GLACIATION OF GREENLAND. 305 



on the east side of Greenland, while in some respects similar to those on 

 the western coast, are in other important ones quite different. Except at 

 the extreme southern end of Greenland, there seems to be nothing on the 

 east side which is exactly lilve the inland ice as described in the preceding 

 pages. Indeed Payer gives strong reasons for believing that the land exam- 

 ined by his party consists of an aggregate of islands, and that it is not a part 

 of a continental mass intersected by deep fiords. At all events, they followed 

 up one of these indentations for a distance of four degrees of longitude, and 

 then ascended a mountain 7,000 feet high, from which they could command 

 a view over one-third the width of Greenland in that parallel ; from this 

 point, however, no signs of the closing up of the straits or fiord could be 

 discerned. 



The whole aspect of the land in the region explored by Payer is much 

 more Alpine than it is on the western side. The mountains are more broken 

 and irregular, and — in places, at least — much higher, Petermann Peak, in 

 latitude 73°, being estimated at 13,000 feet in elevation. The glaciers are 

 subordinated in position to the high peaks, and have their moraines, both 

 lateral and terminal, like those of the Alpine ranges, and on a still grander 

 scale. In short, the conditions do not help us much in coming to any 

 definite ophiion as to the extent of the inland ice on the other side. 



There are portions of the country on the east side of Greenland where 

 the small amount of snow has made a strong impression on explorers. Cap- 

 tain Koldewey, the chief of the Second North German Expedition, says, in 

 speaking of the character of the ice on the mainland opposite Shannon 

 Island (latitude 75°): "We ascended the steep although not very elevated 

 Cape Wynn, and found there a plateau of several miles in circumference, 

 which was entirely clear of snow, although only sparsely covered with vege- 

 tation. Farther inland we reached a valley through which runs a brook fed 

 by a glacier, and which shows many green places covered with moss and 

 grass. Behind this valley Avere mountains I'ising to a height of over 600 

 meters ; but their summits were free from snow, which had collected in the 

 ravines only. The snow covering, and the precipitation generally, in Eastern 

 Greenland, are far less than Avould have been expected, certainly less than 

 on the opposite shores of Spitzbergen. During our whole stay on this coast 

 we only once saw the wdiole country covered with snow ; that was in June, 

 1870."* 



* Zweite Deutsche Nonliiolaifalirt, Vol. I. p. -318. 



