G. F. Wright—The Muir Glacier. 5 
from the mountaius near the rim of the amphitheatre, making 
twenty-six in all. Numerous rocky eminences also rise 
above the surface of the ice, like islands from the sea. ‘The 
two of these visited, situated about four miles back from the 
front, showed that they had been recently covered with ice,— 
their surfaces being smoothed and scored, and glacial debris 
being deposited everywhere upon them. Upon the side from 
which the ice approached these islands (the stoss side) it rose, 
like breakers on the seashore, several hundred feet higher than 
it was immediately on the lee side. A short distance farther 
down on the lee side, however, the ice closes up to its normal 
height at that point. In both instances, also, the lee side of 
these islands seemed to be the beginning of important subgla- 
cial streams of water;—brooks running into them as into a 
funnel, and causing a backward movement of ice and moraine 
material, as where there is an eddy in the water. In both these 
eases the lee sides of these islands were those having greatest 
exposure to the sunshine. The surface of the ice on this side 
was depressed from one to two hundred feet below the general 
surface on the lee side. 
The ice in the eastern half of the amphitheatre is moving 
much more slowly than that in the western half. Of this there 
are several indirect indications. First, the eastern surface is 
much smoother than the western. There is no difficulty in 
traversing the glacier for many miles to the east and northeast. 
Here and there the surface is interrupted by superficial streams 
of water occupying narrow, shallow channels, running for a 
short distance and then plunging down into ‘‘moulins” to swell 
the larger current, which may be heard rushing along in its im- 
petuous course far down beneath and out of sight. Tire ordin- 
ary light-colored bands in the ice parallel with its line of motion 
are everywhere conspicuous, and can be followed on the sur- 
face for long distances. When interrupted by crevasses they 
are seen to penetrate the ice for a depth of many feet, and some- 
times to continue on the other sidé of a crevasse in a different 
line, as if having suffered a lateral fault. The color of the ice 
below the surface is an intense blue, and over the east- 
ern portion this color characterizes the most of the surface. 
Numerous holes in the ice, penetrating downward from an inch 
or two to several feet and filled with water, are encountered all 
over the eastern portion. Sometimes there is a stone or a little 
dirt in the bottom of these, but frequently there is nothing 
whatever in them but the purest of water. In the shallower 
enclosures on the surface containing water and a little dirt, 
worms about as large around as a small knitting needle and an 
inch long are abundant. 
