CHAPTER II 



THE GLACIEKS 



OF the small residual glaciers mentioned in the 

 preceding chapter, I have found sixty-five in 

 that portion of the range lying between latitude 

 36 30' and 39. They occur singly or in small 

 groups on the north sides of the peaks of the High 

 Sierra, sheltered beneath broad frosty shadows, in 

 amphitheaters of their own making, where the 

 snow, shooting down from the surrounding heights 

 in avalanches, is most abundant. Over two thirds 

 of the entire number lie between latitude 37 and 

 38, and form the highest fountains of the San 

 Joaquin, Merced, Tuolumne, and Owen's rivers. 



The glaciers of Switzerland, like those of the 

 Sierra, are mere wasting remnants of mighty ice- 

 floods that once filled the great valleys and poured 

 into the sea. So, also, are those of Norway, Asia, 

 and South America. Even the grand continuous 

 mantles of ice that still cover Greenland, Spitz- 

 bergen, Nova Zembla, Franz-Joseph-Land, parts of 

 Alaska, and the south polar region are shallowing 

 and shrinking. Every glacier in the world is smaller 

 than it once was. All the world is growing warmer, 

 or the crop of snow-flowers is diminishing. But in 

 contemplating the condition of the glaciers of the 



