“Stone.] 466 [March 3, 
Bou.pers. Before the glacier came, the rocks were deeply broken 
up and disintegrated, and many of the fragments were weathered 
into rounded boulders. y 
GLACIAL Erosion. Many facts, some of which are referred to else- 
where in the description of the lower till, tend to show that the gla- 
cier did not greatly modify the relief forms of the land, unless it be 
near the coast. Almost the only signs of sub-glacial streams to be 
found in the state are found near the coast, where they have exca- 
vated large pot-holes, and may have eroded the rocks in the valleys. 
The facts observed are in favor of the theory advanced by Profes- 
sor W. H. Niles! that glacial streams are more active agents of ero- 
sion than the ice itself. 
DISTRIBUTION AND SIZE OF THE Kames. If we should study 
large areas of country we might find that a difference in the times of 
melting of the different parts of the glacier had some effect on the 
distribution of the kames. Within the field of my exploration their 
size @nd distribution depends partly on the nature of the under- 
lying rock, since that affects the nature of the upper till; partly on the 
supply of water as determined by the size and positions of drainage 
basins; but chiefly upon slope. Where the slope was very steep all 
the kame material was washed from the bed of the kame-streams, as 
doubtless happened in our steep mountain valleys. Where the gen- 
eral slope of the country southward was very gentle, only the finer 
material was transported. In the St. John valley the slope is north- 
ward or eastward and only local gravel ridges have been found. The 
slope of the ice surface must be taken into the account, as well as that 
of the underlying land. This matter of slopes has probably been the 
chief factor in determining the distribution and size of kames west_ 
of New England. The longest systems of kames may be expected 
where the glacier covered the longest down slopes, and most of the 
kames will probably be found within one or two hundred miles of 
the terminal moraine. 
THe Kame-Streams. In general these streams flowed south- 
ward, but in the cases of four short kames it is not yet determined 
which way they flowed. That they were confined within ice walls 
is shown by the fact that they cross hills and do not follow the 
lines of natural drainage. The map shows that they branch like 
rivers. They flowed with greater velocity in some parts of their 
1Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., x1xX, 330-336. 
