186 I. C. Rassell — Expedition to Mount St. Elias. 



it has ai^parently displaced the sea and holds it back by a wall 

 of debris deposited' about its margin. All of its central portion 

 is of clear white ice, and around all its margins, excepting where 

 the Agassiz and Seward glaciers come in, it is bounded by a 

 fringe of debris and by moraines resting on the ice. Along the 

 seaward border the belt of fringing moraines is about five miles 

 broad. The inner margin* of the moraine belt is composed of 

 rocks and dirt, without vegetation, and separated more or less 

 completely into belts by strij)s of clear ice. On going from the 

 clear ice toward the margin of the glacier one finds shrubs and 

 flowers scattered here and there over the surface. Farther sea- 

 ward the vegetation becomes more dense and the flowers cover 

 the whole surface, giving it the appearance of a luxuriant 

 meadow. Still farther toward the margin dense clumps of alder, 

 with scattered spruce trees, become conspicuous, while on the 

 outer margin spruce trees of larger size form a veritable forest. 

 That this vegetation actually grows on the moraines above a liv- 

 ing glacier is proved beyond all question by holes and crevasses 

 which reveal the ice beneath. The curious lakes scattered abun- 

 dantly over the moraine-covered areas, and occupying hour-glass- 

 shaped depressions in the ice, have already been described. 



From the southern end of the Samovar hills, where the Seward 

 and Agassiz glaciers unite, tliere is a ,compound moraine stretch- 

 ing southward, which divides at its distal extremity and forms 

 great curves and swirl-like figures indicating currents in the 

 glacier. 



All the central part of the plateau is, as already stated, of clear 

 white ice, free from moraines ; at a distance it has the appearance 

 of a broad snow surface. This is due to the fact that the ice is 

 melted and honey-combed during the warm summer and the 

 surface becomes vesicular and loses its. banded structure. A 

 rough, coral-like crust, due to the freezing of the portions melted 

 during the day, frequently covers large areas and resembles a 

 thick hoar-frost. Crevasses are numerous, but seldom more than 

 a few feet deep. They appear to be the lower portions of deep 

 crevasses in the tributary streams which have partially closed, or 

 else not completely removed by the melting and evaporation of 

 the surface. 



Many of the crevasses are filled with water, but there are no 

 surface streams and no lakes. Melting is rapid during the warm 



