The Discovery of Glacier Bay 



not seem to be steeped in sunshine, however glorious, 

 but rather as if it had been thrust into the body of the 

 sun itself. Then the supernal fire slowly descended, 

 with a sharp line of demarkation separating it from 

 the cold, shaded region beneath; peak after peak, with 

 their spires and ridges and cascading glaciers, caught 

 the heavenly glow, until all the mighty host stood 

 transfigured, hushed, and thoughtful, as if awaiting 

 the coming of the Lord. The white, rayless light of 

 morning, seen when I was alone amid the peaks of the 

 California Sierra, had always seemed to me the most 

 telling of all the terrestrial manifestations of God. 

 But here the mountains themselves were made divine, 

 and declared His glory in terms still more impressive. 

 How long we gazed I never knew. The glorious 

 vision passed away in a gradual, fading change 

 through a thousand tones of color to pale yellow and 

 white, and then the work of the ice-world went on 

 again in everyday beauty. The green waters of the 

 fiord were filled with sun-spangles; the fleet of ice- 

 bergs set forth on their voyages with the upspringing 

 breeze; and on the innumerable mirrors and prisms 

 of these bergs, and on those of the shattered crystal 

 walls of the glaciers, common white light and rain- 

 bow light began to burn, while the mountains shone 

 in their frosty jewelry, and loomed again in the thin 

 azure in serene terrestrial majesty. We turned and 

 sailed away, joining the outgoing bergs, while "Gloria 

 in excelsis" still seemed to be sounding over all the 

 white landscape, and our burning hearts were ready 

 for any fate, feeling that, whatever the future might 



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