770 ROLLIN D. SALISBURY 



coastal region of the island in recent times, and perhaps never. 

 So far as could be judged from topography in passing, it did not 

 even seem probable that ice from the main island ever crossed 

 the narrow Waigat so as to become continuous with that on the 

 island of Disco, although both the coast of the mainland in this 

 latitude and the main portion of the Disco coast appear to have 

 been glaciated. The topography of the coast bordering the 

 Waigat is such as to suggest that the east coast of Disco has 

 been glaciated by ice moving to the eastward from the interior 

 of the island, while the opposite coast of Greenland appears 

 to have been affected by ice moving toward the westward. 



The plateau of Greenland often terminates abruptly near the 

 coast, with a precipitous face 1500 to 3000 feet in height. 

 Between this abrupt bluff and the water, there is usually no more 

 than a narrow strip of low land, and often none. Along those 

 parts of the coast where the ice-cap comes out to the edge of the 

 plateau, it fails to reach the water for any considerable stretch. 

 It is true that the ice, where it now reaches the edge of the 

 abruptly terminated plateau, generally reaches it with a slight 

 thickness only ; but thick or thin, its edge breaks off and falls 

 to the bottom of the cliff. Where the amount of ice breaking 

 off and falling to the base of a cliff is great, it sometimes 

 becomes re-united, and develops a small glacier. Such glaciers 

 were seen both along the east side of Disco, and at various points 

 on the coast of Greenland. 



If the ice-cap on the upland were to advance more rapidly, 

 or in greater mass, the amount of ice falling over the cliffs 

 would be greater, and the glaciers formed at their bases would 

 be correspondingly larger. It is conceivable that they might 

 develop on such a scale as ultimately to become continuous 

 with one another laterally. At the same time, by growth at 

 their upper ends, they might become continuous with the ice- 

 cap above. In this case the ice might move out from the interior 

 over the coastal cliff without inflicting suf^cient wear on the 

 cliff face to greatly reduce its asperities, for the rough face 

 would be to leeward. But it would not appear that such an ice-cap 



