68 MARION EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



entire coast from Sabine Island to Clarence Head has informed me 

 that in his opinion only one glacier in tliis district is sufficiently active 

 to discharge any bergs, namely, the American Geographical Society 

 Glacier, located at Boger Point. But even this one is quite sluggish 

 and of low front. ^"^ MacMillan (1928, p. 429) also gives an estimate 

 of 3 feet per day as the rate of an Ellesmere Land glacier. Except 

 foi' one clue, we are also equally ignorant of the iceberg productivity 

 of the glaciers from Cape Sabine northward. Sverdrup (1904, sup- 

 plementary map) and Peary (1903, supplementary map), both of 

 whom have visited the region around Buchanan and Princess Marie 

 Bays, report the presence of a considerable number of scattered bergs. 

 The general funnellike configuration of Smith Sound, and the 

 consequent course of the circulation, more or less precludes the 

 drift of bergs to this locality from points south of the seventy- 

 eighth parallel. And, if that source is eliminated, the only other 

 distant point of discharge from which these bergs could have come 

 is the Humboldt Glacier on the opposite side of Kane Basin. But 

 the probability of bergs from that quarter is also slight, for the 

 Humboldt is penned in by sea ice for several years at a time. It 

 appears from the foregoing that the most logical sources of the 

 icebergs found scattered in Ellesmere Land coastal waters are the 

 local glaciers. It would not be surprising, therefore, to learn that 

 Ellesmere Land contributes a significant number of bergs to the North 

 Atlantic quota. According to MacMillan (1918, p. 302) one Elles- 

 mere Land glacier, in latitude 77° 10', is advancing, as ice was found 

 spreading out from the shore there, overriding Saunders Island, 

 which on the British Admiralty Chart of 1853 is separated by 4 

 miles from the coast. 



Glaciation in Axel Heiberg Land 



The southern part of Axel Heiberg Land, called Easter Land, is 

 ice capped on the National Geographic map of the Arctic regions 

 (1925), but Mecking (1928, p. 227) states that glaciation is almost 

 entirely lacking there. Our present-day knowledge of this land is 

 very meager, but it is doubtful if any icebergs are produced. Its 

 inaccessibility to the Labrador current, moreover, makes it of little 

 interest in the present discussion. 



Glaciation in Devon Island 



The eastern third of Devon Island, rising to an altitude of 3,000 

 feet, is glaciated. According to Low (1906, p. 50), the glaciers are 

 most numerous around Croker Bay on the southeastern coast, where 

 a few discharge into Lancaster Sound, even as far west as Cumming 

 Creek. Further west the inland ice recedes from the coast. In the 

 papers relating to the search for Sir John Franklin, compiled by the 

 British Government, references are made to a glacier on the north- 

 western extremity of the island, also to three others along the west- 

 ern coast. It appears, therefore, that Devon Island is ice capped 

 in its central portions, sufficiently at least, to send out a few glaciers 



^^ Lauge Koch in a letter to me says : " The Eskimos in the Cape York district informed 

 me from observations made during bear hunting along the east coast of Ellesmere Land 

 that opposite Cape Parry (Greenland) there is a rather large, fairly productive glacier." 

 This piece of information agre*-s fairly well with MacMillan's account. Cape Parry, Green- 

 land, being in about the same latitude as the American Geographical Society Glacier. The 

 Eskimos, however, apparently believe the American Geographical Society Glacier to be 

 more productive than does MacMillan. 



