402 UPHEAVAL OF THE GREENLAND COAST. 



July 2d. 



I have been occupied during the past two days with 

 running a set of levels from the harbor across to the 

 fiord and with plotting the terraces. These terraces 

 are twenty-three in number and rise very regularly to 

 an altitude of one hundred and ten feet above the 

 mean tide-level. The lowest rises thirty- two feet 

 higher than the tide, but above this they climb up 

 with great regularity. They are composed of small 

 pebbles rounded by water action. 



Of these terraces I have frequently made mention 

 in this journal, and their existence in all similar local- 

 ities has been before remarked. They have much 

 geological interest, as illustrating the gradual up- 

 heaval of that part of Greenland lying north of lati- 

 tude 76° ; and the interest attaching to them is 

 heightened when viewed in connection with the corre- 

 sponding depression which has taken place, even 

 within the period of Christian occupation, in southern 

 Greenland. These evidences of the sinking of the 

 Greenland coast from about Cape York, southward, are 

 too well known to need any comment in this place ; 

 but I may dwell, for a few moments, upon the evi- 

 dences of rising of the coast here and northward. At 

 many conspicuous points, where the current is swift 

 and the ice is pressed down upon the land with great 

 force and rapidity, the rocks are worn away until they 

 are as smooth and polished as the surface of a table, 

 — a fact which may at any time be observed by 

 looking down through the clear water. This smooth- 

 ness of the rock continues above the sea, to an eleva- 

 tion which I have not been able with positive accu- 

 racy to determine in any locality, but having a gen- 

 eral correspondence to the height of the terraces at 



