56 Geology, 
tegration of the gneiss of the driftless area. But this supposition 
seems highly improbable. 
ARE THE GLACIERS ADVANCING OR RETREAT- 
ING? Several glaciers on Herbert and Northumberland Islands 
showed evidences of retreat; the terrace-like pedestals which 
they had formerly built being in part abandoned. Some of 
the glacial lobes of the ice-caps showed, by fresh abandoned 
ground, a small retreat Other glaciers showed by the presence 
of old moraines immediately in front that in the past they had 
been more extended than at present These moraines may be a 
few hundred years old, but they offered no evidence of very 
great antiquity. One glacier was seen overriding its terminal 
moraine in one portion, while lying within it at another. This, 
taken in connection with the massiveness of the moraine, proba- 
bly indicates that it has stood practically stationary for a consid- 
erable period. 
Other glaciers were building sharp talus slopes in front, which 
probably means that they are very slowly advancing. But in one 
of the most marked cases of this kind, the South Point Glacier, it 
was clear that the border had been slightly more advanced in 
very recent times. The general inference was drawn that the 
fluctuations of the ice edge were as slight as the ice movement 
was slow. 
