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 iee 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 

 countr}^, the land," says Dr. Eink, "ma,y 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 

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

 2000 feet thick, is seen, beyond which the ice of the interior 

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

 counted b}'' Bink (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, sevei-al miles wide, 

 and from 1000 to 1500 feet in height or thickness. AYhen 

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

 into fragments, but continue their course in a solid form 



* .Tounial of Royal Geographical Society, yoL xxiii. p. 145, 1853. 



