Prof. T. C. Chamberlin. 
31 
tours prevail over rugged ones; the latter, however, are not en- 
tirely absent on the immediate line of the coast Two very nota- 
ble features are formed by Conical Island and Dalrymple Rock. 
Both of these are sharply conical masses of rock rising from the 
sea a short distance off the coast. Their steep sides are rugged 
and rise symmetrically to sharp peaks. They exhibit no evi- 
dences of horizontal rasping by glaciers. On the contrary, they 
seem to stand as conspicuous monuments of their absence. Dal- 
rymple Rock is famous as the nesting place of eider-down ducks. 
Its selection by them is obviously due to the roughness of its sur- 
face, which affords appropriate niches for their nests. Quite in 
contrast with the rugose surfaces of Conical and Dalrymple 
Rocks are the Cary Islands, which lie in the midst of the bay, 30 
or 40 miles from the coast. These present rounded contours 
which find a ready explanation in the glacial groovings on the 
summit of the southeastern island. The evidence of the striae is 
supported by erratics of limestone, sandstone and other clastic 
rocks found on the summits of the islands 500 feet above the 
sea, but yet altogether foreign. The striae show a glacial move- 
ment from the north, and this, together with the known distribu- 
tion of Paleozoic rock similar to the erratics in that quarter, jus- 
tifies inference that the glacier which rounded the contours of the 
Cary Islands, but left Dalrymple and Conical Rocks unaffected, 
came from Smith’s Sound and beyond. 
In summation it may be said that about one-half of the west- 
ern coast of Greenland, between Cape Desolation and Inglefield 
Gulf, a stretch of some 17 degrees of latitude,presents angular and 
apparently unglaciated contours, while the remaining half pre- 
sents subdued outlines apparently indicating former glaciation. 
This interpretation is supported by the observation that some of 
the rounded contours were actually glaciated, as shown by striae 
and erratics, and, on the other hand, by the fact that on Bowdoin 
Bay, a dependence of Inglefield Gulf, a small driftless area was 
found indicating that the former glaciation of Greenland was, 
there at least, very narrowly limited. 
The impression has been very generally conveyed by writers 
upon Greenland that the coastal belt is mountainous. This is alto- 
