40 i 



J. Milne — Ice and Ice-worh in Newfoundland. 



ice," and the like, the portion I would more particularly draw- 

 attention to is that variety which forms a narrow belt along the 

 shore, known in G-reenland as the '' Ice-Foot." 



It would appear that in the formation of the "Ice-Foot," just as in 

 the precipitation of rain, and in the production of other natural phe- 

 nomena, we may have either one or many causes called into operation. 

 Sometimes these may all be equally active, whilst at other times the 

 role taken by one cause is more important than that taken by another, 

 all being governed by circumstances. Geikie, in " The Great Ice 

 Age," pp. 67 and 68, tells us that the Ice-Foot of Greenland "owes its 

 origin to the action of the tides." " The first frost of the late summer 

 covers the sea with a crust of ice, which, carried upwards along the 

 face of the cliff by the tide, eventually becomes glued to the rocks." 

 It thus " gTows in thickness with every successive tide, until it may 

 reach a height of 30 feet, and sometimes even more, presenting to 

 the sea a bold wall of ice, against which the floes grind and crush." 



In Newfoundland and the South Coast of Labrador, although the 

 formation of the Ice-Foot is no doubt oftentimes very similar to this, 

 there are yet other agents, besides that of the tide, which are equally 

 active. 



First we will imagine this formation taking place on a gently- 

 sloping shore. 



The Ice-Foot. — The blasts of December and January drive the 

 spray high up upon the land, and there it freezes as a cake of ice ; 



