198 ME. iE. J. GARWOOD & DE. J. AV. GEEGOEY [May 1898, 



an ice-cap.^ Confluent series of glaciers occur in Spitsbergen at the 

 present day, and form the so-called ' inland ice-sheets.' ^ One such can 

 be seen to the north of Ice Fiord, rising gradually from the shore 

 to the sky-line ; while on the plateau south of the fiord are smaller, 

 disconnected glaciers. Hence, during the passage up Ice Piord, 

 between the great ice-sheet to the north and the scattered glaciers to 

 the south, through the ice-floes among which the steamer carefully 

 threaded its way, and past the huge piles of ice heaped along the 

 shore, we were impressed by the fact that Spitsbergen is an excep- 

 tionally favourable locality for the study of glacial geology ; for the 

 three main ice-agents may be seen there working side by side. 



The literature upon Spitsbergen is voluminous ; but the main 

 object of this paper is to record our actual observations upon the 

 points which seem to us to bear especially on glacial problems. It 

 is therefore unnecessary to refer at length to the previous literature 

 on the glaciation of Spitsbergen. We need only point out that the 

 first satisfactory descriptions of the Spitsbergen glaciers are those of 

 Martins ^ and Durocher ^ : that reference to the work of the numerous 

 Swedish expeditions and an account of the views of Baron von 

 Xordenskiold will be found in Leslie's ^ summar}'^ of that distin- 

 guished explorers voyages ; that many valuable observations as to 

 the action of coast-ice have been recorded by Mr. James Lament,^ 

 P.G.S., and Col. Eeilden," and that an admirable account of many 

 of the western glaciers has been given by the late Gustav ISTorden- 

 skiold.* Mention must finally be made of the careful measurement 

 of the rate of movement in a Spitsbergen glacier by MM. de Carfort 

 & Lancelin,^ and of the figures of the King's Bay glaciers published 



^ The same conckision has been previouslj' adyanced for other Arctic areas, 

 such as Alaska, North-eastern Labrador, Northern and Southern Greenland. 

 We have noted Prof. Tarr's objection to this view ; but his suggested explanation 

 of the facts adyanced by Chamberhn appears to us quite insufficient — in 

 Spitsbergen at least. See E,. S. Tarr, Bull. Geol, Soc. Amer. vol. viii (1897) 

 pp. 252-256. 



^ It is well to explain here the sense in which we use the word 'ice-sheet': 

 we mean simply a sheet of ice. Those ice-sheets, such as that of Greenland, 

 which completely bury the interior of a country, and in which the ice itself 

 forms the watershed, we refer to as ' ice-caps.' 



^ Ch. Martins, 'Observations sur les Glaciers du Spitzberg compares a ceux 

 de la Suisse et de la Norvege,' Voy. en Scandinavie, etc. sur la corvette la 

 Eechercke, Geogr. Physiq. vol. i (1845) pp. 138-192. 



4 J. Durocher, ' Sur les Glaciers du Spitzberg compares a ceux des Alpes,' 

 op. cit., Geogr. Physiq. vol. i (1845) pp. 320-349. 



5 A. Leslie, ' The Arctic Voyages of Adolf Erik Nordenskiold, 1858-1879,' 

 London, 1879. 



^ Jas. Lamont, ' Notes about Spitzbergen in 1859,' Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc. vol. xvi (1860) pp. 428-444 ; ' Seasons with the Sea-Horses,' London, 

 1861. 



'' H. W. Feilden, ' A Subaqueous Moraine,' Glac. Mag. vol. ii (1894) pp. 1-5. 



^ G. Nordenskiold, ' Eedogorelse for den Svenska Expeditionen till 

 Spitsbergen, 1890,' Bihang k. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl. vol. xvii, pt. ii, 

 no. 3 (1892), 93 pp., 6 pis. & map.^ 



^ R. de Carfort & Lancelin, ' Etude sur le Mouvement des Glaciers dans la 

 Baie de la Recherche,' pr. vi of ' Voyage de la Manche a I'ile de Jan Mayen et 

 aii Spitzberg,' Paris (1894), pp. 116-124, pi. xxi. 



