380 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS 



the outline of a coast on the map ; but I am in a condition to 

 prove, from well-marked local phenomena, the effects of the stream 

 in the case before us ; and it is worthy of notice, that the multi- 

 tude of small Danish islands in the western part of the Ost See 

 also consist of this same argillaceous matter, which is only found 

 occasionally distributed in other parts of the country, and which I 

 look upon as having existed originally as thick beds of clay of the 

 boulder-clay formation, which have offered considerable resistance, 

 and from which the sand has been removed, the clay being left 

 behind. We find, for instance, the south of Iceland, with some ex- 

 ceptions, made-up of this material ; whereas in the north there are 

 enormous masses of boulder-sand, and on the deeply-cut indenta- 

 tions between the hills, we find the boulder-clay with its layers of 

 marl. On the north bank of the Gulf of Lubeck, in the district 

 called Oldenburg, a chain of hills of this boulder-sand is seen pa- 

 rallel with the gulf as far as the interior of Holstein, and has formed 

 admirable harbours, at the upper extremity of which are thick 

 beds of the boulder-sand, while on the remaining part of the penin- 

 sula which slopes gently towards the west thinner strata of the 

 same sand are observable. On the eastern peninsula of Jutland at 

 Greenae, the boulder-clay on the other hand prevails ; but towards 

 the north, as in north Iceland, thick hilly masses of sand extend 

 as far as the Liimfjord, while in the valleys the clay is again 

 found. It is also only in those parts of Iceland, Fuhnen, and Jut- 

 land which extend far into the Cattegat, and where, as it seems, 

 the waters of the Cattegat meet with those coming from the Ost 

 See, that we find those rounded hills already described as being in 

 all probability the result of powerful and opposing currents. 



It is not determined, however, whether Denmark had already 

 been elevated above the sea at the commencement of the period of 

 these aqueous disturbances, and still less can it be distinctly made 

 out whether man was then an inhabitant of the earth. All we 

 know is, that no human remains, and not even any indications of 

 land animals, have hitherto been found in the strata. This deluge 

 is, therefore, not to be confounded with that of a later date, which, 

 proceeding from the west sea, has destroyed a vast multitude of 

 hillocks, 'the graves of the early inhabitants of the north. The 

 mythical tales and legends of these people probably refer in 

 some cases to this later catastrophe ; since, if not Denmark, at least 

 some parts of Sweden, may have been then inhabited. It appears, 

 indeed, from phenomena observed at Bornholm, and already 

 recorded, that the period of the last deposit of our boulder forma- 

 tion in the north, must have been from four to five thousand years 

 ago. 



D. T. A. 



