EXPLORING COLLEGE FIORD 69 



expanse near the beach proved to be tundra — wet, spongy, 

 mossy, grassy, and full of wild flowers, the most conspicu- 

 ously beautiful of which was the shooting star or dodeca- 

 thion. Our collectors had pitched their tents near the log 

 cabin of two prospectors on a point of land at the mouth 

 of a clear rapid stream. The hermit thrush sang in the 

 forest close by; the stream sang, and the air under the 

 shadow of the mountain was pervaded with a strange 

 peace and charm. The only singing that was not so 

 agreeable was that of the mosquitoes, but amid such 

 scenes petty annoyances are soon forgotten. One of the 

 prospectors, a brisk little man, whose clean snug cabin 

 we visited, was born near North Cape in Norway. He 

 had been here over a year, and as our ladies were the 

 first who had ever visited his camp, he took off his hat, 

 and with his hand upon his heart, made a gallant bow to 

 them in acknowledgment. He was planning to go to the 

 Paris Exposition next year, and life seemed to offer him 

 many bright outlooks. 



The next day, Monday the 26th, we spent in Port 

 Wells, the extreme northeast arm of the sound, taking in 

 water from a foaming mountain torrent and again coquet- 

 ting with glaciers. The weather was fair, but the sea air 

 was cold. Indeed, we were in another great ice chest — 

 glaciers to right of us, glaciers to left of us, glaciers in 

 front of us, volleyed and thundered; the mountains 

 were ribbed with them, and the head of the bay was 

 walled with them. At one time we could see five, sep- 

 arated by intervals of a few miles, cascading down from 

 the heights, while the chief of the flock was booming 

 at the head of the valley incessantly. The two large 

 glaciers at the head of the fiord were named by our party 

 Harvard and Yale; the cascading glaciers on the west 

 side, Radcliffe, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, and Wel- 

 lesley; and the main glacier on the east side of Port 



