FIORDS AND HANGING VALLEYS 
H3 
the coast, and are in detail characterized by short turns, 
it may be assumed that they are independent of strike. 
In the case of strike fiords, erosion may have been favored 
by the presence of weak rocks, but the erosion of trans¬ 
verse fiords had no such aid. Our best opportunities for 
direct observation were of fiords that either probably or 
possibly follow the strike, and the discrimination of 
aqueous and glacial erosion, or the problem of the amount 
of glacial excavation, is thus complicated by a factor in¬ 
volving much uncertainty. 
Discovery Passage and Johnstone Strait, separating 
FIG. 69. HANGING VALLEY ON VANCOUVER ISLAND. 
Photographed from Johnstone Strait. In the distance, an ice-rounded summit. 
part of Vancouver Island from various minor islands and 
the mainland, constitute a well recognized fiord for 70 
miles. With little exception, its walls of rock are steep 
at the water’s edge and for some distance above and be¬ 
low. The central depth of water ranges from less than 
