and one can well under- 
 stand how people physically adjusted to the conditions 
 maintain such cheerfulness and gaiety in their life 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 386 
 
 Indeed, it is not possible for the natives of southern 
 climes to be more light-hearted than are the Greenland 
 Eskimos. As we have seen, they are given to singing 
 and dancing, to story-telling and joking, and their 
 merry laughter rings out everywhere to enliven all 
 
 Fig. 65. -Eskimos sporting in their kayaks. One is jumping over the 
 
 other. 
 
 ordinary intercourse. A little closer examination of 
 the conditions, likewise, shows that there is a secure 
 basis for this cheerfulness and hope. Up to certai.i 
 limits the supply of food and raiment for the Eskimos 
 is abundant and readily attainable. Their low houses, 
 built of stone and sod, and covered with a slightly 
 
m- 
 
 386 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 M 
 
 arching roof, ure further protected during the winter 
 by the great fall of snow beneath which they are deeply 
 buried. In tliese houses so protected tlie flame of the 
 on lamp furnishes all the heat desirable ; so that for 
 comfort the inhabitants are compelled to divest them- 
 selves of most of their clothing when they enter the 
 room, and thus are the better protected by it when thev 
 return again to their duties out of doors. Even the 
 venerable Dr. Rink testifies that the welcome shelter of 
 such a house is not without its attractions when the 
 storm is raging outside. 
 
 The supply of food and raiment is brought to the 
 very door of the Eskimos in Greenland, or perhaps it is 
 more proper to sav that they have settled at those places 
 where these natural supplies are most constant and 
 abundant; thus illustrating the same principle which 
 has led to the common observation that usually Mature 
 h^is so ordered it that there should be a bountiful run 
 of salmon in the vicinity of a monastery, and that . 
 large river should flow by a great city. So the supnlv 
 of natural advantages in Greenland, though limited is 
 remarkably uniform and reliable. Indeed, it is so con- 
 stant as to i terfere with the development of fore- 
 thought, prudence, and thrift among the people and 
 to stand in the way of their progress and advancement, 
 and to favour the continuance of that communistic life 
 which characterizes their state of society. 
 
 Instead of having to go out to distant seas, as the 
 hardy fishermen of Newfoundland and Norwav do for 
 their fish and seal, the fish and seal come to the Green- 
 landers. And, indeed, in a country where there is no 
 ship timber, it is impossible to think of venturing far 
 from the coast. The Greenlander, therefore, must abide 
 his time and wait till the seasons for the schools of fish 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 387 
 
 arrive, and for the annual migration of the various spe- 
 cies of seal, and of the immense flocks of birds, whose 
 eggs and flesh give pleasing variety of food and whose 
 feathers afford unrivalled protection against the cold. 
 The very regularity of this supply removes, as we have 
 said, the motives which in a state of civilization lead to 
 provision for the future, and which stimulate and diver- 
 sify the activities of men. 
 
 But, at the same time, it is clear that the population 
 of Greenland is narrowly limited in growth by the aver- 
 age amount of these annual supplies. It is not possible 
 for the population of Greenland largely to increase. 
 Much increase in the destruction of the animal life 
 upcn which the people depend for their existence would 
 " kill the goose that lays the golden egg,'' and lead to 
 a speedy diminution of resources. Indeed, as we have 
 already remarked, owing to the facilities furnished by 
 firearms for killing reindeer a generation ago, and the 
 inducement held out by even the low exchangeable 
 value of the horns and hides and tongues of those ani- 
 mals, and a failure upon the part of the Government to 
 enforce proper restrictions, the whole species of reindeer 
 has been brought to the verge of extinction in Green- 
 land; so that not only great hardships are inflicted 
 upon the present generation, but total destruction of 
 the Greenland Eskimo is threatened. 
 
 For, as remarked in the previous chapter, while the 
 Greenland igloo is not seriously objectionable from a 
 sanitary point of view during the winter months, when 
 everything is frozen so as to prevent decay, nothing can 
 exceed the filthiness of the surroundings when the snows 
 melt off in the spring. The evils of this unsanitary con- 
 dition were formerly avoided by the possibility of each 
 family's possessing a reindeer-skin tent, in which they 
 
388 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 took up their abode for the summer, while they left the 
 elements to purify their winter abodes. But, now that 
 the supply of reindeer skins is so limited, the inhabit- 
 ants are compelled to occupy their unsanitary abodes 
 during the summer season, greatly to the detriment both 
 of their own health and of that of their posterity. In this 
 case certainly the possession of civilized instruments of 
 destruction has proved a doubtful blessing to the natives 
 of Greenland. How far the wise foresight of the esti- 
 mable Danish officials and missionaries may correct the 
 present evil tendencies is one of the most interesting 
 questions of the future. Happily, the problem in 
 Greenland is much simpler than that which is pre- 
 sented in the preservation of the aborigines of our own 
 country; for in Greenland there is no inducement for 
 civilized races to encroach upon their possessions ard 
 subject the natives to the irrepressible conflicts which 
 are so continuously destroying the Indian tribes in the 
 United States. It being impossible to transport Euro- 
 pean civilization to the conditions of Greenland, it is 
 not necessary to waste our sympathy upon the people 
 who are already adjusted to these conditions and are 
 happy in them. If any people live in Greenland, th^y 
 must live substantially as the Eskimos do. We mav be 
 content if we successfully impart to them a share in 
 that higher intellectual and spiritual life which en- 
 nobles and sweetens all conditions alike. 
 
 A similar line of remarks is suggested bv the con- 
 ditions of life throughout the entire North Atlantic 
 region. Scanty as is the population of Labrador and 
 Newfoundland, it has about reached its maximum 
 limit, unless other than the present sources of subsist- 
 ence are discovered and utilized. The seals which an- 
 nually float past the coast of Labrador are not unlimited 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 389 
 
 in number, and are not wiiolly insensible to the succes- 
 sive inroads made upon them by modern methods of de- 
 struction. There is imminent danger that the numbers 
 
 Fig. Cfi.— Towing the Rigel out of the Punch Bowl during a calm. 
 
 shall be so reduced by the present greed of hunters that 
 there will be little reward awaiting the enterprising 
 crews who set out in the future from Newfoundland for 
 their capture. Indeed, the recent stress of hard times 
 in Newfoundland is in part a result of the failing sup- 
 ply of seal to be found upon the ice of the Labrador 
 current. 
 
 The impressive regularity with which the schools of 
 different kinds of fish visit stated places from year to 
 year throughout the North Atlantic furnishes a solid 
 basis for business calculation up to a certain point. 
 
390 
 
 GREENLAND ICEFIELDS. 
 
 in- 
 
 But evidently there is a limit to the supply of available 
 fish, even in the ocean, and the increase in the catch is 
 by no means proportionate to the increase in the num- 
 bers and efforts of the fishermen. It would not by anv 
 means be so easy to double the quantity of fish caught 
 as it IS ^n double the means for their capture. 
 
