iQio.] INLAND-ICE OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 87 



By von Drygalski" this lack of symmetry of the ice material 

 has been ascribed to excessive nourishment upon the east, whereas 

 the losses from melting and from the discharge of bergs occur 

 mainly upon the west. The mountains of the east are, he states, 

 completely surrounded by ice so that peaks alone project, while 

 the mountains of the west stand isolated from the ice. In attempt- 

 ing to make the eccentric position of the boss in the ice shield 

 depend upon the configuration of the underlying rock surface, von 

 Drygalski has been less convincing, for we know that the Scandi- 

 navian continental glacier of Pleistocene times moved northwest- 

 ward from the highest surface of the ice-shield up the grade of 

 the rock floor, and pushed out through portals in the mountain 

 barrier which lies along the common boundary of Sweden and 

 Norway. Still there would appear to be a clear parallel between 

 the marginal terraces of the inland-ice with their crevassed steep 

 surfaces, and the plateaus and ice falls which alternate upon the 

 slopes of every mountain glacier which descends rapidly in its 

 valley. 



Superimposed upon the flats of the larger ice terraces, there 

 are undulations of a secondary order of magnitude, and these 

 Nansen ascribed to the drifting of snow by the wind. To the im- 

 portant action of wind in moulding the surface of the inland-ice 

 we shall refer again. There are in addition many other irregu- 

 larities of the surface due to differential melting, and while of very 

 great interest, their consideration may profitably be deferred until 

 the meteorological conditions of the region have been discussed. 

 There are, however, other features which like the broader terraces 

 are clearly independent of meteorological conditions, and which are, 

 therefore, best considered in this connection. 



Dimples or Basins of Exudation Above the Marginal Tongues. 

 — Seen from the sea in Melville Bay on the northwest coast, the 

 inland-ice offers special advantages for observing its contours in 

 sections parallel to its front, that is to say, in front elevation. Here 

 only upon the west coast the ice extends beyond the borders of the 

 land and is cut back by the sea to form cliffs. These ice cliffs are 



" E. von Drygalski, " Die Eisbewegung, ihre physikalischen Ursachen und 

 ihre geographischen Wirkungen," Pet. Mitt, Vol. 44, 1898, pp. 55-64. 



