190 THE OCEAN. 



sea where the submerged ledges, if any still exist, are only revealed .by 

 the whitening foam. On all the abrupt coasts these islets belonging 

 to the primitive architecture of the continent are very numerous, and 

 even in certain parts form real archipelagos. Norway, Western Scot- 

 land, Chilian Patagonia, and all those countries where the fjords 

 change the coast-line into an immense labyrinth, are thus bordered 

 with innumerable islands, having likewise their indentations, their 

 straits, and their girdles of islets. This is because, since the relatively 

 recent retreat of the glaciers which filled all the space comprised be- 

 tween the circles of snowy plateaux and the exterior promontories, the 

 original relief has but slightly changed. The terrestrial alluvium 

 brought down by the torrents has only filled up a small number of 

 valleys ; and the bases of the islands and capes, plunging deeply 

 into the waters, have not served as support to marine alluvium similar 

 to that which spreads along the low coasts. Isolated rocks, which the 

 ice formerly surrounded as it now surrounds the *' Jardin" of Mont 

 Blanc, now rise in the midst of the waters, but they are not the less 

 the salient points of the continental relief ; in shallower waters, where 

 the deposit of the marine alluvium would be easily accomplished, they 

 would long since be joined to the shore. 



Among the islands which may be considered as simple depend- 

 encies of the great neighbouring lands, we must also class not only 

 those which the marine or fluvial alluvium has raised, simple emerged 

 banks which are especially found along low coasts and near the 

 mouths of rivers ; but likewise the islands which are due either to 

 the rising or gradual sinking of the ground. Thus, the chain of 

 insular downs which defends the coast-line of Friesland and Hol- 

 land against the assaults of the North Sea, from Wangerooge to the 

 Texel, is most certainly the remains of the antique shore ; and it is 

 this rather than the half-submerged beaches of the Dollart and the 

 Zuyder Zee which marks the true boundary between land and sea.* 

 On the other hand, the coasts of the Scandinavian peninsula, 

 which rise slowly above the waves, have been enriched with new 

 islands during the course of the present geological epoch. In the 

 maze of the Norwegian fjords, in the Lofoten Isles, in the Archi- 

 pelago of the Quarken, hidden ledges have become visible rocks, then 

 extensive islands where the algoe have been gradually replaced by a 

 terrestrial flora. While the continent was encroaching upon the sea, 

 the islets here and there have risen up and spread far over the waters 

 like the leaves of some gigantic plant. The insular rocks rise 



* Sec above, p. 161. 



