i 9 o 3 ] ASCENDING FERRAR GLACIER 165 



be in any climate, for nearly all around is dark bare rock. We 

 are in a deep gorge, not narrow, as the glacier here is probably 

 four or five miles across, but the cliffs on either side are so 

 majestic and lofty that the broad surface of the glacier is 

 wholly dwarfed by them. 



'We are on the south side of the valley, and towering 

 precipitously between three and four thousand feet above our 

 heads are the high sunlit pinnacles of the Cathedral Rocks ; 

 they were well named by Armitage, for their lofty peaks might 

 well be the spires of some mighty edifice. Low down the 

 rock itself is gneiss, I believe ; in colour a greyish black, but 

 veined and splashed with many a lighter hue. The high 

 weathered pinnacles have a rich brown shade ; this is basalt, 

 which here directly overlies the gneiss. On the further side 

 of our valley the hills rise almost as abruptly as on this j 

 reddish brown is the predominant colour there also, but 

 where the sunlight falls on the steeper cliffs it is lightened 

 almost to a brick red. A little snow can be seen amongst 

 the peaks and gullies opposite to us, and here and there the 

 sparkling white of some hanging glacier is in marked contrast 

 to the rich tones of the bare rock. 



1 We are camped in the medial moraine, a long scattered 

 line of boulders of every form and colour. Looking east one 

 can see this line winding down with graceful curves over the 

 blue surface of the glacier, towards the sea ; far away beyond 

 is the ice-covered sea itself, pearly grey in the distance. One 

 can follow this highway of boulders to the west too, till it 

 vanishes over the undulating inclines above us ; in this 

 direction the glacier wears a formidable aspect, for in its 

 centre is an immense cascade. It is exactly as though this 

 was some river which had been suddenly frozen in its course, 

 with the cascade to show where its waters had been dashing 

 wildly over a rocky shallow ; it is very beautiful, with its 

 gleaming white waves and deep blue shadows, but we shall 

 have to give it a wide berth when we travel upward. The 

 upper valley is perhaps our most beautiful view ; the dark 

 cliffs form a broad V and frame the cascading glacier, and 



