SURVEYING THE GLACIER. 123 



Our object in this journey was chiefly to determine 

 whether the glacier had movement ; and for this pur- 

 pose we followed the very simple and efficient plan 

 of Professor Agassiz in his Alpine surveys. First we 

 placed two stakes in the axis of the glacier, and care- 

 fully measured the distance between them ; then we 

 planted two other stakes nearly midway between 

 these and the sides of the glacier ; and then we set 

 the theodolite over each of these stakes in succession, 

 and connected them by angles with each other and 

 with fixed objects on the mountain-side. These an- 

 gles will be repeated next spring, and I shall by this 

 means know whether the glacier is moving down the 

 valley, and at what rate. 



On this, as on every other occasion when we have 

 attempted to do any thing requiring carefulness and 

 deliberation, the wind came to embarrass us. The 

 temperature alone gives us little concern. Although 

 it may be any number of degrees below zero, we do 

 not mind it, for we have become accustomed to it ; 

 but the wind is a serious inconvenience, especially 

 when our occupations, as in the present instance, do 

 not admit of active exercise. It is rather cold work 

 handling the instrument ; but the tangent screws 

 have been covered with buckskin, and we thus save 

 our fingers from being " burnt," as our little freezings 

 are quite significantly called. 



I purpose making a still further exploration of this 

 glacier to-morrow, and will defer until then any fur- 

 ther description of it. 



During my absence the hunters have not been idle. 

 Barnum has killed six deer ; Jensen shot two and 

 Hans nine ; but the great event has been the sailing- 

 master's birthday dinner; and I returned on board 



