lOG 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
shire, abound in these roches moiitonnes, 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. Kamsay 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 smootb.ed even to their summits, all their angles worn off, and 
every trace of boldness and asperity eflaced. 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. 
Hounding 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 ratlier 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 macie 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 Arctic 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 Eev. E. Everest as re- 
sembling the jaws of an immense shark.* 
* The speaker was greatly indebted to his friend B. F. Duppa, Esq., for beautiful 
