162 AMUMD HELLAND ON THE F JORDS, LAKES, 



this glacier was 240 metres above the sea, and the top of the moun- 

 tain 1207 metres. The steep, often almost vertical, walls which 

 enclose a cirque frequently approach each other near the mouth, 

 so that a horizontal section is more than a semicircle. In many- 

 cirques the floor is occupied by a glacier ; in other cases there is 

 often a little lake in the middle, with a moraine in front of it. The 

 ground is commonly covered by large shattered blocks which, near 

 the opening, often, if not always, are collected into a moraine. 



Cirques are numerous among the peaks of the Jotunfjclds, the 

 loftiest mountains of Norwa}\ On Glittretind and Nautgarstitid 

 they occupy half the side of the whole mountain, its physical fea- 

 tures being due to them. The large and beautiful cirque on Glit- 

 tretind is thoroughly typical. The uppermost part of this moun- 

 tain consists of a semicircular crest, which slopes comparatively 

 gently to the southern or outer side, whilst on the northern or inner 

 side it descends precipitously into a horseshoe-shaped valley or 

 cirque. The mountain is thus in form a cone, from a side of which 

 an enormous cylindrical space has been excavated. The floor of the 

 cirque is covered by a glacier, and. cliffs rise above it to an estimated 

 height of more than 350 metres, the summit of the crest being 2554 

 metres above the sea. Another interesting case occurs in tho 

 mountain Togga, in Sogn, where four cirques lie one beside another, 

 like four horseshoes placed in a row. To these descriptions many 

 others might be added ; but as their form and mode of occurrence 

 is everywhere the same, both in Greenland and Norway, we may 

 pass on to examine their geographical distribution. Mr. Bonney* 

 and Professor Gastaldif have described the cirques of the Alps, and 

 show that they resemble those in Norway. According to Mr. Drew, 

 cirques occur in the Himalayas, where also they are often filled by 

 glaciers or contain lakes. Professor Nordenskjold has mentioned 

 their occurrence in Spitzbergen. 



A striking feature about them in Norway is, that they occur in 

 parts of the country where glaciers are now or have been at work 

 in the modern period — as, for example, near to the Justedalsbrseen, 

 the Folgefonden, and in the Jotunfjelds (Finmarken); in short, 

 cirques are numerous in regions where small isolated glaciers now 

 occur. Further, if we examine a landscape in which cirques 

 abound, and count how many of them look towards the north and 

 how many towards the other points of the compass, we find that 

 the greater number open towards the north, north-east, and north- 

 west, while but a few look towards the south or are situated on that 

 side of the mountains. This can even be seen in a good map. When 

 standing, for example, on the summit of Glittretind and looking 

 towards the south-west and south-east, we see no less than twenty- 

 one cirques opening towards the north, but none towards the south. 

 Out of thirty-seven cirques in the Jotunfjelds, twenty-five have 

 their openings toward s some point of the horizon between north- 

 west and north-east, three between north-west and south-west, 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. vol. xxvii. p. 312. 

 t Ibid. vol. xxix. p. 393. 



