436 Probable injlaence of 



few candles, by the magical light of a tender green, which 

 issues from the very walls of the crystal chambers. 



Men and dogs have often been lost in these fissures while 

 crossing the glaciers, when they were covered with snow. 

 The sealers use the precaution of passing a small rope around 

 their waists, to be held by their companions when crossing 

 the glaciers, which are covered with snow. 



I may be pardoned for relating an anecdote of a remarka- 

 ble escape, which was told me by several individuals who 

 knew the fact. A young man from Stonington, who visited 

 the South Shetlands on a sealing voyage, was anxious to ex- 

 plore one of the glaciers ; as he could not induce his com- 

 rades to accompany him, he started alone. While walking 

 on the surface of the glacier, which was then covered with 

 snow, he fell into a fissure, to the depth, as was supposed, of 

 over a hundred feet. He was so much bruised and injured 

 by the fall, that he remained senseless, it was supposed, some 

 hours. Upon reviving, he found himself wedged between 

 the walls of the narrowing chasm. His first feeling was re- 

 gret that he had not been instantly killed, as there appeared 

 no mode of escape. But, as he thought of dying in such a 

 manner that his friends would never know of the place or 

 manner of his death, he determined to make an effort to save 

 his life. Taking his jacknife, he began to cut steps for his 

 feet in one side of the wall, while he pushed himself up with 

 his back. He continued cutting until his fingers were com- 

 pletely lacerated by hard, sharp ice, and until the chasm be- 

 came so wide that he could just reach the ice with his knife. 

 However, he at length reached the surface, and was found by 

 his comrades crawling along the glacier, twenty-four hours 

 after he had Allien. Although he thus wonderfully escaped 

 with his life, he was so lacerated and bruised that he was unfit 

 for labor for several months. As my informant said, no one 

 but a man of remarkable spirit and strength would have had 

 the energy to save iiimself under such circumstances. 



The same expansive power existing in the glaciers of the 



