MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 145 



began to move to and fro as the rising breeze swept round 

 the walls, until it swung like the pendulum of a clock over 

 a space of 250 feet ; then came a strong gust of wind, and 

 the whole mass spread into a transparent sheet of spray 

 from top to bottom ; as it became still it contracted once 

 more into a white column. For a long time I stood watch- 

 ing the fascinating spectacle, and could hardly tear myself 

 away. It resembles in this changing column of spray the 

 Staubbach fall in the valley of Lauterbrunnen in Switzer- 

 land, and still more, according to descriptions and photo- 

 graphs, the upper portion of the Yosemite fall in the 

 famous valley of California. This latter plunges vertically 

 about a thousand feet over a granite precipice, varying 

 much in appearance according to the volume of water in 

 different seasons, and its column of spray, in the same 

 manner, is the delicate plaything of the winds. But the 

 Yetti-Foss has more water. These bridal-veil water-falls 

 are counted by hundreds in Norway. 



' If the tourist ascend the grand fiord of the Aurland, 

 on the southern shore of the Sogne, some ten miles west 

 from Laerdalsoeren, and cross the mountain ridge separat- 

 ing this basin from that of the Hardanger fiord, the lovely 

 basin further to the south already spoken of, he will pass 

 by the way the Tvinde-Foss, which pours over a sparsely 

 wooded ledge, three or four hundred feet in height, and its 

 cascades, if not grand, are among the loveliest in Norway/ 



But we have not yet done with the Sogne fiord. ' One 

 of the striking characteristics of the Sogne fiord is the 

 varying depth of the water. South of Yttre Sulen, the 

 island lying in the mouth of the fiord, the depth of the sea 

 is stated by Du Chaillu to be about 600 feet; farther 

 inland, between Big Store Hilleoe and Stevsundoe, it is 

 1,584 feet ; a little farther up it diminishes to 1,200 and 

 900 feet, and immediately south of Poe church it attains 

 the enormous depth of 3,980 feet [more than three-fourths 

 of an English mile] ; north of Arnfjord church 3,*222 feet ; 

 at the entrance of the Aurland, 3,766 feet ; and just south 



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