100 THE ICE AGE IN- XORTII AMERICA. 



agree in their reports that there was smooth ice beyond the 

 88th parallel, in which rapid traveling could be accomplished, 

 Peary alleging that he made the last 130 geographical miles 

 in five forced marches, reaching the pole April 6, 1909. All 

 was ice with no land in sight. Temperatures ranged from 

 12-° to -33° with cloudless sky. The return journey of 413 

 geographical miles was made in 16 days. A single imperfect 

 sounding disclosed the existence of a deep ocean in close 

 proximity to the pole. The reports of Cook, made previously 

 to those of Peary, revealed almost identical conditions. 



Among the most instructive observations upon the Green- 

 land glaciers were those made in 1880 by Dr. N. O. Hoist of 

 the Swedish Geological Survey. These were made on the 

 Frederickshaab Glacier in latitude 62° 32', and have a most 

 important bearing upon the mode of the accumulation of 

 moraines of all sorts. He found extensive deposits of both 

 englacial and subglacial drift, respectively characterized by 

 angular and glaciated stones and bowlders. The largest 

 accumulation of superglacial drift, which had been englacial, 

 was observed on the southern edge of the lobe. The drift 

 covering the ice-surface here, as exposed by the ablation or 

 superficial melting, was ascertained to extend along a distance 

 of nearly twelve miles, and to reach half a mile to a mile and 

 a half upon the ice. The quantity and upper limit of the 

 superglacial drift at this locality are given by him as follows: 



Its thickness is always greatest near land, but here it is 

 often quite difficult to estimate its actual thickness, as it 

 sometimes forms a compact covering, only in some fissures 

 showing the underlying ice. This uneven thickness of moraine 

 cover offers to the ice a proportionally varying protection 

 against the sun. It thus happens that the unequal thawing 

 moulds the underlying surface of the ice into valleys and hills, 

 the latter sometimes arising to a height of fifty feet above 

 the adjacent valley, and being so densely covered with morainic 

 material that this completely hides the ice core, which, how- 

 ever, often forms the main part of the hill. 



