of #* 



to the slope, I struck heavily and loosened sev- 

 eral rods of a landslide. I tumbled off the back 

 of it, but not before its rock points had made 

 some impressions. 



I sought safety and a place of lookout on a 

 crag, and picked bits of granite gravel from my 

 anatomy. Presently I heard a muffled creaking, 

 and looked up to see a gigantic landslide start- 

 ing. At first it moved slowly, seemed to hesi- 

 tate, then slid faster, with its stone-filled front 

 edge here and there doubling and rolling under; 

 finally the entire mass broke into yawning, 

 ragged fissures as it shot forward and plunged 

 over a cliff. Waiting until most of the strag- 

 gling, detached riffraff had followed, I hastened 

 to examine the place just evacuated. In getting 

 down I disturbed a ground-hog from his rock 

 point, and found that he was in the same atti- 

 tude and position I had seen him holding just 

 before the slide started, so that the exhibition 

 had merely caused him to move his eyes a 

 little. 



In the cracks and crevices of the glaciated 

 rock-slope from which this mass had slid, there 



282 



