1890 .] 
181 
[Bouv6. 
its increase until it hid from the sun’s rays the summits of all but 
the highest mountain peaks ; its onward grand movement so fruit- 
ful of great results, bearing as it did upon and within it the material 
of the present hills and valleys ; and its final melting away, leav- 
ing an entirely remodelled surface, are no longer questions for 
discussion. Let us therefore contemplate what the condition of 
the glacier was, particularly when passing away, first briefly re- 
ferring to what was probable at an earlier date. 
The question sometimes presents itself to mind why, with the 
onward movement of the ice for many thousands of years, was not 
all the loose material of the previously decayed rocks borne to its 
termination long before the change that led to its passing away, 
thus preventing its spreading over the land in its retreat such im- 
mense quantities of material now forming the surface in our region 
and constituting the innumerable kame hills and hillocks that di- 
versify the landscape? 
In considering this question, it should be borne in mind that 
with the gradual increase of the ice in an epoch of intense cold, 
there could probably have been but little flooding of the elevated 
regions, and consequently less disturbance of the loose material 
than in a later age. Consideration of this may result in the view 
that the glacier during the greater part of its existence had less 
to do with the transportation of the kame material than when pass- 
ing away, aided as it then was by the torrents of water that flowed 
over its surface and swept the hills of all movable matter as they 
emerged from the melting ice. The writer is strongly inclined to 
this view, as it will satisfactorily account for the immense quantity 
of stones, gravel and sand borne upon and deposited by the glacier 
when it finally disappeared from the surface. 
Now let us picture to ourselves if we can the probable state of 
things over and about this town when the ice-sheet had become re- 
duced from possibly thousands of feet in thickness to a few hun- 
dred, bearing upon it great quantities of transported material, and 
having floods of water pouring over it and in its channels such as 
the world could never before have witnessed. Let us recognize, 
too, that its water courses were being gorged with stones, gravel 
and sand, and that vast collections of these were protecting great 
areas of the ice from the sun’s rays, often causing the channels of 
water to deviate from their normal course in seeking new channels. 
Let us note, too, that the great body of ice itself had by lessened 
continuit}' ceased its onward movement, and we shall find reasons 
