RISE AND FALL OF THE GREENLAND COAST. 51 



say nothing about it ; but more to the south, and along the whole 

 extent of the Danish colonies, this raised portion of the sea-bottom is 

 seen. The hills are low and rounded, and everywhere scattered with 

 perched blocks, boulders, &c, many of them brought from northern 

 or southern localities. In other localities, in the hollows or along 

 the sea-shore, we see several feet of the glacier-clay (the " brick- 

 clay," in fact J full of Arctic shells such as are now living in the 

 sea, Echinodermata, Crustacea, &c, while in other places, as might 

 be expected from what I have said, the clay is bare of life. This 

 clay corresponds identically in many places with some of the 

 "brick-clays" of Scotland, though, as might be expected from the 

 difference these clays partake of from the different rocks the tri- 

 tnrition of which has given origin to them, they are in some places 

 of different shades of colouring. In this glacier-clay (or shall I 

 call it upper laminated Boulder-clay ?) all the shells found are of 

 species still living in the neighbouring sea, with the exception of 

 Glycimeris stfiqua, and Panopcea norvegica ; but as both of these are 

 found in the Newfoundland Sea, we may expect them yet to be 

 shown to be living in Davis Strait. 1 I have seen this " fossili- 

 ferous clay " up to the height of more than 500 feet above the sea, 

 on the banks overlooking glaciers. At the Illartlek glacier, in 

 69° 27' x. lat., this glacier-clay, deposited on the bottom of the sea 

 by some former glacier, now formed a moraine ; and on the surface 

 of the ice I picked up several species of shells which had got washed 

 out by the streams crossing over the glacier face. This Illartlek 

 glacier does not reach the sea ; but supposing (as is doubtless the 

 case elsewhere) that this clay had fallen on a glacier giving off ice- 

 bergs, then the shells deposited in the old sea-bottom would be again 

 carried out to sea, and a second time transferred to the bottom of 

 Davis Strait ! I found this clay everywhere along the coast and in 

 Leer Bay, south-west of Claushavn ; in knots of this clay are found 

 impressions of the Angmaksaett (Mallotus arcticus, 0. Fabr.), a fish 

 still quite abundant in Davis Strait. 2 However, though this glacier- 

 clay was found everywhere along the coast, yet it should be noticed 

 that this was chiefly when glaciers had been in fjords, &c, and that 

 often for long distances it would be sparingly found only in valleys 

 or depressions. 



Other evidences of the rise of the Greenland coast are furnished 



1 Morch in Tillseg No. 7 til Rink's ' Gronland,' Bind 2, S. 143. 



2 " In general, I may say," remarks Agassiz, when speaking of the closeness 

 with which Tertiary fishes agreed with recent ones, " that I have not yet found a 

 aiTiglp species which was perfectly identical with any marine existing fish, except 

 the little species (MaUotus), which is found in nodules of clay, of unknown age, 

 in Greenland." 1 am convinced that the age I have given is correct, 



D 'J 



