ls in Scania like those
farther to the north. Secondly, Linnaeus, with a view of ascertaining
whether the waters of the Baltic were retiring from the Scanian shore,
measured, in 1749, the distance between the sea and a large stone near
Trelleborg. This same stone was, in 1836, a hundred feet nearer the
water's edge than in Linnaeus's time, or eighty-seven years before.
Thirdly, there is also a submerged peat moss, consisting of land and
freshwater plants, beneath the sea at a point to which no peat could
have been drifted down by any river. Fourthly, and what is still more
conclusive, it is found that in seaport towns, all along the coast of
Scania, there are streets below the high-water level of the Baltic, and
in some cases below the level of the lowest tide. Thus, when the wind is
high at Malmo, the water overflows one of the present streets, and some
years ago some excavations showed an ancient street in the same place
eight feet lower, and it was then seen that there had been an artificial
raising of the ground, doubtless in consequence of that subsidence.
There is also a street at Trelleborg, and another at Skanor, a few
inches below high-water mark, and a street at Ystad is exactly on a
level with the sea, at which it could not have been originally built.

The inferences deduced from the foregoing facts are in perfect harmony
with the proofs brought to light by two Danish investigators, Dr. Pingel
and Captain Graah, of the sinking down of part of the west coast of
Greenland, for a space of more than 600 miles from north to south. The
observations of Captain Graah were made during a survey of Greenland in
1823-24; and afterwards in 1828-29; those by Dr. Pingel were made in
1830-32. It appears from various signs and traditions, that the coast
has been subsiding for the last four centuries from the firth called
Igaliko, in lat. 60 degrees 43 minutes N. to Disco Bay, extending to
nearly the 69th degree of north latitude. Ancient buildings on low rocky
islands and on the shore of the main land have been gradually submerged,
and experience has taught the aboriginal Greenlander never to build his
hut near the water's edge. In one case the Moravian settlers have been
obliged more than once to move inland the poles upon which their large
boats were set, and the old poles still remain beneath the water as
silent witnesses of the change.[740]

The probable cause of the movements above alluded to, whether of
elevation or de