Frof. Nordensldbld — Expedition to Greenland. 361 



haste back to the boat, which we reached late in the evening of 

 the 25th. 



At a short distance from our turning-point, we came to a copious, 

 deep, and broad river, flowing rapidly between its blue banks 

 of ice, which were here not discoloixred by any gravel, and which 

 could not be crossed without a bridge. As it cut off our return, we were 

 at first somewhat disconcerted ; but we soon concluded that — as in our 

 journey out we had not passed any stream of such large dimensions — it 

 must at no great distance disappear under the ice. We therefore 

 proceeded along its bank in the direction of the current, and before 

 long a distant roar indicated that our conjecture was right. The 

 whole immense mass of water here rushed down a perpendicular 

 cleft into the depths below. We observed another smaller but 

 nevertheless very remarkable waterfall the next day, while ex- 

 amining, after our midday rest, the neighbourhood around us with 

 the telescope. We saw in fact a pillar of steam rising from the ice 

 at some distance from our resting-place, and, as the spot was not far 

 out of our way, we steered our course by it, in the hope of meeting — 

 judging from the height of the misty pillar — a waterfall still greater 

 than that just described. We were mistaken : only a smaller, 

 though nevertheless tolerably copious, river rushed down from the 

 azure-blue cliffs to a depth from which no splashes rebounded to 

 the mouth of the fall ; but there arose instead, from another smaller 

 hole in the ice, in the immediate vicinity, an intermittent jet of 

 water, mixed with air, which, carried hither and thither by the 

 wind, wetted the surrounding cliffs with its spray. We had then 

 here, in the midst of the desert of inland ice, a fountain, as far as we 

 could judge from the descriptions, very like the geysers which in 

 Iceland are produced by volcanic heat. 



In order, if possible, to avoid the district of ice-rocks, which on 

 our journey out had required so much patience and exertion, we had 

 in returning chosen a more northerly route, intending to endeavour 

 to descend from the ice-ridge higher up on the slip of ice-free land, 

 which lies between the inland ice and Disko Bay. The ice was here, 

 with the exception of a few ice-hillocks of a few feet high, in most 

 places as even as a floor, but often crossed by very large and dan- 

 gerous clefts, and we were so fortunate as immediately to hit upon a 

 place where the inclination towards the land was so inconsiderable 

 that one might have driven up it four-in-hand. 



The remainder of the way along the land was harder, partly on 

 account of the very uneven nature of the ground, and partly on account 

 of the numerous glacier streams which we had to wade through, 

 with the water far above our boots. At last, at a little distance from the 

 tent, we came to a glacier stream, full of muddy water, so large 

 that, after several failures, we were obliged to abandon the hope of 

 finding a fordable place. We were therefore obliged to climb high 

 up again upon the shining ice, so as to be able to find our way down 

 again further on, after passing the river ; but the descent on this 

 occasion was far more difficult than before. 



Laborious as this journey along the land was, it was nevertheless 



