28 



as they must be formed in places where the ice cannot be sub- 

 jected to melting to any great degree, and where the coast ero- 

 sion and the currents have had no opportunity of conveying 

 coarser material. We must always expect to find that the 

 samples of the most pronounced brown colour also contain 

 most clayey ingredients. In other places this fact has been 

 very conspicuous, here however it is less pronounced. None 

 of the samples which are designated brownish-grey viz. No. 2, 

 3, 41 and 42 are finer than the average, nor is No. 26 of the 

 greyish-brown ones. It is not possible in the case of all these 

 samples to state anything which may explain their varying 

 colours. Then of the ones which have been designated greyish- 

 brown only the two samples No. 43 and 45 are left, and with 

 them the dark brown coloured sample No. 46; these three are 

 extremely fine compared with the others, they may therefore be 

 supposed to have been formed much more slowly. By looking 

 at the chart it will however be seen that these deposits have 

 a position which rather differs from that of the rest, viz. in 

 the bays Fleming Inlet, Carlsberg Fjord, and Hurry 

 Inlet, so there is here another possible way of explaining 

 the colours. The water here may have a different chemical 

 composition from that of the open sea^ this difference being 

 due either to its containing a larger amount of oxygen or, 

 what is more probable , to its being less salt. It is a well 

 known fact that clay-particles are deposited much more 

 slowly in fresh than in salt water, there is then the possibility 

 that the greater part of the clay which is washed into the 

 water by the rivers may be transported farther out, and not be 

 deposited till it arrives outside the mouths of the bays. In 

 order to be able to understand the fact of the samples being so 

 exceedingly fine, we rhust suppose that not only has the greater 

 part of it not been deposited in the said place, but also that the 

 amount of coarser material conveyed thither must be exceedingly 

 slight. 



