1899.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 503 



■weather saou melted this at the lower levels, but on the mouutains 

 the fall was heavier and lasted for a longer period. It will be 

 interesting to watch the effect, if any, which this unusual season 

 will have on the glaciers of the locality. Of the glaciers observed, 

 both last summer and this, a much smaller recession took place 

 (luring the twelve mouths than in previous years. 



VICTORIA GLACIER. 



The Victoria Glacier, at the head of Lake Louise, Alberta, was 

 visited on the 26th of July, 1899. Although seldom seen by trav- 

 elers, it is almost as accessible, and probably more interesting, than 

 the Illecellewaet Glacier, in British Columbia. A row across the 

 beautiful Lake Louise, followed by a walk of about two miles 

 over a fairly good trail, brings one to the tongue, which is deeply 

 buried in a large and high moraine. Following the northwest side 

 •of the valley, which has evidently been quite recently abandoned 

 by the ice, the surface of the glacier is reached with ease. Over 

 the lower part crevasses are almost entirely wanting, the drainage, 

 to a verv large extent, taking place on the surface. 



For a distance of nearly one and one-quarter miles from the 

 tongue the surface is thickly covered with moraine composed of 

 «hales, sandstones of several colors and limestones. These fall 

 with the avalanches from the hanging glaciers above, and many of 

 them are of large size. 



From indications which seem to be borne out l)y the observations 

 <of others,^ the glacier is receding and contracting. The slope of 

 the surface is small, the lower part being nearly flat, and the 

 motion is accordingly likely to be insignificant, thbugh no observa- 

 tions have been made for its determination. For future reference, 

 a very large block of limestone, near the centre of the glacier, 

 and about one mile from the tongue, was located by range lines and 

 marked " VX, '99." The movement next year can easily be 

 determined from this rock. The position of the ice on the north- 

 west side was also located, being twenty feet distant from the neai'est 

 of three very prominent and nearly cubical blocks of red sandstone, 

 which recently had been released from the ice. 



^ The First Ascent of Mount Victoria, Prof. C. E. Fay, Appalachia, vol. 

 ix, p. 4. 



