Chap, ix.] COAST LINE OF GLACIERS. 191 



were no large stones amongst them, nor were such to be seen 

 in the moraine. 



The harpooner of the " Emma Jane," the whaling schooner 

 with which we fell in at Kerguelen's Land, told me that he 

 had always wondered where the stones on the ice came from ; 

 and no wonder, for Big Ben is usually hidden from view, and 

 the glaciers seem to have nothing above from which the stones 

 might come. Most of the stones, no doubt, reach the surface 

 and see the light only when they are approaching the bottom 

 of the glacier. 



The terminal moraine showed the usual irregular conical 

 heaping, and marks of recent motion of the stones and earth 

 composing it from the thawing of the ice supporting them, and 

 a small stream running from the glacier-bed cut its way to the 

 sea through a short arched tunnel in the ice, as so commonly oc- 

 curs elsewhere. A small cascade poured out of the ice-cliff on to 

 the seashore from an aperture about half-way up it. All the mo- 

 raines showed evidence of the present shrinking of the glaciers. 



The view along the shore of the successive terminations of 

 the glaciers was very fine. I had never before seen a coast- 

 line composed of cliffs and headlands of ice. None of the 

 glaciers came actually down into the sea. The bases of their 

 cliffs rested on the sandy beach and were only just washed by 

 the waves at high water or during gales of wind. 



The lateral moraines were of the usual form, with sharp 

 ridged crests and natural slopes on either side. They formed 

 lines of separation between the contiguous glaciers. They were 

 somewhat serpentine in course, and two of them were seen 

 to occur immediately above points where the glaciers on either 

 hand were separated by masses of rock in situ, which masses 

 showed out between the ice-cliffs on the shore and had the 

 end of the moraines resting on them. 



A stretch of perfectly level black sand about half a mile in 

 width forms the head of the bay and intervenes between the 

 glaciers and a promontory of rocky rising land stretching out 

 northwards and westwards, and forming the other side of the 

 bay. It was on the smooth sandy beach bounding this plain 

 that we landed. The surf was not heavy, but we had to drag 

 the boat up at once. 



In this we were helped by six wild-looking sealers, who had 

 made their appearance on the rocks as soon as the ship entered 

 the bay, with their rifles in their hands, and had gazed on 

 us with astonishment. The boss said, as we landed, he 

 "guessed we were out of our reckoning." They evidently 

 thought no one could have come to Heard Island on purpose 

 who was not in the sealing business. 



