106 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



shire, abound in these roclies moutonnes, which leave no doubt that the 

 valleys of those mountain ranges were once filled with glaciers of dimen- 

 sions unsurpassed, if even equalled, by those which at the present day 

 stream down the sides of their gigantic Swiss rivals. Nor was this per- 

 petual ice of a former age confined to localities where no such phenomenon 

 is now seen, but numerous observations have established that the glaciers 

 of the present age, existing in Switzerland, Norway, and elsewhere, are 

 but the neaily dried-up streamlets of ancient ice-rivers of enormous size. 

 These glaciers have eroded the Alpine valleys, of which they once held 

 possession, have carved out the lochs and kyles of Scotland, as well as the 

 grander fjords of Norway, and have contributed in a most essential man- 

 ner to the present aspect of our mountain scenery. Ramsay and Tyndall 

 have recently called attention to this action of ancient glaciers, and have 

 contended, with considerable plausibility — the former that the lake basins, 

 the latter that the valleys of the Alps, have been thus, in great part, 

 scooped out. In no part of the world, perhaps, can the phenomena of the 

 glacial epoch be more advantageously studied than in Norway, where the 

 ice-scarred coasts and fjords are still fully exposed to the eye of the ob- 

 server, side by side with the ocean, which furnished the crystalline mate- 

 rial that formerly covered them. Two thousand miles of coast, from 

 Christiania to the North Cape, afford almost uninterrupted evidence of the 

 vast ice-operations which, during the epoch in question, moulded nearly 

 every feature of this remarkable country. Starting from Christiania, the 

 traveller cannot fail to remark the peculiar appearance of the gneiss and 

 granite rocks composing the coast, as well as the innumerable islands, 

 which, forming a great natural breakwater, protect the shore from the 

 heavy seas rolling in from the Atlantic. These rocks, here rarely rising 

 to the height of 800 or 900 feet, present nothing of that sharp and rugged 

 outline which generally characterizes such formations. On the contrary, 

 they are smoothed even to their summits, all their angles worn off, and 

 every trace of boldness and asperity effaced. To the casual and unin- 

 structed observer the action of the sea suggests itself as a sufficient cause 

 of these appearances ; but it does not require much scrutiny to be con- 

 vinced that the ocean waves have had little to do with this smoothing and 

 polishing of the coast, since it is the surfaces sloping towards the land that 

 are most acted upon ; whilst in some places, where the rock descends pre- 

 cipitously towards the sea, and is subject to the dash of the waves, it has 

 been protected from the abrading action, and presents merely a weathered 

 surface. 



Bounding the promontory of the Naze and proceeding northward, the 

 coast presents, with slight exceptions, the same general features until the 

 Arctic circle is approached, when the character of the scenery rather sud- 

 denly changes. The rocky hills acquire the dignity of mountains, and 

 tower up in rugged, sharp, and fantastic peaks, contrasting 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 glacial sea have made their unmistakable marks, grinding, and 

 even undercutting, them into most extraordinary forms, as fine instances 

 of which may be mentioned the Seven Sisters, and Torghatten, with its 

 singular tunnel, just south of the virctic circle ; the Horseman, standing 

 on the circle ; and the mountains of the Folden and Vestjords, north of 

 it : the latter having been justly described by the Rev. R. Everest as re- 

 sembling the jaws of an immense shark.* 



* The speaker was greatly indebted to his friend B. F. Duppa, Esq., for beautiful 



