APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 173 
aches deposits itself as a sort of talus, or sloping delta- 
shaped heap at about that part of the terrace which must 
have been the shore of the ancient fiord. All these aval- 
anche tracks are smoothed by the falling snow, and ice, 
and stones; they are probably scratched and grooved like- 
wise, but this I cannot positively affirm, as they were on 
the opposite side of the river.’ ; 
In writing of his journey in still higher lying lands, 
whence flow the rivers terminating in the Romsdal fiord, 
and the Sogne fiord, and several others in the district 
called coliectively the ‘ Nord fiord, although there is no 
individual fiord bearing that name, he says, ‘The ascent of 
the valley towards the snowy wilderness of the Nord fiord 
and Jostedals Breen is by an abominable path, over the 
wreck of glacier moraines, and through thickets of low 
beech trees, or rather bushes; the elastic arms of which, 
entangled with each other, continually bar the way, and 
springing back as they are bent aside, pick off one’s hat, 
flog one’s face, and take most tantalising liberties with the 
knapsack behind. 
‘The vegetation soon ceased, and I came upon a waste 
of loose stones, with sloppy snow between, and every ves- 
tige of the track obliterated by the thawing. The diffi- 
culties and adventures in which he was thus involved are 
graphically told. He found himself at the head of a 
valley terminating in three peaks, the centre one being 
just in the direction he ought to take, but that was 
impossible. He must follow one or other of the hollows 
between ; but which? It was evident that these courses 
led to very different places; to valleys branching off in 
very different directions. They all led upwards to the 
great snow deserts of. the Jostedal and Nord fiord, or to 
the dreary Sogne fjeld, and downwards again to rocky 
solitudes filled with the ruins that the recently receded 
glaciers had left behind. 
He ascended one of the peaks in hopes of making a 
survey that would aid him; but found that the apparent 
‘summit was surmounted by another far above and far 
