25 
solifluction’. The more gentle slopes, with inclinations varying 
from a few degrees to 20° or 30° are real ‘‘streams of stones” 
sometimes several kilometers in breadth, immovable during the 
later half of, the summer when the ground is dry, but yielding 
at each step if you set your feet on them during the first part 
of the summer when scattered remains of the snow-covering 
are still to be seen, and water fills the interspaces in the lower 
part of the rubbish layer. The total thickness of this movable 
rubbish sheet which covers the surface of the solid rock varies 
between wide limits, in some of the ‘‘stone-rivers” at the head 
of Kangerdluarsuk (Plate VIII, Fig. 2) the thicknes was seen to 
be very small, 0°2 or 0'3 meters. ‘The movable sheet contains 
rock-fragments of almost all sizes, but there is a preponderance 
of small fragments about as large as hazel-nuts and walnuts. 
That the sheet does move, though on the whole very slowly 
and at intervals, is apparent from the phenomena observed close 
to the larger blocks the diameter of which considerably exceeds 
the thickness of the rubbish sheet. On that side of each of 
such blocks which looks in the direction from which the ‘‘stream” 
moves, there is a considerable thickening of the rubbish sheet 
as if this would overflow the block, while on the opposite side 
the rubbish sheet is thinner or even wanting. This evidently 
indicates that the bulk of the rubbish sheet moves faster than 
the blocks which are more or less checked by friction against 
the underlying rock-surface. Distinct indications of movements 
are also observed in the small turf carpets which may ехсер- 
tionally be found on the rubbish: the turf shows numerous 
fissures perpendicular to the direction of maximum inclination 
of the surfaces. Sometimes considerable areas of the rock 
surface are laid bare when one portion of a rubbish layer moves 
downward while the supply is temporarily stopped. 
Locally broad streams of rubbish stretch from the summits 
1 Journal of Geology, XIV, p. 91 (1906). 
a 
