rOEMEE GLACIATIOX OF THE COAST NOETH OF VA2(C0UYEE ISLAND. 87 



sively limited to its veiy termination. Here we ought, if we adopt the 

 ghxcier theorj', to expect to find large moraines, of which no trace has ever 

 been observed by any one, for the term '' glacial drift " means nothing, nnless 

 its real character is somewhere distinctly defined. Glacial drift may be 

 dropped a thousand miles away from any glacier, and scratched and polished 

 rocks can be, and are now, produced in abundance, not only by icebergs, but 

 by shore-ice, on the borders of the sea, as well as on those of great lakes, as 

 will be noticed further on.* The finding of marine fossils at various locali- 

 ties in the midst of the glaciated region is, as tlie writer conceives, fatal to 

 the glacier theory. Their presence is tlius accounted for by ]\Ir. Dawson : 

 " The general appearance of the deposits of this part of Vancouver Island, 

 resting, as they do, on planed and polished rocks perfect in every detail and 

 necessitating glacier action for their explanation, and 3-et consisting of water- 

 bedded and often current-driven materials mingled in places with sea-shells, 

 leads to the belief that they were formed along the retreating foot of a 

 glacier which had extended some distance beyond the margin of the land. 

 The withdrawal of the ice may have been caused or accompanied by sub- 

 sidence ; and some species of shells must have followed its front pretty 

 closely in its retreat. The somewhat irregularly terraced form of the de- 

 posit is probably due to action during emergence; and the general tendency 

 of many fixcts is to show that a slight sinking of the coast is at present in 

 progress or has lately occurred," 



Before entering into any further discussion of the glacial phenomena mani- 

 fested on Vancouver Island, and the true relations to the Northern Drift 

 epoch, something must be said in reference to the character of the coast 

 farther north between that island and Alaska, an extremely interesting 

 region on account of the deep indentations of the shore-line and the grand 

 mountain ranges whicli press upon it. This region has not, as yet, been 

 much explored, and the little we know of it, beyond tlie mere position 

 of the coast-line, is due to the reconnaissances of the Canada Geological 

 Survey. It is ([uite clear, however, that the range of lofty mountains border- 

 ing the coast has been occupied, in its higher portions at least, by extensive 

 glaciers ; and thiit these have found their way down the canons to the very 

 sea-level in places is also higlily probable. This is in entire harmony with 

 all that we have learned from the preceding pages in regard to tlie phe- 

 nomena of former glaciation in the high ranges adjacent to the Pacific. The 



* See also page 11 of this volume. 



