There is no river at Bodö; the sea is clear, leaves no appreciable deposit, and the degree of denudation of the clayey matrix of the till is very much smaller than might be expected. The limit of high water is plainly shown by a beach of shells and stones, but at low tide the ground over which the sea has receded is a bare and scarcely modified surface of till. I have observed the same at low water at many other arctic stations. In the Tromsö Sund there are shallows at some distance from the shore which are just covered with water at low tide. I landed and waded on these, and found the bottom to consist of till covered with a thin layer of shells, odd fragments of earthenware, and other rubbish thrown overboard from vessels. It is evident that breakers of considerable magnitude are necessary for the loosening of this tough compact deposit—that it is very slightly, if at all, affected by the mere flow of running water. I specify these instances as characteristic and easy of verification, as the packets all stop at these stations; but a yachtsman sailing at leisure amidst the glorious coast scenery of the Arctic Ocean might multiply such observations a hundredfold by stopping wherever such strands are indicated in passing. I saw a multitude of these in places where I was unable to go ashore and examine them. A further question in this direction suggested itself on the spot, viz., what is the nature of the “_banks_” which constitute the fishing-grounds of Norway, Iceland, Newfoundland, etc. They are submarine plains unquestionably—they must have a high degree of fertility in order to supply food for the hundreds of millions of voracious cod-fish, coal-fish, haddocks, hallibut, etc., that people them. These large fishes all _feed on the bottom_, their chief food being mollusca and crustacea, which must find, either directly or indirectly, some pasture of vegetable origin. The banks are, in fact, great meadows or feeding grounds for the lower animals which support the higher.