Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/434

410 the surface of the coast region are to be assigned to the period of submergence. At present we appear to be entirely in the dark as to the exact action of an ice-cap. Does the stupendous mass of frozen water which we are led to believe buries the interior of the continent of Greenland to a depth of thousands of feet remain quiescent, like liquid water in a deep lake, or does it move ? In both cases the effluents, namely, the glacier and the river, can be seen at work, and their results estimated. Unless we grant to the ice-cap the power of erosion, I am at a loss to account for the physical contour of a large part of the Arctic Regions, and if the roundings of the hills and the scoopings out of the valleys and fiords are due to such a cause, theu there must have been a period of as extreme glaciation in the northern regions of our globe, as we are led to believe now exists at the South Pole.

Returning from my long walk late in the evening, I was so fortunate as to fall in with a boat and party, at the shore, on its way to visit the settlement of Etah, which lies some considerable distance up Foulke Fiord. As we pulled up the fiord, the air above was filled with thousands upon thousands of specks, which were Little Auks passing from their breeding-places to the sea. By this date the young ones were all hatched, and when taken out of their nests appeared as balls of black down. Dr. Hayes has given an interesting and graphic account of the aukeries of Foulke Fiord and the mode of capturing the birds by the natives. He writes:—

"It would be impossible to convey an adequate idea of the immense numbers of the Little Auks which swarmed around us. The slope on both sides of the valley rises at an angle of about forty-five degrees to a distance of from three hundred to five hundred feet, where it meets the cliffs, which stand about seven hundred feet higher. These hill-sides are composed of tbe loose rocks which have been split off from the cliffs by the frost. The birds crawl among these rocks, winding far in through narrow places, aud there deposit each a single egg and hatch their young secure from their enemy, the foxes, which prowl round in great numbers, ever watching for a meal. The birds were more noisy than usual, for they had just returned iu immense swarms from the sea, where they had been getting their breakfast. Kalutunah carried a small net, made of light strings of seal-skin knitted together very ingeniously. The staff by which it was held was about ten feet long. After clambering over the rough, sharp stones, we arrived at length about half-way up to the base of the cliffs, where Kalutunah crouched behind a rock and invited me to follow his example. I observed