264 R. S. TARR — FORMER EXTENSION OF CORNELL GLACIER. 



The third cairn was built at the junction of the north Cornell glacier 

 and the nunatak, mount Hope, just above the level of the sea (plate 29). 

 Here a distinct T was cut in the rock (August 19, 1896) and covered by 

 a large stone, which was protected by a cairn. This was placed three 

 feet from the present ice-front, almost exactly where the glacier impinges 

 upon the rock. Any advance of the ice will overturn the cairn and pos- 

 sibl}' obliterate the T. If the present retreat continues the cairn may be 

 expected to remain.* 



The final place to which attention may be especially called is the 

 southern face of this nunatak. Mount Hope itself rises steeply above 

 the sea, but it extends southward as a low ice-capped elevation. In the 

 southernmost parts it is a mere cliff, reaching about 700 feet above the 

 sea and capped by the ice, which reaches nearly to the margin. A 

 tongue of south Cornell glacier extends nojrthwardly behind this low hill, 

 protrudes as a valley glacier tongue, and terminates in a lake. There 

 is a photograph of the end of this glacier, and any future change in its 

 outline can be easily determined by comparison with this. The main 

 south Cornell glacier enters the sea on the south end of the low hill. In 

 one place the cap of ice, which reaches to the tip of this hill and pre- 

 sents a low cliff toward the fiord, climbs over the cliff and passes down 

 a low valle}' to the sea. Even a very slight change in the supply of ice 

 must produce a very notable difference in the form of this delicately 

 balanced tongue of the glacier. The photograph reproduced as plate 29 

 shows clearly the position and form of this. If this glacier is visited in 

 the future, from these facts we may obtain a record of the movement in 

 the interval. 



Recent Retreat of Cornell Glacier. 



There seems to be evidence that the Cornell glacier has been pro- 

 gressively withdrawing, and at present its front is certainly moving back- 

 ward. One of the reasons for the greater ruggedness of the high peaks 

 is no doubt longer exposure to postglacial weathering. The marked 

 difference in freshness of the rounded rock surfaces in low and moderate 

 elevations is proof of this. There is also evidence that the ice has occu- 

 pied "the lowland near the head of the fiord more recently than the 

 parts farther out toward Baffin bay. Glacial striae and fresh roches mou- 

 tonnees surfaces abound near the present ice-margin, but they become 

 much less marked and noticeable half way out toward the end of the 

 peninsula. 



* The place occupied by this cairn is just south of the high portion of the nunatak and on the 

 south side of a narrow valley, now dammed by the ice and occupied by a lake. 



