TOPOGR^^PHY AND GEOLOGY 195 



anywhere to be found, only high mountains and narrow valleys. 

 Because, however, the valleys are generally occupied by streams, 

 one is forced to pick one's way over the lowest mountains when 

 wanting to go from one side of the island to the other.^s This was 

 very burdensome to us, as, loaded down with animal [carcasses] 

 and fish, -6 we often had to make our way over them laboriously. 

 Level spots must therefore be looked for only along shore, there 

 w^here the mountains withdraw half a verst or at the most one 

 verst from the beach in the form of a half circle; and such spots 

 are found wherever streams occur. And the following uniform 

 relationship is to be observed, namely that, wherever a mountain 

 extends southward or northward into the sea in a headland or 

 point, the shore behind it becomes level and wide. The steeper 

 the headland of the mountain, the smaller is the flat behind it; 

 the gentler and the more gradual its slopes, the greater is the 

 plain back of it. This is also the case when the mountains trend 

 southeast-northwest lengthwise with the land. The larger the 

 level area and the lower the mountains, the larger are the streams 

 issuing from it; the steeper the mountains when they reach 

 the shore, the smaller, but also the more numerous, are the 

 streams. Where the shore and the mountains fall ofT on the land- 

 ward side as a compact and steep mass, inland lakes are always 

 to be found within one or one-half verst from the shore, which 

 drain to the sea through streams. The reason for this seems to 

 me to be that the water resulting from snow, rain, and fog^^ is 

 precipitated all at once in such steep places and washes away 

 the soft surface deposits down to the bed rock that forms the 

 basin of these lakes; whereby the springs that occur at the 

 foot of these mountains have room to develop such lakes because 

 the mountains recede in these places.-^ Their origin is therefore 



25 The MS reads "when wanting to go to the southern side of the 

 island." 



26 The MS reads "Fleisch," meat, which is more plausible. 



27 The MS reads "Ausdiinstung," evaporation; the published version 

 "Nebel, " fog. 



28 Instead of "and washes away ... in these places" the MS has: 

 "but the springs break out at the foot of the mountains, whereby the 