 0. - MQ not, however, but be deeply impressed with 
 the success of the people of the North Atlantic in ad- 
 Jiisting themselves to the conditions surrounding them 
 Ihe few thousand people who remain in Labrador seem 
 to fill the space which Nature has provided, and are 
 able to maintain an existence that is by no means with- 
 ou Its attractions. The winters are indeed long, but 
 not altogether dreary, since with their dog sledges the 
 nhabitants can travel over the frozen bays more readily 
 than they can cross them by boat in summer; while the 
 moderate supply of timber, which is protected by its 
 poor quality from total destruction by lumbermen, sup- 
 pies them with shelter and fuel and a limited amount 
 of occupation The difficulty of securing educational 
 and religious facilities is partly overcome by gathering 
 close together in wintor time, and by the use of floating 
 bethels in the summer; while the great influx of foreign 
 ships and outside fishermen during the summer effectu- 
 ally enlarges the horizon of the native's mental vision. 
 
 dei^of T h ' '"''^l '^'' permanent European resi- 
 dents of Labrador and with the captains and crews of 
 he vessels which venture into these northern region 
 t upply the world's demand for fish, can but grfat^ 
 mc ease one's appreciation of the marvellous capacity 
 
 tl nohT . ""i'.'"' '"• '^'''''''^ ''-'^ *1-- by conflict 
 
 Ln il! '" '"' '' ''''''''''■ ^^'- «J---ter fish- 
 ermen whom one meets on the coasts of Iceland and 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 39^ 
 
 Greenland, and the Newfoundlanders whom he encoun- 
 ters upon the coast of Labrador, as well as those who 
 are permanent residents there, are easily the peers of any 
 class of people in the world. Perhaps, however, this is 
 a result of that stern law of natural selection which here 
 operates with remorseless certainty, permitting only the 
 most healthy, the most enterprising, and the most in- 
 telligent to survive. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Ablation, 207, 303, 306. 
 Aeadeiny Glacier, 117. 
 Adirondack Mountains, 304; plants 
 
 ns in (Greenland, 193. 
 Aftonian (Helvetian) interglacial 
 
 stage. 350, 353, 354, 5."0. 
 Agassiz, Alexander, 317. 
 Agassiz, Louis, 245, 254, 297, 317, 
 
 846. 
 Agnssiz, glacial lake, 306, 360. 
 Alaska glaciers, 269, 298-305, 301 
 
 377. 
 Albertan stage and formation of 
 
 glacial drift, 352. 
 Alders, 68, 191, 299. 
 Alexander, Cape, 296. 
 Alg!T>, 197, 200, 271. 
 Algonquin, glacial lake, 358. 
 Allegheny Mountains, plants as in 
 
 Greenland, 194. 
 Allegheny River, 376. 
 Allen, Dr. Dudley, 134. 
 Allen, J. A., on pinnipeds, 226, 228 
 
 229. 
 Alps, glaciers, 202, 297, 302, 361. 
 Altitude of land, causing the Ice 
 
 Age, 211, 344-347, 352, 364. 
 Altitudes of the Greenland ice 
 sheet, 198, 272, 278. 282, 286, 
 354; of mountains in Green- 
 land, 200 ; of nunf.taks, 198, 266. 
 Amcralik Fiord, 105, 251, 277. 
 
 Andrews, Dr. E., 341. 
 
 Andromeda, 194, 199. 
 
 Angekoks, 130. 
 
 Angelica, 120, 127, 192, 383. 
 
 Angniagsalik, 119. 
 
 Animals of Greenland, chapter on, 
 214^244. 
 
 Annelid worms, 244. 
 
 Anniversary Lodge, 285, 293, 295. 
 
 Antarctic continent, 246, 287, 298. 
 
 Anticosti, 224. 
 
 Archangelica, 192. 
 
 Arctic Ocean, dei)th, 333. 
 
 Arnica, 68, 191. 
 
 Asasak Glacier, 113. 
 
 Ascidians, 244. 
 
 Astronomic theories of the causes 
 
 of the Ice Age, 334-344, 355. 
 Astrup, Eivind, 280. 
 Atanekerdluk. 113, 208, 209, 213. 
 Augpadlartok Glacier, 262. 
 Auks, 89, 167, 238, 239. 
 Aulatsivik Fiord, 108, 200, 201. 
 Australian zoological region, 214. 
 Azalea, 194. 
 
 Baal's River, 104. 
 
 Baffin Bay, 9, 51 ; depth. 313: limit 
 
 of migration of animals, 216; 
 
 and of plants, 202, 205, 207, 320, 
 
 331; tides, 312; drittless area, 
 
 374. 
 
 393 
 
894 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ill.|i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Biiikiil, Liikc, 227. 
 
 linked apple (or cloiulborry ), .W. 
 
 Kiiltl ejpreRH. tb«,sil, )>UK 
 
 Haklwin. S. I'renti.ss, ;!0I. 
 
 Ball. Sir Roliert S., ;j.;t), ;;43. 
 
 Baltie (Jlaeier, 350, 357. 
 
 Baltic Sea, 330, 354. 
 
 Hanks, Labni.|'>r, 42; Newfouml- 
 
 luiul, 34, 372. 
 Barrow Strait, (lei)tli, 313. 
 Barrows, Dr. Natiian, on Horuot'tho 
 
 Wliite .Moiiiituiiis, . )4. 
 Bartlett. ( 'aj)!., 20. 
 Basalt, 3(5, 112. 208, 290, 821. 
 Battle Harbour, 28. 
 Baiiinan, Mr. and Mrs., 180. 
 Beaches, raised, 31, 43, 44. 
 Bear, white or polar, 13, 21, 218, 29(3. 
 Bearded seal, 231. 
 Becker, Dr. Georj^o F., 343. 
 Beeeli, fossil, 210. 
 Beetles, 243. 
 
 BehrinK Sea, 215, 224, 227, 228, 333. 
 Behriiii,' Strait, formerly aland area, 
 202, 215, 321>, 352; widtli and 
 deptli, 333. 304. 
 Belcher. Sir E., 13. 
 Bell, Dr. Kobcrt, 34, 44, 324, 338. 
 Belle Isle, Strait of, 4, C, 23, 33. 
 . Bellflower, 101, lli8. 
 Belt, Thomas, 320. 
 Bergen Company, 249, 250. 
 BerjTirren, collecting snow alga?, 200, ! 
 
 20O. 
 Berries of Greenland, 180, 102, 38o. 
 Bessels, Dr. Emil, 325. 
 Bilberry, 102. 
 Birches, 08, 98, 191, 190, 205; fo.ssil, 
 
 210. 
 Bird cliffs, 238. 
 Birds of Greenland, 75, 87, 80, 230- 
 
 230, 275, 282, 200. 
 Bistrup, Mi. and .Mns., Iso. 
 BjOrling and Kalstenius, 288. 
 
 Black an<l White [slnnd, 3.'5. 
 
 Black crakebcrry, llo. 
 
 Black death, 170. 
 
 Bladder-nose seal, 231. 
 
 Blaeberries, 80, 109. 
 
 Blanc Sablon, 27. 
 
 Blubber, 222, 230, 233, 241. 
 
 Boats of the Eskimos. Sec Kay.vk 
 
 I'MIAK. 
 
 Bonneville, Lake, .339. 
 Bomicy, I'rof T. (J., 345, 
 Botatiical provinces of Greenland, 
 
 20.'). 
 Boulders, 31, 30; inclosed in gla- 
 ciers, 208, 289, 291 ; on borders 
 of ice sheets, 251, 271, 270 ; trans- 
 portation long di.-tances, 304. 
 Bowdoin Bay, 285, 289, 291, 295. 
 Brainard, 117. 
 Brewer, \V. II., x. 
 
 British Isles, preglacial elevation. 
 328; subsidence in the Cham- 
 plain (■i)och, 320. 
 Brown, Dr. Robert, cited, 18.5, 196, 
 
 197,210,224,233,230,258. 
 i'-ryant, Henry G., 38, 287. 
 Bryant Glacier, 200. 
 Buddington, Capt., 14, 10. 
 Buttercups, 08, 100, 100. 
 Butterfiics, 117, 24.3. 
 
 California, epcirogenic movements, 
 318. 
 
 Cambrian rocks, 30, 37, 40, 371. 
 
 Camping on South Isortok Fiord, 
 
 71 ; on Ikamiut Fiord, 80, 157. 
 Canadian' glacial drift and sta.'e.s. 
 
 352. 
 
 Cape Cod, plants as in Greenland, 
 
 104. 
 Capelin fishery. 241. 
 Carey Islands, 18, 288, 292, 293, 374, 
 
 375. 
 Caribou, 220. 
 
 1( 
 
INDEX. 
 
 m:. 
 
 i) 
 
 TarpcntPr, V. P., 317, 818. 
 
 CurtciiHuii, A. K., 06, «8. 
 
