294 THE GEOLOGY OF THE LABRADOR COAST. 



is very marked. Mount Bache, which was determined 

 by the expedition to be two thousand one hundred and 

 fifty feet high, was " one of the smallest mountains." 

 The larger ones are inaccessible. Those who have been 

 upon the summits of Mount Washington or Katahdin 

 will recognize how well Mr. Lieber's description of the 

 summit of Mount Bache agrees with the physiognomy 

 of the New England alpine summits : 



" A second cause of the irregularity of surface here is 

 to be found in the tremendous power of the frost of a 

 Labrador winter, the influence of the heavy covering of 

 snow, and very probably also the former existence of 

 glaciers, all of which we shall presently take occasion to 

 discuss. 



" The effects of frost are manifested in a singularly 

 forcible manner. The entire surface, where it is not too 

 steep to enable debris to collect, is covered with broken 

 masses of rock, cubes of ten feet and less scattered in 

 wildest profusion. Sometimes a patch of moss, the grass 

 and heather of this country, fills up the crevices, but gen- 

 erally we may look down into them far and deep with- 

 out ever detecting the base upon which the rocks rest, 

 hurled aloft, as they appear, by the hands of Titans. In 

 scaling, in company with Mr. Venable, the summit of 

 Mount Bache, on an occasion intended mainly for taking 

 its altitude barometrically, we enjoyed the finest oppor- 

 tunities for studying this phenomenon. Thesummitand 

 sides of the mountain present few steep precipices. I 

 speak comparatively only, and in reference exclusively to 

 Northern Labrador. Yet, scattered helter-skelter overall, 

 and piled up in endless number, the whole surface is cov- 

 ered with such loose rocks. The difficulties of locomotion 



