BTJTHERLAND, DAVIs' STRAIT AND BAITIn's BAY. 35? 



^' Isabel," under the command of Capt. Inglefield, R.N., these cited 

 localities were the only places, with one or two very trifling ex- 

 <;eptions, where this interesting phsenomenon of powerful abrading 

 action was observed. I believe it can be so far accounted for by 

 the steepness of the inclination, but chiefly by the greater friability 

 (diminished plasticity) of the ice from the diminished temperature. 



One cannot easily determine why the icebergs that come from 

 the glaciers at, and to the northward of, Cape York and on the 

 west side of Davis' Straits, are of less dimensions generally than 

 elsewhere. At Cape York, where we have a new formation of 

 rocks (trappean) commencing, and further northward in the same 

 <;oast, it is probably owing to the comparative shallowness of the 

 Talleys and to a diminished supply of snow from the greater in- 

 tensity of the cold. On the west coast, from A^ictoria Head to 

 ■Jones' Sound, although the land has almost a perfect icy casing, 

 the icebergs that are sent off are by no means large, and this, as in 

 the other case, may arise from the decrease of evaporation with 

 the decrease of temperature. Again, from Jones' Sound southward, 

 there cannot be such extensive accumulations of ice as on the 

 opposite and more northern shore of Greenland, although the rocks 

 in both cases are of the some character generally, for the reason, 

 I beheve, that the vapour-bearing stratum of air coming from the 

 southward, over an extensive tract of land, contributes but scantily 

 to the growth of the glacier on the former as compared with the 

 latter, which is liberally supplied by the vapour-charged currents 

 going northerly from the North Atlantic and Davis' Strait. But 

 it is still more difhcult to account for the entire absence of glaciers 

 on the Silurian rocks westward of Lancaster Sound. Why the 

 snow and rain falling on the land around Barrow Strait and its 

 tributary inlets and bays should all escape into the sea in running 

 streams of water every year during the two short months and a 

 half of June, July, and August, while that falling on the coasts 

 of Davis' Strait makes its escape as hard, but yielding ice, after a 

 lapse of many ages, is a question worthy the attention of the student 

 of physical phcenomena. 



The annual mean temperature in the creeks and inlets of Barrow 

 Strait is several degrees lower than that in corresponding latitudes 

 on the shores^ of Davis Strait ; and even at Wolstenholme Sound, 

 nearly two degrees higher latitude, the annual mean temperature 

 is nearly three degrees higher than at Melville Island. This, 

 however, will not throw light upon our difficulty. The ranges of 

 temperature will probably prove more useful. A few degrees above 

 the freezing point of water would settle the question. We know 

 that the sea exerts a wonderful influence in rendering the climate 

 temperate, as well as in reducing the ranges of temperature. Upon 

 this theory, so clearly illustrated in Sir Charles Lyell's " Principles 

 of Geology," (7 Edit. ch. vi.) the summer in the neighbourhood of 

 Barrow Strait ought to be hotter than in Davis' Strait. And 

 such we find it, as far as our limited observations can be male 

 available. The month of July 1851, at CornwaUis Island, was 

 found to be three degrees warnier than the same month of the 

 preceding year in a corresponding latitude on the east side of 



