294 WANDEKINGS OF A 



the level of the sea. The descent was very difficult, in conse- 

 quence of great transverse fissures, over which the coolies and 

 animals had to leap. These great gaping ice-rents contiaually 

 obstructed our journey, and frightened my pony by the hollow 

 noises occasioned by the torrents of melted ice which flowed 

 into them from the surface of the glacier. Our course was 

 therefore tortuous, and had to be directed as it best could by 

 seeking the narrowest portions of the rents. In this way four 

 hours were spent toiling over the broken and irregular surface, 

 for the most part covered with masses of rock, gravel, and 

 debris from the surrounding slopes. At times we had to slip 

 down abrupt declivities, at others to scramble through great 

 hollows. The grandeur of the scene, in spite of the hazy state 

 of the atmosphere, was most impressive, and I more than once 

 turned and gazed upwards at the vast contorted mass of ice 

 and rock, wondering how long the huge boulders lying on 

 the top of the glacier would take to move to the bottom ; 

 and wondrous as glacier motion seems, there is certainly some- 

 thing in its general appearance which suggests the idea of a 

 frozen river. The sweeping slope, dirt bands, and lateral 

 moraines, have, even to the unscientific observer, some signi- 

 ficance of motion. I believe we would have appreciated the 

 grandeur of the scene a great deal more had we then been in- 

 timately acquaiated with the discoveries of Agassiz, Forbes, 

 Tyndall, and others, or what is so truthfully and so sweetly 

 portrayed in the following lines : — 



" A sunny glacier on the creviced slope 

 Its icy talons iixed, and down the hill, 

 With annual progress, like a tortoise crawled ; 

 Douhtless is crawling now, while summer noon 

 And its relaxing ether smooth the path — 

 A path more slowly travelled in the frosts 

 Of winter, yet incessantly pursued 



