HARRIMAN GLACIER 95 



set as practically to coalesce, especially on the south- 

 east side, giving a broad expanse of nearly continuous 

 ice and neve. This expanse, fully commanded from 

 the water, makes the view of the glacier a most im- 

 pressive spectacle. 



The visible moraines are few and unimportant, but the 

 presence of much embedded drift is suggested by a detrital 

 bank on which the eastern edge of the ice is seen to rest 

 at the front. Above this bank the frontal cliff is low and 

 irregular, but elsewhere it is lofty, ranging in height from 

 200 to 300 feet. From such a cliff an active discharge 

 of bergs might be assumed, but our parties encountered 

 only a moderate quantity of floating ice near the head of 

 the fiord. 



The glacier is not closely approached by forest growth, 

 but shrubs were seen on the shore of the fiord within a 

 few hundred yards of the ice. If the ice is diminishing, 

 the recent retreat of the glacier front would appear not to 

 have been rapid. The condition of the front in June, 

 1899, is recorded in a series of photographs. Two of 

 these, reproduced in plate xv, show the ends of the frontal 

 cliff, where the ice adjoins the valley walls, and will be 

 serviceable for future comparisons with reference to ad- 

 vance or retreat. A third (Curtis negative NO. 291), 

 published in volume i at page 74, gives a distant view of 

 the glacier and its southeastern tributaries ; and a fourth 

 (Harriman negative NO. 98), appearing in volume n at 

 page 262, gives the glacier and its surroundings from a 

 somewhat nearer point. 



Some of the minor glaciers associated with the Harri- 

 man occupy elevated valleys far above the main trough, 

 and these upland valleys probably constitute a system 

 initiated at an earlier epoch, when the fiord was flooded 

 with ice to a great depth. Illustrative examples are 

 afforded by two hanging glaciers overlooking the lower 



