320 THE GEOLOGY OF THE LABRADOR COAST. 



as having a depth of twenty miles from the mouth of 

 the fiord seawards. The cause of the general absence 

 of islands south of Spotted Island and Stony Island can 

 probably be traced to the neverrceasing action ot north- 

 ern ice driven on the coast-line, where it suddenly makes 

 its southerly bend by the influence of the rotation of the 

 earth upon the arctic current. This current sweeps past 

 the Labrador coast with a speed of from i^ to 2 knots an 

 hour, and a westerly pressure, due to the earth's rotation, 

 which may be estimated at about eleven inches. That 

 is to say, the mean level of the sea on the coast of Labra- 

 dor is supposed to be about eleven inches above the level 

 it would assume if uninfluenced by the earth's rotation. 

 As soon as the ice-ladened current reaches Spotted Island 

 it is in part relieved from this pressure by the trend 

 of the coast from southeast to due south ; hence thp cur- 

 rent changes its course suddenly and onto the land. 

 But the effect of this sudden change in the direction of 

 the current near the shore is to throw the icebergs onto 

 the coast from Spotted Island to Cape St. Lewis, where 

 they may be seen stranded each year in great numbers. 

 The islands which doubtless once existed here have been 

 removed by constant abrasion, acting uninterruptedly 

 for ages, and with the islands the moraines lying sea- 

 wards. We may thus trace the cause of the vast differ- 

 ence between the distribution of stranded icebergs south 

 of Spotted Island and northwest of it. In one case they 

 are stranded near the coast-line, wearing it away and 

 deepening the water near it, assisted by the undertow ; 

 in the other case they are stranded some fifteen miles 

 from the island fringe, and continually adding to the 

 banks the debris they may bring, in the form of mud 



