APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 165 



' A few miles farther on is the Berset glacier, the first 

 in the valley, and near it is the poor hamlet of Nygaard. 

 From the deep-blue cavern at the base of this glacier 

 flowed with great force a dirty stream into the valley, and 

 close to the icy edge was a parallel line of boulders, 

 stones, and sand, left behind by the retiring mass. 

 Beyond this were several other transverse ridges, formed 

 by similar deposits, showing that the glacier is fast 

 retiring. 



* After a pony ride of twenty-eight miles I came to 

 Faaberg, the last hamlet of the valley, containing several 

 well stocked farms, and surrounded by verdant fields and 

 meadows 



* From Faaberg the path was extremely rugged. The 

 ceaseless noise of the rushing water, formed chiefly by the 

 glaciers of Bjoernestig, Lodal, and Stegeholt, at times was 

 so great as to drown the voice. . . . Winding our 

 way for a while through meadows and woods, we saw in 

 the distance, at the end of the valley, the Stegeholt and 

 Lodal glaciers ; the summit of the peak is (5,410 feet 

 above the sea. At the end of that wild valley was the 

 usual moraine with rounded stones, pebbles, and sand, 

 left by the retiring glaciers. The streams from them 

 divide and meet again ; the current was very strong, and 

 the water so dirty that our horses were almost afraid to 

 cross. One would naturally think, not knowing the laws 

 which govern the movement of a glacier, that a stream 

 created by the melting of pure ice could only produce the 

 clearest water ; on the contrary, the very nature of a 

 glacier prevents any other sort of stream. In June, and 

 even in the beginning of July, these streams are unford- 

 able. The Lodal glacier was covered with dirt, stones, and 

 debris from the mountain side. Its cavern was by far the 

 finest and longest that I had seen, being about 20 feet 

 wide ; from it a turbid river rushed with great force. The 

 beauty of this cavern cannot be adequately described, the 

 blue colour of the ics gradually became deeper, finally 

 merging into an intense inky-blue. Owing to the great 



