136 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



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action of northern ice, driven on the coast line where it suddenly makes its southerly bend by the 

 influence of the rotation of the earth upon the arctic current. This current sweeps past the Labra- 

 dor coast with a speed of from 1 to 2 knots an hour, and a westerly pressure, due to the earth's 

 rotation, which may be estimated at about 11 inches. That is to say, the mean level of the sea on 

 the coast of Labrador is supposed to be about 11 inches above the level it would assume if uninflu- 

 enced by the earth's rotation. As soon as the ice-ladened current reaches Spotted Island it is in 

 part relieved from this pressure by the trend of the coast from southeast to due south; hence the 

 current changes its course southerly and onto the land. But the effect of this sudden change in 

 the direction of the current near the shore is to throw the icebergs onto the coast from Spotted 

 Island to Cape Saint Lewis, where they may be seen stranded each year in great numbers. The 

 islands which doubtless once existed here have been removed by constant abrasion, acting unin- 

 terruptedly for ages, and with the islands the moraines lying seawards. We may thus trace the 

 cause of the vast difference between the distribution of stranded icebergs south of Spotted Island 

 and northwest of it. In one case they are stranded near the coast line, wearing it away and deep- 

 ening the water near it, assisted by the undertow ; in the other case they are stranded some 15 

 miles from the island fringe and continually adding to the banks the debris they may bring, in the 

 form of mud streaks, from the glaciers which gave them birth in the far north and northeast. It 

 is more than probable that this distribution of icebergs has a very important bearing upon the food 

 and feeding of the cod, which justifies me in referring here with so much detail to the action of 

 glacial ice. 



" The inner range of banks. The foundation of the inner range of banks consists, very prob- 

 ably, as already stated, of glacial moraines. In their present state they may reasonably bo assumed 

 to be formed in great part of remodeled debris brought down by the same glaciers which excavated 

 the deep fiords. 



" The absence of deposits of sand in the form of modern beaches on every part of the Labrador 

 coast visited this season, except one, was very marked. The exceptional area observed lies between 

 Sandwich Bay and Hamilton Inlet, Cape Porcupine being the center. It is protected from the 

 northern swell of the ocean by the Indian Harbor Islands and promontory. Here large deposits 

 of sand are seen, covering many square miles in area. The reason why sandy beaches are not in 

 general found on this coast, notwithstanding that enormous quantities of rock are annually ground 

 up by coast ice and ice pans driven on the shore, arises from the undertow carrying the sand sea- 

 wards and depositing it on the shoals or banks outside of the islands. 



" It may be advisable here to advert to a popular error which assumes that the depth of water 

 in which an iceberg grounds is indicated by the height of the berg above the level of the sea. It 

 is commonly stated that while there is one-ninth above there will be eight-ninths of the berg below 

 the sea-level. This is approximately true only with regard to volume or mass of the berg, not with 

 regard to height and depth. A berg may show an elevation of 100 feet above water, and yet its 

 depth below may not exceed double that amount, but its volume or mass will be about eight times 

 the mass it shows on the surface. Hence, while icebergs ground in 30 and 40 fathoms of water, 

 they may expose a front of 100 or 150 feet in altitude, the broad, massive base supporting a mass 

 about one-ninth of its volume above the sea-level. 



" The climate. Experience, now extended over twelve years, shows that the seasons are 

 sufficiently late and long to permit Newfoundland fishermen to come from their homes after spring 

 fishing is over there and their garden work attended to. They may arrive on the Northern Lab- 

 rador fishing grounds from the 10th to the 20th of July, or even later, if they go north beyond 



