158 ISLAND OF SINGULAR APPEARANCE. 



was, a passage could not be effected without 

 lifting her between the shelving pieces ; though, 

 if a man slipped, there was quite water enough 

 in many places to carry him under. The rough 

 handling, added to the cold nights, had rendered 

 the canoe so crazy, that the mere action of 

 paddling now damaged her, and a third of one 

 day was lost in making her tight. 



The stream again widened into what might 

 be called a lake, and received the waters of Icy 

 River from the westward, as well as those of 

 another river from the eastward. The banks of 

 the first were still cased in ponderous ice far 

 up the valley, and the confluence was marked by 

 a sort of curved surface, in the form of a low 

 arch, from side to side, under which the water 

 rushed in a yeasty current with a deep and 

 rumbling noise. Some islands were passed, and 

 one of the least had a singularly white appear- 

 ance, which was caused, as I afterwards found, 

 by large, round, light-coloured stones, which 

 formed its cone-shaped sides. Situated as it 

 was, nearly in the centre of a wide current, 

 and in deep water, it was not easy to conceive 

 to what this peculiar structure owed its origin ; 

 for the stones were piled up twenty feet, were 

 not encrusted with lichens, but, on the contrary, 

 except in three or four spots, were perfectly 

 clean, and had evidently obtained their present 



