882 Trie American Geologist. December, 1896 
island there is no complete ice-cap, but several small ones. 
These send down tongues through all the valleys descending 
to the sea, as described by Chaniberlin.* Gneiss is the basal 
rock here, but is not seen far above sea-level, the upper por- 
tions being entirely basaltic. Erratics of gneiss are numer- 
ous, however, to the highest levels, which would imply that 
farther inland the gneiss rises to the upper surface of the is- 
land as suggested by Chamberlin, or, as I am inclined to 
think, that during a former extension of the main (M)ntinental 
ice-cap of Greenlsind these erratics were transported across 
the Waigat. Time did not allow the investigation of this 
problem at Disko, but evidence of the former extension of the 
Greenland ice-cap in the Umanak region has caused the seri- 
ous consideration of this possibility. The Waigat separates 
the island of Disko from the Nugsuak peninsula. This pe- 
ninsula is one of the largest extending outward from the west 
coast of Greenland. It is bordered nearly all around with 
precipitous clilfs, in some places nearly vertical, which rise 
almost directly to about two thousand feet, and not far inland 
are peaks reaching from four thousand to six thousand three 
hundred, the highest point as given on the chart of the Brit- 
ish Admiralty. The highest elevation reached here at Eka- 
luit, near the northeast end of the peninsula, is about 3,000 
feet above the sea. and from this place eastward several 
points from 1,000 to 2,000 feet were visited. 
The peninsula, like the island of Disko, has its own local 
ice-caps, but unconnected, as far as seen, with the main ice- 
cap of the continent. From this a succession of tongues pass 
downward through very many of the valleys of the northeast- 
ern side, a few entering the sea, but the greater number 
stopping at some little distance above sea-level. With two 
apparent exceptions they all show evidence of comparatively 
recent diminution. The highest points visited present well 
rounded outlines of typical roche moutonne'e form, and strioe. 
are found nearly everywhere. 
The motion of ice here was approximately parallel to the 
Karajak fiord, which bounds it on the northeast, and outward 
toward Baffin's bay. The higher peaks, seen from a distance, 
are more angular, but most of them present some appearance 
^Journal of Geology, vol. ii, p. 771. 
