94 THE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA. 



seas ; and, having at last reached the northern limit of the 

 land that has borne it up, pouring out a mighty frozen tor- 

 rent into unknown arctic space. 



It is thus, and only thus, that we must form a just concep- 

 tion of a phenomenon like this great glacier. I had looked in 

 my own mind for such an appearance, should I ever be fortu- 

 nate enough to reach the northern coast of Greenland. But, 

 now that it was before me, I could hardly realize it. I had 

 recognized, in my quiet library at home, the beautiful analo- 

 gies which Forbes and Studer have developed between the 

 glacier and the river. But I could not comprehend, at first, 

 this complete substitution of ice for water. 



It was slowly that the conviction dawned on me that I was 

 looking upon the counterpart of the great river-system of Arc- 

 tic Asia and America. Yet here were no water-feeders from 

 the south. Every particle of moisture had its origin within 

 the polar circle, and had been converted into ice. There were 

 no vast alluvions, no forest or animal traces borne down by 

 liquid torrents. Here was a plastic, moving, semi-solid mass, 

 obliterating life, swallowing rocks and islands, and plowing 

 its way with irresistible march through the crust of an invest- 

 ing sea.* 



The following summer Dr. Kane visited the scene again, 

 and gives many additional particulars : 



I had not [he writes] realized fully the spectacle of this 

 stupendous monument of frost. I had seen it for some hours 

 hanging over the ice like a white-mist cloud, but now it rose 

 up before me clearly defined and almost precipitous. The 

 whole horizon, so vague and shadowy before, was broken by 

 long lines of icebergs ; and as the dogs, cheered by the cries 

 of their wild drivers, went on, losing themselves deeper and 

 deeper in the labyrinth, it seemed like closing around us the 

 walls of an icy world. They stopped at last ; and I had time, 

 while my companions rested and fed, to climb one of the high- 

 est bergs. The atmosphere favored me : the blue tops of 

 Washington Land [to the north] were in full view, and, 



* "Arctic Explorations," vol. i, pp. 225-228. 



