232 T. C. CHAMBERLIN ' 



slope may be seen at the right hand of Fig. 64 a little this side 

 of the medial moraine. 



The Bovvdoin glacier debouches at its lower extremity into 

 the head of Bowdoin Bay and discharges icebergs of consider- 

 able dimensions, Fig. 65. This discharge seems to vary very 

 greatly with the nature of the summer season. My observa- 

 tions happened to fall upon a season of relative quiescence.. 

 From the sixth to the twenty-third of August I occupied, 

 through the kindness of Lieutenant Peary, a lodge overlooking 

 the sea wall of the glacier and so near at hand as to be within 

 easy hearing distance of any notable disruptive action but dur- 

 ing this time I was not fortunate enough to witness the dis- 

 charge of a single' notable mass of ice, or even to hear it. A 

 more substantial evidence- of quiescence is found in the fact that 

 within less than 200 yards of the extremity of the glacier on 

 the east side there was an ice bridge spanning the lateral stream 

 and connecting the glacier with a spur of rock. Lieutenant 

 Peary informed me that the bridge had remained intact for two 

 years and had been used as a means of communication with the 

 glacier whose vertical face at other points rendered access diffi- 

 cult. It would be an error, however, to draw conclusions froni 

 these facts, for during the succeeding season the bridge was not 

 only broken away but extensive discharges of icebergs took 

 place along the sea face of the glacier. I presume that this 

 unequal and somewhat spasmodic action represents the habit 

 of the glacier. It seems probable that during a succession of 

 severe seasons the motion of the ice is quite slight and the 

 extremity of the glacier makes but little advance. But an 

 exceptionally warm season following such a succession of severe 

 ones, during which thickening and steepening of the gradient 

 may have taken place, probably causes a notable thrusting for- 

 ward of the glacial foot accompanied by corresponding iceberg 

 discharge. 



On its west side the Bowdoin glacier does not present an 

 extensive vertical wall in accordance with the prevailing fashion 

 of the region. In its upper part the glacier runs side by side 



