JOURNEYING BY MOONLIGHT 135 



Our only safety was in flight ; and like a ship driven 

 before a tempest which she cannot withstand, and 

 which has threatened her ruin, we turned our backs 

 to the gale ; and, hastening down the slope, we ran to 

 save our lives. 



We traveled upwards of forty miles, and had de- 

 scended about three thousand feet before we ventured 

 to halt. The wind was much less severe at this point 

 than at the higher level, and the temperature had 

 risen twelve degrees. Although w^e reposed without 

 risk, yet our canvas shelter was very cold ; and, not- 

 withstanding the reduced force of the gale, there was 

 some difficulty in keeping the tent from being blown 

 away. 



We reached Port Foulke the next evening, after a 

 toilsome march, without having suffered any serious 

 accident. 



The latter part of the journey was made wholly l»y 

 moonlight. The air was found to be quite calm v/hen 

 we reached the base of the glacier ; and the journey 

 down its lower face, and through the gorge, and over 

 the valley, and across Alida Lake and the Fiord, was 

 made in the presence of a scene which was very im- 

 pressive. Sheets of drifting snow swept over the 

 white-crested hills like insubstantial spirits flitting 

 wildly through the night. These told that the gale 

 yet howled above ; but in our lowly shelter the air 

 was still as a cave in the midst of winds. No cloud 

 obscured the broad archway of the skies. The gentle 

 stars, robed in the drapery of night, rejoiced to behold 

 their forms in the smooth mirror of the lake. The 

 glacier threw back the chilly moonbeams. The shad- 

 ows of the dark cliffs stole into the flood of light 

 which filled the valley. The white Fiord, dotted with 



