308 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF THE GLACIAL EPOCH. 



met with glaciers in Grinnell Land, between the 82d and 83d parallels."* 

 Dr. Hayes says of the same region : '■ Along the entire coast of Grinnell 

 Land no glacier appears. The land behind was elevated, and lofty peaks 

 were seen, on Avhich snow rested, but nowhere was there any evidence of 

 mountain ice."t Bessels remarks as follows in regard to the glaciation 

 of the coast opposite the west side of Greenland : " It is a noteworthy cir- 

 cumstance that the larger portion of the continental mass of Greenland 

 lies buried under ice [unter Eismassen begraben], while on the west side 

 of the channel, north of the 79tli parallel, so far as known, there are no 

 glaciers. Hayes Sound, Avhich separates Ellesmere Land from Grinnell 

 Land, forms along its southern boundary the line of demarcation between 

 two regions, one of which is at present in the condition of the Glacial epoch 

 [in der Periode der Eiszeit], while the other, lor reasons which still await 

 explanation, has already laid aside its icy yoke." t 



On the lofty United States Range, to the northwest of Archer Fiord, be- 

 yond the parallel of 81°, the glaciers appear to be few in number, and to 

 terminate at a considerable height above the sea-level. Even the " Victoria 

 and Albert Range," lying between the parallels of 80° and 81°, and estimated 

 to be 5,000 feet in elevation, " does not send down a single glacier to a point 

 nearer than ten miles from the sea."§ 



The same is true in regard to the comparatively level land of the great 

 cluster of islands north of that part of North America which extends between 

 Hudson's Bay and the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Of this region Sir 

 J. Richardson remarks as follows : " There are no ice-bergs of any size in the 

 Arctic American sea, from the absence of glaciers to furnish them, either on 

 the continental shore, or islands due north of it."|| 



The same author, in his "Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert's 

 Land and the Arctic Sea," says : " Nowhere on the route of the Expedition 

 is the snow permanent ; not even on the summits of that part of the Rocky 

 Mountains which skirts the Mackenzie In favourable seasons, at Mel- 

 ville Island, in lat. 74|° N. and long. 110° W., the snow toward the end of 

 June lies only in the valleys where it had drifted deeply, and the level 

 meadows remain uncovered for seventy days, or till the beginning of Sep- 



* 1. c, Vol. I. p. 324. 



t The Open Polar Sea, p. 341. 



t Die Amerikanische Nordpol-Expeilition, p. 122. 



§ Nares, Voyage, etc.. Vol. I. p. 333. 



II The Polar Regions, p. 239. 



