CHAPTER XVIII 



MY SLED-TRIP ON THE MUIR GLACIER 



I STARTED off the morning of July ii on my 

 memorable sled-trip to obtain general views of the 

 main upper part of the Muir Glacier and its seven 

 principal tributaries, feeling sure that I would learn 

 something and at the same time get rid of a severe 

 bronchial cough that followed an attack of the grippe 

 and had troubled me for three months. I intended to 

 camp on the glacier every night, and did so, and my 

 throat grew better every day until it was well, for no 

 lowland microbe could stand such a trip. My sled 

 was about three feet long and made as light as possi- 

 ble. A sack of hardtack, a little tea and sugar, and a 

 sleeping-bag were firmly lashed on it so that nothing 

 could drop off however much it might be jarred and 

 dangled in crossing crevasses. 



Two Indians carried the baggage over the rocky 

 moraine to the clear glacier at the side of one of the 

 eastern Nunatak Islands. Mr. Loomis accompanied 

 me to this first camp and assisted in dragging the 

 empty sled over the moraine. We arrived at the middle 

 Nunatak Island about nine o'clock. Here I sent back 

 my Indian carriers, and Mr. Loomis assisted me the 

 first day in hauling the loaded sled to my second 

 camp at the foot of Hemlock Mountain, returning 

 the next morning. 



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