Glacier Bay 



a mile in width, extending along the eastern margin 

 about fourteen miles to a lake filled with bergs, has so 

 little motion and is so little interrupted by crevasses, 

 a hundred horsemen might ride abreast over it with- 

 out encountering very much difficulty. 



But far the greater portion of the vast expanse 

 looking smooth in the distance is torn and crumpled 

 into a bewildering network of hummocky ridges and 

 blades, separated by yawning gulfs and crevasses, so 

 that the explorer, crossing it from shore to shore, 

 must always have a hard time. In hollow spots here 

 and there in the heart of the icy wilderness are small 

 lakelets fed by swift-glancing streams that flow with- 

 out friction in blue shining channels, making delight- 

 ful melody, singing and ringing in silvery tones of 

 peculiar sweetness, radiant crystals like flowers in- 

 effably fine growing in dazzling beauty along their 

 banks. Few, however, will be likely to enjoy them. 

 Fortunately to most travelers the thundering ice-wall, 

 while comfortably accessible, is also the most strik- 

 ingly interesting portion of the glacier. 



The mountains about the great glacier were also 

 seen from this standpoint in exceedingly grand and 

 telling views, ranged and grouped in glorious array. 

 Along the valleys of the main tributaries to the north- 

 westward I saw far into their shadowy depths, one 

 noble peak in its snowy robes appearing beyond an- 

 other in fine perspective. One of the most remark- 

 able of them, fashioned like a superb crown with del- 

 icately fluted sides, stands in the middle of the second 

 main tributary, counting from left to right. To the 



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