SEA-LOCHS AND TJOEDS. 



133 



i 



iproaclies, many of wliich are for ever deprived of a ray of sun by the 

 high walls of rock which enclose them. This enormous cutting, of an 

 almost perfect regularity, penetrates above 26 miles into the interior of 

 the continent, though in several places it hardly exceeds 1965 feet 

 in breadth ; its walls rise from 3270 to 3600 feet in height, and 

 near the edge the lead only touches the ground at about 220 fathoms.* 

 Doubtless the first seaman who sailed over the dark, tranquil waters 



Fig. 49.— fjords of Greenland. 



of this abyss must have advanced with a sort of horror, asking at 

 each new turn of the approach, whether he was not going to see 

 some terrible god rise before him. Even now it is not without a 



* Vibe, Kiisten und Meer Norwegens, Mittheilmgen von Fetermann, 1860. 



