30 Glacial Marks in Labrador. [January 



the part of forests not by any means to be despised, since heavy 

 dews are often very refreshing in their effect upon vegetation, and 

 doubtless add to the fertility of the soil in many instances. It is 

 an observation worthy of note, too, that in some parts of the 

 globe nearly all the moisture that reaches the earth is in the form 

 of dew, e. g., Egypt and Arabia. 



It should be recollected that the action of forests, in every 

 aspect considered, is more or less local in character. It follows, 

 therefore, that the local distribution of woods is of the utmost 

 importance. Our investigations likewise show the necessity for 

 forest culture in regions where a proper proportion (from twenty- 

 five to thirty per cent.) does not exist for their real benefit to the 

 climate, while on the other hand they exhibit with equal force 

 the folly of the ravages of the woodman's axe in destroying our 

 primitive forests. 



GLACIAL MARKS IN LABRADOR. 



THE engraving 1 illustrating this article, brings out clearly some 

 of the characteristic features of the scenery of the coast of 

 Labrador. In the foreground the rocky shore of the Horsechops, 

 as the deep fiord is called, which is situated far up on the eastern 

 coast of Labrador, has been ground down, smoothed and polished 

 by the great mass of land ice which formerly filled Hamilton bay 

 and moved slowly down from the table-land in the interior, and 

 whose ice front must have presented to the sea a wall, perhaps 

 500 to ioco feet high, at the end of which was probably a sub- 

 marine bank or terminal moraine like those known to exist at the 

 present day on the coast of Greenland and Spitzbergen. 



Across the fiord on the shores of the bay, which rise abruptly 

 in great rocky terraces — also a characteristic feature of Labrador 

 and Arctic landscapes — may be seen scattered snow banks, which 

 linger on these shores as late as August, while those in the more 

 shaded, protected places may live on until the early snows in 

 September give them a renewal of life, so that their existence may 

 become perennial. 



1 From a photograph kindly presented to the author by William Bradford, Esq. 

 The writer here acknowledges, with pleasure, the many facilities and kindnesses re- 

 to the Labrador coast in 1864. 



