APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 165 
‘A few miles farther on is the Berset glacier, the first 
in the valley, and near it is the poor hamlet of Nygaard. 
From the deep-blue cavern at the base of this glacier 
flowed with great force a dirty stream into the valley, and 
close to the icy edge was a parallel line of boulders, 
stones, and sand, left behind by the retiring mass. 
Beyond this were several other transverse ridges, formed 
by similar deposits, showing that the glacier is fast 
retiring. 
‘After a pony ride of twenty-eight miles I came to 
Faaberg, the last hamlet of the valley, containing several 
well-stocked farms, and surrounded by verdant fields and 
meadows, a ee 
‘From Faaberg the path was extremely rugged. The 
ceaseless noise of the rushing water, formed chiefly by the 
glaciers of Bjoernestig, Lodal, and Stegeholt, at times was 
so great as to drown the voice. . . . Winding our 
way for a while through meadows and woods, we saw in 
the distance, at the end of the valley, the Stegeholt and 
Lodal glaciers; the summit of the peak is 6,410 feet 
above the sea. At the end of that wild valley was the 
usual moraine with rounded stones, pebbles, and sand, 
left by the retiring glaciers. The streams from them 
divide and meet again; the current was very strong, and 
the water so dirty that our horses were almost afraid to 
cross. One would naturally think, not knowing the laws 
which govern the movement of a glacier, that a stream 
created by-the melting of pure ice could only produce the 
clearest water; on the contrary, the very nature of a 
glacier prevents any other sort of stream. In June, and 
even in the beginning of July, these streams are unford- 
able. The Vodal glacier was covered with dirt, stones, and 
débris from the mountain side, Its cavern was by far the 
finest and longest that I had seen, being about 20 feet 
wide ; from it a turbid river rushed with great force. The 
beauty of this cavern cannot be adequately described, the 
blue colour of the ice gradually became deeper, finally 
merging into an intense inky-blue. Owing to the great 
