ICE FORxMATIONS IN MARSHES 109 



rain above, and by the gradually warming waters 

 below, that in places they were of paper thinness. 

 One took chances in crossing them. Alpine rop- 

 ing would have been desirable. In other places, 

 the icy roof was eaten away into a delicate fret- 

 work of lace, and, through the larger holes, one 

 could see the swirling tide below. As a rule, 

 however, with a little preliminary testing and 

 good selection, the creeks could be crossed on safe 

 bridges. 



When the marshes are free from ice, a snow- 

 storm late in the spring may whiten them tempo- 

 rarily, but an unusually high tide transforms 

 them to a dark plane in a white setting of up- 

 land. The marshes look particularly black at 

 these times. The reverse or negative ot this 

 scene appears in cold weather when there is no 

 snow. The marshes are white with ice, while 

 the setting of hills and fields is brown and bare. 



A heavy snowstorm in w^inter renders a cross- 

 ing of the marshes an uncertain performance. 

 One may meet some surprises. This happened to 

 me in a February storm in 1916. I was taking 

 a short cut across the marshes on snowshoes. 



