738 COL. H. W. EEILDEN Off THE GLACIAL GEOLOGY [Nov. 1 896, 



on both sides of this channel at the present water-line the rock is 

 eaten away in the shape of a semi-culvert. This is largely due, 

 I imagine, to ice-abrasion ; but at the same time does it not point 

 to a lull in the upward movement of the earth in this part of 

 Novaya Zemlya ? 



A phenomenon observable in all Arctic regions, whence the snow 

 dissolves in summer, has not, I think, received adequate explana- 

 tion. It is that tendency of the surface-stones to arrange them- 

 selves most commonly in the form of hexagons. We see this on a 

 small scale on Scottish mountains, and very commonly in Iceland. 

 Paijkull refers to its occurrence in Iceland, and gives a sketch l 

 illustrating this disposition of the stones on an Icelandic 'Melr.' 

 His explanation is not altogether satisfactory, though it is founded 

 upon that of so high an authority as Prof. Steenstrup, namely, 

 that the earth rendered soft by the melting of the snow in spring 

 has become dried by the heat of summer; that rifts or cracks are 

 formed in it, and when a storm occurs the small stones that lie on 

 the surface of the ' Melr ' are swept down into them. This expla- 

 nation does not, however, account for their formation on the large 

 scale met with in high Arctic latitudes. I have seen in Novaya 

 Zemlya these arrangements of stones occurring in groups, the dia- 

 meter across each enclosure being 18 inches to 2 feet — the stones 

 composing the enclosures being of considerable size, a foot or more 

 square ; the interior was occupied by a mound resembling a mole-hill. 

 I think that the arrangement is unquestionably connected with the 

 melting of the snow, but why the stones should be distributed as 

 they are is not quite clear. 



To another phenomenon that we observed on Gooseland we 

 gave the name of ' stone-bogs/ Tracts of soft mud, in which a 

 man sinks over the boot when walking, were frequently covered 

 thickly with stones, so much so that we could walk in comfort over 

 these treacherous spots for a hundred yards at a stretch. The 

 stones moved under the tread, but did not sink. They lay on the 

 surface of the quaking mud as smoothly as if a roller had been 

 passed over them. 



5. Franz Josef Land. 



We have evidence that secular elevation of the land is as recog- 

 nizable a feature in Franz Josef Land as in other parts of the Polar 

 area. Payer frequently mentions the raised beaches, visible on all 

 sides, during his sledge journey up Austria Sound, 2 while the 

 members of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition report that their 

 winter house 'is situated on a raised beach 115 feet above the 

 sea.' 3 



1 ' A Summer in Iceland,' p. 21, Eng. trans., London, 1868. 



2 ' New Lands within the Arctic Circle.' 



3 Montefiore, Geogr. Journ. vol. vi. (1895) p. 507. 



