GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS. 167 



of the land to a height of several hundred feet at least. As 

 they penetrate the interior to a distance, in some instances, 

 of seventy-five miles, it would seem clear that the whole area 

 must have been above the water-level at one time. In the 

 case of the submerged channels through the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence the conditions are such as pretty much to preclude any 

 other agency than running water as their producing cause. 

 In Greenland, however, it is possible to introduce glaciers as 

 the eroding agency in deepening the fiords when the level 

 was very much the same as now, in which case we should not 

 need to suppose any great former enlargement of the land 

 area surrounding Greenland. In any case there is no evi- 

 dence of the complete filling up of Davis Straits with land-ice ; 

 but, on the contrary, overwhelming evidence against it. 



A more detailed description of my observations upon the 

 Greenland coast during the summer of 1894 in the vicinity of 

 Sukkertoppen will add considerably to the strength of these 

 inferences. Sukkertoppen is in latitude G5° 25', and is the 

 largest Eskimo settlement upon the coast, containing about 

 four hundred natives, who find in its vicinity most favorable 

 haunts for fish and birds, and for seal and reindeer. The 

 general distance of the inland ice from the sea is here about 

 sixty miles, which is the distance penetrated by Isortok fiord. 

 But between Isortok fiord and Kangererdlugsuatsiak, which 

 penetrates the outskirts to an equal distance, a projection of 

 the inland ice extends to within about fifteen miles of the sea. 



During our stay at Sukkertoppen in August I made two 

 expeditions of much importance. First up Isortok fiord to 

 about half its length, and again to the projection of the in- 

 land ice twenty-five miles north entering Ikamiut fiord. On 

 both these expeditions there was abundant evidence that 

 glaciers had formerly filled the fiord up certainly to a height 

 of about 2,000 feet and extending out to the line of the ocean 

 shore. In both Isortok and Ikamiut fiords the glacial 