 CiiUHcs of the leo A|^c, 211, 215, 
 30.-), :i;!-t-H47. 
 
 Cutiic'i'iiiiH, 222, 23;5-23(}. 
 
 t'haiul.eiliii, Proi; T. C, cited, 
 2(MI, 2»ilt, ;iO(J, ;!0S, '.m, ;J41 ; oh- 
 servutions of Oreeniuiul nU- 
 I'iers, 2Hr-21t3, 374 ; on stugos of 
 tlio loo Age, 34!>, 3.51. 
 
 riiampluin, Luke, 32t], 327, 84.J, ;j51, 
 3:)ii. 
 
 <'liami.laiii eimeli, 233, 235, 307, 
 30!l, 325, ;}45, .351, 3(iO ; «ulmi- 
 ilenee, 322-330, 345, 355, SM. 
 Cliaiuller, Dr. S. <'., 343. 
 C'liapeU ill Lubnulor, 25, 27, 28, 32. 
 Clmrles Ilarl)our, C'ai)e, vi, 13, 23 
 
 25, 27, 31. 
 Chateau Hay, 35, 45. 
 C'liiino, Fort, 44. 
 Chinese, 134 <t svq. 
 Chinook winds of the United States, 
 
 123. 
 Christian-shaal), district of, lost. 
 Cin([ucfoil. l!il, 11(4, 197, 108. 
 Circui. 'polar fauna, 215 ; flora, 201, 
 
 203, 20(>. 
 Claushavn, lOO. 
 Climatic changes in Greenland, 
 
 307, 311, ,331. 
 Cloudberry, 30, 102. 
 Club moss, 107. 
 Coal in Greenland, 111, 113, 207; 
 
 GrinneH Land, 210. 
 Codfish, 27, 31, 32, 87, lOG, 100, 240, 
 
 242. 
 Composite, 10(). 
 Coniferaj in Greenland, 101 ; fossil, 
 
 208, £10, 211. 
 Coniferous driftwood, 323. 324. 
 Cook, Dr. F. A., v, x, 50, 13G, 150. 
 Cotton grass, 103. 
 Cowberry, 102. 
 
 Cress family, 105, lotf. 
 
 Cretaceous strata in (ireenland, 
 
 207, 200, 213, 319. 
 Crevasses, 02, 253, 2(10, 2t;4, 2iif;. 
 
 271, 274, 278, 200. 
 Crimson ('litis, 200. 
 Ooll, Dr. James, 335-;j43. 
 Crowberry, 109, 180, loo. 
 Crowfoot, 101, lot;. 
 Crucifera', 105, 10(3. 
 Crustacea, 244. 
 
 Cryolite mines, 15, 70, 101, \h:x 
 Cryptogamous plants, 104, 107, 2(Jo. 
 Curlew berry, 3(J, 189 
 Cushing, Prof H. P., 301. 
 Cycads, fossil, 200. 
 
 Da'uger, Lars, on inland ice, 103, 
 
 252, 2115. 
 Dalager's lumataks, 252, 2134, 373. 
 Dale, Dr. William II., i;;8, 333. 
 Dalrymple island, 202, 374, 375. 
 Da-..-., Prof J. D., 2(34, 2(16, 304, ;;o(!, 
 
 312, 315, 337, 344. 345, 351. 
 Danes in (ireenland, explorations, 
 
 250, 251, 263, 266, 285, 328; 
 
 fuel, 103. 
 Dannebrog's Island, 118. 
 Durwin, Charles, 48, 317, 346. 
 Davidson. Prof George, 318. 
 Davis, Dr. G. G., 280. 
 Davis Strait, 28, 46, 54; depth, 313; 
 
 geology of sides of, 20 ; limit 
 
 of migration of plants, 202, 205, 
 
 207, 360. 
 Dawson, Dr. George M., 304, 310, 
 
 3.V2. 
 Dawson. Sir William, 210, 235, 315, 
 
 321, 325. 
 Decomposition of gneiss, 292. 
 De Goer, Baron Gerard, 320, 330, 
 
 336, 340. 
 Delaware Bay, submarine fiord, 315. 
 Kiver, 376. 
 
396 
 
 L,DEX. 
 
 (Ill 
 
 Delta funs, '2!M. 
 
 I)f Uaiii'i', <'. K., ;}:i4. 
 
 Duwull, J. I)., x. 
 
 Dfvil'H Diuiii^' Tiil)lo, aO, 43, .181. 
 
 Diivil'« Thuiiil), 115. 
 
 Diapi^imlu, lt)3. 
 
 Dit'ksoii, O.scar, •.'To. 
 
 Diwco Hay, ID, 7<>, lOS, luii, 117, 270. 
 
 Disfo ImIuikI, 111, 114, 207, 208, 210, 
 
 288, ii)!!, :]-n. 
 Dl.\..ii, ('apt. G. \V., vii. 
 iJoifH, Eskimo, 108, 115, 217, 211), 
 
 240, 282, 28(1, 2115. 
 I)i)ll>liia.s, 222, 2;{5. 
 Domino jfuui.su, 35. 
 Ilurl)i)ur, 27, 35. 
 Down, uidur, 237. 
 Drayton, Miyor-tJen. A. W., 340, 
 
 342. 
 DriHliring, 2tJ. 
 Drift in Oreenlund, 291. 
 Driftloss an-a vnnt of Bowdoin Bay, 
 
 2'Jl, 374 ; of Wiscon.sii), 374. 
 Driftwood, 55, G4, 73, lOii, 325. 
 DnimJiiis, 201, 300. 
 Dryi.Ml.ski, E. von, 302. 
 Ducks, eider. Si), 105, lOt!, 10!», 1(!5, 
 
 hu, 187, 237. 
 Diinnul, rcjiort on Greenland flora, 
 
 1114, lit,-). 
 Dyclic, I'rof. L. I,., 29(). 
 
 Eastern settlement, 100, 105, 118, 
 
 liJO, 172. 
 Et'ccntricity of tiie eartli's orbit, 
 
 336-338, 343, 355. 
 E.i,'ede, II : lOi), i.^o, 1,31, 153, 
 
 17t), 24!t, 250. 
 Figedesminde, 108, 109, 261. 
 Eirirs, 237, 239. 29(!. 
 Ekallumiut, 119. 
 Ellc'smerc Land, 289. 
 Klin, fossil, 210. 
 Emerson, Prof. B. K., 339. 
 
 Eiitflaoial ilrirt. 2(17, 209, 289, 291, 
 
 30ti, ;i08, 311. 
 Epeimgenie theory of the euuseit 
 
 of the lee Age, 344-347, 352. 
 E[)eir«venie uplifts, 30,\ 3lii, 317, 
 
 33M, 345, 34tl, 35'J, 3511, 300, 
 Erhardt, .1. ('., 45, 4(i. 
 I Erie the lied, (19, 109, 219. 
 ! Erie's Fiord, 100, 
 Ermine, 219. 
 
