136 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
action of northern 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 Labra- 
dor coast with a speed of from 14 to 2 knots an hour, and a westerly pressure, due to the earth’s 
rotation, which may be estimated at about 11 inches. That is to say, the mean level of the sea on 
the coast of Labrador is supposed to be about 11 inches above the level it would assume if uninfiu- 
enced 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 tu due south; hence the 
current changes its course southerly 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 Saint 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 unin- 
terruptedly for ages, and with the islands the moraines lying seawards. We may thus trace the 
cause of the vast difference 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 deep- 
ening the water near it, assisted by the undertow; in the other case they are stranded some 15 
‘miles from the island fringe and continually adding to the banks the débris they may bring, in the 
form of mud streaks, from the glaciers which gave them birth in the far north and northeast. It 
is more than probable that this distribution of icebergs has a very important bearing upon the food 
and feeding of the cod, which justifies me in referring here with so much detail to the action of 
glacial ice. i 
“ The inner range of banks.—The foundation of the inner range of banks consists, very prob- 
ably, as already stated, of glacial moraines. In their present state they may reasonably be assumed 
to be formed in great part of remodeled débris brought down by the same glaciers which excavated 
the deep fiords. ; 
“The absence of deposits of sand in the form of modern beaches on every part of the Labrador 
coast visited this season, except one, was very marked. The exceptional area observed lies between 
Sandwich Bay and Hamilton Inlet, Cape Porcupine being the center. It is protected from the 
northern swell of the ocean by the Indian Harbor Islands and promontory. Here large deposits 
of sand are seen, covering many square miles in area. The reason why sandy beaches are not in 
general found on this coast, notwithstanding that enormous quantities of rock are annually ground 
up by coast ice and ice pans driven on the shore, arises from the undertow carrying the sand sea- 
wards and depositing it on the shoals or banks outside of the islands. 
“It may be advisable here to advert to a popular error which assumes that the depth of water 
in which an iceberg grounds is indicated by the height of the berg above the level of the sea. It 
is commonly stated that while there is one-ninth above there will be eight-ninths of the berg below 
the sea-level. This is approximately true only with regard to volume or mass of the berg, not with 
regard to height and depth. A berg may show an elevation of 100 feet above water, and yet its 
depth below may not exceed double that amount, but its volume or mass will be about eight times 
the mass it shows on the surface. Hence, while icebergs ground in 30 and 40 fathoms of water, 
they may expose a front of 100 or 150 feet in altitude, the broad, massive base supporting a mass 
about one-ninth of its volume above the sea-level. 
“ The climate.—Experience, now extended over twelve years, shows that the seasons are 
sufficiently late and long to permit Newfoundland fishermen to come from their homes after spring 
fishing is over there and their garden work attended to. They may arrive on the Northern Lab- 
rador fishing grounds from the 10th to the 20th of July, or even later, if they go north beyond 
