Il 



which to the south-west, slopes towards Itivdlersuak, the low 

 stretch of ground across which the traffic between Igaliko and 

 TunugdUarfik is carried on. To the south the plateau, as has 

 already been mentioned, descends abruptly to the gravelly plain, 

 and to the north-west it slopes very steeply down towards the 

 Firth of Tunugdliarflk. 



The prevailing rock in this area is syenite ; on the south- 

 ern, western and northern borders, however, there is granite. 

 All around, the granite dips below the syenite and seems to 

 form a basin-shaped depression , which has been filled with 

 syenite. At the contact the granite is quartzite-like, white and 

 very fine-grained to almost compact. This contact zone is in 

 many places fairly broad. The syenite, on the contrary, 

 seems to be of the same character close to the line of contact 

 as in the central parts. It is somewhat coarse-grained and 

 highly subject to weathering ; its surface is almost everywhere 

 covered with a more or less thick layer of gravel. It is 

 not probable that this disintegration is due to the hornblende 

 being first decomposed , for the amphibole individuals that are 

 found among the gravel look as fresh as the feldspar grains. 

 Portions of more resisting rock protrude here and there 

 through the layers of disintegrated rock, looking at a distance 

 like old walls or ruins. On their upper surfaces tolerably well 

 preserved striae may sometimes be seen , dating from the age 

 in which the inland ice reached this point. The gravel resulting 

 from the weathering of the syenite seems quite unfit for the 

 forming of vegetable soil. Where this gravel occurs, therefore, 

 vegetation is almost totally absent. 



The small lakes mentioned above lie along the line 

 where the granite and syenite meet. Wholly within the syenite 

 area lie two other lakes or pools of still less extent; one in 

 the immediate vicinity of the mineral locality, the other a 

 little to the east of it. Both dry up during the latter part of 

 the summer. 