 Erosion, by glaeiers, 29, 219, 293, 
 305, 306, 371; by streams, 29, 
 312,313,321,322,876. 
 Eskers, 41, 293, 306. 
 Eskimos eateehists, 84, 90, 160 ; dis- 
 tribution, 1 16, 127 ; dress, 4t), 49, 
 89, 166, 284 ; edueution, 167, 178 ; 
 etfeets of eontaet with civiliza- 
 tion, 48, 151, 387, 388; charac- 
 teristics, 84, 117 ; food, 127, 164, 
 192; hardships, 150, 168; im- 
 plements of chase, 89, 104, 144, 
 223; language, 128,129; mean- 
 ing of wortl, 127; morality, 149; 
 music, 151), 162, 167 ; nominally 
 Christlan.s, 178; oil lamps, 146, 
 164, 386; origin and develop- 
 ment. 128, 332; personal ap- 
 pearance, 134; physical adjust- 
 ment to tlieir surround ing.s, 384- 
 387; primitive religion, 129; race 
 affiliation, 128, 1.34; religious 
 services, 157; sanitary condi- 
 tion, 148, 387; settlements, 82; 
 social custonKs, 1,')3, 167 ; super- 
 stition, 90, 130; women, 162, 
 183. 
 Eskimos of tlie Xortli Atlantic, 
 
 chapter on, 127-168. 
 Ethioi)ian zoological region, 214. 
 Europe, C'hamplain subsidence, 
 328, 355; glucial drift, 348; 
 ice slieet, 245, 298, 306, 328, 
 339,349,354; map, 356. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 397 
 
 '"I 
 
 Europoiin plantn in (Jrwriluiid, 
 
 1 !••-', '.'»:,', )>(ir,, ;)(li). 
 EuroiK'uiis in (iivenlun.!, i'iiui)Ur 
 
 on, ltt«-187. 
 Kvuns, Sir .John, ;iJ2. 
 Kxcui-NionN (in ooa.-t of (Jrcfnlumi, 
 
 oliuptcr on, (jti-li8. 
 Kxplonitioiw of tho inland ico, 
 
 I'liaptcron, 24o-M{i. 
 
 F;,briciU8, '_'53. 
 l<uivhil(J, Prof. II. L.,3r)9. 
 Fulron urctie o.viKHJitions, 285, 287. 
 Fulsfin, Dr. Alhcrt, ;!;(7, a.")!. 
 Famine, 44, 4.'), IM-ltjs. 
 Farcwull, Capo, 58, (JU, 101, 302. 
 Ftiniu Inlands, route of mijrration 
 of plants and aiiiumls, 202, 
 21(1, a;Jl. 
 Farrell, Capt. W. J., ix. 
 Fauna, 214-244, aU; European 
 
 atlinity. -JK;. 
 Fausljoll, Mi.s.s, ISO. 
 Feildun, ('apt. II. W.. 210, 323, 324. 
 Ferns, l!t4, 197, 211!); f„.s„ii, 208, 20!». 
 Fi^' trees, fossil, in (ireenland, 20lt. 
 Fijrwort family, 190. 
 Fiord seal, 22(5, 228. 
 Fiords, eroded by streams, 312, 
 320, 328, 352; soundings of 
 o.^th, 312, 315, 328; subma- I 
 rine, Sl.-i, 318, 31',), 345, 3.i(); j 
 vej,'etation, lt»l, l!i;i, 194, 195. 
 Fire-arms of doubtful advantage, 
 
 89, 152, 387. 
 Fires in Labrador, periodic, 38, 44. 
 Fishes of Greenland, 239-242. 
 Five-fingrer, 197, 198. 
 Flies, 243. 
 Flint, W. F., on flora of the White 
 
 Mountains, 204. 
 Floe ice in Hattin Ray, 11, 13; of 
 Davis Strait, 54, 55; of Spitz- 
 bergon current, S9, 62, ti9. 
 
 Flora, lHg-213, 311; cireump-.lar 
 MIHjeies extending to the south 
 temperiUe /one, 201; etfe.-t of 
 the Ice Age, 20.t, 212, 213. 
 Florida, epeirogenie uplift, 315. 
 
 Flower and Lydekker, 214, 217 
 220, 23t). ' 
 
 Flowers of (ireenland, 08, 7(!, ho, 
 117, 120,191, 194,190, 282; on' 
 nunataks, 19«. 
 
 Foehn winds, 123, 27o, 275. 
 
 Fontaine. I'rof. \V. M., 209. 
 
 Forbes, J. !>., 293, 297, 303. 
 
 Fordycc, .1. K., x. 
 
 Forestian interglaeial stages, 350, 
 358. 
 
 Forests on tlie Mahwpina ice sheet, 
 
 299, 307. 
 
 Fossil nuirine sliells. Pleistocene, 
 
 300, 323, 324, 325, 320, 329. 
 Fo.xsil plants of Greenland, 207-21,3. 
 
 I Foulke Fiord, 220. 
 Fo\, arctic, 21, 217, 282. 
 Fox, the, 14, 15. 
 Franklin, Sir J., 1.3, 1,1. 
 Franz .losef Fiord, lis, 200. 312, 
 
 313. 
 Frederikslal, .57, 62, 08, 101, 118. 
 Fre<lerikshaab, vi, 53, 54, 64, 66, 71, 
 
 101. 
 
 Frederikshaab Glacier 198,252, ^64, 
 
 20,5. 
 Frost snow, 279. 
 Fuel in (ireenland, 193. 
 Fungi, 197. 
 
 (rable Glacier, 308, 311, 31 
 
 (Jarde, Lieut., on inland ice, 28,5. 
 
 CJartlner, G. W., x. 
 
 Gardner, .1. S., 210, 321. 
 
 Geikie, Prof. .lames, 336, 339, 349, 
 
 ,351. 358. 
 Gentian, 190, 
 Geology of Greeidand, 70, 111-113, 
 
398 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 207, 208, 321, 373 ; of Labrador, 
 33-36, 40-41, 370. 
 
 German expedition to ea.steni 
 Greenland, plants colleeted, 
 197. 
 
 Germany, glacial drift, 34S. 
 
 Giants' Causeway, 30. 
 
 Gieseeke, 253 ; on Greenland Horn, 
 l'J4. 
 
 Gilbert, G. K., S17, 339, 341, 357. 
 
 Glacial lakes, 272, 274, 353, 357, 359. 
 
 Glacial man in Europe and Amer- 
 ica, evidence of, 3b2. 
 
 Glacial period, 200, 340; duration 
 of, 344, 300; epochs, 351, 352, 
 355, 300. 
 
 Glacial rivers, 200, 266, 271, 272, 
 275, 278. 
 
 Glacial stri*, 37, 40, 41, 372, 373. 
 
 Glacier Bay, Ahi-ka, 301, 303, 319. 
 
 Glacier gardens, 197, 375. 
 
 Glaciers, existing, 362. 
 
 Glaciers of Greenland, 9, 51, 0(i, 07, 
 75, 70, 77, 82. 88, 90, 93, 99, 101, 
 102, 104, 114, 201, 289, 296 ; cc.n- 
 ditions of their fornuition, 200 ; 
 erosion, 291, 293, 305; granular 
 structure, 209, 292 ; rates of flow, 
 110, 115, 201-203, 289, 302, 309, 
 314 ; stratific; 'on, 290, 291, 308, 
 309 ; theories uf motion, 80, 95, 
 293. 
 
 Gneiss, decomposing, 593 ; Domino, 
 35 ; Laurentian, 33. 
 
 Godhavn, 111, 289. 
 district of, 104-106, 111, 179. 
 
 Godthaab, 04, 104, 123, 172, 178, 
 192, 289. 
 
 Goodchild, J. G., 329. 
 
 Graali, W. A., on Spitzbergen ice 
 current, 57-59. 
 on coast about Ekallumiut, 119, 
 
 121. 
 on Eskimo customs, 153,154-157. 
 
 Grampus, 235. 
 
 Grand Falls, 37, 41, 288. 
 
 Grand Kiver, Labrador, 287. 
 
 Grant Land, 323. 
 
 Granulation of glacier ice, 269, 
 293. 
 
 Grasses. 193, 195, 190, 198, 199. 
 
 Gray, Prof. Asa, on the circum- 
 polar flora, 114, 201, 203, 205, 
 212, 215, 304. 
 
 Gray seal, 231. 
 
 Greely, Gen. A. W., 117,'124, 325. 
 
 Green Mountains, Vermont, 304; 
 plants as in Greenland, 198. 
 
