i8 77.] The Great Ice Age and Origin of the “ Till .” 233 
I found in the first place that all along the coast from 
Stavanger to the Varanger fjord every rock near the shore 
is glaciated ; among the thousands of low-lying ridges that 
peer above the water to various heights none near the main- 
land are angular. The general character of these is shown 
in the sketch of “ My Sea Serpent,” in the last edition of 
“ Through Norway with a Knapsack.” 
The rocks which constitute the extreme outlying limits of 
the Lofoden group, and which are between 60 and 70 miles 
from the shore, although mineralogically corresponding with 
those near the shore, are totally different in their conforma- 
tion, as the sketch of three characteristic specimens plainly 
shows. Mr. Everest very aptly compares them to shark’s 
teeth. Proceeding northward, these rocks gradually pro- 
gress in magnitude, until they become mountains of 3000 to 
4000 feet in height ; their outspread bases form large islands, 
and the west fjord gradually narrows. 
The remarkably angular and jagged character of these rocks 
when weathered in the air renders it very easy to trace the 
limits of glaciation on viewing them at a distance. The 
outermost and smallest rocks show from a distance no signs 
of glaciation. If submerged, the ice of the great ice age 
must have floated over them ; if above the sea as at present, 
they can have suffered no more glaciation than would be 
produced by such an ice-sheet as that of the “ paleocrystic ” 
ice recently found by Capt. Nares on the North of Greenland. 
Progressing northward, the glaciation begins to become 
visible, running first up to about 100 feet above the sea-level 
on the islands lying westward and southward of Ost Vaagen. 
Further northward along the coast of Ost Vaagen and 
Hindo, the level gradually rises to about 500 feet on the 
northern portion of Ost Vaagen, and up to more than 
1000 feet on Hindd, while on the mainland it reaches 3000 
to 4000 feet. 
A remarkable case of such variation, or descent of ice-level 
as the ice-sheet proceeded seaward is shown at Tromso. 
This small oblong island (lat. 69° 40'), on which is the capital 
town of Finmark, lies between the mainland and the large 
mountainous island of Kvalo, with a long sea-channel on each 
side, the Tromosund and the Sandesund ; the total width of 
these two channels and the island itself being about 4 or 
5 miles. The general line of glaciation from the mainland 
crosses the channels and the island, which has evidently 
been buried and ground down to its present moderate height 
of two or three hundred feet. Both of the channels are 
till-paved. On the east or inland side the mountains near 
