SCALING THE GLACIER. 131 



red-sandstone rock, behind which these two streams 

 uniting, wholly surrounded it, making it truly an 

 island — an island in a sea of ice. The little lake 

 exhibited a phenomenon which I found quite instruc- 

 tive in connection with my present journey. It had 

 been well filled with water at the close of the thaw 

 season, and the ice was formed upon it before the 

 water had subsided. When the lake had drained 

 off under the glacier the ice was left with no other 

 support than the rocks. In many places it had bent 

 down with its own weight, and in one instance I ob- 

 served that, the pressure being finally exerted on the 

 corners of the remaining slab, this ice, in a tempera- 

 ture below zero, and six inches thick, had been twisted 

 into a shape resembling the mold-board of a farmer's 

 plow. 



The first attempt to scale the glacier was attended 

 with an incident which looked rather serious at the 

 moment. The foremost member of the party missed 

 his footing as he was clambering up the rude steps, 

 and, sliding down the steep side, scattered those who 

 were below him to right and left, and sent them rolling 

 into the valley beneath. The adventure might have 

 been attended with serious consequences, for there 

 were many rocks projecting above the snow and ice at 

 the foot of the slope. The next eifort was more suc- 

 cessful, and the end of a rope being carried over the 

 side of the glacier, the sledge was drawn up the in- 

 clined plane, and we started off upon our journey. 

 The ice was here very rough and much broken, and 

 was almost wholly free from snow. 



We had not traveled long before an accident hap- 

 pened to me similar to that which had before occurred 

 to Mr. Sonntag. Walking in advance of the party, 



