163 FORESTRY OF NORWAY. 



been formed in this manner. Not far from Lodal is the 

 very interesting glacier of Stegeholt, reached by again 

 fording the Lodal river. The end of this glacier is narrow, 

 and the ice comes through a contracted gorge choked with 

 large stones, which prevented me from seeing the terminal 

 cavern. 



' On the left bank, to a certain height, birch trees were 

 abundant, and there was a dense growth of grass and 

 weeds within a few yards of the ice. Here also I saw 

 evidence that the ice had much diminished that year. 

 Numerous large boulders, forming longitudinal moraines, 

 were stranded along its sides. The crevasses indicated a 

 powerful strain ; through the cracks, which crossed the 

 whole breadth of glacier, you could see the deep blue 

 colour growing darker and darker with the increasing 

 depth. 



' We have given a description of retiring glaciers. We 

 must also speak of those which are advancing with an 

 irresistible power.' 



Following an account of the Ringedal waterfall, our 

 traveller writes : ' A row of one hour on the fiord brought 

 us to Odde ; from which the tourist should not fail to 

 visit the Buer-brae-en, one of the glaciers, of the Folgefonn. 

 A ridge of mountains crosses the Folgefonn, in a north- 

 easterly direction, forming the Svartdal black dale and 

 the Blaadal blue dale ; and another ridge forms the 

 Kvitnaadal. Blocks of stone mixed with sand showed 

 their unmistakeable origin. The glacier had reached this 

 point years before, had retired, and was now again ad- 

 vancing ; while higher up, our path continued through a 

 wood, in which numerous moss-covered stones could be 

 seen showing that the glacier had not reached that alti- 

 tude for a very long time. 



' The view of that narrow glacier was imposing, impres- 

 sing the mind with a sense of the great power of destruc- 

 tion possessed by a vast body of moving ice. In the study 

 of other glaciers which were retiring, we have seen how 