 Greenland, area, 247, 309; climatic 
 conditions, 69, 105, 109, 121 ; 
 coast in detail, chapter on, 99- 
 126 ; discovery of, 169, 174, 176 ; 
 exploration of, 66-98, 169-178, 
 245-296; exports of, 101, 184; 
 famines and epidemics, 44, 153, 
 108; flords of, 10, 11, 00, 71, 75, 
 80, 85-87, 90-98, 99, 101. 104, 106, 
 108, 11 6, 312, 323 ; floods in, 83 ; 
 government, 152, 179 ; inland 
 ice, 10, 72, 94, 99, 101, 103, 109, 
 117, 198, 245-296 ; land connec- 
 tion, former, 202 ; literature, 
 173; name of, 07, 188; "out- 
 skirts" of, 60, 67, 109, 276, 373 ; 
 population, 100, 101, 105, 106, 
 108, 109,111, 114, 119, 174, 387; 
 snowfall, 9, 84, 366; ten|jera- 
 turc, 121-126, 279, 285, 286; 
 v.inds. 123, 270, 284. 
 
 Grinnell expeditions, plant collec- 
 tions, 194. 
 
 (irinncU Glacier, 51. 
 
 (5rinn<ai Land, 292, 321 ; foseil 
 fauna, 324, 325 ; fossil flora, 
 209, 210, 211. 
 
 Gulf Stream, 64, 316, 317, 863. 
 
 Gulls, 75, 238. 
 
 Gunnibjorn, 169. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 399 
 
 Hail, 279. 
 Halibut, 109, 241. 
 Hall, Capt., 15, 16, 51. 
 Halos, 279. 
 
 Hamilton Inlet, 12, 23, 28, 35, 37, 
 42, 43, 44, 372. 
 River, 37, 101. 
 Hammer, on flow of glaciers, 262. 
 Han<,'ing glaciers, 76, 90. 
 Hansa, the, 59-62, 101, 118. 
 Hare, arctic, 220, 282. 
 Harp sealj 229. 
 Harrison, J. B., 316. 
 Haven, Jens, 45. 
 Hawk weed, 196. 
 
 Hayes, Dr. Isaac I., 218, 220, 225, 
 240, 248; journey on the ice 
 sheet, 255, 281; plant collec- 
 tions, 195. 
 Heath family, 191, 194, 196. 
 Hebron, 46. 
 
 Heer, on the fossil floras of Green- 
 land, 208, 210, 321. 
 Hegemann, Capt., 60. 
 Ileilprin, i»rof Angelo, 215, 282.. 
 Helland, Dr. Amund, 11, 110, 261, 
 
 263, 302, 321. 
 Helvetian (Aftonian) intcrglaeial 
 
 stage, 350, 35 1. 
 Henley Harbour, 23, 35, 36, 43. 
 Hepaticea', 195. 
 Herscnel, Sir John, 341. 
 Hilgard, Prof. E, W., 319. 
 Hill, F/ofE.T., 316. 
 Hind, H. Y., 42, 43. 
 Hitchcock, Trof. i' II., 306, 320, 
 
 337, 351. 
 Holarctic -joologlcal and botanical 
 
 region, 215. 
 Holm, Capt., cited, 110, 206, 262. 
 Hoist, Dr. N. O., lo3. 267-269, 306, 
 
 337, 351. 
 Ilolsteinborg, vii, 15, 57, 71, 80, 108 ; 
 district of, 106, 108. 
 27 
 
 Hooker, Dr. Joseph D., on the cir- 
 
 cumpolar flora, 201, 203, 215. 
 Hopedale, 27, 44, 46, 49. 
 Horsetail, 197, 209. 
 Houses of the Eskimos. See Igloos. 
 Howorth, Sir Henry II., 206. 
 Hudson Eiver submarine fiord, 315, 
 
 320. 
 Humboldt Glacier, 116, 248, 281, 282, 
 
 370. 
 Humpback whale, 234; fossil, 235. 
 Huntington, J. II., on the flora of 
 
 the White Mountains, 204. 
 
 Ice Age, causes, 211, 215, 305, 834- 
 347, 352, 362; continuity and 
 unity, 337, 349, 351 ; duration, 
 344, 360; epochs and stages, 
 348-361. 
 Ice, limits on Greenland Mountains, 
 199, 200. 
 of tiie Labrador current, chapter 
 on, 1-22. 
 Icebergs, 1-11, 42, 51, 53, 54, 99, 103, 
 
 104, 246, 282. 
 Iceland, flora, 205 ; route of migra- 
 tion of plants and animals, 202 
 216, 331. ' 
 
 Iceland moss, 192. 
 Ice sheet, antarctic, 245, 246 298; 
 of Europe, 245, 298, 306,' 328,' 
 339, 354; map, 356; of Green- 
 land, 249, 254, 283, 287, 297 ; 
 altitude, 198, 272, 274, 278, 282, 
 283, 286, 354 ; area, 247, 307, 354 ; 
 explorations, 245-296 ; formerly 
 greater extent, 207,261,269,291 ; 
 slopes, 256, 277, 304; streams' 
 from summer melting, 260, 266, 
 271, 272, 275, 278 ; of North 
 America, 246, 298, 304, 306, 354, 
 359 ; map, 353. 
 Ice sheets, comparison of present 
 and Plei>itocene, 297 -309 ; effect 
 
400 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 to depresH land ureiis, 330, 34fi ; 
 recession, 34'J, 35(5, 357, 35y ; 
 thicknotiM, 354. 
 Igaliko, 100, 172. 
 Igloos, 73, 78, 82, 83, 144, 158, 385, 
 
 387. 
 Ikaniiut, vii, 78, 80, 143; Fiord, 82, 
 
 88, U3, 100, 157, 373. 
 Ikersuak, 99. 
 llluidlek Lsland, 62. 
 Independence Bay, 117, 281, 280, 
 
 293. 
 Indian Harbour, 44. 
 Inglefieid Gulf, vii, 110, 195, 225, 
 25G, 269, 280, 287, 288, 308, 
 381. 
 Inland ice, explorations, 245-296. 
 In.sects, 243, 282. 
 Interglaciul :itages, 336, 349, 354, 
 
 301. 
 Iowa, plants as in Greenland, 194. 
 lowan stage and formation of glacial 
 
 drift, 350, 353, 355, 300. 
 Iron masses, 294. 
 
 ores, beds of, in Labrador, 40. 
 Iroquois glacial lake and stage, 351, 
 
 353, 358. 
 Islands of Greenland, vegetation, 
 
 189, 192. 
 Isortok Fiord, 71, 100, 373. 
 Itivdliarsuk Glacier, 202. 
 Ivigtut, 15, 60, 70, 80, 101, 103, 185. 
 
 Jakobsliavn, 109, 124; district, 109; 
 
 Fiord, 312 ; glacier, vii, 109, 110, 
 
 258, 261, 263, 294. 
 James Bay, Champlain subsidence, 
 
 320. 
 Jamieson, T. F., 328. 
 Jeannette, the, 57. 
 Jeffreys, Dr. J. Gwyn, 325. 
 Jellyflshes, 244. 
 Jensen, Lieutenant J. A. D., 90, 103, 
 
 198, 204-207. 
 
 Jensen's nunataks, 198, 252, 264:- 
 
 267, 373. 
 Jones, Prof. T. Rupert, 236. 
 Jones Sound, 289. 
 Jukes-Browne, A. J., 316. 
 Julianshaab, 57, 99-101, 121, 125, 
 
 172, 255, 262. 
 Juniper, 08, 191. 
 
 Kalstenius, 288. 
 
 Karnes, 291. 
 
 Kane, Dr. E. K., 12, 116, 225, 248; 
 
 plant collections, 194. 
 Kansan stage and formation of 
 glacial drift, 350, 353, 354, 300. 
 Karujat Glacier, 202. 
 Karlesfane, Torfln, 173. 
 Kayak, 40, 75, 80, 89, 139, 141, 145, 
 
 102, 223, 385. 
 Keely, Dr. R. N., 280. 
 Kendall, Percy F., 329, 337. 
 Kenastou, C, 38. 
 Kennedy Channel, 117, 313, 332. 
 Kentucky blue grass iu Greenland, 
 
 193. 
 Kerr, Dr., 134. 
 Kcrsting, R., x. 
 Kingait Mountains. 52. 
 " King's Mirror," 249. 
 Kite arctic expeditions, 282. 295. 
 Kittiwakcs, 87, 165, 167, 238. 
 Koldcwey, Capt, 56, 60, 118, S12, 
 
 313. 
 Kone, fossil plant beds, 208, 209, 
 
 213. 
 Kornerup, A., 103, 198, 202, 205, 
 
 207 ; plant collections, 198. 
 Kornok, 208. 
 
