I9I0.] 



INLAND-ICE OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



73 



observed that the snow does not melt even in midsummer, and that 

 hence there were developed no lines of surface drainage. Of espe- 

 cial note were the great crevasses which ran generally in straight 

 lines for long distances in parallel series, sometimes two interesting 

 series being observed. More remarkable than these, however, were 

 the so-called " canals," which also for the most part ran parallel to 

 each other and in some cases were only 300 feet apart. These 



c — - - 



Fig. 12. Camping place in one of the " canals " upon the surface of the 

 inland-ice of North East Land, Spitzbergen (after Nordenskiold). 



canals, which were found in the southeastern part of the area near 

 Cape Mohn, were in reality deep, flat-bottomed troughs within the 

 ice, bounded on either side by parallel and rectilinear ice cliffs, and 

 were in places partially filled by the indrifted snow. Stretching for 

 long distances over the snow plain, and set so deeply that they could 

 be entered only where fortuitous drifting of the snow supplied an 

 incline, they were utilized for camping places (see Fig. 12). 



Nordenskiold has explained these canals as trough faults within 

 the ice, and has assumed that this deformation was due to changes 



