I
for example) are capable of floating or swimming, the case would at once be
altered, and there would be fair ground for assuming that, whilst their ancestors
originally belonged to the free-rayed group and inhabited great depths, the
descendants of these had by degrees developed the membrane-like expansion
between the rays in order to enable them to remove to shallow water on the
subsidence of the sea-bed. I t is well known, however, that neither Palmipes
nor any of the other hard-shelled Echinoderms are floating animals; and
accordingly the proof that those brought up by the sounding-line actually
travelled from the bottom, and not from some superincumbent stratum of water,
must be regarded as conclusive. I t is only necessary to add that the nearest
point of Iceland to the spot at which the sounding was taken is 250 miles distant,
whilst between it and the nearest point of Greenland the distance is 500 miles.
Throughout the day large flocks of Dovekies have flown across in a southwesterly
direction, as if migrating from Iceland to Newfoundland or the southern
portion of Labrador. Measuring from the nearest point to point of land, these
birds would have to traverse a distance of 1200 miles, which, at a speed of
thirty miles an hour, w’ould involve forty hours’ incessant flight. Although
migrations across even greater areas of open sea are known to be effected by
many species of purely aquatic birds, it becomes difficult to conceive how small
wading birds, such as the Sandpipers, can accomplish a similar journey. A
number of the latter, in pairs, flew past, taking the same course; but, from the
manner in which they invariably hovered round the ship for a short time, as if
anxious to alight even at this early stage of their voyage, it would almost seem
probable that their instincts had been at fault when they selected their route.
Should this be the case, and the circumstance I have mentioned be one of
frequent occurrence, very large numbers of these birds must perish annually in
the middle of the sea, their soft parts being gradually devoured by the countless
great and small zoophagists that inhabit its waters, whilst their skeletons subside
and become ultimately entombed amongst the deposits at the bottom.
Oct. 19.—Rekiavik. After having encountered a continuous succession of the
heaviest gales since leaving Greenland, the ‘ Bulldog ’ once more anchored here
this afternoon, in order to coal and repair damages.
In approaching Cape Eekianess last night, about I I p .m ., we passed close by
an isolated basaltic rock, known as the “ Blinde Skier,” or “ Grenadier’s Cap,”
which rises up perpendicularly from the sea to the height of 80 feet. I t is a
curious fact, that both this rock and one of a similar kind on the Eockall shoal
present so close a resemblance to a ship under sail, that it is almost impossible
to believe they are anything else, when seen from certain points of the compass.
By a sounding taken at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the “ Blinde
Skier,” the bottom was shown to consist of coarse basaltic sand and shell-debris.
The period at which this rock was heaved up is unknown; but there can be no
doubt of its having maintained its present position unmoved for centuries,
during which both the mainland of Iceland and the intervening portion of the
sea-bed have undergone several very severe convulsions. Thus in 1783, the year
iu which the most tremendous disturbances on record took place in Iceland, a
submarine volcano burst into action in lat. 63° 25' N., long. 23° 44' W., at a
distance of ten or twelve miles from the Blinde Skier rock, and thirty miles to
the south-westward of Cape Eekianess, during which an island of considerable
size and height was thrown up. This island was named “ Nynoe,” or the New
Island, and claimed by the King of Denmark; but, before a year had elapsed, it
again subsided, leaving nothing but a sunken reef to indicate its position. In
1830 a smaUer island was ejected, somewhat nearer to the coast; but it was in
like manner submerged after a brief interval.
Oct. 28.—'Today the ‘ Bulldog ’ again proceeded to the southward with a view
to continue the line of soundings between the point at which she diverged m route
to Iceland and Eockall.
From a few soundings taken between Eekianess and the Blinde Skier, it
appears that the obsidian-like detritus, of which mention has been made in
Chapter II., commences somewhat to the eastward of the latter, and stretches to
the north-westward in a belt of about twenty miles in diameter, fringing the
western shore of the promontory; whilst to the westward of this, and running
parallel with it, a belt of rolled basaltic drift ascends and crosses the first line of
soundings, as formerly indicated. Although no data were afforded, during the
outward voyage between Iceland and Greenland, for determining the source
from which the rolled fragments of basalt were derived, these latter soundings
prove that the belt in question is borne northwards by the eastern margin of that
portion of the Gulf Stream which splits on coming across the Blinde Skier shoal,
ascends iu a northerly direction towards Faxe Fiord, and then sweeps up tlm