 Kryoconite, 200, 201, 271 ; produc- 
 ing cavities on the inland ice, 
 271, 273. 
 
 Labrador, 287 ; animals, 224; banks, 
 42; capital of, 28; changes of 
 
INDEX. 
 
 level in, 43, 32<;; chapels, 27- 
 const, chapter on, 23-52, 370 • 
 conunerce, 12, 27, 32; current,' 
 IOC ot the, cliaptcr on, 1-22- 
 Eskimos, 44-51 ; fisheries, "24,' 
 27 ; glacial features, 31, 37 ; gov- 
 ernment, 23, 25; Indians, 44- 
 interior, 34, 37-42; islands, 21}' 
 43; lakes, 41, 42; Moravian mis- 
 sions,45,46,48 ; plants, 194, 202 ; 
 postal service, 25; scenery, 24,' 
 2t», 31 ; temporary residents, 7,' 
 24, 33; terraces, 31,42. 
 Ladoga, Lake, 227. 
 Liifayette period, 333, 340, 352. 
 Lahontan, Lake, 331). 
 Lamplugh, G. W., 337. 
 Lancaster Sound, depth, 313. 
 l^"»ge, on the Greenland flora 
 205. ' 
 
 Langley, Prof. S. P., 3,35. { 
 
 Lapland flora, 2OI, 202, 205. i 
 
 Lap]5s, on the inland ice, 270-275. 
 Latitude, changes of, 342, 343. 
 Laurel, fossil, 20!). 
 Laurentian river, 314. 
 Laurentitle highlands, 354. 
 Lavas, Miocene, of Greenland and 
 
 Iceland, 208, 296, 321. 
 Lawson, Dr. Andrew C, 357. 
 Le Conte, Prof. Joseph, 318, 310 
 
 341, 344. 
 Leda clays, 320. 
 Lehigh River, 370. 
 Leif, 171. 
 
 Lemming, 219, 324. 
 Lesquereux, Dr. Leo, 212. 
 Leverett, Frank, 306, 354, 357, 376. 
 Lewis, Prof II. Carvill, 329, 348 
 Lichens, 08, 192, .95, 197, 199, 200. 
 Lichtenau, 68, 101, 123. 
 Lichtcnfels, co.ist sinking, 328. 
 Licbcr, (). M., 34. 
 Lievely, 111. 
 
 401 
 
 j Lignite in Grinnell Land, 210. 
 
 Lindahl, Dr. Josua, 267. 
 j Linden, fossil, 2IO. 
 j Lindenkohl, 315. 
 Linnets, 62. 
 Liverworts, 197. 
 Lockwood, 117. 
 Loess, 357. 
 
 Logan, Sir William, 340. 
 LouLsburg, Cape Breton Island, 328 
 330, ' 
 
 Lousewort, 191, 196. 
 I Low, A. P., on Grand Falls, 37-42 ; 
 on famine at Fort Chimo, 44, 45.' 
 Lundy, glacial lake, 359. 
 Lutken, zoological catalogues, 239 
 244. ' 
 
 Lutherans in Greenland, 170, 178. 
 
 Lyakhoff Islands, 211. 
 
 Lydekker, on arctic fox, 217; rein- 
 deer, 220; zoological regions, 
 214. 
 
 Lyell, Sir Charles, 297, 344. 
 
 Mackintosh, D., 339. 
 
 Magdalen Islands, 224. 
 
 Magnolia, fossil, 209, 210. 
 
 ! Maigaard, Christian, 276. 
 
 I Maine, plants as in Greenland, 192. 
 
 Malaspina Glacier, 269,298-301 307 
 309. - ' 
 
 Mammals of Greenland, 216-236. 
 Man, during the Glacial period, 352, 
 migration to America, 332, 333 
 352. ' 
 
 origin by evolution, 215. 
 Maples, fossil, 210. 
 Maps, North American ice sheet 
 353. ' 
 
 European ice sheet, 356. 
 Markham, C. R., 130, 138. 
 McClintock, 14, 15. 
 McCormick Bay, 280, 295. 
 McGee, W .1,336,337,349. 
 
402 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 !|- 
 
 Mecklenburyiun ^Mueiul stage, yso, 
 
 357. 
 Mcddelelser om GiOnland, 263. 
 Melville Buy, l), 14, 66, 115, ii87, 288, 
 
 293, 206, 370. 
 Mer de Gluee, ablation, 303, 306. 
 Meteorites, supposed, 294. 
 Meyer, E., 194. 
 Miy;rations of animals, 215, 216, 219. 
 
 229,232, 311, 332, 369, 370; of 
 
 plants, 201, 202, 205, 206, 207, 
 
 209, 212, 215,311,332,369. 
 Miocene strata in Greenland, 208, 
 
 210, 321. 
 Mirage, 272. 
 
 Miranda, the,v-ix, 21, 28, 50, 53,80. 
 Missionaries, influence of, 48, 49. 
 Molin, Prof., temperature on the ice 
 
 sheet, 279. 
 Molluscs, 225, 242, 316, 326, 330. 
 Moraines, 42, 77, 92, 97, 103, 104, 
 266, 267, 268, 291, 299, 306, 309, 
 349, 357, 372, 373; in Germany, 
 348, 350, 357. 
 Moravians in Greenland, 101, 178 ; 
 
 Labrador, 45, 46, 48, 49. 
 Morch, zoological catalogues, 242. 
 Morgan, L. 11., 129. 
 Moi-se, or walrus, 224. 
 Moseley, notes on the Challenger, 
 
 246, 298. 
 Mosquitoes, 77, 117, 243. 
 Mosses, 68, 73, 86, 195, 197, 199. 
 Motlis, 243. 
 
 Moulins, 96, 260, 272, 300. 
 Mountain-building epochs, 338, 346. 
 Mountains of Greenland, 66, 72. 75, 
 85, 86, 99, 101, 109, 188, 206, 
 248, 255, 276, 283, 370. 
 Muir Glacier, 301-306. 
 Murray, Dr. John, 247, 372. 
 Musk ox, 116, 117, 118, 219, 282, 293, 
 
 324, 332, 370. 
 Mussels, 242. 
 
 Naehvak, Luiirador, 44, 326. 
 Nagsutok Fiord, 70. 
 Nain, 46. 
 
 Nansen, Dr. Fridtjof, 56, 57, 62, 105, 
 119, 134, 189, 232, 243, 248, 249, 
 250, 251, 258, 260, 261, 321, 322, 
 323, 342, 367; journey across 
 the ice sheet, 277-280. 
 Xares e.vpedition, 210, 236, 323. 
 Narsalik Fiord, 103. 
 Narwhal, 234, 296. 
 Nutliorst, ou the Spitzbergen flora, 
 
 206. 
 Navy Cliff, 281. 
 
 NearctLc zoological region, 214. 
 Neolithic implements, 339. 
 Neotropical zoological region, 215. 
 Neudeckian interglacial stage, 360, 
 
 355. 
 N^Vf, 248, 274, 276, 279, 280, 283, 
 
 285, 307, 367. 
 Newberry, glacial lake, 359. 
 Newfoundland, 7, 13, 21, 23, 25, 29, 
 
 32, 173, 371, 372, 390. 
 New llerrnhut, 178. 
 New Siberia Islands, fossil flora, 
 
 211. 
 Niagara Falls, measuring the Post- 
 glacial period, 339. 
 Nikitin, S., 337, 351. 
 Nordenskjuld, Baron A. E., 108, 174, 
 200, 248; journeys on the ice 
 sheet, 260, 270-275, 279. 
 Norfolkian interglacial stage, 349, 
 
 352. 
 Norse ruins, 100, 105, 111, 172, 381. 
 North American ice sheet, 246, 298, 
 304, 306, 349, 354; latest rem- 
 nants, 359 : map, 353. 
 North American plants in Green- 
 land, 192. 
 Nortli Stnimflord, 108. 
 Norway, epeirogenio movements, 
 329. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 403 
 
 Nugsuak (or Nouraoak) Peninsula, 
 
 111, 114,208, ;wi. 
 Niikagpiak Mountain, 74, 77, t'4. 
 JSukarvik, 118. 
 Nunarsuit, 125. 
 Nunataks, 35, 92, 94, 103, 197, 252, 
 
 255, 264-267, 270, 369 ; aninialH 
 
 on, 216; plants on, 198, 206. 
 
