456 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON DRIFT ICE 



as I proceeded toward its source, showing that the ice drops the 

 greater part of its burden near the northern Labrador coast. 

 But the heavy field-ice and bergs even in the latitude of Nain, 

 showed very few traces of impurities. Further south the 

 remarkable cleanliness of the heavy ice was more noticeable. 

 Along the southern 150 miles of the north-east Labrador coast, 

 although icebergs were constantly in sight. I saw only five that 

 carried impurities, the most of these having merely discoloured 

 patches and bands. The pure white sides of the vast number of 

 these ice masses gave evidence of the cleansing power of sun and 

 surf since leaving their northern home. 



I have made many enquiries concerning the presence of earth 

 and stones on the ice in the North Atlantic. Among the men 

 questioned was Captain Nordby, an old Norwegian mariner, now 

 at Parrsboro, N. S.; Captains James and William McConnell, of 

 Port Hilford, N. S., who have had life long experiences in these 

 northern seas; and also several Newfoundland sealing captains, 

 men who have had more experience with drift ice than any 

 other seamen in the world. I find among them an almost 

 unanimous opinion that the quantity of debris brought south by 

 the bergs and field-ice is extremely small, and that the addition 

 to the Grand Banks by these means would be hardly noticeable 

 even in a hundred centuries. 



That the Grand Banks of Newfoundland are not the immense 

 deposits of ice-transported mud and other debris formerly 

 supposed, I may instance the Virgin Ledges, awash at low water. 

 The Tertiary fragments dredged up there indicate the existence 

 of large areas of exposed rocky ledges, rather than the results 

 of drift transportation from more northern regions. The disin- 

 tegration of these rocks, no doubt, greatly assisted in the 

 formation of outlying portions of the banks at a time when the 

 eastern part of the American continent was much higher and 

 more extensive than at present. The evidence seems to point 

 to the existence there of an undulating, rocky plateau, which, 

 like the adjacent provinces, had its morraines, karnes, and other 

 accumulations of drift, subsequently slightly added to by oceanic 

 circulation. 



