EXISTING GLACIERS. 23 



down to within five thousand feet of the sea-level, and 

 being ten miles or more in length. All the streams which 

 descend the valleys upon this mountain are charged with 

 the milky-coloured water which betrays their glacial origin. 



In British Columbia, Glacier Station, upon the Cana- 

 dian Pacific Eailroad, in the Selkirk Mountains, is within 

 half a mile of the handsome Illicilliwaet Glacier, while 

 others of larger size are found at no great distance. The 

 interior farther north is unexplored to so great an extent 

 that little can be definitely said concerning its glacial phe- 

 nomena. The coast of British Columbia is penetrated by 

 numerous fiords, each of which receives the drainage of 

 a decaying glacier ; but none are in sight of the tourist- 

 steamers which thread their way through the intricate 

 network of channels characterising this coast, until the 

 Alaskan boundary is crossed and the mouth of the Stick- 

 een River is passed. 



A few miles up from the mouth of the Stickeen, how- 

 ever, glaciers of large size come down to the vicinity of 

 the river, both from the north and from the south, and 

 the attention of tourists is always attracted by the abun- 

 dant glacial sediment borne into the tide- water by the river 

 itself and discolouring the surface for a long distance be- 

 yond the outlet. Northward from this point the tourist 

 is rarely out of sight of ice-fields. The Auk and Patter- 

 son Glaciers are the first to come into view, but they do 

 not descend to the water-level. On nearing Holcomb 

 Bay, however, small icebergs begin to appear, heralding 

 the first of the glaciers which descend beyond the water's 

 edge. Taku Inlet, a little farther north, presents glaciers 

 of great size coming down to the sea-level, while the whole 

 length of Lynn Canal, from Juneau to Chilkat, a distance 

 of eighty miles, is dotted on both sides by conspicuous 

 glaciers and ice-fields. 



The Davidson Glacier, near the head of the canal, is 

 one of the most interesting for purposes of study. It 



