SUMMER CRUISE 49 



of Cape Sabine. It had quite recently broken away in great 

 sheets (one of which took three-quarters of an hour to steam 

 past) from the mouths of the bays whose inner surfaces were 

 still tightly frozen as we passed them. The diverse character 

 of these large sheets is further increased by the number of small 

 icebergs often seen frozen into the mass along with the polar 

 sea ice. 



The eastern side of Ellesmere island is quite high, the prob- 

 able general elevation exceeding 2,000 feet and perhaps 3,000 

 feet. The coast-line is broken by many deep bays and promi- 

 nent headlands. The land rises precipitously from the frozen 

 sea into irregular mountains, whose partly rounded peaks are 

 as a rule masked by an ice-cap which appears to be continuous 

 along this eastern coastal region, although it is said not to 

 continue for any great distance inland. Great glaciers fill all 

 the valleys and actively discharge icebergs into the bays. Only 

 the projecting rocky headlands and some of the lower points 

 facing south in the bays are free of snow and ice, so that at 

 least nine-tenths of the surface is permanently covered by an 

 icy mantle. This is in marked contrast to the Greenland coast 

 opposite, where all the outer cliffs and the shores are compara- 

 tively free from snow and ice. The cause of this marked 

 difference of climate is probably due to a divergence of direc- 

 tion of currents along these coasts. On the Greenland side a 

 southerly current, comparatively free of ice, allows the open sea 

 to raise the general temperature, while on the Ellesmere side 

 the Arctic current, with its continuous stream of ice, blocks the 

 bays and does not allow the open water to ameliorate the cold 

 of the ice-covered lands. The prevailing easterly winds also 

 carry more moisture to the west side, causing it to be masked 

 by fog at the time of brilliant sunshine on the opposite coast. 



The 12th proved thick and dirty, with much rain. Land was 

 only seen in the early morning, and not again until five o'clock 



