2 5 o SPITSBERGEN chap, xviii 



there not twenty years ago, is now rilled by the advancing 

 glacier. More than half of the island is also overspread. 

 Without moraine, without dirt or discoloration, the glacier 

 is pouring over it, and great seracs lie there, separated 

 only, or barely separated, from the flowers and the grasses 

 by the clear stream their drip has formed. A phenomenon 

 more striking than the contrast of the green island with 

 the icy boulders strewn along it, and the grim whiteness 

 which rises so suddenly behind, would be hard to conceive. 

 Nor is this all ; for northwards also of the island the glacier 

 is advancing, and at its present obvious rate of progress it 

 cannot be many years before, united with the glacier which 

 comes from the north, it will have entirely obliterated the 

 head of the bay. 



Further, since this survey was made, owing no doubt 

 to the resulting change in the set of the tidal and river 

 current, a stony beach of very considerable extent has 

 raised itself from the water under the Capitolium, and 

 forms two sides of a little harbour, where we were able to 

 ride very peaceably during a time of storm. 



At the back of our camp rose cliffs of hyperite entirely 

 disconnected from the main mountain, but forming the 

 highest point of the plateau which drops to the Flower- 

 Garden. 



Between Glacier Camp and the eastern angle of the 

 bay are the remains of what was once a hut occupied by 

 Russians. The remains of their utensils, of their glass 

 windows, brick oven, and other belongings, are still scattered 

 about. 



This part of the bay is very wrongly entered on the 

 chart. From Glacier Camp the coast line diverges suddenly 

 to the east, forming a distinct angle with the Capitolium 

 and a carboniferous terrace which runs up from the shore 

 line to meet the mountains. 



