SS THE ICE AGE IX XOETII AMBK2 



I was greatly interested V er that i bead 



of the moraine. It eame down abruptly from the central pla- 

 teau of the island, with an augle of descent of more tha 

 enty degrees. I have never seen one that illustrated more 

 beautifully the s § or semi-solid movemeut of these masses, 

 like a well-known glacier of the Alps, it had two planes of 

 it : the upper nearly precipitous for about fonr hundred 

 feet from the summit ; the lower of about the same height, but 

 with an angle of some tit: g miniunieating 



by a slightly inclined platform perhaps half am _. This 



ice was unbroken through its entire extent. It eame down from 

 the level of the upper country, a vast icicle, with the folds or 

 waves impressed upon it by its onward motion undisturbed by 

 auy apparent fracture or crevasse. Thus it rolled onward oyer 

 the rugged and contracting platform below, and thence poured 

 its semi-solid mass down upon the plain. Where it encount- 

 ered occasional kuobs of rock it passed round them, beariug 

 still the distinctive marks of au imperfect fluid obstructed in 

 its descent : aud its lower fall described a dome. or. I 

 the more accurate simile of Forbes, a great outspread clam- 

 shell of ice. 



It seeined as if an interior ice-lake was rising above the 

 brink of the otitis that confined it. In many places it could 

 be seen exudiug or forciug its way over the very crest of the 

 rocks, and hanging down iu huge icy stalactites seventy aud 

 one hundred feet long. These were still lengthening out by 

 the continuous overflow, some of them breaking off as their 

 weight became too great for their tenacity, others swelli 

 constant supplies from the interior, but spitting off fragment- 

 ary masses with an unremitting clamor. The plain below 

 these eataraetiue glaciers was piling up with the debrte. while 

 torrents of the melted rubbish found their way. foaming and 

 muddy, to the sea. carrying gravel and rocks along with them. 



These ice-cascades, as we called them, kept up their din the 

 whole night, sometimes startling us with a heavy booming 

 sound, as the larger masses fell, but more generally rattling 

 away like the random tires of a militia parade. On examining 

 the ice of which they were made up. I found grains of nere 

 larger than a 90 large, indeed, that it was hard to re- 



