456 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON DRIFT ICE 
as I proceeded toward its source, showing that the ice drops the 
greater part of its burden near the northern Labrador coast, 
But the heavy field-ice and bergs even in the latitude of Nain, 
showed very few traces of impurities. Further south the 
remarkable cleanliness of the heavy ice was more noticeable. 
Along the southern 150 miles of the north-east Labrador coast, 
although icebergs were constantly in sight, I saw only five that 
carried impurities, the most of these having merely discoloured 
patches and bands. The pure white sides of the vast number of 
these ice masses gave evidence of the cleansing power of sun and 
surf since leaving their northern home. 
I have made many enquiries concerning the presence of earth 
and stones on the ice in the North Atlantic. Among the men 
questioned was Captain Nordby, an old Norwegian mariner, now 
at Parrsboro, N. S; Captains James and William McConnell, of 
Port Hilford, N. S., who have had life long experiences in these 
northern seas; and also several Newfoundland sealing captains, 
men who have had more experience with drift ice than any 
other seamen in the world. I find among them an almost 
unanimous opinion that the quantity of debris brought south by 
the bergs and field-ice is extremely small, and that the addition 
to the Grand Banks by these means would be hardiy noticeable 
even in a hundred centuries. 
That the Grand Banks of Newfoundland are not the immense 
deposits of ice-transported mud and other debris formerly 
supposed, I may instance the Virgin Ledges, awash at low water. 
The Tertiary fragments dredged up there indicate the existence 
of large areas of exposed rocky ledges, rather than the results 
of drift transportation from more northern regions. The disin- 
tegration of these rocks, no doubt, greatly assisted in the 
formation of outlying portions of the banks at a time when the 
eastern part of the American continent was much higher and 
more extensive than at present. The evidence seems to point 
to the existence there of an undulating, rocky plateau, which, 
like the adjacent provinces, had its morraines, kames, and other 
accumulations of drift, subsequently slightly added to by oceanic 
circulation. 
