1892-93-] The Kame at Mortonhall. yy 



Other writers have endeavoured to prove that they must have 

 had a mixed river and sea origin ; but Professor Geikie, in his 

 ' Great Ice Age,' advances very strong reasons for rejecting 

 both of these theories. He contends that the formation of 

 Karnes is due to glacial action. The streams of water arising 

 both from the rainfall and from melting ice produce a peculiar 

 effect about the foot of an extensive glacier. Sometimes these 

 streams cut long open channels in the ice, and sweep into it 

 vast quantities of morainic material, which is pushed along by 

 the current, and, after being abraded, rolled, and sorted, is 

 deposited in a delta about its mouth, or left stranded in long- 

 lines between the ice -walls. At other times, the stream has 

 disappeared far back in the glacier, and plunged into a 

 crevasse, whence it flows onwards as a sub-glacial stream. In 

 this case it must often happen that the weight of stones and 

 rubbish will cause the roof of the tunnel to collapse, and the 

 result will be the deposition of a ridge which will come into 

 evidence when the ice melts away. It was in 1876, I think, 

 that Professor Geikie offered this explanation. Since then, 

 absolute proof has been obtained which verifies the sub-glacial 

 stream origin in every detail. The Muir Glacier lies at the 

 head of an inlet in Glacier Bay on the coast of south-eastern 

 Alaska. It was discovered in 1879, and has proved a valu- 

 able " find " for American geologists ever since, as glacial 

 action can be studied there to admirable advantage. Dr 

 Frederick Wright, author of ' The Ice Age in North America,' 

 spent the entire month of August 1886 encamped at the foot 

 of the glacier. He witnessed the formation of long ridges of 

 gravel exactly as described by Professor Geikie. To put it 

 in a sentence : a Kame marks the line of drainage from a 

 glacier, and is a mute witness of the former existence of 

 ice-fields. 



Recurring to the Kame at Mortonhall. Although countless 

 tons of gravel have been taken away, the ridge is still about 

 1000 yards long. The eastern point reaches the tumble -down 

 cottages called " Five Houses." It runs in a north-westerly 

 direction about half its length, then turns sharply due west 

 and extends to the ice-house belonging to the laird of Morton- 

 hall. No doubt it formerly occupied a much longer track in 

 the low ground lying between the Pentlands and the Braid 



