But when the description of Keelness given in the saga is compared with what we know of the Nova Scotian coastline, one meets at once with a very formidable objection to Storm’s theory. For here began Furdustrands, the Wonderful Beaches, so called from their great length, and thus described:—‘It was a desolate place, and there were long beaches and sands there.... They gave the beaches a name, calling them Furdustrands, because the sail past them was long.’ It appears too, as already hinted, that this feature was sufficiently marked to give rise to the application of the name to a large district, extending at least to Straumsfjord (cf. second song of Thorhall the Hunter, see also p. 227). _Mr. Babcock’s Theory._ Now the coast of Nova Scotia cannot, to an unprejudiced eye, be said to comprise any continuous beach of a really remarkable length. On the contrary, it is both indented and rocky. Mr. Babcock clearly sees this difficulty; his remarks on the subject have been already referred to (p. 234). He requires a continuous stretch of at least 100 miles for Furdustrands, and this estimate compares favourably with those put forward by Storm and most of his adherents. Now, to meet the objection which is here raised, Mr. Babcock postulates a rise in the Nova Scotian coastline since the eleventh century sufficient to account for what is otherwise a fatal discrepancy in its present appearance. He frankly admits that there is no direct evidence of such a phenomenon, and indeed that ‘locally there is some scientific opinion that this probably has not occurred’. But this is not the most that can be said. In the first place, the early explorers who followed on the rediscovery of the country found the coast exactly as it is to-day. The upheaval postulated must therefore have taken place, if at all, within an even shorter period than that allowed by Mr. Babcock. Thus Champlain writes: ‘All the coast which we passed along from Cape Sable to this place (Canso) is moderately high and rocky, in most places bordered by numerous islands and breakers.’ Of Cape Breton Denys says (Green Island to Louisburg), ‘All the coast is nothing but rocks.’ Thenceforward ‘nothing but rocks’ is a phrase constantly repeated, but one looks in vain for any mention of a beach. Later on, ‘leaving there (St. Ann’s harbour) and going to Niganiche (Ingonish) one passes eight leagues of coast having shores of rock extremely high and steep as a wall.... Niganiche is not a bit better.’ Similarly right on to Cape North. We have not much room left for these long and wonderful beaches, which so struck the Norsemen immediately on their arrival at Keelness, and which were so impressively long to sail past. It is true, as we have seen, that there are white sands near the south-western end of the peninsula, but the numerous indentations break up the coastline, and besides, the description requires a cape facing a ship approaching from more northerly latitudes.