REVIEWS 437 



ago. Some of the striking features may be noted. The banding of the 

 ice, apparently representing the annual layers, became steeper and 

 steeper toward the edge, till it was nearly vertical near the frontal 

 moraine. At many points in the lee of the frontal moraine there was 

 such a collection of drifted snow blown off the ice-sheet that parasitic 

 glaciers formed. The bare rocky zone beyond was deeply gouged and 

 lake-filled. The difficulties of travel were increased by cryoconite, or 

 the well-known dustwells, which pit the ice in some locations covering 

 a quarter of the area. They occur in a zone within lo km. of the west 

 front of the ice. These dust wells consist of water-filled cylindrical tubes, 

 mostly 5-10 cm. in diameter and 40-50 cm. deep, which contain earthy 

 material on the bottoms. They have been formed by the melting induced 

 by the extra heat absorbed by the dark covering of debris. The material 

 has the fine-grained character of aeolian deposits, which appear to have 

 been concentrated by flowing water on the surface. 



The surface west of the ice-sheet was all glaciated except for an 

 occasional high peak, above an altitude of 1,000 or 1,050 m. in the vicinity 

 of Sermilikfiord, or above 1,300 m. far to the northeast. [On the sides 

 of the east Greenland Sermilikfiord the continental glaciation extended 

 up to 800 m.] The rugged peaks above the reach of the ice-sheet were 

 in marked contrast to the rounded lower slopes eroded by the ice. In 

 spite of active rock decomposition, the traces of glaciation were surpris- 

 ingly fresh. Most striking were (a) the thinness and rarity of veneers of 

 drift, (6) the intensity of the attack of the ice on the bed rock, and (c) the 

 persistence of glacial polish. Erratics were in some cases well weathered, 

 though resting on surfaces which were still smooth. The old striae 

 were generally from the S.E., though the latest ones, from the thinner 

 ice, crossed these generally from the east, the direction of the local slope. 

 Both on the east and west coasts of Greenland large sections of rock 

 have slid over the polished surfaces in front, making terraces with polished 

 tops. 



Evidences of local glaciers after the retreat of the main ice-sheet were 

 found, especially in the south. Farther north the mountains were too 

 low and the precipitation too small for such local glaciers to form. In 

 the vicinity of Sermilikfiord (lat. 65° 30' — 65° 40') glaciers were found 

 filling all the valleys. They were fed from extensive accumulators 

 wherever the altitude exceeded 1,000 m. It seemed likely from Danish 

 charts that this local ice extended northeastward all the way to the 

 inland ice 100 km. away. These coastal glaciers were evidently not relics 

 of the inland ice for, though the moraines were considerable, they did 



