THE GREENLAND EXPEDITION OF 1895. 881 
tions in the United States, since the departure of the last ice 
sheet. 
The amount of drift in the vicinity of Holstensborg is slight. 
From the vessel it appeared as if the larger part of the surface 
was bare rock, but on the land the proportion of the surface cov- 
ered by loose material was seen to be somewhat greater. The 
topography about Holstensborg is such as to suggest that the 
ice was never very effective in reducing it. It seemed to me 
probable that some of the higher peaks were nunataks at the 
time of maximum ice extension, while others of intermediate 
height were not covered by a great thickness of ice, and did not 
suffer any considerable modification of form. 
The next stop on the coast of the mainland was at Jakobs- 
havn, about 120 miles further north. Here as at Holstensborg, 
the rock is gneiss, though much less distinctly and regularly 
bedded. Occasionally it is closely foliated, and the foliations 
are locally much contorted. 
The little peninsula lying north of Jakobshavn was crossed 
along two lines, and its general features well seen. Its surface 
everywhere bears the marks of glaciation, and the action of the 
ice here seems to have been much more intense—so far as topog- 
raphy affords a basis for judgment. Rarely is there better 
opportunity for observing the topographic effects of glaciation. 
The relief of the region is about 1400 feet. The surface before 
glaciation seems to have been affected by an erosion topography, 
in the early maturity stage of development. In its general west- 
erly movement, the ice smoothed the eastern sides of the hills 
and ridges, at the same time that it plucked their western sides. 
The structure of the rock is such as to favor both processes, with 
ice moving in the direction which it here took, and both pro- 
cesses were therefore carried to an unusual degree. The result 
was that, standing in almost any valley and looking westward, 
smooth and relatively even slopes were seen, so characteristic as 
to leave no doubt as to the agency which produced them, or the 
intensity of its action, while looking in the opposite direction 
bold, rough walls of rock, with huge piles of angular bowlders 