 207, 213, 216, 369, 373. 
 
 Oak, fossil in (Jreenland, 209, 210. 
 Ol)liquity of the ecliptic, 340, 343. 
 Ocean currents, 12, 43, 56; influ- 
 ence on clinuite, iill, 331, 364. 
 Ohio River, gorge of, 376. 
 Okkak, 46. 
 Orchis family, 196. 
 Oriental zoological region, 214. 
 Osterbygd, 100. 
 Ovifak, iron masses, 296. 
 
 I'aarss, exploration of inland ice, 250. 
 
 Packard, Prof. A. S., 27, 34, 35, 44, 
 49, 21.5, 218. 
 
 Pakitsok Fiord, 276. 
 
 Pakearctic zoological region, 214. 
 
 Palivolithic implements, 339, 352. 
 
 Paiuima, Isthmus of, 317, 318. 
 
 Patagonia, 338, 345. 
 
 Patoot, fossil plant beds, 209, 213. 
 
 Payer Peak, 206. 
 
 Peabody Bay, 248. 
 
 Pcarlwort, 197. 
 
 Peary, Lieutenant R. E.. vii. 217. 
 220, 225, 240, 247, 248, 256. 367, 
 381 ; journeys on the ice sheet, 
 276, 280-287. 293; explorations 
 of the coast. 287. 296. 
 
 I\'ary, ifrs., 281, 285, 287. 
 
 Peat, 193, 327. 
 
 Penck, Dr. Albreeht, 336, 349. 
 
 Permian glaciation, 337, 341, 347. 
 
 Persimmon, fossil in Greenland, 
 209. 
 
 Petermann J ' "d, 117, 281. 
 
 Petcnnann Peak, 118, 206. 
 
 Phenoganious plants of (ireonland 
 and Labrador, 194, 196, 201. 
 
 Philadelphia Academy of Natural 
 Sciences, 282. 
 
 Piblockto, 240, 286. 
 
 Pine, fo.ssil, 210. 
 
 Pink family, 195, 196. 
 
 Pinnacle formation, St. Ellas range, 
 300. 
 
 Pinnipeds, 222-233. 
 
 Plane trees, fossil, 209, 210. 
 
 Plants of Greenland, 73, 99, 188-21 3 ; 
 edible species, 109, 119, 120, 189, 
 192; fossil, 207-213, 310, 321; 
 relative abundance of, 197, 
 204. 
 
 Pleistocene and present ice slieets 
 compared, 297-309. 
 
 Pleistocene changes of level, 310- 
 333, 371-380. 
 
 Pleistocene period, 300, 310 ; dura- 
 tion, 305, 344, 3C0. 
 
 Pliocene period, 318, 320, 331. 
 
 Polandian glacial stage, 3.50, 355. 
 
 Polaris, the, 16. 18, 20. 
 
 Polaris Bay, 325. 
 Oharles, 16, 21. 
 
 Poplar, fossil, 208, 209, 210. 
 
 Poppy, arctic, 196, 198, 199. - 
 
 Porpoises, 222, 235. 
 
 Port Foulke, 195, 255, 2.57. 
 
 Postglachil oscillations, 329, VAO. 
 
 Postglacial period, 331, 333; dura- 
 tion, 339, .340. 
 
 Potomac formation, fossil flora, 
 209. 
 
 Preglacial flora, 206, 207, 213,330. 
 
 Preglaeial land elevation, 319, .331, 
 345, 346, 852, 355, 373. 
 
 Prestwich, Prof Joseph, 337, 339, 
 
 340. 
 Primrose, 196. 
 
404 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Prince Rupert's Inlet, 313. 
 Ptarmigan, 23(5, 282. 
 Puget Sound, 319, 320. 
 I'uisortok Glucior, 119. 
 Punch Bowl, the, 23, 29, 389. 
 
 Quaternary era, 215, 316, 318, 319, 
 335, 337, 347. 
 
 Kae, Dr. John, on inland ice, 
 
 255. 
 Kainfall, 279. 
 Ramah, 46. 
 Kaven, 237, 275. 
 '• Razorback " whales, 234. 
 Recent period, 331, 333, 339, 34(). 
 Redcliff Peninsula, 295. 
 Redelitfe House, 28.'5. 
 Red lish, 241. 
 Red .snow, 200, 271. 
 Redwood trees, fossil, 209, 210. 
 Reid, Prof. H. F., 301. 
 Reindeer, 45, 70, 76, 105, 106. 108, 
 
 116,118,119,152,187,199,220- 
 222, 324, 332, 370, 881. 
 Reinhardt, avifauna, 236; Crusta- 
 cea, 244. 
 Resolute, the, 1.3, 14. 
 Rhododendron, 68. 191. 
 Rieketts, Dr. Charles, 318. 
 Rigel, tlie, vii-ix, 28, 170, 389. 
 Ringed seal, 22t), 324. 
 Kink, Dr. Henry, 10, 11, 56. 99, 101, 
 132, 138, 170, 172, 176, 178, 182, 
 184, 386 ; cited, on climatic con- 
 ditions, 121, 12,5, 126; on the 
 flora, 68, 112, 189, 191, 192, 193, 
 19.5, 198, 199 : on the fauna, 216, 
 217, 219, 221, 222, 225, 227, 228, 
 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 236, 237, 
 239, 244; on the inland ice, 10, 
 99, 247, 253, 2.54, 263. 322. 
 Ritenbenk, district of. 111. 
 Robin, 236. 
 
 Romaine River, 41. 
 
 Root, W. S., X. 
 
 Rorquals, 234. 
 
 Rose family, 194, 195, 197. 
 
 Ross, 46 ; observations of the ant- 
 arctic ice sheet, 246, 298, 
 
 Rush family, 196. 
 
 Russell, Prof. I. C., 269, 298, 800, 
 306, 339. 
 
 Ryder, on How of glaciers, 262. 
 
 Sabbaths in Greenland, 157 et neq. 
 Sable Island, 224. 
 Saddleback seal, 13, 106, 229. 
 Sadlen Mountains, 10,5. 
 Saguenay Fiord, 37, 315, 326, 
 
 371. 
 Salisbury, Prof. R. D., 295,336. 348, 
 
 349. 
 Salmon trout^ 75, 241. 
 Sandstone beds, 3(, 111. 
 Saskatchewan interglacial stai'e, 
 352. " ' 
 
 Sassafras, fossil, 209. 
 Saxifrage species, 191, 194, 195, 196, 
 
 198, 199, 201. 
 Saxonian glacial stage, 349, 354. 
 Scandinavia, Hora, 201, 202, 203; 
 preglacial elevation, 328 ; sub- 
 sidence in the Champlain 
 epoch, 329. 
 Scandinavian plateau. 331. 
 Scanian glacial stage, 349, 352. 
 Scarboro', Ontario, interglacial 
 
 beds, 358. 
 Schatfher, on inland ice, 25,5. 
 Schjodte, zoological catalogues, . 
 
