Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 33.djvu/182

144 144 AMUKD HELLAND ON THE PJORDS, LAKES,

in the northern part of the peninsula, where the Kelertinguak rises to 1857 metres. " Ubekjendt Eiland," lying north of Nugssnak penin- sula, consists like it of basaltic rocks, and is thus in relation with it.

(3) The high land of Umanak consists of a line of peninsulas, divided by ice-filled fjords and with islands in front. This part of Greenland, so far as it is known, consists of gneiss and Azoic slates ; everywhere, even in the islands, the mountains rise to considerable heights. The little island of Umanak, though situated in the middle of the fjord and only one geographical mile long, rises to a height of 1163 metres above the sea ; and its uppermost part is quite inacces- sible. The sides of the islands and peninsulas between the fjords are also steep and often inaccessible. The mountains are Alpine in character, some peaks near the sea rising to 2000 metres. The tract between Kangerdlugssuak and Ingnerit is especially conspicuous for bold peaks, lofty mountains, and numerous glaciers. The following measurements were made with a theodolite and a base-line : — three peaks, called by the Greenlanders Agpatsiait (the bird-mountain, fre- quented by auks), on the peninsula between the fjords of Kangerd- luarssuk and Ingnerit— No.l, 1964m., No. 2, 2032m., No. 3, 1930m.; four peaks called Kioke, on the peninsula between the Kangerdluars- suk Fjord and the sound separating the island of Upernivik from the mainland, gave the following heights — No. 1, 1738 m., No. 2, 1847 m., No. 3, 1753 m., No. 4, 1878 m. A mountain in the Fjord o± Kangerdluarssuk is 1958 m. Another, .named Kingasima, appears to be somewhat higher ; but its distance from the base was too great for accurate measurement. These mountains are the highest on the west coast of Greenland, visible from the sea-shore, although, of course, it is not improbable that others yet higher may lie further inland. Ice-fjords and glaciers abound in this part of Greenland. Of the former there are no less than eight along about 1° of latitude, the northernmost and the southernmost producing icebergs some hundreds of feet high.

The Inland Ice. — In Greenland, when a fjord is followed up into the country, the way is sooner or later barred by a glacier which has descended the valley and extends across the fjord from shore to shore, ending in a steep wall which gives rise to ice-bergs. Occa- sionally, indeed, the glacier does not descend the valley to the level of the water ; but no large fjord or valley is known in the mainland of Greenland which does not contain a more or less imposing glacier. On gaining a commanding position, this glacier will be seen to descend from a wide inland ice-field to which no limit can be seen even from the summit of one of the mountains on its border, the ice extending inland as far as the eye can reach. This vast ice-field, called the Inland Ice, and by the Esquimaux Sermerssuak (the great ice), which, so far as we know, covers the whole interior of Greenland, occupies an area greater than the Scandinavian peninsula. I have had a view over it from five places ; from each of these its appearance was the same, resembling a great sea ; but it seems to rise slowly inland, forming an undulating sky-line ; it lies at a lower level than the mountains near its borders, so as to be overlooked from them. This peculiarity