SNOW-BLINDED ON THE SUMMIT 9 



the trees. In the deep canon I dug down into the 

 snow and examined the faces of low-lying boulders. 

 With the greatest care I felt the lichen growth on 

 the rocks. These verified the information that I 

 had from the trees — but none too well. Then I 

 felt over the moss growth, both long and short, on 

 the trunks and lower limbs of trees, but this tes- 

 timony was not absolutely convincing. The moss 

 growth was so nearly even all the way around the 

 trunk that I concluded that the surrounding topog- 

 raphy must be such as to admit the light freely 

 from all quarters, and also that the wall or slope 

 on my right must be either a gentle one or else a 

 low one and somewhat broken. I climbed to make 

 sure. In a few minutes I was on a terrace — as I 

 expected. Possibly back on the right lay a basin 

 that might be tributary to this canon. The re- 

 ports made by the echoes of my shoutings said that 

 this was true. A few minutes of travel down the 

 canon and I came to the expected incoming stream, 

 which made its swift presence heard beneath its 

 cover of ice and snow. 



A short distance farther down the canon I ex- 

 amined a number of trees that stood in thick 

 growth on the lower part of what I thought was 

 the southern slope. Here the character of the 

 moss and lichens and their abundant growth on the 

 northerly sides of the trees verified the testimony 

 of the tree distribution and of previous moss and 

 lichen growths. I was satisfied as to the points 



