170 THE LAST CEUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



down to Isortok fiord would seem completely to isolate 

 the grazing-grounds of the south from those of the north. 

 The same difficulty arises in a still greater degree north 

 of Umenak fiord, where for hundreds of miles there is now 

 no margin of land uncovered with ice along the whole cir- 

 cuit of Melville Bay from Upernavik to Cape York ; yet 

 these animals are found in great numbers north of Cape York 

 and all along the western coast south of Upernavik. They 

 seem to flourish upon the abundant mosses and creeping 

 herbage which grow in the protected nooks and crannies of 

 all that inhospitable region, furnishing the most dainty food 

 and the warmest of clothing to the hunters and their 

 families. 



The only way in which this distribution of the reindeer 

 can be accounted for would seem to be by supposing that at a 

 former time there was a broader and more continuous margin 

 of land free from ice than there is now, and that subsequently 

 this border was diminished to its present width and with its 

 present interruptions, isolating different herds of the animal. 

 There are two suppositions according to which this former 

 enlargement and subsequent limitations of the border may 

 have been produced. During a milder period the ice may 

 have at one time retreated farther into the interior than now, 

 allowing free passage along the whole border, and then at a 

 subsequent time advanced again, as it evidently has done even 

 much beyond its present limits. 



The more likely explanation is that in the general elevation 

 of the northern region which preceded the glacial epoch 

 period a considerable border of the shallow ocean-bed was 

 lifted above the surface of the water, affording extensive pas- 

 turage and free passageway all down the coasts of Greenland 

 and of Labrador, thus facilitating the distribution of both 

 animals and plants to the isolated localities in southern Green- 

 land where they are found, and making it possible also for the 



