48 THE JE ANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



sands in rows, standing on narrow ledges like bottles on a 

 grocer's shelves, the feeding of the little ones, the multitude 

 of wings, etc." 



Another member of the exploring party described his 

 experiences as follows : " Selecting what was conceived to 

 be the most favorable spot for ascending the cliff, several 

 persons made the attempt, occasionally detaching huge bowl- 

 ders, which came bounding down like a bombardment, and 

 recalling some old army experiences. The attempt had to 

 be abandoned after getting up a few hundred feet. In com- 

 pany with several others, the writer tried what seemed to be 

 a more practicable way a gully filled with snow up which 

 we had gone scarcely a hundred feet when, looking back 

 with affright and forward with despair, we literally backed 

 down with failing hearts and trembling limbs. In the 

 meantime the skin boat had been brought over the ice; and, 

 one of the men pointing out another place where he thought 

 we might ascend, it was the work of but a few minutes to 

 cross a small bit of open water which led to the foot of a 

 steep snow-bank, somewhat discolored from the gravel 

 brought down by melting snow from above. We climbed 

 several hundred feet up the snow and ice, having to cut 

 steps before reaching the top. It was like scrambling over 

 the dome of the Washington capitol with a great yawning 

 cliff below. A ravine was next reached, through which 

 tumbled, with loud noise and wild confusion, over broken 

 rocks and amid some scant lichens and mosses, a mountain 

 stream of pure water, which had hollowed out a shaft or 

 tunnel, forming a glacier mill or moulin. It was over the 

 roof of this tunnel that we had passed. 



"All sense of fatigue vanished on reaching this summit. 

 The grand view there revealed like an apocalypse made one 

 halt with feelings of mingled delight and astonishment. In 

 front the midnight sun shone with gleaming splendor, color- 

 ing all the waste of ice, sea, and granite. To the left 

 Wrangel Land appeared in well-defined outline, and to the 

 northward an open sea led we knew not whither. From the 



