140 



THE OCEAN. 



Iceland by the western coasts all cut into deep bays, and the eastern 

 shores whose fjords are less deep, or even completely obliterated by 



Fig. 52.— Ancient Fjords of Northern Italy. 



alluvium. In the same way, at the south of America^ the rains 

 being much more abundant on the western slope of the mountains 

 of Patagonia, the glaciers have descended much lower into the val- 

 leys, and the fjords, preserved by the ice in their primitive state, 

 make all this part of the American coast-line a real labyrinth. The 

 form of the continents themselves must be explained by the move- 

 ments of the atmosphere. 



After the retreat of the glaciers, the work of rendering the shores 

 regular goes on in the various countries with more or less rapidity, 

 according to the form of the continents, the depth of the fjords, and 

 all the phenomena which constitute their geographical circumstances. 

 In certain countries where the rivers are of little importance, as in the 

 peninsulas of Denmark and in Mecklenburg, the fjords are first closed 



