KAKSIMIUT. 247 



Splendid view on every side over the sea, which for a 

 long way was covered with ice, which the south-east 

 storm had closely crushed together, both towards the 

 north and also towards the rocks of the mainland. But 

 the gnats here, too, plagued us frightfully, and soon 

 drove us altogether away. From above I could now see 

 that the rift in the valley opened into a broad gateway 

 to the sea, confirming my former conjecture as to its 

 geological nature. No doubt remained in our minds 

 when we reached the upper part of the ravine. There 

 the bare rocky masses showed the finest unequivocal 

 naked alpine formation, which in no other way could be 

 accounted for but by glacier-ice. These observations, 

 which I made also later in a ravine resembling this at 

 Kaksimiut and in the neighbourhood of Frederickshaab, 

 raised the opinion that there must have been a time when 

 Greenland was much more covered with ice than it now 

 is. That this was previous to historical times, indeed was 

 most probably coeval with the glacial period of the northern 

 hemisphere of the earth, notwithstanding that all visible 

 traces have not yet disappeared, can be easily accounted 

 for by the slight decay of the rocks, and from the low 

 state of vegetation in the country. Moreover, to this very 

 day, it seems to assert its favourable position for a glacier; 

 as in one spot, and that in no way high above the surface 

 of the sea, lays a huge mass of unmelted snow, which, 

 under similar circumstances during our stay in West 

 Greenland, we had not noticed. 



Peru harbour would not let us depart so soon ; we lay 

 there from the 6th to the 11th of July. Excursions to 

 land were rendered tormentingly difficult by the impor- 

 tunate swarms of gnats. A small hunting party, at the 



