Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 33.djvu/189

Rh AND CIRQUES IN NORWAY AND GREENLAND. 151

creasing towards the central parts. The rate of motion is only half that of the glacier of Jakobshavn.

Kangerdlugssuak Fjord, situated in Umanak district at about 71° 15' N. lat., is one of middle sizo, producing bergs, which, how- ever, are not sufficiently numerous to prevent one from reaching the glacier in a boat. The scenery on the way is very fine, the moun- tains, as already mentioned, rising steeply from the sea to a height of 2000 metres. Their summits arc often divided into sharp aiguilles, and numerous valleys descend between the peaks. There are often glaciers remanies ; some descend to the sea, some protrude from gloomy cirques, the steep sides of which effectually protect their snows from the effect of the arctic summer sun. It is hardly pos- sible to imagine a landscape more thickly studded with glaciers than this. From the mouth of the sound between Upernivik Island and the mainland to the base of the Great Glacier descending from tho Inland Ice at the end of Kangerdlugssuak Fjord is a long day's jour- ney, in which not less than forty-seven glaciers are passed. The accompanying map (fig. 1, p. 152), though only sketched in without measurements, will give a general idea of the configuration of the country and the number of its glaciers.

The mountains in this fjord, though a littlo lower than those in the sound by Upernivik Island, descend precipitously to the water at angles of eighty degrees from heights of full 1000 metres. The glacier at the head terminates as usual in a steep wall advancing into the fjord with a convex outline, so that the end of the central part is some thousand metres in advance of that of the sides. The only landing-place which could be found near the glacier was on the moraine, and that was rendered dangerous by the " calving " of the ice.

The glacier itself is, as usual, impassable from being broken into seracs by crevasses (fig. 2) ; the moraine here rises to a height of from 15 to 20 metres, and its summit commands a very peculiar view. Near both sides of the projecting end of the glacier described above, two glaciers remanies are seen high up on the mountain-side, from which ice avalanches are discharged. Down the fjord is a view of the numerous glaciers that have been passed en route, and looking upward towards the Inland Ice the moraine can be traced for a long distance ; but the view over the Inland Ice itself is partly obstructed by three high island-like rock-masses (Nunatalcs) rising above the glacier, between which branches from the Inland Ice descend to form the glacier of Kangerdlugssuak. I had intended, if possible, to reach the great ice-fjord of Umiamako from this place by ascending the glacier of Kangerdlugssuak, and traversing the Inland Ice till I reached the elevation which commands a view over Umiamako. Partly on the moraine, partly on the glacier, and partly along its rocky side I succeeded in advancing about one geographical mile. Here, however, the moraine disappeared as the crcvasscd glacier came close up against the precipitous mountain-side, so I was com- pelled to turn back about the point where the mount a in-wall bounding the glacier bends northward. It might bo possible for a traveller,