GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS IN LABRADOR 

 AND SOUTHERN GREENLAND. 



BY PROFESSOK G. FREDERICK WRIGHT. 



Ox crossing Davis Straits from 

 Labrador to Greenland one is deep- 

 ly impressed with the contrast in 

 the scenery of the two countries. 

 The coast of Labrador presents 

 everywhere a smooth and flowing 

 outline against the sky. There 

 are no sharp peaks, but every- 

 where the contour is subdued and 

 graceful in outline. Upon the 

 western coast of southern Green- 

 land, on the contrary, the pre- 

 vailing feature of the landscape, as 



seen from a distance of thirty or forty miles, is that of sharp, 

 needle-like peaks, such as would do credit to the high Alps, or 

 to the central portion of the Kocky Mountain range, though 

 none of them rise more than 4,000 or 5,000 feet above the sea. 

 In seeking for the reason of this contrast one is at first 

 puzzled by the fact that it is not due to any dissimilarity be- 

 tween the character of the rocks in the two regions, for they 

 belong to the same age and are essentially alike in all re- 

 spects, the prevailing rocks in both instances being gneiss, 

 with occasional masses of granite and frequent intersecting 

 veins of trap. We must look, therefore, for some other cause 

 than the nature of the rocks for explanation of this diversity 

 of appearance. 



