of the Glacial Epoch. 323 



tegrates the more soluble and friable parts, producing a cellular 

 or fissured surface according to circumstances, instead of the 

 smoothed and comparatively polished condition which obtains on 

 this coast. Such a weathering of the rocks can in fact be plainly 

 seen in many places superposed upon the polishing due to the 

 more remote agency of moving masses of ice. In short, it may 

 be stated as a general proposition, that the action of the sea and 

 weather upon rock produces a corrugated, irregular, and especi- 

 ally a fissured surface; whilst that of glacier-ice occasions a 

 rounded, comparatively smooth and uniform appearance. If 

 further proof of the exclusively glacial origin of the surface of 

 the Norwegian coast-rocks be needed, it may be found, first, in 

 the frequent occurrence of the scratchings and fine markings 

 which so incontestably characterize rocky surfaces that have 

 formed the bed of a glacier, and, secondly, in the circumstance 

 that the smoothing action has evidently come as a rule from the 

 direction of the land. All the surfaces inclined towards the land 

 are invariably, as far as I have seen, rounded and polished, whilst 

 in some places, where the rock descends precipitously towards the 

 sea, it has been protected from the abrading action and presents 

 merely a weathered surface. 



Doubling the Naze and proceeding northward, the coast pre- 

 sents, with slight exceptions, the same general features until the 

 arctic circle is approached, when the character of the scenery 

 rather suddenly changes. The rocky hills acquire the dignity 

 ofmountaiDS, and tower up in rugged, sharp, and fantastic 

 peaks, coDtrasting strongly with the rounded summits of the 

 lower latitudes. But these arctic peaks owe their immunity from 

 the abrading action of ice solely to their height; around their bases, 

 and even high up their sides, the slow surges of the moving sea 

 of ice have made their unmistakeable marks, having ground and 

 even undercut them into most extraordinary forms, — as instances 

 of which I may mention the Seven Sisters, and Torghatten with 

 its singular tunnel, south of the arctic circle, the Hestmand stand- 

 ing upon the circle, and the mountains of the Folden and Vest 

 fjords, the latter having been graphically compared by Mr. Eve- 

 rest to the jaws of an immense shark. 



It is important to determine the direction of the striae upon 

 these roches moutonne.es. So far as my own observations go, they 

 confirm the statement of M. Siljestrom, that the abrading action 

 proceeded generally in a N.W. direction; that is, from the land 

 towards the sea. In cases where there was a variation from this 

 general direction, some sufficient cause, such as the embouchure 

 of a fjord, or the interposition of an obstacle seaward, presented 

 itself. I could not, therefore, resist the conclusion that the masses 

 of ice which caused these striae moved down the mountain-slopes 



Y2 



