SUMMER CRUISE 49 
of Cape Sabine. It had quite recently broken away in great 
sheets (one of which took three-quarters of an hour to steam 
past) from the mouths of the bays whose inner surfaces were 
still tightly frozen as we passed them. The diverse character 
of these large sheets is further increased by the number of small 
icebergs often seen frozen into the mass along with the polar 
sea ice. 
The eastern side of Ellesmere island is quite high, the prob- 
able general elevation exceeding 2,000 feet and perhaps 3,000 
feet. The coast-line is broken by many deep bays and promi- 
nent headlands. The land rises precipitously from the frozen 
sea into irregular mountains, whose partly rounded peaks are 
as a rule masked by an ice-cap which appears to be continuous 
along this eastern coastal region, although it is said not to 
continue for any great distance inland. Great glaciers fill all 
the valleys and actively discharge icebergs into the bays.. Only 
the projecting rocky headlands and some of the lower points 
facing south in the bays are free of snow and ice, so that at 
least nine-tenths of the surface is permanently covered by an 
icy mantle. This is in marked contrast to the Greenland coast 
opposite, where all the outer cliffs and the shores are compara- 
tively free from snow and ice. The cause of this marked 
difference of climate is probably due to a divergence of direc- 
tion of currents along these coasts. On the Greenland side a 
southerly current, comparatively free of ice, allows the open sea 
to raise the general temperature, while on the Ellesmere side 
the Arctic current, with its continuous stream of ice, blocks the 
bays and does not allow the open water to ameliorate the cold 
of the ice-covered lands. The prevailing easterly winds also 
carry more moisture to the west side, causing it to be masked 
by fog at the time of brilliant sunshine on the opposite coast. 
The 12th proved thick and dirty, with much rain. Land was 
only seen in the early morning, and not again until five o'clock 
