October 9, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



521 



narrow northern prolongation of Labrador 

 may have risen above the ice. Later ex- 

 perience in Greenland, however, has led me 

 to place little confidence in evidence of this 

 sort. Rounded contours are positive evi- 

 dence of value, but the negative evidence 

 of angular outline is of little value, par- 

 ticularly when combined with considerable 

 elevation. The rate of weathering and ero- 

 sion on some classes of rock in high lati- 

 tudes is extraordinary ; and if, as is so often 

 the case in Greenland, the glaciation did 

 not siifl&ce to greatly modify the pre-glacial 

 topography, the combination of pre-glacial 

 and post-glacial denudation serves to abun- 

 dantly mask the evidence of glaciation when 

 the hills are viewed from a distance. 



That part of Baf&n Land bordering Hud- 

 son Strait in longitude 70°-71° has all been 

 glaciated up to an elevation of at least 

 600 feet. The evidence of this is found in 

 indistinct striae, an abundance of trans- 

 ported fragments of limestone, and other 

 foreign rocks, and the roches moutonnees 

 form of the rock outcrops. The garnetifer- 

 ous gneiss and crystalline limestone of the 

 region have been markedly disintegrated 

 since the retreat of the ice sheet ; and yet 

 the recency of this retreat is shown by the 

 freshness of some of the rocks and also by 

 the fact that some of the lakes have two 

 outlets, while one was seen with five outlets. 



Both at Big Island and on the main Baf- 

 fin Land evidence of very recent elevation 

 is found to a height of 270 feet above the 

 sea. The evidence of this is present in the 

 form of a series of perfect boulder beaches, 

 one above the other, marking various halts. 

 In a muddy gravel, at an elevation of 270 

 feet, an abundance of Saxicava, Mya and 

 other shells was found. A depression to 

 this amount would lower a very considera- 

 ble area of the border of this part of Baffin 

 Land. 



The results of the study on the Nugsuak 

 peninsula will be more fully described else- 



where. At the southeastern base of the 

 peninsula there is a large glacier which is 

 given the name Cornell glacier and on the 

 northern side is the Wyckoff" glacier. * The 

 latter is nearly stagnant and enters a nar- 

 row fjord from which the winter floe ice did 

 not escape during the summer. The Cor- 

 nell glacier is active, but not nearly so 

 much so as some of the glaciers south of it. 

 This is shown not by actual measurements 

 of the rate of motion, but by the quantity of 

 the bergs which are discharged. For various 

 reasons, mainly because of the roughness 

 of the ice surface and the lateness of the 

 season, no determination of the rate of 

 movement of the Cornell glacier was at- 

 tempted. On the ISTugsuak peninsula there 

 are several glaciers ranging from mere snow 

 fields to a glacier of the valley type which 

 just reaches the sea. 



The ]S"ugsuak peninsula extends 24 miles 

 from the front of the Cornell glacier to the 

 end at Wilcox Head. To seaward at a dis- 

 tance of 8-10 miles from Wilcox Head lie 

 the Duck Islands, one of which rises to an 

 elevation of 110 feet above the sea, while 

 the other attains an elevation of 200 or 300 

 feet. The depth of the neighboring sea 

 is in some places over 100 fathoms. f The 

 highest point on the Nugsuak peninsula is 

 2,500 feet and in many places its elevation 

 is over 1,000 feet. At Wilcox Head the 

 elevation is 1 ,400 feet and the sea near by 

 more than 100 fathoms in depth. The rocks 

 are all gneiss crossed by numerous trap 

 dikes, the gneiss being apparently a meta- 

 morphosed sedimentary series faulted and 

 folded with great complexity. 



A retreat and advance of the Cornell 

 glacier at some recent time is proved by the 

 presence of fragments and entire shells of 



*Named after Mr. E. G. Wyckoff, wha generously 

 furnished the money needed for the expedition. 



t Based upon a sounding made about half way be- 

 tween Wilcox Head and the Duck Islands, which gave 

 114 fathoms, and upon the fact that bergs from 75 to 

 100 feet above the water pass through the channel. 



