58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



spectacle such as can be seen on no otlier artery of the world's travel. Scarcely 

 2^ kilometers from the station above the dark pine of the primeval forest shines a 

 glacier in the perfection of purity. On the left Sir Donald (3250 m.) raises its 

 j)roud summit of rock, from which a comb extends in Avhose cirques twinkle snow 

 fields and tiny glaciers ; the Eagle and Avalanche peaks stand out boldly. On 

 turning around you see the beautifully formed pyramid of Mount Cheops, which 

 although only 2,704 meters high conceals a couple of glaciers on its flanks. If 

 the loop of the Brenner railway at Gossensass extended as far as Innerpflersch 

 and the Feuerstein glacier came to meet it at Stein, then one would have a 

 European parallel to the magnificent surroundings of Glacier House, which the 

 C.P.R. has erected here, with every comfort in the immediate vicinity of its line. 



I could not indeed quite fully enjoy this scenery when I reached Glacier 

 Sept. 3rd, 1897. I came as a member of one of those exceedingly instructive excur- 

 sions under excellent guidance, (our guide was the Director of the Geological 

 Survey of Canada, Dr. Geo. M. Dawson), which were connected with the meeting 

 of the B.A.A.S. in Toronto. Heavy clouds were collecting over the mountains 

 and from time to time showers fell. The plan of some enterprising members of 

 our party, to climb Mount Abbott (2,380 m.) behind the hotel immediately after 

 the train arrived, proved impracticable and all our attention was concentrated on 

 the Illecillewaet glacier, which was introduced to the travellers as ' ' The Great 

 Glacier of the Selkirks." The position of its tongue makes it certain that the 

 snow line here lies very deep . In view of the small glacier on Mount Cheops and 

 of small ones figured by Green on Mount Abbott, I should estimate it at fi'om 2,200 

 to 2,300 meters at the highest, which, considering the dryness of the territory 

 lying further west, appears remarkably low. 



The way to the glacier leads through the primeval forest with its lofty trunks, 

 under cedars, Douglas firs, Canadian pines, hemlock trees and balsams, which 

 conceal it from view, until we leave the wood. There to the south of the road 

 lies a great boulder which affords an excellent view of the ice tongue, (Point P5 

 of the diagram). It reminds one to some extent of the Rhone glacier ; rising with 

 a gentle slope it is traversed by only a few radial fissures. Above there is a 

 precipitous ice cascade. Here the glacier is broken up into individual seracs. 

 The higher glacial field, the neve does not become visible. It leads across to the 

 Geikie glacier. A moraine, 70 to 150 m. broad, extends around the tongue and 

 continues up the sides in two lateral moraines. The one on the right, near the 

 foot of the wall over which the glacier descends, rises some 30 meters above it,' 

 the one on the left is considerably higher and steeper. This ground, which it is 

 plain has only lately been free from ice, is surrounded by a space twice as broad, 

 on which there is nothing but low underbrush. Then follows the forest with its < 

 giant trees in which lies our point of observation. 



There can be no doubt that the glacier is retreating fast. The flat form of 

 the tongue shows this, and still more the moraine in front of it. It can only 

 recently have been free of ice, otherwise it would certainly have been occupied 

 by the luxuriantly gi-owing plants of the land. As a matter of fact one of 

 Notman & Son's magnificent photographs taken in 1888 does not show the 

 moraine. At that time the ice reached close up to the underbrush, and was 

 surrounded by a low wall of boulders which now encircles the space free of ice 

 with a terminal moraine j)erfectly well defined although only a few meters high. 

 We have therefore indubitable evidence of the fact that the retreat of the ice only 

 began after 1888. This is further confirmed by eye-witnesses. When the Rev. 

 W. Spotswood Green explored the neighbourhood of Glacier House in 1888 it 

 seemed to him that the ice tongue was advancing, for it had overturned some 

 bushes at the northeastern extremity. 



At the same time, however, the Rev. Mr. Green says that at the time of his 

 visit all the glaciers in the Selkirks bore evidence of retrogression. He mentions 

 the huge boulders which are met with on the road from the Glacier House to the 

 glacier, and considers them moraines of an earlier glacier, made up of the 

 Illecillewaet and Asulkau. The lofty tree trunks of the neighbouring forest would 

 show the period of this giant glacier to be centuries ago, granting Green's 

 explanation of the boulders to be correct. But there can be no doubt that the 

 glacial high tide (Gletscherhochstand) of the end of the eighties has been preceded 



