744 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



mountains and snow-fields, woodland and wa- 

 ter, still lay between moonlight and sunrise, 

 the Hassler started for Tarn Bay. It was a 

 beautiful Easter Sunday, with very little wind, 

 and a soft sky, broken by few clouds. But 

 such beginnings are too apt to be delusive in 

 this region of wet and fog, and a heavy rain, 

 with thick mist, came up in the afternoon. 

 That night, for the first time, the Hassler 

 missed her anchorage, and lay olf the shore 

 near an island, which afforded some protection 

 from the wind. A forlorn hope was detailed 

 to the shore, where a large fire was kept burn- 

 ing all night, that the vessel might not lose 

 her bearings and drift away. In the morn- 

 ing all was right again, and she kept on her 

 course to Rowlet Narrows. 



This passage is formed by a deep gorge, 

 cleft between lofty walls over which many a 

 waterfall foams from reservoirs of snow above. 

 Agassiz observed two old glacier beds on the 

 western side of the pass — two shallow depres- 

 sions, lying arid and scored between swelling 

 wooded ridges. He had not met in all the 

 journey a better locality for the study of gla- 

 cial effects than here. The sides of the chan- 

 nel show these traces throughout their whole 

 length. In this same neighborhood, as a con- 



