My Sled- Trip on the Muir Glacier 



until enough material has been undermined to form a 

 veil in front; then follows another washing and carry- 

 ing-away and depositing where the current is allowed 

 to spread. In melting, protected margin terraces are 

 oftentimes formed. Perhaps these terraces mark suc- 

 cessive heights of the glacial surface. From terrace 

 to terrace the grist of stone is rolled and sifted. Some, 

 meeting only feeble streams, have only the fine par- 

 ticles carried away and deposited in smooth beds; 

 others, coarser, from swifter streams, overspread the 

 fine beds, while many of the large boulders no doubt 

 roll back upon the glacier to go on their travels 

 again. 



It has been cloudy mostly to-day, though sunny in 

 the afternoon, and my eyes are getting better. The 

 steamer Queen is expected in a day or two, so I must 

 try to get down to the inlet to-morrow and make 

 signal to have some of the Reid party ferry me over. I 

 must hear from home, write letters, get rest and more 

 to eat. 



Near the front of the glacier the ice was perfectly 

 free, apparently, of anything like a crevasse, and in 

 walking almost carelessly down it I stopped opposite 

 the large granite Nunatak Island, thinking that I 

 would there be partly sheltered from the wind. I had 

 not gone a dozen steps toward the island when I sud- 

 denly dropped into a concealed water-filled crevasse, 

 which on the surface showed not the slightest sign of 

 its existence. This crevasse like many others was 

 being used as the channel of a stream, and at some 

 narrow point the small cubical masses of ice into 



I 309 ] 



