222 
ARCHITECTURAL ROCKS. 
cliffs begin to assume a series of varied and picturesque 
outlines along the coast, that scarcely require the aid of 
imagination to trace in them the ruins of architectural 
structure. They come down boldly to the shore-line, 
their summits rising sometimes more than a thousand 
feet above the eye, and the long cones of rubbish at 
their base mingling themselves with the ice-foot. (40) 
The coast retains the same character as far as the 
Great Glacier. It is indented by four great bays, all 
of them communicating with deep gorges, which are 
watered by streams from the interior ice-fields; yet 
none of them exhibit glaciers of any magnitude at the 
water-line. Dallas Bay shows a similar formation, and 
the archipelago beyond Cape Hunter retains it almost 
without change. (41> 
The mean height of the table-land till it reaches 
the bed of the Great Glacier may be stated in round 
numbers at nine hundred feet, its tallest summit near 
the water at thirteen hundred, and the rise of the 
background above the general level at six hundred 
more. (42) The face of this stupendous ice-mass, as it 
defined the coast, was everywhere an abrupt and 
threatening precipice, only broken by clefts and deep 
ravines, giving breadth and interest to its wild ex¬ 
pression. 
The most picturesque portion of the North Green¬ 
land coast is to be found after leaving Cape George Rus¬ 
sell and approaching Dallas Bay. The red sandstones 
contrast most favorably with the blank whiteness, asso¬ 
ciating the cold tints of the dreary Arctic landscape 
