THE SUCCESSION OF DEPOSITS. 51 



" The predominant south-west striation, and the cutting 

 of the upper lakes, demand an outlet to the west for the 

 arctic current. But both during depression and elevation 

 of the land, there must have been a time when this outlet 

 was obstructed, and when the lower levels of New York, 

 New England, and Canada were still under water. Then 

 the valley of the Ottawa, that of the Mohawk, and the 

 low country between lakes Ontario and Huron, and the 

 valleys of lake Champlain and the Connecticut, would be 

 straits or arms of the sea, and the current, obstructed in 

 its direct flow, would set principally along these, and act 

 on the rocks in north and south, and north-west and 

 south-east directions. To this portion of the process we 

 may attribute much of the north-west and south-east 

 striation. It is true that this view does not account for 

 the south-east striae observed on some high peaks in New 

 England ; but it must be observed that even at the time 

 of greatest depression, the arctic current would cling to 

 the northern land, or be thrown so rapidly to the^west 

 that its direct action might not reach such summits. 

 There were also extensive local glaciers in these moun- 

 tains, whose work must be separated from that of the 

 sea-drift. 



" I conclude these remarks with a mere reference to 

 the alleged prevalence of lake-basins and fiords in high 

 northern latitudes, as connected with glacial action. In 

 reasoning on this, it seems to be overlooked that the pre- 

 valence of disturbed and metamorphic rocks over wide 

 areas in the north is one element in the matter, and that 

 in the Pliocene age the greater elevation of the land must 

 have caused deeper fluviatile erosion. Further, the fiords 

 on coasts, like the deep lateral valleys of mountains, are 

 often evidences of the action of the waves rather than of 



