MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 155 
to April 1827 (p. 120), describing certain phenomena near 
the embouchure of the Sogne fiord, says :—‘ On this rock 
there seemed to me to be proofs of the powerful operation 
of ice. I found that the precipices on the side of the moun- 
tain next the sound were several [hundred ?] feet in height, 
and perfectly perpendicular,and though they were composed 
of boulders cemented together, they were perfectly even 
and smooth, If these precipices had been the effect of 
rents, attended with successive masses tumbling down, 
then the boulders adjoining the rent must have been found 
adhering, sometimes to the one and sometimes to the 
other of the separated masses (those which have fallen 
into the sea are no more to be seen), and in that case the 
boulders left on one mass must have left a mark of them- 
selves in the corresponding one. This, however, was by 
no means the case, as the rock which remained was per- 
fectly smooth, and had the appearance as if these boulders 
had been cut across with a sharp knife. I can explain 
this phenomenon in no other way than by supposing that 
large masses of ice, pressing through the sound, have cut 
these precipices lying parallel in the direction of the 
sound.’ 
Forbes, citing this statement, shows that the reference 
is to the action of glaciers, and not to that of floating ice. 
Principal Forbes, who had gone to Norway to study the 
glaciers of that country, writing of the locality below what 
has just been described, says :—‘ In the course of the fore- 
noon we passed the opening on the great Sogne fiord, the 
most ramified in Norway, stretching landward not less 
than 110 English miles, to the head of the Lyster fiord, 
one of its farthest tributaries. Having heard much of the 
surprising and gloomy cliffs of the Sogne fiord, I was dis- 
appointed td find its entrance tame, undulating, and with- 
out much interest, whilst the higher mountains were too 
remote, or too much concealed by the intermediate hills, 
to produce a favourable effect. The character of the rocks 
and islets of the fiord was, however, worthy of notice, 