 243. 244. 
 Schwalka, Lieut., 146. 
 Sclater, on zoological regions, 214. 
 Scoresby, 118. 
 Sea anemones, 244. 
 Sea cow or liorse, 224. 
 Sea fowl, 237. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 405 
 
 Sea unicorn, 234. 
 Seal liuuting, 114, 222. 
 Seals, 18, 20, 21, 04, 89, lOG, 109, 114, 
 152, 164, 222, 220-233, 290, 388, 
 389. 
 Seaweeds, 192, 242, 324. 
 Sedges, 193, 195, 190, 199. 
 Sequoia, fossil, 209, 210, 211. 
 Sermersut, 81, 85, 190. 
 Sermilsialik Glacier, 285. 
 Servant-girl question, 183. 
 Shale, 112. 
 Shaler, Prof. N. S^ 300, 313, 315, 
 
 330, 370. 
 Sharks, 239. 
 
 Sherard Osborne Fiord, 117, 282. 
 Siberian driftwood, 5(i, 04, 05, 323, 
 
 381. 
 Simpson, C. T., 310. 
 Ski, 270, 275. 
 
 Skins, preparation of, 146, 165. 
 Sledge journeys on the ice sheet, 
 
 270, 280, 280, 294, 295. 
 Sleeping bags, 74, 285. 
 Smith Sound, 9, 16, 24, 225, 29-3, 313, 
 
 331. 
 Snow, limits on Greenland moun- 
 tains, 199, 200. 
 Snow blindness, 272, 284. 
 Snowdrifts on edge of the ice sheet, 
 
 291. 
 Snowfall on the ice sheet, 279, 281, 
 
 293, 307. 
 Snow houses, 29. 
 Snowshoes, 270, 275, 284. 
 Snowy Peak, 15. 
 Sogne Fiord, 328. 
 Sorrel, 198. 
 
 South America, epeirogenic move- 
 ments, 817. 
 South Stromfiord, 100. 
 Spencer, Prof. J. W., 314, 315, 316, 
 
 357, 359. 
 Sp^rm whale, 234. 
 
 Spiders, 244. 
 
 Spitzbergen, driftwood, 323 ; flora, 
 200; fossil Miocene flora, 2lo; 
 ice in Davis Strait, chapter on, 
 53-05. 
 Sponges, 244. 
 Spruce, 299; fossil, 210. 
 St. Anthony Falls, measuring post- 
 glacial time, 338. 
 St. Augustine, Florida, 316. 
 St. Elias range, 298, 300, 301. 
 St. John's, Newfoundland, 1, 5, 13, 
 
 21, 25, 33, 50, 53. 
 St. Lawrence glacial lake and stage, 
 
 351, 353, 359. 
 St. Lawrence Valley, 314, 320, 327, 
 
 345, 351, 359, 371. 
 Starfishes, 244. 
 Star wort, 197. 
 Stebbins, K. O., x. 
 Steenstrup, cited, 200, 262, 302. 
 Storms on the ice sheet, 257, 281, 
 
 284, 280, 287. 
 Subghicial drift, 207, 300. 
 Subglacial streams, 71, 70, 91, 103, 
 
 299, 303. 
 Submarine river valleys, 315, 318, 
 345. 
 
 Sukkertoppen, vi, vii. 0.5, 07, 71, 75, 
 80, 103, 100, 107, 143, 157, IbO, 
 194, 373. 
 district of, 100. 
 Sumach, fossil, 209. 
 Sun's heat, 335. 
 Superglacial drift, 267. 
 
 streams, 90, 271, 275, 278. 
 Swarte-IIuk peninsula, 115. 
 Sweden, epeirogenic movements, 
 
 329. 
 Sycamore, fossil, 209, 210. 
 
 Tahiti, 48. 
 Tasiusak, 115. 
 Taylor, F. B., 355. 
 
406 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Teinperntiire on the ice sheet, 256, 
 2«0, Ji75, 27!t. 284, 285. 
 
 Terraces, 112, 113. 
 
 Tertiary era, 215, 316, 319, 328, 335, 
 337, 346, 347. 
 
 Tertiary strata in Greenland, 208, 
 210-213, 321. 
 
 Tertiary warm cireuinpolar climate, 
 211, 366. 
 
 Teton Mountains, 72. 
 
 TJiallophytes, 1!»5. 
 
 Thompson, A. R,, x. 
 
 Tliomson, Sir Wyvillc, 246, 298, 
 318. 
 
 Tliong seal, 231. 
 
 Thorvald, 173. 
 
 Tickle, 30, 33. 
 
 Tides in Baffin Bay, 312. 
 
 Tigris, the, 20. 
 
 Till, 290, 337. 
 
 Toll, Baron, 211. 
 
 Toronto interglaeial stage, 350, 353, 
 
 358. 
 Torsukatak Fiord, 109 ; glacier, 262. 
 Traprock, 35, 63, 70. 
 Trondhjcm, 176. 
 Tryggvasson, Olaf, 171. 
 Tub Island, 35. 
 Tuckermann's Ravine, 377. 
 Tulip tree, fossil, 209. 
 Turbarian glacial stages, 350. 
 Tyndall, Jolin, 297. 
 Tyrrell, Prof. J. B., 359. 
 Tyson, Capt., 16, 64. 
 
 Umanak, 111, 113, 123, 125; district 
 of, 114; Fiord, 9, 115, 117, 198, 
 206, 234, 259, 262. 
 
 Umiak, 89, 108, 139, 161. 
 
 Ungava Bay, 34, 37, 40, 44. 
 
 Upernivik, 115, 121, 125, 182, 194, 
 262. 
 
 Vulle, J. F., X. 
 
 Victoria Tickle, 30. 
 Violets, 196. 
 
 Viscosity of glacial ice, 293, 
 Volcanic rocks of Greenland, 208, 
 296, 321. 
 
 Wahnschaft'e, Dr. Felix, 336. 
 Waigat passage. 111, 208, 283, 
 
 321. 
 Waleott, C. D., 371. 
 Wallace, A. R., 214, 318, 338. 
 Walnut, fossil in Greenland, 209, 
 
 210. 
 Walrus, 109, 222, 224-226. 
 Ward, Prof. L. F., on fossil floras of 
 
 Greenland, 208. 
 Warming, on the Greenland flora, 
 
 205, 206. 
 Warren, glacial lake and stage, 351, 
 
 353, 357, 358. 
 Warren, Pa., 376. 
 Water lily, fossil, 210. 
 Waterfalls, measuring postglacial 
 
 time, 338, 339. 
 Westerbygd, 105. 
 Western settlement, 105, 172. 
 West Indies, epeirogenic move- 
 ments, 314. 
 Whale Sound, 116, 288. 
 Whales, 108, 222, 233-236 ; fossil in 
 
 Champlain beds, 233. 
 Wliite birch, 191, 205. 
 White Mountains, N. II., ,304; plants 
 as in Greenland, 192, 193, 198, 
 204. 
 Whitlow grass, 196. 
 Whortleberry, 31, 192. 
 Whymper, Edward, on inland ice, 
 
 257, 259, 261. 
 Williams, E. II., 376. 
 Willowherb, 191. 
 Willows, 68, 191, 193, 196, 199. 
 Winc'hell, Professor N. H., 806, 
 338. 
 
I I 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 407 
 
 Winds on the ico sheet, 250, 281, i Yahtsc Kiver, 
 
 284, 286, 291, 
 Wintergreen, 190. 
 VVisconain, wtage uml formation of 
 
 gluclul drift, 350, 3.53, 357. 
 Wolf, urctic, 210, 282. 
 Woodpeckers, 236. 
 Woodrush, 193. 
 Worms, 244, 271. 
 
 300. 
 
 Yukutat formation, St. Elias range, 
 
 300. 
 York, Cape, 288, 289, 29,5. 
 
 Zoar, 46. 
 
 Zo(".logieal colleetionH, 295 ; regions, 
 214. iil5. 
 
 THE END.