78 BULLETIN OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. 



" The stream was about twenty yards across and knee 

 deep. It was intensely cold, and pained my legs worse 

 than any glacier water I have ever waded in. The water 

 of the stream was brown, opaque and muddy, charged with 

 the grindings of the glaciers. Running into the sea it 

 formed a conspicuous brown tract, sharply defined from the 

 blue-green water of the sea, and extending almost to the 

 mouth of the bay. The sandy plain seemed entirely of 

 glacial origin; it was in places covered with glacial mud, 

 and was yielding and heavy to walk upon. 



" Mr. Buchanan observed that the isolated rocks which 

 had been rolled down upon the plain from the heights 

 above were cut by the natural sandblast into forms resem- 

 bling trees on a coast exposed to trade winds. The effect 

 of every prevalent wind was shown by the facets cut by 

 the blown sand upon the surfaces of the rocks, the largest 

 facet in each case being that turned towards the west." 



Alaskan wash-plains. — Professor RusselF has described 

 several examples in the glacial region of Mt. St. Elias, 

 Alaska, analogous to that of the Heard Island plain. True 

 alluvial cones also form in this region along the steep ice 

 margin where the drainage escapes from tunnels in the ice. 



GENERAL CHARACTERS OF EXTRAGLACIAL WASH. 



From the foregoing bibliographic references it will be 

 seen that several writers have described forms composed 

 of glacial sand and gravel accumulated at the front of the 

 ice-sheet in the manner of deltas and alluvial fans. These 

 deposits have a definite, recognizable form and structure, 

 and have for some time taken rank with moraines, drum- 



' 1. C. Russell. The Glaciers of Noilh America, Boston, 181(7. See aleo pai)ers 

 by same author in National Geo},'rai)hio MaKazlnc, iii, 1890, pp. 54-203, and 13tli 

 Annual Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. li, 1891, pp. 1-91. 



