GLACIATION OF GREENLAND. 301 



of the year being midsummer. He considers it an established iact that the 

 ice is continuous — on the west side, at least — from one end of Greenland to 

 the other, although its edge is at a considerable distance from the coast (sixty 

 or seventy miles) between the parallels of 65" and 70°. 



The measurements made by Holland of the rate of motion of various parts 

 of the Jakobshavn glacier are interesting. At a point about a thousand 

 meters from its edge the velocity of the ice was found to be at the rate of 

 nearly twenty metei'S in the twenty-four hours. The difference between the 

 rate of motion of the ice near the edge of the mass and farther towards the 

 centre was very great. In one case the very edge of the ice moved only 

 0.02 meter in twenty-four hours. 



The very great rapidity of motion cited above is the more remarkable, 

 since the surfoce of the ice at that point was quite free from crevices, and 

 its angle of slope oi\\y about half a degree. These observations, it must be 

 remembered, were made in midsummer, at a time when the temperature of 

 the air in the shade was about 10' (C). Wiiat the rate of motion in the 

 winter may be is entirely unknown ; that it is very small seems indicated by 

 such observations as have been made in the spring. That there is some 

 motion seems clearly proved, according to Helland, since the formation of 

 icebergs does not entirely cease at that season. 



All observers agree in this: that, when the glaciers or arms of the inland- 

 ice have been followed for some distance, the mass of ice or snow becomes 

 continuous, all or nearly all the highest peaks being concealed under it. 

 Helland's observations, however, are in one important respect different from 

 those of any other explorer. From the highest point of the inland ice reached 

 by him, he looked do/en upon the farther extension of the mass to the east : 

 in other words, the ice covering of the land was higher near the sea than it 

 was farther inland. This observation is of such importance — so it appears, 

 at least, to the writer — that an exact translation will be given of the passage 

 in which this statement is made: "The five jalaces in which I have had 

 an opportunity to overlook this ice wildei'ness presented, in .all respects, the 

 same appearance. It is, on the whole, like looking out over the ocean. It 

 appears to raise itself, and stretch out with waving lines towards the horizon. 

 Remarkable is it that this undulating surface seen in the distance lies lower 

 than that nearer the observer, so that from the point of observation one looks 

 down and not up on to the ice-fields. jMo.st remarkable is this in the case 

 of the fiord at Kansrerdlugssuak, where the glaciei's in front of the ice-field 



