MA LA SPIN A GLACIER. 233 



the forest-covered area still nearer the outer margin of the gla- 

 cier. Large quantities of trees and bushes fall into them with 

 the debris that slides from their sides, and tree trunks, roots and 

 soil, thus become buried in the moraines. 



Forests on the moraines. — The outer and consequently older 

 portions of the fringing moraines are covered with vegetation, 

 which in places, particularly near the outer mai'gin of the belt, 

 has all the characteristics of old forests. It consists principally 

 of spruce, alder and cottonwood trees, and a great variety of 

 shrubs, bushes and ferns. In many places the ice beneath the 

 dense forest is not less than a thousand feet thick. The vegeta- 

 tion is confined principally to the border of the Seward lobe. 

 Near Yahtse river the belt is 5 miles broad, but decreases toward 

 the east, and is absent at the Sitkagi bluffs, where the glacier is 

 being eaten away by the sea. It is only on the stagnant borders 

 of the ice sheet that forests occur. Both glacial lakelets and 

 forests on the moraines are absent where the ice has motion. 

 The forest -covered portion is by estimate between 20 and 25 

 scjuare miles in area. 



Older margin. — The southern margin of Malaspina glacier, 

 between the Yahtse and Point Manby, is abrupt and forms a 

 bluff that varies in height from 140 to 300 feet or more. The 

 bluff is so steep in most places and is so heavily incumbered with 

 fallen trees and boulders, that it is with difficulty one can climb 

 it. Many times the trouble in ascending is increased by land 

 slides which have piled the superficial material in confused heaps, 

 and in other instances the melting of the ice beneath the vegeta- 

 tion has left concealed pit -falls into \vhich one may drop with- 

 out warning. The bluff formed by the margin of the glacier 

 when not washed by the sea, is boldest and steepest where the 

 covering of vegetation is most dense. Where the covering con- 

 sists of stones and dirt without vegetation, however, the margin 

 may still be bold. This is illustrated between the mouth of the 

 Yahtse and Icy cape, where the ice is concealed beneath a gen- 

 eral sheet of debris, but has a bold convex margin which rises 

 abruptly from the desolate torrent -swept waste at its base. 



