176 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



his back, and finally depositing me in a sitting pos- 

 ture in eighteen inches of water ; but Mr. Schwatka, 

 who weighed eighteen stone, was landed quite dry 

 upon the opposite side. We then crossed a fine ex- 

 panse of sand on which strawberries were growing in 

 great profusion, and came upon a great river over six 

 miles in width, and of a shallow, rapid character. We 

 were now compelled to follow the bank of this stream, 

 and spent the remainder of the day in terror of our 

 lives, now stepping gingerly over the undulating sur- 

 face of some vast quicksand, in the utmost trepidation 

 lest it should give way beneath us and engulf us 

 within its slimy bosom, now wading some rushing 

 affluent of an almost freezing temperature ; camping 

 at length on some gravel below the ice-cliffs of a 

 glacier, thankful that our day's work was done. It 

 was a cruel, repulsive, gigantic river, fit offspring of 

 the vast glaciers which cover the entire country, with 

 the exception of one or two verdant spots. Its waters 

 were swift and of a milky thickness covered by a dark 

 oily scum. Close to the spot which we had chosen 

 for our camp, it issued from under the ice-cliffs from 

 a thousand openings; two great glaciers advancing 

 from opposite directions had met each other and buried 

 between them this mighty stream, leaving nothing 

 visible but an expanse of broken ice of enormous 

 thickness, and hushing its murmur to a deathlike 

 stillness. Higher up and nearer to St. Elias, this 

 river comes again to the surface. The glaciers around 

 were of huge thickness, entirely covered for some 



