THE GLACIERS OF GREEXLAXD. 77 



proceeding from rivers flowing within the ice; and occasion- 

 ally a loud single report like that of a cannon gave notice of 

 the formation of a new glacier-cleft. ... In the afternoon 

 we saw at some distance from us a well-defined pillar of mist 

 which, when we approached it, appeared to rise from a bot- 

 tomless abyss, into which a mighty glacier- river fell. The 

 vast roaring water-mass had bored for itself a vertical hole, 

 probably down to the rock, certainly more than 2,000 feet 

 beneath, on which the glacier rested." * 



At the end of the eighteen days, Nordenskiold found 

 himself about 150 miles from his starting-point, and about 

 5,000 feet above the sea. Here the party rested, and sent 

 two Eskimos forward on skidor — a kind of long wooden 

 skate, with which they could move rapidly over the ice, not- 

 withstanding the numerous small circular holes which every- 

 where pitted the surface. These Eskimos were gone fifty- 

 seven hours, having slept only four hours of the period. It 

 is estimated that they made about 75 miles, and attained an 

 altitude of 6,000 feet. The ice is reported as rising in distinct 

 terraces, and as seemingly boundless beyond. If this is the 

 case 225 miles from Disco Bay, there would seem little hope 

 of finding in Greenland an interior freed from ice. So we 

 may pretty confidently speak of that continental body of 

 land as still enveloped in an ice-sheet. Up to about latitude 

 75°, however, the continent is fringed by a border of islands, 

 over which there is no continuous covering of ice. In 

 south Greenland the continuous ice-sheet is reached about 

 thirty miles back from the shore. 



In 1886 Dr. Rink wrote: 



AVe are now able to demonstrate that a movement of ice 

 from the central regions of Greenland to the coast continually 

 goes on, and must be supposed to act upon the ground over 

 which it is pushed, so as to detach and transport fragments of 

 it for such a distance. . . . The plainest idea of the ice-forma- 

 tion here in question is given by comparing it with an inunda- 



* " Geological Magazine," vol. ix, pp. 393, 399. 



