PAST-ICE. Ill 



found alive in British waters, are dug up in 

 large quantities in the Pleistocene beds in some 

 parts of Scotland, and particularly in my own 

 immediate neighbourhood, at Ballinakilly Bay 

 in the Island of Bute. 



I kept pondering and reflecting on these 

 subjects as we rowed along the sterile shores 

 of this gloomy fiord. After rowing about 

 twelve miles we came to a slight promon- 

 tory, and on rounding this we perceived a 

 long low line of flat ice, extending right across 

 the fiord, which was here not more than four 

 miles broad. This was " fast " ice of last 

 winter's growth, and was the outer edge of a 

 sheet which covered the upper end of the fiord 

 for about six miles of its length. This was the 

 first large piece of " fast " ice I had seen, and 

 the day being bright, and the ice perfectly 

 smooth and level, its appearance was most 

 beautiful. It was covered with snow of 

 dazzling whiteness, showing off to great advan- 

 tasre some hundreds of minute black dots, which 

 possessed incomparably greater charms for my 

 bloodthirsty boat's crew than either scenery or 

 geology, for by the aid of our telescopes we soon 

 made them out to be seals, and as the men said 

 that they thought this high part of tlie bay 



