CHAP. xni. CONTINENTAL ICE OF GREENLAND. 235 



no relation to the minor depressions, which were all choked up 

 with ice and reduced to one uniform level. 



Continental Ice of Greenland. 



In support of this view, he appeals to the admirable de 

 scription of the continental ice of Greenland, lately published 

 by Dr. H. Eink, of Copenhagen,* who resided three or four 

 years in the Danish settlements, in Baffin's Bay, on the west 

 coast of Greenland, between latitudes 69 and 73 N. ' In that 

 country, the land,' says Dr. Eink, ' may be divided into two 

 regions, the " inland " and the " outskirts." The " inland," 

 which is 800 miles from west to east, and of much greater 

 length from north to south, is a vast unknown continent, 

 buried under one continuous and colossal mass of permanent 

 ice, which is always moving seaward, but a small proportion 

 only of it in an easterly direction, since nearly the whole de 

 scends towards Baffin's Bay.' On reaching the heads of the 

 fiords which intersect the coast, a perpendicular wall of ice, 

 2,000 feet thick, is seen, beyond which the ice of the interior 

 rises by a succession of steps, twenty-five of which were 

 counted by Eink (but of which there are known to be still 

 more), all of them leading up to as many icy platforms, the 

 ridges and valleys being levelled up to one uniform plane, 

 and concealed by these tabular masses of ice. 



Although all the ice is moving seaward, the greatest quan 

 tity is discharged at the heads of certain large friths, usually 

 about four miles wide, which, if the climate were milder, 

 would be the outlet of as many great rivers. Through these 

 the ice is now protruded in huge blocks, several miles wide, 

 and from 1,000 to 1,500 feet in height or thickness. When 

 these masses reach the friths, they do not melt or break up 

 into fragments, but continue their course in a solid form 



* Journal of Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxiii. p. 145, 1853. 



