EXPLORE DEEVA BAY. 109 



explored at the farther end, and as if it ran a long 

 way up into the country; so, as it seemed quite 

 clear of ice at present, and the sloop was still be- 

 calmed, I thought this a favorable opportunity for 

 continuing the exploration of it to the end. I left 

 the sloop at four in the morning on the 2 2d, and 

 rowed up the west side of the bay. 



These lower hills bordering the fiords of Spitz- 

 bergen have a very strong resemblance to the long 

 dreary ranges of limestone hills which hem in on 

 both sides the valley of the Nile from Cairo to Sy- 

 ene ; and this resemblance exists both in their size, 

 shape, slope, and general aspect (ice and snow aside), 

 as well as in the solitude and almost total absence 

 of life and vegetation which characterizes them. 



About half way up this side is a glacier almost 

 extending into the water, and pushing before it a 

 huge moraine of mud and debris, the base of which 

 is washed by the sea, and renders the latter quite 

 shallow and muddy for several miles around. 



It is wonderful to observe how insignificant even 

 mountains of solid rock are compared to the enor- 

 mous power of glacial action. They appear to 

 melt and crumble into dust and mud, like mole- 

 hills, in the gigantic grasp of the " ice-rivers. 11 



I once rented the shootings of Olen-Turritt, in 

 Perthshire^ and in that valley I well remember some 

 vast accumulations of earth and gravel, the origin 

 of which completely puzzled me at the time ; but, 

 after having seen the numerous glaciers of Spitz- 



