THE GLACIERS OF GREENLAND, 95 



losing itself in a dark water-cloud, the noble head-land of John 

 Barrow. 



The trend of this glacier is a few degrees to the west of 

 north. We followed its face afterward, edging in for the 

 Greenland coast, about the rocky archipelago which I have 

 named after the Advance. From one of these rugged islets, 

 the nearest to the glacier which could be approached with any- 

 thing like safety, I could see another island, larger and closer 

 in shore, already half covered by the encroaching face of the 

 glacier, and great masses of ice still detaching themselves and 

 splintering as they fell upon that portion which protruded. 

 Eepose was not the characteristic of this seemingly solid mass ; 

 every feature indicated activity, energy, movement. 



The surface seemed to follow that of the basis-country over 

 which it flowed. It was undulating about the horizon, but 

 as it descended toward the sea it represented a broken plain 

 with a general inclination of some nine degrees, still dimin- 

 ishing toward the foreground. Crevasses, in the distance mere 

 wrinkles, expanded as they came nearer, and were crossed 

 almost at right angles by long, continuous lines of fracture 

 parallel with the face of the glacier. 



These lines, too, scarcely traceable in the far distance, 

 widened as they approached the sea until they formed a gigan- 

 tic stairway. It seemed as though the ice had lost its support 

 below, and that the mass was let down from above in a series 

 of steps. Such an action, owing to the heat derived from the 

 soil, the excessive surface-drainage, and the constant abrasion 

 of the sea, must in reality take place. My note-book may 

 enable me at some future day to develop its details. I have 

 referred to this as the escaladed structure of the arctic gla- 

 cier. 



The indication of a great propelling agency seemed to be 

 just commencing at the time I was observing it. These split- 

 off lines of ice were evidently in motion, pressed on by those 

 behind, but still widening their fissures, as if the impelling 

 action was more and more energetic nearer the water, till at 

 last they floated away in the form of icebergs. Long files of 

 these detached masses could be traced slowly sailing off into 

 the distance, their separation marked by dark parallel shadows 



